In the corporate world, you’ll hear people talk about the benefits of networking all the time. We all have heard the saying “It’s not what you know, but who you know” and understand that there’s a great deal of truth to that statement – but in hip-hop, you rarely hear people talk about the act of networking.
Maybe it has something to do with the high number of shady people in our industry or maybe I’m not connected with the people that do discuss networking in hip-hop. Regardless, networking can be your ticket to success at a much faster pace than if you did it alone.
If you’ve viewed some of my other posts, then you know that I think video views and song plays are distracting most upcoming hip-hop artists from what really matters – building a fan base. And, in addition to building a fan base, I think ‘views’ and ‘plays’ are distracting artists from building meaningful relationships with people in the industry.
So, for those of you that are still on the fence about getting out there and networking, I’m going to give you 3 important reasons you should start networking.
New Opportunities Become Available
The bigger your network, the more opportunities that’ll become available. When I would go on tours and to shows, I’d meet so many different kinds of people. Some marketers, some artist, etc.. Just by having people in the same room that would vouch for me, opened a ton of new opportunities for me.
Make sure you’re putting yourself in situations where you’ll be communicating with people who can open doors for you.
Positive Influence Helps You Become More Successful
Have you ever heard the saying “you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”? It’s the truth. If you hang around the winners, you will most likely become a winner; But, if you hang around the losers, you will probably become a loser.
Make sure you’re hanging around the people that will inspire and motivate you to be/do better.
You’ll Have Help If You Ever Need It
Having a good network is like having the answer to all your problems, 1 phone call away. If you have a good network, they can help you solve any problems you may have. But, if there is something that they can’t help you with, they’ll probably have somebody in their network that can.
Just those 3 reasons alone should make you want to get out and network. I can almost guarantee that your network will be the most beneficial thing you do to help your music career as an artist
My Question To You
If I told you that you were 10 music industry connections away from taking your music career to the next level, how would you go about building a relationship with 10 people in the music industry and what 10 people would you choose?
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