Develop Music Industry Skills Through Music Forums
Internet forums and discussion boards have become a valuable medium for establishing an online presence, building a reputation, networking with peers, and getting feedback on relevant topics and ideas. With that said, there are many forums and discussion boards on the Internet specific to music artists, musicians, and songwriters. These music forums are packed with wisdom that thriving artists can leverage for their professional development advantage. By becoming actively involved in music forum communities, artists can find themselves absorbing an abundance of music industry knowledge that can help in furthering their respective career agendas.
Registration at music forum communities is generally free, however, the more prominent and private communities charge nominal fees for memberships. To find the right forum community for you, we suggest you go to a popular search engine like Google (www.google.com) or Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) and perform a search on "music forums". Browse the search engine results one by one, and keep in mind that each forum community has its own mission, theme, guidelines, and attitude. After visiting a few music forum communities, you will quickly learn that not all music forums are the same. Taking your time in finding the right community is key because you will want time spent to be an investment and not a waste. To help you find the right music forums for your needs, Artistopia offers the below suggestions. Note that at the end of each suggestion below, an explanation is provided on how it applies to the development and maturing process of an artist in the music industry.
1. Carefully select a forum community you can settle into for the long haul. Take your time researching them by reading existing posts, and making sure conversations, and music styles, meet your learning goals and objectives before making your selection. Relation to professional development: Finding the right music company or business that will develop you thoroughly is key to helping you mature in the business properly. Always know that haste makes waste.
2. Focus on building a well-respected reputation within the forum community. A reputation in any forum community is earned by a member's cumulative interactions and contributions over time, and not within a few posts. Keep your reputation untarnished because repairing any damage done to it is always twice as hard as building it in the first place. Relation to professional development: Your reputation as an artist in the music industry is your integrity, and tarnishing it could lead to alienation and possible ousting. Wounded lions drag the rest of the pride down.
3. Keep your posts clean, respectful, and productive no matter what direction the conversation or message thread takes. It will be tough to contain yourself at times, but learn to exercise patience and calculated response tactics. Misunderstandings often happen in forums, and when they do, you will need to know when to respond and when not to. Relation to professional development: Being an artist in a multi-billion dollar music industry is a job and not a party. Learn to be professional at all times and costs.
4. Be careful not to offend senior members and administrators. Forums tend to foster loyalty amongst the members, so measure each word in your posts and focus on being productive, not destructive. Egos and arrogance need not apply because no one knows it all. Smooth over the senior members with wit and intelligence, and you will receive a warm welcome. Relation to professional development: Simple, offend the wrong music professional and it could mean your career. Be open to constructive criticism and always yearn to learn from all those around you.
5. Use the forums to "subtly" promote your personal website or Artistopia profile, which will give you more exposure (brand name building) and help drive your overall numbers (song downloads, profile views, etc.). Most forum administrators frown upon direct promotions and blatant advertising, but they will allow you to represent the website you are from. Always consider yourself a visitor and respect the guidelines set forth because administrators will ban without hesitation. Relation to professional development: Identify and exercise all marketing opportunities that will promote your artistic talent without igniting a turf war. Know your boundaries and how far you can push it by thinking with your head, and not with your heart.
6. Make full use of the signature functionality in forum communities to brand yourself, especially by putting a slogan, a quote, a banner, or a link that points to your Artistopia profile or personal website. This is permissible at most music forum communities, and is helpful for others in learning more about you when reading your posts. Relation to professional development: Every professional artist is known for a signature of some sort, even if it