As much as I hate to admit it, I have been struggling with patience and appreciating my “lane”. I keep questioning my contributions and whether I am doing anything right. But then again, it’s always been difficult for me to imagine myself “a struggling artist” – difficult until NOW. What I’ve realized is that in essence, an Artist equals an Entrepreneur, and as sad as this might sound – nobody cares about our work until we start to profit from our efforts. Even more importantly and kind of ironic, we only get better through creating opportunities for our ideas, even if it means working for free for the better part of our careers. On this note, I would like to explore a couple of facets contributing to “the struggle”, and our many subsequent cries for help.
- Collaboration (or lack thereof)
The music industry is patently hyper-creative and there’s no way to make way without a team – no Artist can successfully create a space for their work without people who are advocating for them. As upcoming artists still building our careers and respective fan bases, it’s important that we reach as many people as possible – and the only way to do that is to have a network of likeminded people who will help us promote the music.
Without a team, one could even say the artist is an island.
- Finances
Cash flow is King.
Now here’s a painful truth – until you can consistently invest in your career, your work will achieve little and fulfil almost none of your desires. This has been a very difficult fact to process, knowing my capacity to create exceptional work versus the inability to finance my ideas – it’s been trippy!
So get a job, any job works actually. If the job allows you to give your music better opportunities, allows you to travel between cities – and especially allows you to grow as an artist, do the job.
- Admin
Artists don’t do admin, we just don’t. We don’t have registered businesses (we don’t know how to register businesses) and we don’t know how to communicate with official institutions like the NYDA, SEDA, or even the Department of Sports and Recreation. Because we ourselves do not present as official entities it becomes impossible for us to attempt to access funding opportunities.
Registering businesses has become convenient through CIPC at R250. Having a registered business inherently repositions you in terms of attracting funding for your work, and it also creates a sense of responsibility towards yourself.
Lastly, Good Ideas Take Time. Our unbound talent and ability to create audience-worthy content doesn’t mean we won’t be tried and tested. It is when we go through pressure that we see what/who we truly are – and no Artist is too special to do their own ground work. The ground work is what defines us and the work we create.
