Hey, it’s Tia, the creator of this here Dope Show, and I’m here to talk about teams and why every independent artist needs one in order to elevate in their music career.

Some of the things a team can help you with include:

• Handling business affairs so you can make the music.
• Spreading the word about your music online and in the streets.
• Going to your shows to ensure that you have a ‘crowd’ just in case you don’t have a lot of fans at a showcase.
• Record your performances and taking pics of you at shows (this makes for great social media content).
• Passing out/selling your merchandise.
• Traveling with you to out-of-town shows.
• Boosting your confidence on those days when it doesn’t seem like anything’s moving for you.

Roc-a-Fella Records

This post was initially inspired by me scrolling social media every day and seeing an abundance of music artists trying to do everything by themselves, not getting any results, then complaining (publicly) about how nobody supports them.

The problem is that there are so many aspects that goes into one’s music grind but there’s only so much one person can do on the daily.

If you create music, the bulk of your grind time should be spent on creating and honing your craft; not promoting music, booking shows, monetizing your music, and everything in between.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a hand in all of these things, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to do all of these things yourself.

This is why it’s necessary to build a team of people who share the same common goal so things can get moving.

No Limit Records

Believe it or not, you have people in your life already who are down to help you with these things and chances are, you never reached out and asked them for help.

Now before you tell me that you have asked people for help many times, let me tell you that complaining on social media about how nobody supports you or cares about your music aspirations isn’t considered asking.

That’s just a status that a few people are gonna “like” and comment with ‘100’ emojis out of courtesy for you.

Real team building starts with personally reaching out to at least 10 people in your life who are into music, but don’t necessarily create music.

For example:

• Your cousin who’s always putting you and other people onto new music.
• Your homegirl who has a lot of followers on social media.
• That guy who follows you on Twitter and always retweets and likes whatever you post, you’ve never met him but he supports the hell out of you for some reason.

How can these people be of service to you?

• Well, you can ask that cousin to help get the word out about your music since people trust his insight.
• Ask that homegirl to include one of your songs in one of her IG posts or stories and tag you.
• Tell that guy on Twitter that you appreciate the support and ask if he’d be willing to help promote every time you drop something and keep him in the loop.

These are some components of team building in which you are essentially getting a set group of people on the same page for one common goal.

These people don’t have to be ride or die for you, just down to help get your music out here because they believe in you.

So how do you get them to believe? By telling them your plans and being confident about it.

People gravitate towards confidence and direction. You have to be direct about the kind of help you need and where you’d like to go in your career.

Cash Money Records

A big part of why many artists aren’t getting the results they want is because they are not clearly communicating with anyone.

Being on ‘lonely island’ will do that to you.

If you need help, reach out to people you know and ask for help. You’ll be surprised at the responses you get.

Some people will decline because they’re too busy or not sure if they can help, and that’s okay. Don’t get down about it.

In the meantime, keep reaching out to people until you have at least 10 people who are down to put in that team work because it definitely makes the dream work.

There are many more components to team building which I’ll go into further detail with in my next post so please stay tuned!