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Why do you need a Musician Business Plan?

As a music teacher as well as student and performer, I have had countless conversations with musicians looking to “make it.” While the goal might look different for everyone, I can tell you that the road to “making it” as a musician looks surprisingly similar from person to person. Or, I should say, that the action steps don’t vary as much as you might expect.

Becoming a professional musician takes a little luck, but more hard work and planning than anything. Especially in a world where entrepreneurs have so many resources directly at their fingertips (thank you, internet!), that hard work and planning can take you farther than luck ever will.

All this to say, I have seen too many aspiring musicians burn out and give up because they are either unfocused, or focusing on the wrong things. This is where a musician business plan comes in.

A musician business plan, like any business plan, helps you focus your energy on things that serve you and your business well, giving you both purpose and actionable steps – the key to avoiding burnout.

In this post, we are going over the attributes that make up a good musician business plan, as well as elements to include to help you hone your vision, plan, and action steps, and set you up for success as a musician! For some extra help, C&S has a free musician business plan pdf template you can download to guide you through the process – click here to skip straight to downloading your music business plan template.

How to create your Musician Business plan

SMART goals

When it comes to setting goals (any goals, not just musician goals), there are some elements that give you higher success rates – when they are applied correctly. The acronym “SMART” is used: goals are easier to achieve when they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.

Specific

Vague goals are problematic for a number of different reasons, but the most important being that you don’t know when you’ve achieved them. Figure out exactly what you want to achieve that will have easy-to-identify results.

For example: instead of “I want to make money as a musician,” get more specific with something like:

“I want to support myself as a musician”

“I want to be able to quit [my current job]”

“I want to teach [x number of] private students”

“I want to join [a band or musical group]”

Measurable

Fun thing: Specific and Measurable go hand in hand! When you’re setting your goal, make sure that you have data you can point to to show that your goal is completed.

My favorite way to make a goal measurable is by including a number (playing 20 gigs this year, signing 1 student per month). It can also be a one-and-done task – the kind of thing you can cross off a checklist (writing a marketing plan, setting up a website, signing up for a class).

Attainable

Is this goal realistic? Do you have the resources you need to make it happen?

“Little by little” is an excellent goal mentality to include when writing your musician business plan. Choosing unrealistic goals will absolutely cause disappointment and will probably lead to burnout. Like everything else, becoming a professional musician doesn’t happen overnight.

Some hard truth: I know that a lot of people pursue music for fame. I know that a lot of you will start your musician business plan with the goal, “I want to become a famous musician.” The thing is, becoming a famous musician isn’t a realistic goal for most people, especially when you are just starting out. Not only is it an incredibly competitive field, but the lifestyle is really far from what most people expect. Pursuing your craft and being flexible in the ways that you get to express it is the best advice I can give to young musicians wanting to build a career in music.

Relevant

Is this goal relevant to my end goal?

We’ll get into it, but your musician business plan won’t include just one goal. You’ll have an overarching goal, but your plan will be made up of smaller steps, smaller goals that will help take you to that final goal.

For example: if your final goal is to grow as a musician, goals involving education, lessons, and practicing are incredibly relevant. Income goals won’t help you improve as a musician, so they aren’t as relevant. Leave those out of your plan.

Time-Bound

When will you complete this goal?

Too often, we forget to put time constraints on our goals. And when we do that, we lose some of that fire under us to achieve them (and that typically means we don’t). So – when will you achieve this goal? The end of the year? 2 years? 5 years?

Another way to make a goal time-bound is to take recurring goals and give them a time frame (1 new student per month, 20 gigs each year, etc.)

Important things to include in your Musician Business Plan

Now that we’ve covered what makes a good goal, let’s talk about what elements you need to have an effective musician business plan!

Side note: a business plan should comprise of many goals! Your overarching goal or two, and smaller goals, or action steps, that will bring you closer to achieving those main goals.

Purpose Statement

Arguably the most important element of your musician business plan, a purpose statement outlines your “why.” Why do you want to be a musician? The deeper and more specific you can go, the clearer your goals and action steps will become.

For my goals, I use a year-long goal planner. It isn’t music-specific, but is more universal so I can use it for more than just one aspect of my life, and it includes prep work to help me flesh out my “purpose statement” for the year. I can’t tell you how helpful those prep pages are to focus my vision for the year!

So this purpose statement should drill down on the question – “Why do you want to be a musician?” Explore facets of this question like your skill level, passion, and character traits that set you apart from the competition – what makes you uniquely equipped?

Answer those questions as in-depth as possible and you’ll be surprised at how clearly your goals will stand out.

Continued Music Education

I don’t care what level of musician you are – you are never done growing. Even the great Celine Dion has a voice coach.

There should be some form of continued learning in your musician business plan. Maybe that’s finding a coach, maybe that’s learning music theory (we have a great course for beginners wanting to dip their toes into the theory world), maybe it’s learning a new instrument, or maybe it’s learning some of the business side of things – social media, web design, or marketing specifically for musicians. This is a musician business plan, after all!

Varied Revenue Streams

One of the realities of the music business is the need for various sources of income. Many, many musicians (most that I know) piece a living together doing a combination of things – paid gigs, teaching lessons, instrument repair or tuning, mixing, recording, leading worship, whatever. There is actually a huge diversity in options for income as a musician, as long as you’re open to things other than performing.

Marketing Plan

Unfortunately, music is not a “build it and they will come” kind of industry. When you’ve decided what your end-goal is and what kind of revenue streams you want to build, you can look into marketing yourself, your lessons, or whatever other services you want to offer.

There are so many marketing options available to us, thanks to the internet! Social media alone has changed the game for many a musician. Click here for a guide to the most popular marketing avenues for musicians. (that post was written directly to private music teachers, but the principals can apply to any music marketing you want to do!)

Again, though, play to your strengths. I personally have some social media channels, but that kind of content is not my forte (though I am continuing education to try and grow in that area!) – however my writing skills are above average, so most of my marketing goes through this blog and email list. Working smarter, not harder, will help prevent burnout.

Success Metrics

This hearkens back to the “M” in SMART: how will you measure your success? What numbers do you want to hit? What pieces of your business do you want complete, and by what time? Make a list of action items that you can check off as you complete them.

Summary: Your 5-year plan as a Musician

After you’ve completed the other pieces of your musician business plan, write a summary. This summary should be one page or less, and give the reader a complete picture of your 5-year plan as a musician. Where do you, as a musician, want to be in 5 years? What will you look like, what will your business look like, and how will you get there?

Grab your Musician Business Plan PDF Template

Whew, that’s a lot! It can feel overwhelming, but I don’t want to let that stop you – that’s why I’ve made a Musician Business Plan PDF Template, free for you to download. It outlines these steps and has some guiding points to help you think through and flesh out your business plan!