Female Entrepreneur Musician

Monica is a musician and she has been doing music and performing since she was very young. During high school, she wasn’t able to get into the school’s music because she couldn’t sing. She was already writing songs during that time but she realized she had to study singing and took up Contemporary Music Performance at university. She noticed she wasn’t really able to learn how to apply everything in the modern world and there was a gap. She was in a band for six years and that’s when she taught herself about social media. They broke up and she didn’t want to start again. She then focused on doing marketing for musicians and band promotion ideas, and that is when she started her consulting business which led into a blog, podcast, courses and memberships. She basically wants to teach musicians making money doing what they love.

It seems musicians doing rock genres have resources from the 80s. There is a real different culture. Not playing too often is one of the biggest things. Dispelling old practices, getting yourself online and knowing how to market yourself as a business. That’s the same feeling I had when I went out of university. I didn’t feel equipped with how to cope with the outside world. It seems people at university aren’t really keeping up with current trends for marketing. Monica thinks that the problem is caused by the fact that any changes in the curriculum needs to get approved and it needs to get approved. Nowadays, it’s great that we can appear as guest speakers virtually but aside from that everything else is still traditional.

Straight out of university, Monica immediately looked for a day job involved in the creative industry for publishing. After a couple of years, she felt the disconnect about being a creative person and needing to look and act corporate. If you resonate with that disconnect that impacts your mental health, Monica suggests dropping from full time to part time. She also uses her down time to and from work to work on her music business such as social media, booking tours, coordinating artwork for releases. She was blessed to have a job that allowed her freedom and flexibility. You can also listen to podcasts so they can learn and take in information just in that down time. I think it’s a great point that you work on your music business to and from work so you don’t feel that you are working for another person’s dream.

Social media and band promotion ideas can be a big sticking point. There is a lot we need to put on social media to keep that up. Monica says it’s generally easier if one person handles social media. Content can be posted on different social media platforms. Her other band members pitch in in community management, image and video editing. It would be great if the band can work together because there is so much happening and you can post those updates and the business plan in your social media. The socials being difficult is a byproduct of not having a good plan for your business. If you have a good plan, you always have something to post about. For most groups, there’s always going to be that one person who is not that into digital marketing. Monica has one person in the band that is not into social media but he is the one taking care of other important business things such as booking. It’s more productive if every member of the band works together unlike if only one person does it, that person is bound to be burned out.

Unfortunately, Monica’s band was in the part of Australia that was most hit by COVID-19. Their video clip got cancelled the week before. They were finally able to film it almost a year after. They feel that their career has been stalled due to COVID but since things are picking up, she now has so much energy.

Monica’s band is called The Last Martyr. Their stuff is mainstream and very melodic. Follow them on their socials. Her podcast is called Being in a Band, which has episodes about topics like branding, marketing and mindset. She also has a weekly segment on The Daily Music Business Podcast.

This episode was first published on The Profitable Musician Show.