How To Stay Motivated as an Indie Artist
Here are some tips to regain motivation as an indie artist.

Motivation is an essential part of being an artist. Without motivation, an artist usually comes up with bland music, lesser quality and quantity output. A perfect example of this is Trippie Redd, with recent albums being horrible at best we can see the lack of energy he put into his music.

Indie artists usually require more motivation to put out their best work, as they have to do it all. And by doing it all, it is quite easy to burn out or run out of ideas to execute. This is mostly caused by lack of motivation as you can sometimes feel like this motivation that you normally had is fading away.

Lack of motivation can happen for many reasons, maybe it’s not loving the music you make, or having personal problems, or working so much that you feel like quitting, all of those are very common reasons to lose motivation not only for music but for life in general. Another reason that is rather uncommon but still important to point out is artists comparing themselves with others.

With the rise of independent artists, it is easier to look at more successful artists and feel like you are not doing enough or that you are not good enough to have the success they have, taking away all your motivation to work in an instant.

In this article I will try to give some ways as to how you can regain motivation as an indie artist, since it is harder to gain that motivation.

Concentrate on the music

As is always mentioned with these articles, it is arguably the most essential part of being an artist. Concentrating on your music can help you find new things to do, to write about, to produce and to sing. A lot of artists try to explore on beat makers like FL Studio or listen to different music to see how other artists do it, trying to implement some elements into their own music. While it is not the best way to gain back motivation as it can easily cause a burnout it is a good way. The risk to reward ratio I’d say is a 60/40 safe/dangerous, it’s one thing to lose motivation that you can regain, however, if you have a burnout, it’s much harder to regain the energy you had.

Another good way to gain motivation is by exploring new genres. Maybe you’re tired of your genre and want to experience a genre change as an artist, it’s totally normal. For example, we can take Quadeca who made a hip-hop album then made an alternative/indie album right after it. If you feel sometimes like you want to put down the guitar and rap a verse then you probably should. Who knows, maybe that attempt at a change will decide which path you’ll take with your music.

Take a leisure break when needed

While it shouldn’t be the first option on your list if you’re just losing a bit of motivation, it is still a way. This is usually for when you’re having a full-on burnout as it is an extreme method of relaxation compared to the other idea presented. Having a break from music is a common occurrence with every artist, no artist has never gone on a break from music. Whether it is Eminem, Tyler the creator, Kanye, all the greats have lost motivation and went on breaks.

As for what the break is, you decide! That’s what having a leisure break is after all. Have some time off fully from music and try to explore the world around you, maybe you’ll gain motivation. Some artists try to travel the world to find topics to talk about like Kendrick did with To Pimp a Butterfly.

For your leisure break, you don’t necessarily have to go around trying to find motivation, if you love what you do then staying away from it for a small period of time will naturally give you motivation to go back to it and try to work.

This type of motivation gaining should be used only if you have a burnout since it is not necessary to go on a full-on break if you just lost a bit of motivation.

Be consistent instead of motivated

If motivation isn’t working for you then maybe you just need to be consistent with you output. A very popular example of it is fitness, many people don’t like to work out or don’t feel motivated all the time but stay consistent in their time in the gym. You can apply this to yourself just by substituting gym by studio and there you have it.

If you’re having problems with knowing what to write or perform then you can try to produce new music even if it isn’t the best, a constant output usually influences you to make what you want giving you motivation to continue with your art.

Make your art your hobby, as well as your profession. If you do, not only are you less prone to burn out or lose motivation, but you will usually find new ways to produce music.

Motivation isn’t for everyone; some people need consistency to work.

Get constructive feedback

Another good but tactic but that sadly isn’t as reliable as the others for motivation is receiving help from others, or constructive criticism. If you are losing motivation, you can always ask for input online or from people who are close to you.

Upcoming indie artists usually ask their friends for an outside perspective on their music so they can know how to develop their skills and how to improve whether it is lyrically or with their instruments. Getting feedback on the product you are presenting to others will always make you have motivation to work more and receive more feedback.

Now, a very big risk that some artists don’t take into account while seeing feedback is hate comments and destructive criticism, which is an extremely common occurrence. Some people just love to hate and they hate on anything that they deem worthy of hate, and they deem you worthy then they will try to destroy you mentally until you don’t feel like making music anymore.

So even though this is a very good way to gain motivation, it’s also a double-edged sword in a sense how the negative side of it is destructive to an artist’s career.

Conclusion

To conclude this article, we can say there are 4 main ways to gain motivation as an indie artist: Concentrate on your music, take a break if needed, keep your consistency and try to get constructive criticism on your music.

Don’t fear experimentation as it can be a gateway to a whole new career for you as an artist. And sometimes, it is better to take risks and be consistent. Not all careers are perfect, they have bumps and holes, but that’s what makes it beautiful. If you lose motivation, it doesn’t mean it’s the end for you, it’s just a door for a new beginning.

Sources:

https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/art/stay-motivated

https://influencedigest.com/lifestyle/how-to-stay-motivated-as-an-artist/