How A Community Can Help Build Your Music Career

By Eric Openshaw on February 28, 2018

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John Allred is a well-known singer and songwriter originally from the east coast. John lives in Utah and has a great community of music supporters here. Plus, John has toured nationally, and internationally.


Who is John Allred?

 

 

 

 

 

 

John calls himself a “blue-collar musician”. And he is a jack of all trades. When John isn’t playing gigs with his original music and cover music, he spends his time writing, performing and teaching. John also produces and writes music for other musicians as well. He says he wants to try to get multiple streams of income to survive in the modern music world.

He says there used to be a great music community. Over the years the community has dwindled in the technology age. John has learned that if you have a supportive community, then you can have a career in music. A community can support a musician by buying albums and hiring for gigs and events.  Whether the format is digital or analog, the community is what makes the difference.

Down Moments Happen

Rejection is going to happen. During the lowest moments, John realized it was just a ceiling that needed to be popped. John had some incredibly difficult things happen in his music career. But those difficulties have led to some other really amazing opportunities. He recently was able to chart number 4 on iTunes’ singer-songwriter chart. And he stayed there for about a month. John also produced, wrote and recorded his very own album with no one else to help. He charted 18 on that same iTunes chart.

Who has John Played With?

John Allred has had the opportunity to share the stage with many well-known bands. He’s opened for Augustana, Ben Folds, Boyce Avenue, Collective Soul, Dashboard Confessional, Dave Barnes, Howie Day, Imagine Dragons, Jason Reeves, Jimmy Eat World, Judah & The Lion, The Maine, Matt Hires, Mat Kearney, Matt Nathanson, Parachute, Priscilla Ahn, Safetysuit, Secondhand Serenade, Taking Back Sunday, The Oh Hellos, The Rocket Summer, Third Eye Blind, and Yellowcard.

Don’t Think of Yourself as a Brand

Wanna make your own career in music? Here’s John Allred’s advice. First, John points out that musicians focusing on the numbers of people at concerts, or the numbers of records the musician has sold isn’t the way to go. He says to focus on trying to build your community one person at a time. It may be slow, but he says it’s effective. Next, be yourself as an artist. The music industry is very different from ages past. But that also means that developing yourself as a musician and a performer is more important than trying to get a record label.

These days a record label is fairly unnecessary if you have a community that can support you in what you do. Finally, you can’t be afraid of the digital realm as well. Social media seems to be here to stay, and digital sales are common these days. Coming up with your own ways to navigate that can help build your community, without having to focus on analytics or numbers.

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