A successful career in music doesn't happen overnight. It takes patience, tenacity, an openness to critique, and even some failure to clarify your goals and make it happen.
Here are five essential practices to consider as you build a foundation for long-term success in the music industry.
1. Stay in the Loop The music industry is constantly changing. To keep up, you need to stay informed.
This is just as important for music business professionals as for artists. To land a job in licensing, product design, or marketing at a place like Spotify or Apple, youll need to speak to the changes driving growth in the industry. Similarly, a successful artist manager should be up to speed on industry tastes and trends, emerging niche markets, and changing perceptions around artist commercial viability.
The path followed by the majority of top executives and artists we know today was not narrow or linear. Like theirs, your path will involve ongoing learning, hustle, and investment in yourself.
Music distribution has changed completely in recent years, meaning artists no longer need a deal with a major label to be successful. Staying informed on platforms such as SoundCloud, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook's Sound Collection will help you promote your music and reach a wide audience.
Berklees Career Center team provides insight on relevant professional associations and help you find ways to stay up to date.
2. Meet Others in the Industry
The Berklee Career Jam brings industry movers and shakers to campus each year
Building a career and establishing a personal brand in the music industry requires honing your ability to create and maintain mutually beneficial relationships.
You hear it repeatedly: Networking and creative alliances matter. Why? The music industry thrives on it just like any other people-based industry. So where do you start?
Step away from the studio, or your keyboard or microphone, regularly, and take advantage of face-to-face interactions with peers, colleagues, and established professionals. Industry conferences, trade shows, and festivals provide perfect settings for fun and organic interactions, but theyre not your only outlet for networking. Social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram have made networking easier than ever. If you aren't already on these or other platforms, create a profile and start connecting. Be thoughtfully persistent in building on new connections, whether in person or digitally. Keep track of who you meet and why you both might benefit from staying in touch.
Attend the Career Center's Internship Expo where you can speak to representatives from more than 40 companies.
3. Invest in Your Future with Internships and Working on Campus If there's one thing the music industry prizes, it's experience. How do you get experience?
Where to Start
Search and apply for jobs, internships, auditions, and gigs on the Berklee Career Manager.
Two ways to impress potential employers are internships or on-campus jobs. Internships are a highly valuable opportunity to test-drive career possibilities, develop skills, and gain insight into the work and lifestyle of an industry professional. They allow you to relocate for a short stint to major hubs like Los Angeles, New York City, and Nashville, or even abroad to international hot spots like Beijing and London. Employers frequently use internships to test out future employees. If theyre impressed, they are quick to make a job offer so they don't miss out on promising talent.
There are endless opportunities and ways for you to gain relevant experience. Internships and student employment are just two that will impress and appeal to employers.
4. Know Your Competitive Advantage Your list of skills is abundant. Take stock of your experience and what makes you different from everyone else. You'll need a carefully crafted pitch that tells the world who you are and explicitly sheds light on your distinctive combination of skills, experience, and presence.
As a musician and artist, youll be an incredible improviser, always prepared to pitch a song youve been writing or grab your guitar and walk onstage to fill in for a friend at a gig. Youll also possess solid project management skills. Whether it's handling marketing or event logistics for an upcoming campus program or organizing and rehearsing members of a band for a performance, you've mastered the art of time management, understand the need for attention to detail, and recognize the importance of being both a leader and a team player.
5. Stay Agile There is no prescribed roadmap for how to get from A to Z in the music and entertainment business. There is no guarantee you'll make a certain salary, secure a gig that lasts a lifetime, or cut a deal right out of the gate. It's best to acknowledge and accept that now. But your commitment to succeeding in this business has great potential to make an impact and be satisfying.
You must learn to be agile and comfortable pivoting from opportunity to opportunity, sometimes even needing to take on a non-music lifeline career so you can provide for yourself, a significant other, or a family. The path followed by the majority of top executives and artists we know today was not narrow or linear. Like theirs, your path will involve ongoing learning, hustle, and investment in yourself.
Dustin Gee is manager of employer development and engagement at the Berklee Career Center.
For more information on how to develop your career in music, visit our Career Center resources.
Related Reading
Hearing Women Berklee Today
Spring
2019
Volume
30
Number
3
Hustling and Joy: Madame Gandhis Tips for Success Drummer, electronic musician, and activist Madame Gandhi shared her advice and experience with students at Cafe 939.
Berklee Student Wins Live Nation Scholar
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
07/07/2026
New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026
The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board.
Dr Tania Chamber...
07/07/2026
The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...
07/07/2026
Berklee College of Music Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Open source AI has shown how quickly developers can innovate when models, data a...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
A successful career in music doesn't happen overnight. It takes patience, tenacity, an openness to critique, and even some failure to clarify your goals and make it happen.
