Thinking of turning Manila into your performing haven? You already have the talent. You then think about professionalizing your talent and start earning from it. But in this vein, how prepared are you when it comes to launching your singing career?
There are tips worth pondering over the moment you have decided go pro. It’s easy to say that you wanted to be a singer. The questions below need to be answered in order to test how ready are you.
1. Do you have a playlist or genre that you have gotten comfortable with?
No Top 40 favorites please? Unless you can manage to sound a little like Katy Perry or singers with the same vocal range as hers, then you can go with singing contemporary pop music. You don’t have to sound exactly like them though as you already have your own distinct voice. This is how you fit in a certain genre. No need to go strictly jazz or middle-of-the-road. But the way your singing voice sounds like should remind your audience of your genre too.
2. Have you checked any announcements looking for a band front man?
It’s how some rock icons start their careers – by fronting a band. At first it seems like just a jamming session with musicians that you get along with. Then you realize that some connections lead you to other singing gigs with a touring band, of course. It’s how you network with several musicians. Most of them needed someone to sing for them in a gig or an event. More exposure, more opportunities secured, more numbers to keep in your phonebook worth calling to bag your next gig.
3. Have you had voice lessons?
Voice lessons are important to achieve a certain sound. This is where you get better voice advice and better judgment when it comes to the right song to sing in gigs. You may be familiar with some coaches from The Voice (depending which franchise you’re watching) asking some contestants to sing a song different from the one they sang. The person who auditioned realizes too late then that he/she sang the wrong song. You don’t want that to happen on TV, right? So you better get sound advice from the professionals.
4. Do you plan on coming up with an image?
For the ladies, the lounge singer look would often be a black dress with an A-line skirt or, to be sultry, a little black dress. For men, it’s just a matter of choosing between the styles of Bruno Mars of Usher when it comes to that snappy attire to wear during performances. For rock star wannabes, the ideal peg would be Steven Tyler’s denim jeans and buttoned tops. You need to feel comfortable in whatever skin you’re in. But to attain performance levels, you better look your best.
5. Got some samples in SoundCloud?
If not for everyone with a need to send samples of their singing talent to auditions and tryouts, apps like SoundCloud and Audacity won’t be in demand. Whether you need to record a song in acapella or with a minus one, at least you can use technology to share your talents online. Samples make it easier for booking agents to decide whether to give you a job or not.
6. Got some videos on YouTube?
After the bookers have heard you, they wanted to know how you look like. The headshots are not enough. They need to learn as well if you’ve been into gigs before or what singing jobs have you been invited to. Putting them on video and uploading them on YouTube or other forms of social media would leverage your need to market your talent too.
7. Put up a website
While Facebook has adjusted itself well enough for businesses that need to plug online, it’s still different when you have a website. It makes you look professional. Looks good to put on your calling card too. This also meant having an email address within your domain like yourname@yourwebsite.com. It’s like being your own agency. It gives that idea as well that you are the direct contact. Having an agent is good but some companies appreciate it more once they realize that it’s you that they are directly in contact with.
8. Stage your own events
You can produce your own concert too the moment you got a nice deal with a venue. If it is your first time to put up a concert with you at the helm, booking it at iChill Theater Cafe would be a good idea. You can sell tickets then give a cut to iChill and record some excerpts to be uploaded on your website. If people interested to hire you saw that you can stage your own events too, they might hire you to be your own musical director at their planned events.
Manila is one of the best cities where you can start a singing career. Once you are set, the bookings will flow into your organizer. In due time, you will eventually hire your own booking agent so you can focus on practicing more. Best wishes to your singing career then. See you around.