HOW TO GET DISCOVERED AS A HIP-HOP ARTIST

By Rishma • On Cool Tips

Hip-Hop is one of the most com­pet­it­ive genres of music there is. There are so many artists out there and mak­ing a name for your­self will demand a lot of work and dedication.

One thing about the hip hop busi­ness, how­ever, is that there is a lot of demand at dif­fer­ent levels, and, if you have tal­ent, have a good work eth­ic, and are will­ing to improve your craft, you could carve a nice little niche for your­self. And, if your goal is to make it big, then there are things that you can do to increase your chances of being noticed. Here’s how you can get dis­covered as a hip-hop artist.

Start Inde­pend­ently

You can try to go the tra­di­tion­al route, make a demo, and try to find an agent to rep­res­ent you, but it’s not the best or easi­est way to go nowadays. If you really want to get your foot in the door, you have to show that you have a com­mer­cially viable product on your hands. And the best way to do so is to release your own music and start gen­er­at­ing a buzz.

Even if you don’t man­age to get mil­lions of views, hav­ing some­thing out there will be a plus for you. It will allow execs to quickly get an idea of your level of tal­ent and start see­ing what your few fans have to say.

If you want to start releas­ing music, you should start learn­ing music pro­duc­tion and record­ing right now. It’s not that com­plic­ated, and you can make your tracks sound pro­fes­sion­al with afford­able equip­ment and tools. You could learn tools like auto­t­une unlim­ited that will allow you to auto­t­une in real time, for instance. You could also learn how to use simple DAWs like FL Stu­dio and work on your music pro­duc­tion. This is all you’ll need to have some­thing to show.

Build Your Pres­ence on Social Media

You will also need to build your social media pres­ence since many exec­ut­ives will look at your met­rics there before con­sid­er­ing you. So, try to release as much con­tent as you can on Ins­tagram, You­Tube, and Tik­Tok, and take advant­age of the new options on these plat­forms like shorts and stor­ies. Try to incor­por­ate your music in your videos and use your plat­forms to build a con­nec­tion with your audi­ence, not just to release music.

Get Bet­ter

You should also try to do everything in your power to make your­self more attract­ive as an artist. You could learn an instru­ment if you don’t already, or work on your vocals. Being able to sing and rap is some­thing that is very prized in this busi­ness and could open a few doors. Learn­ing how to dance and act will also help improve your stage pres­ence and performance.

Go where the Execs Are

You may also want to pack up your bags if you’re from a small city and go to a major city with label headquar­ters and lots of industry people. Places like New York, LA, and Miami come to mind. This will increase the chance that you bump into some­body import­ant and facil­it­ate logist­ics if you have to meet with labels.

Get­ting dis­covered as a new hip-hop artist is not easy. But, if you have actu­al tal­ent and are will­ing to fol­low the tips in this art­icle, you’ll be able to sig­ni­fic­antly improve the chances of someone noti­cing you.

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

About Rishma

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless.