Music collaboration is by no means a recently introduced concept. However, it has become more popular now because of the immense exposure it offers both on online and offline media. With several music lovers sharing music on social media and music streaming sites, it has become easy for artists to discover and collaborate with each other. Collaboration with other artists helps share knowledge and experience and increases your chances of getting discovered by the right people. It helps you widen your network, pool your resources, and aim for bigger and better opportunities that can get you the break you need, to make it big in the music industry. This article presents some of the top benefits of collaboration and how it can help you in your musical career.
Collaborations in music have been taking place since time immemorial. Especially in India, the collaborations of L. Subramaniam and Pundit Ravi Shankar with international music have inspired several young musicians to follow in their footsteps and seek out fellow artists. Several releases such as Heartbeat, I WannaFly, and Changes have received traction in different musical circles due to smart collaborations. These collaborations have also given the artists recognition in countries where breaking in the local musical culture would otherwise have been difficult.
However, music collaboration is not just restricted to fusion music. In fact, any music for that matter could be considered as a collaboration if more than one composer is involved. When artists come together as a team to compose a song, each person’s skill complements the others’ which makes the collaboration even more creative, effective and productive. The beauty of collaboration is that it brings excitement and fresh ideas to the table while giving musicians a chance to meet new people. Music could also be considered to be a collaboration of multiple skills such as composing, singing, and playing
Here is a list of the top ten reasons you should collaborate with other musicians and how it can benefit your musical career:
1. Increased Exposure Among Fans
Collaboration in any field, and especially in music, helps you get better recognition and possibly a readymade fanbase. When you collaborate with other artists, the efforts of each person involved in promoting the music brings in a large number of followers. This helps you achieve exposure in circles that would otherwise have been difficult.
2. More Revenue
Working together with other artists also means that you get to share your musical expenses. When two or more artists pool their finances together, you can have access to better musical instruments, popular music venues, and better marketing strategies.
3. Wider Network
You have maintained certain important professional relationships over the years of your musical career, and so has your fellow artist. Working together helps you meet people who can have a positive influence on your career. These may be music producers, established musicians, mentors, agents, and bloggers.
4. Better Music
Every musician faces a musician’s block at some point in their career. When you work together with a fellow artist, you can learn their valuable musical skills, coping strategies, and if you are lucky, probably even playing a musical instrument. Your talent combined with theirs can help produce better music that can have a far-reaching impact on your audience.
5. Possible Break in the Music Industry
You may be trying single-handedly for years to create music that can give you the instant recognition you need to become an overnight success. Collaborating with an artist can help you identify your weaknesses and work on them. It can open you up to better musical opportunities and give you the break you deserve.
6. More Press Coverage
Musical collaborations usually get a lot more press coverage than individual efforts, mainly because they are not very common. When there are more articles published about your music on various online and offline media, it means greater exposure for your work. Also, your collaborator’s fans get the chance to learn all about you and your work as a result of your collaboration.
7. Become Popular on Streaming Sites
Currently, a lot of music lovers constantly check out streaming sites such as Spotify and Apple Music for recently uploaded music. This is a great way to get discovered by fans and become popular overnight. Collaborating helps you tap into your fellow artist’s follower base leading to a wider reach on these platforms.
8. Share Your Workload
It is not possible for a single artist to write and produce a composition, play an instrument, and sing the track. Collaborating helps you share your workload with your fellow musicians. It also brings in fresh and innovative ideas to your music that can give it a whole new style and rhythm.
9. Face Your Insecurities
A lot of artists who have recently begun their musical career have a hard time facing their weaknesses. Most of them also find it difficult to express their emotions through their music. Collaborating forces you to bare yourself in front of another person and face your deepest insecurities that are probably hindering your musical growth.
10. Achieve Discipline
When an artist works individually, it is quite easy to lose focus and come up with excuses to overshoot deadlines. When you work with another artist, you are forced to work seriously and give your best to the project. Collaboration makes you disciplined and responsible, as another person’s career also rests on your efforts.
Some of the top music collaborations of our time
A lot of musicians, both professionals, and amateurs, have sought out other fellow artists for working with them. The music industry has seen several amazing hits as a result of these smart collaborations. One outstanding example is the album Raising Sand that was released in 2007. This album is the combined effort of Robert Plant, a popular English rock musician, and singer, and Alison Kraus, famous for her American country music. Their collaboration gave them the exposure and career boost that they hadn’t received in years of their solo performances. Other examples of collaborations between artists of different genres include Paloma Faith and Sigma’s Changing, and Labrinth, Sia, and Diplo’s Thunderclouds.
The culture of collaboration is now picking up among the younger generation of musicians as well. After his initial success of Animals, Martin Garrix reached out to the British singer, Dua Lipa, for his next track, Scared to be Lonely. This is quite different from his solo works, but it has helped him showcase a side of his music that even he was probably unaware of.
It is not always that amateurs reach out to established musicians to break out in the industry; sometimes, it can also be the other way round. Established rock band, Linkin Park chose an upcoming artist, Kiiara for their recent track, Heavy, and the result has been a lovely pop rendition loved by fans.
Music collaborations are not only beneficial for exposure and promotion but also help in polishing your own style to bring out your musical creativity. When two or more artists put their musical talents together, the result is often a unique blend of both their capabilities that comes as an innovative addition to the world of musical hits.