Creating a Productive Space for Online Music Networking

A digital presence is crucial for modern musicians. Even musicians who try to protect their privacy — like Daft Punk and Ben Howard — still leverage digital marketing to increase interest in upcoming albums and network with other musicians.

However, if you’re a busy creative, you may struggle to find the motivation to create graphics for social media or take calls with prospective agents. This feeling is entirely understandable, as you’ll likely spend most of your creative energy producing music and editing your final cut.

You can make online music networking that much easier by creating a dedicated workspace that supports your efforts to build your business. Creating a productive workspace can turn your passion for music into a business and ensure you’re well-equipped to connect with important players in the music industry.

Why Workspaces Matter

If you’re a professional musician, you know how valuable having your own studio can be. It can naturally make routine experimenting and brainstorming a regular occurrence, helping boost your creativity and productivity. Recording music in your home workspace also ensures you can always edit your upcoming album or record a few extra chords when inspiration strikes.

These same principles apply to home offices. Having a home office that is not part of your studio ensures you can think clearly and work on tricky tasks like invoicing clients or arranging interviews without getting distracted. Additional benefits of creating a personalized workspace include:

• Increase comfort: Working from a kitchen countertop or dining room table undermines your focus and may lead to issues like repetitive strain injuries. Creating a dedicated, ergonomic workstation is the best way to protect yourself from injuries and increase your motivation to fill out invoices or network with peers online.
• Eliminate distractions: Having a quiet, calm workspace is the best way to maintain your focus throughout the day. A personal place to work is crucial when working to tight deadlines or on challenging projects. Even small changes to the space, like noise-canceling headphones, can greatly reduce distractions during the workday.
• Improve well-being: Making ends meet as an aspiring musician can be stressful. Creating a home office can alleviate some of this strain by boosting your motivation to engage in networking and digital marketing. Personalizing your workspace ensures you’re able to work in a calming, stress-free environment, too.

Creating a personalized workspace can help you take care of tricky tasks like making graphics for your next album or taking remote calls with management representatives. Building a small, productive workspace needn’t break the bank, either. Once you’ve found a suitable space, you’ll just need to make a few adjustments to bolster your comfort and productivity.

Converting an Ancillary Space

Creating a small workspace in your home is an essential step towards professionalizing your music production. However, if you want to continue to build your professional brand, you may need to convert an entire ancillary space (i.e., a garage or a garden shed) into a workspace that supports your productivity year-round. For example, if you work remotely, consider converting a garage into a home office by:

• Decluttering and deep cleaning the space to remove any dirt and dust that could damage computers.
• Install necessities like power strips, lighting, and heating/cooling.
• Choose furniture and accessories that suit your needs. Consider, for example, comfortable lounge chairs for visiting clients or an espresso machine to help maintain your productivity.
• Personalize the space to reflect your musical brand and provide some inspiration when motivation runs low.

Converting an ancillary space into a productive home office can boost your efforts to network online. Even simple changes, like opting for high-speed internet or buying a mini-fridge, can help you stay productive throughout the day and ensure you can network with stakeholders from across the industry.

Tools and Technology

Creating a productive workspace is more than buying ergonomic chairs and standing desks. As an aspiring musician, you must install the right tools and technology on your laptop or computer. This software suite will ensure that you have access to all the remote conferencing software you need and will boost your project management efforts. Get started by installing:

• Desktop app-versions of social media sites for musicians like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn;
• Common video conferencing programs like Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet;
• Network monitoring programs like Taplio and Sprout Social;
• Project management applications like Asana or Monday.com.

These tools are part of your workspace and should be used on a near-daily basis. Finding the right technology for you will require some trial and error, but it should support your long-term growth as a budding musical artist.

Conclusion

Creating a productive workspace that supports your networking efforts can spark a period of growth for your music business. Building a workspace with the proper lighting, seating, and technology can improve your productivity and help you remain focused while at work. This can meaningfully enhance your efforts to break into the music industry and is sure to pay dividends over the coming years.