Mehlani: The Business Side

The business side of being an independent artist is SO time consuming! Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but reminding yourself why you started doing music in the first place is something I try to do whenever I find myself getting stressed out when sending out emails, etc. Something I do to help expand my audience is I try to post content as much as possible 4 weeks leading up to, and 4 weeks after my release. Though I have struggled with posting daily in the past, a good example of a work of mine that did well was Down Bad. I posted every day for 4 weeks leading up to the release and I got so many streams and even made it into a few magazines like the Capital Gazette and the Daily Voice! I did however get very burnt out after that so I held off on posting for a while, but I think something that I took from that was having 1 big content day in a months and brainstorming as much content ideas as I could and filming big chunks of my music so that I had clips ready to post when I needed to. This helped me avoid the mindset of “ugh I need to post again today.” You can view the mentioned articles here: https://www.capitalgazette.com/2023/02/13/from-thai-nursery-rhymes-to-producing-a-spotify-single-glen-burnie-teen-dreams-of-making-it-big-as-a-singer/

https://dailyvoice.com/maryland/anne-arundel/news/maryland-teen-making-it-in-the-music-industry-with-release-of-second-single/857186/

In addition to content, I send out a lot of emails almost every week to different playlists, articles, and companies talking about my music in hopes to gain a new collaborator! This usually works and I have since been able to build more of a presence for my music. Making music as an independent artist is very difficult especially when you are first starting out, so recognizing that music is an investment has helped motivate me to start finding income in other areas to go toward my music and personal expenses. Ever since I got my first job at 15, I have been putting music aside for my music if I were to ever need it! I think it’s important to recognize different organizations/companies like Section 36 that are constantly looking to represent fresh artists. These are the people that play a big role in advancing your artistry and it creates a relationship with your audience on another level.

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Be sure to stream Mehlani's latest single "If I Could I Would" wherever you can. To learn more about Mehlani, check out her November 2023 interview with us here at Section 36 Music.