We’ve all heard the term DIY – it’s been in practically every single indie music business article since the dawn of the 21st century. There are more tools available today than most artists know what to do with. You can be your own publisher, distributor, label, engineer, producer and marketer, and you can do it all from your room.

While it’s great that artists no longer have to do-it-with-a-big-record-label, perhaps DIY isn’t the best option either. There are a lot of artists out there with excellent business chops, but they’re still not experts. And they have more important things to do like creating music. You can’t be an expert in everything – there’s just not enough time in the day.  The key is to find and motivate people who are! Instead of DIY, move towards a do-it-with-others (DIWO) strategy.

Your team doesn’t even have to be seasoned pros. If you have a band you’re already way ahead of the game. Everyone has their own unique skills, so take advantage of that! One band member may be a math wiz. Put them in charge of the budget. They will keep track of the band’s income and expenses in a spreadsheet and be the voice of financial reason when it comes to spending money.

Another band member may be a people-person – they’re outgoing, confident, and not afraid to pitch your music passionately and enthusiastically. This person could be the face of the band when it comes to business and networking. It’s their job to call up the promoter, pitch your music for a publishing placement of sponsorship, and talk to the soundboard guy after the show.

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Let’s take a look at recent pop sensation, Betty Who.  Betty Who’s “Somebody Loves You” began drawing the attention of the pop music world after the release of her first EP The Movement in spring of 2013. In September 2013 the song was featured in a viral gay marriage proposal video and just a few days later she was signed to RCA Records.

Betty Who didn’t get where she is today on her own – she had a great team behind her the whole way. Producer Peter Thomas and manager Ethan Schiff attended Berklee College of Music with Betty Who. With Peter Thomas she was able to find and really latch onto her signature pop sound, and Schiff helped set her up on the business side of things.

Want to know the other 9 musician mistakes?

1. You Don’t Have a Plan
2. You Aren’t Leveraging Copyright
3. You Skip Time Management
4. You’re Not Out There Networking
5. You Don’t Focus on a Niche
6. You Don’t Let Your Fans Market
7. You Don’t Have a Brand Strategy
8. You Overuse Free Music
9. You Don’t React to Opportunity

The key take away here is that your team doesn’t have to be made up of top-of-the-line professionals that charge thousands of dollars for their time. Your team can start out as friends, classmates, and band members. These are the people who are really passionate about you and your music, and often passion is more important than money or connections. In the New Artist Model online course we teach you techniques to build a strong team to efficiently run your business and much more.