Collaborations have always been anticipated by many music fans from all around the world. Fans love musician interactions, especially interactions within the musicians they are a fan of.
Moreover, these collaborations are also great for marketing yourselves to other musician’s fans. You can show other musician’s fans what talent you have and they may love you for it and even turn into your own fan.
But the best thing about collaborations is that musicians can build rapport with other musicians and improve their own musicality.
WAYS TO COLLABORATE
There are different ways you can collaborate with fellow musicians.
So when we hear the word “collaboration”, what comes to your mind first?
It would obviously be that one song with two or more musicians singing. But that’s not the only way you can collaborate with others. There are many other ways you can help each other!
Table of Contents
#1 Recording a single together
So this way of collaborating is what I am talking about. Pretty straightforward. You make a song together.
One song or single with two musicians singing it. An example is the debut single Leave the Door Open by Silk Sonic composed of Bruno Mars and Anderson. But this has been done since the beginning of time, of course.
#2 Featuring in a song
The difference recording together and this is that this one is just like a guest appearance in a tv show.
They have a shorter part in the music unlike the other one, just like the song featuring Megan Thee Stallion, Beautiful Mistakes by Maroon 5.
#3 Co-writing a song
Co-writing is when two or more musicians come together and write a song.
This is another great way to learn some skills from the other, as it may help you improve your own song writing technique.
#4 Sharing a tour
In this type of collaboration, you share a tour with another musician or another band. This is good marketing actually, because you will not only get to perform for your fans but also for the other musician’s fans, which might help you gain more fans.
#5 Remixing a track
Remixing a track can be another way to collaborate. You can reach out to a well known DJ and maybe have your newly released track get remixed. It would be awesome and in this way you can both gain more followers.
#6 Performing live together
Live performances are things that fans would greatly love. They will see their favorite band or musician interacting with another which is something they all want to have, much more if they are a fan of the other too.
#7 Having a Spotify playlist together
Last is the Spotify playlist collaboration which is something that’s very popular among fans. Fans have been making Spotify playlist for two bands or musicians like “Taylor Swift X One Direction” and more, and they are loving it. What more if it was made from their beloved musician, right?
TIPS WHEN COLLABORATING WITH OTHER MUSICIANS
Collaborating with other people can be too much for some musicians and I can understand that. So to help musicians who haven’t collaborated with another musician yet but are planning to, we have compiled a list of tips you can follow.
#1 Do your research
When collaborating with an artist for the first time, you need to do your research, a thorough one if you would. It’s important to know the person or people you’ll be working with.
Maybe have some research on what they do well or what genre they do best. Moreover, you can answer questions like: “What do you like about their music?” and “What is your goal in doing a collaboration with them?”
#2 Get to know them
Another way to get to know your collaborator, besides researching about them, is to connect with them. There’s no need to spend a whole day with them actually, you can just contact them to hang out or maybe have coffee together.
Make sure that when you’re in the studio or are already recording, there will be no more awkwardness during conversations. Just make yourselves familiar with each other, that would be enough.
#3 Master collaboration tech
Since pandemic is still ongoing, there are some protocols to be followed. Because of this you guys might just decide to do a remote recording, one where you record at home on your own.
So if you’re not very tech savvy, then I suggest you master the technology you’ll be using for your collaboration. Even if you are well-versed with collab techs, there are still some things you might not know, so it’s best to master them beforehand.
#4 Prepare yourself and your ideas
Before coming to the session, it would be best to prepare your ideas about this collaboration you would be doing. When you start brainstorming, maybe you can throw in some ideas about what chord progressions your song can use, what song topic would be best and more.
You can bring your own instrument during the session too, if you want. This way it would lay a foundation about how serious you are with this collaboration.
#5 Get ready to discard ideas
Working with other people, collaborating, means that not all the ideas you have will be realised. There will surely be some of your ideas that won’t fit with the idea you guys had, and it’s best to accept that they will be discarded.
Don’t try to force ideas, especially if they don’t go well with the team’s message, topic, or something. This could possibly cause your team to get stuck trying to force ideas, so better discard them.
#6 Be open to new ideas
As I’ve said, collaborations mean there will be discarding of ideas. With those discarded ideas you will have to accept new ones. Remember that your fellow collaborator will also have ideas of their own, so keep your mind open.
And what’s a collaboration without a little bit of exploring? That’d be quite boring if there’s nothing you can learn from the other.
#7 Communicate
The last tip is to communicate, communicate, communicate.
During the sessions you will have, always maintain proper communication. Listen attentively and always admit your mistakes, if you have.
It would also be great if you maintain your communication with them even after the collaboration. Maybe next time, you can collaborate again or maybe collaborate with someone they know and them with yours.
Collaborating is a very exciting experience for musicians and with the tips listed above, it would be even more better.
Good luck with your collaboration!
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James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
