No matter how successful you were in your promote music career last year, this year could be better. Then again, if you are unwilling to change with the tide, it could end your career completely. Here are 8 steps to make sure your music career develops into the most successful business venture it can be.

Write Down Your Goals

At the beginning of each year, you should write down realistic, attainable goals for the next twelve months. Break your long term goals down into short-term goals so that you can monitor your progress, and reward yourself every now and then.

Keep that list of goals in front of you every single day. What you do then is work out a plan of how you will achieve each of goal. By having an actionable plan that you can look at every day, will reinforce the need to complete a certain number of things per day. You may also come up with additional ideas as you go along. By the end of the year, you will be amazed at just how much you did accomplish from your list.

Learn How to Make a Strong Marketing Plan for Your Music

Your promote music is a product, so you better have a strong marketing plan to get the word out about it. This is especially true if you're an unsigned artist, and still need to do a lot of your music promotion yourself. It's a lot more than recording a great sounding album, commissioning artwork for it and spending tons of time on the packaging. These days, only the most die-hard fans even buy CD's. You should be spending your marketing money on promoting the music itself. In the long run, your money does a lot more work for you that way.

Start Gigging

Playing shows is one of the best ways to promote your music. Not only is live music everywhere, but once you're established enough, you get paid to play, rather than the other way around. It also offers a great venue to sell CD's and other merchandise. You can't really beat live shows, no matter how big or small they are, because they offer some of the best word of mouth you can get. They are also a great way to get contacts within the industry, as people scouting for talent scour even the most out-of-the-way places to find the next big thing.

Make Your Own Music Website

Having your own website is extremely affordable. After purchasing a domain name, hosting can even be free outside, of paying for the domain every year. Make sure that you have strong knowledge of online marketing or hire someone who does. Your website becomes the hub of all of your music marketing efforts and from there, visitors can branch out and see everything that you do. It can be one of your greatest assets and can make even unsigned musicians a lot of money through the exposure.

Get Your Music Promoted on Blogs

Bloggers are happy to promote good musicians and they are one of the easiest ways to get song promotion. They often only require a bit of your time for an interview, as people want to know the artist behind the music. By taking the time to interview, the blogger can gain a better grasp of who you are and provide valuable information to people who are looking for new artists in your genre. Bloggers get paid by their own advertisers and by referring their visitors to your music. The social media coverage that bloggers offer is also fairly substantial and can get you a lot of new followers.

Understand That Your Music is a Business

Like any industry, music is a business. This means you have to make money to get anywhere. Whenever you make a profit from your music, it's smart to reinvest that money. You can put some into marketing and advertising, some into improved equipment, and some into getting to play better venues.

Streaming is Where the Money Is Now

With album sales going by the wayside, streaming music is the area to focus on. While it doesn't look as glamorous as record sales, the long-term profit margins are actually considerably higher. People who like your music and listen to it all the time will actually make you a lot more money than they would have by simply buying an album or their favorite tracks. It also means that the tracks that aren't as widely marketed are just as accessible as the hits, meaning that people will be a lot more likely to check out your whole catalog, meaning you can make a lot more money.

Learn How to Adapt and Grow with The Industry

Every industry is always growing and evolving, and keeping up with those changes is extremely necessary to stay successful. This doesn't mean buying into every new trend that comes along. But if you can find a way to take advantage of new technology or other new advancements, while staying within your budget, and making a profit.