If you are a musician trying to making a living in the competitive music industry, you may have come across the Musicians Union (MU). The Musicians’ Union is an organisation that protects the interests of musicians in the UK, providing legal advice, education and training, insurance, and much more. Even if you aren’t from the UK however, you may still want to read this article. It can give you an idea of the type of services that are out there for musicians, and allow you to know what to look for in your own country.

So, what are the benefits of joining such a union? Well, this is exactly what we look at below. I hope this article will give you a better idea of what help you can get as an independent musician, and show you that professional help isn’t as unobtainable as you may have first thought.

Legal Advice

A lot of musicians are only really interested in one thing: Making great music. Most of us are creative types, and don’t always like dealing with the business aspects of the industry. While professional legal advice is something any level of musicians making money should have access to, these kind of services can be expensive. Music industry lawyers, for example, can easily cost in excess of £100 per hour.

This is far too expensive for most musicians, and a ‘luxury’ that most people don’t end up taking. With the Musicians Union however, professional legal advice comes as part of the package. They can help with contract disputes, fees recovery, and many other legal matters. If this is something you’re interested in, make sure you contact them first to make sure they can offer the legal support you require.

Careers Guidance

As an independent musicians, it’s becoming increasingly important to diversify your income streams. There are a lot of jobs in the music industry that can tie in with your role as a musician. Sometimes, during early stages you may need to do more then one music related job to earn a full time living.

The MU can offer career advice, and assist you with realising opportunities. They will be able to offer advice about the expectations of different areas of the industry, as well as inform you of relevant training available.

Contract Advice

As a musician, you may find yourself dealing with performance contracts, record contracts, publishing contracts, and other types related to the music industry. The contract advisory department at the Musician’s Union can offer you advice and guidance regarding the terms of the contracts offered to you.

As mentioned before, music industry lawyers are expensive, so it’s wise to get professional advice before signing any type of contract. As a MU member, you also get access a catalogue of ‘ready-made’ contracts that you can download and use. These are legally binding, and hold more weight than a contract you may have put together yourself.

Networking

As we all know, the music industry is built around contacts. By joining the Union, you are putting yourself in the ideal position to make new contacts. You can do this by attending their in-house events, and by getting involved in their online community. You can also discuss industry related matters with other professionals in your sector, which can be hugely beneficial. The MU has regional offices, making it even easier to network with musicians in your local area…

Insurance

As a musician, getting appropriate insurance to cover your equipment etc can be a challenge. Many insurers see musicians as high risk, as often you have expensive equipment travelling around from location to location. Once again, this is something the MU can help you with.

They have negotiated special insurance schemes for musicians. In fact, by becoming a member, you are automatically given public liability insurance up to 10 million pounds. This means that if someone injures themselves as a result of your actions, you have some protection in place. This covers you at a range of locations and in a range of situations.

Industry Contacts

Often, finding the right person to talk to within a company can be difficult. To help with that, the Musicians Union publishes lists of contacts to their members. This is a reliable source of up to date contact information of managers, labels and much more.

Education and Training

As I previously mentioned, the Union puts on a range of industry events themselves. These include seminars and workshops, and give you access to training that call help you in the music industry. They also provide a lot of advice specifically for music teachers.

A good amount of musicians earn money from teaching music. The MU advises music teachers on the issues of teaching in schools, colleges and from home.

Musicians Union Rates And Conclusion

If you’re at the stage in your career where you’re looking to deal with contracts and need additional support, the Musicians’ Union could be for you. You can access all of the above for £177 per year, or only £20 per year if you’re a student. If you’re still studying, there’s no reason not to snap up this low rate asap. If you’re not a student, you may want to think about whether the MU is worth the cost at this stage of your career.

If you have the money and want additional help from experts, the benefits are clear. If you are earning money from music, joining the Union may well be worth the outlay. Even if you’re an amateur musician, it may still be beneficial for you to sign up. You can develop your knowledge of the industry, and make contacts to enhance your career. Ultimately, whether or not you decide to join will depend on your personal circumstances and goals. One thing that is clear, is the Musicians Union plays a vital role for UK musicians. After all, 30,000 members can’t be wrong.

This has been a guide by Sam Chapman of Music Live UK, the place to go to hire great wedding bands or wedding singers for your big day.

If you are a talented singer with good on-stage presence, then you could consider a career as a wedding singer. Weddings are big business all over the world. By providing quality entertainment at some of these weddings, you can easily build a career for yourself. Yes, wedding singing is a competitive market. But with a combination of talent and good marketing skills, you can earn yourself a very good living.

An Important Note About Wedding Singing

If you are going to pursue this as a career, you need to start considering your voice as your most important asset. Even if you are already a great natural singer, it may still be worth getting a vocal coach to help you train your voice. You may find you are singing a lot week in week out, so looking after your voice is essential. A vocal coach will be able to teach you techniques on how to protect your voice from damage, meaning you’ll be able to take up more singing work.

Even after just few lessons, you may find that there are some simple techniques you can use to improve your control. The last thing you want to do is damage your voice by not understanding how to look after it. If you’re not sure your vocal coach is going to teach you this, let them know you specifically want information on protecting your voice. They should be able to give you some exercises to do.

How To Be A Wedding Singer: Catering For Your Audience

As a wedding singer, it is important that you understand the type of songs your audience wants. Remember, it’s not about what song you’d like to sing at someone else’s special day, it’s about what type of songs THEY want. After all, they are the ones paying for your services right?

Given the occasion, romantic songs are usually the order of the day. You should thoroughly learn a wide selection of love songs, and create a set to suit the job at hand. Practice these songs regularly, and until you are extremely confident about your ability to perform them.

You should also be continually working on new material in order for your set not to become stale. It will also keep things interesting for you, rather than just singing the same songs over and over again. Some couples may want to your perform for their first dance, so you should always be willing to learn new material at short notice. This will make your service more personal, and make it more likely you’ll get more wedding singer jobs.

Sing To A Backing Track Or Live A Band?

As a wedding singer, you can do either. You may decide to perform on your own with backing tracks for music, or you could find a live band to perform with.

Ideally, you’ll want to be able to offer both of these services to couples. This will allow you to cater to all types of budgets, and mean you will get more wedding singer jobs as a result. You will have to charge a lot more if the couple want a live band at their wedding, mainly because there are more people to pay and more equipment to hire. If you’re working with a band, you should make sure everyone knows their roles and each member is reliable. You should also have fail safes in place; If one person is sick, how will you still carry on the show?

Investing In Your Own Equipment

Once you have had a few wedding jobs under your belt and you are doing well becoming a wedding singer, you may decide to buy your own PA system. This can be a significant initial outlay for you, but once you have it, you can hire this to couples for an extra charge. Most wedding venues don’t have their own PA system, so it is advantageous if you can provide one.

An extra benefit of having your own PA equipment, is that you have control over the way you sound. There’s often nothing worse then relying on someone else’s equipment, which often is of poor quality and won’t make you sound great. At least with your own audio equipment you know exactly how your vocals will come out.

Want To Become A Successful Wedding Singer? Then You Need To Market Yourself

Ok, so here’s the real secret of how to be a wedding singer: If you want to be a successful wedding singer, you need to do more then just have a great voice… You also need to learn how to market yourself! But what does marketing yourself entail?

Well, first of all you should record a demo in a professional recording studio. Having a good demo will allow potential customers to see how well you can sing. The better your demo, the more likely people will hire you for their big day.

As a wedding singer, you should also have your own website. It’s easy to make your own music website quickly, so if you haven’t got one already, then set one up right away. The expectation is that you will have a website with a professional recording on it. This will allow couples to hear you perform before they book, and hopefully buy into your ‘story’. Often, having a video of any previous performances on your website is also a good idea. Couples will want to see how you perform, so giving them a full picture of the service you’re offering them will do nothing but good for you. Because of this, it’s also important to practice your on stage presence. If you have a poor on-stage presence, you will lose potential jobs.

Additionally, you may want to advertise in brochures and wedding magazines, or attend wedding fairs to promote yourself. If self promotion is not you forte however, then perhaps you could consider signing up with an entertainment agent. They will of course take a percentage of your fee, but often they can get you much more work than you would be able to by yourself.

How To Be A Wedding Singer Conclusion

Becoming a wedding singer allows you to earn money from doing something you already enjoy. As a wedding singer, most of your engagements will be at the weekend. Because of this, singing at weddings is something you could fit around another job if you so desired. However, even if you do decide to only do wedding singing as a second job, that doesn’t mean you should become complacent with your duties. You will still need to provide the highest quality performance, as that’s what will get you a lot of your customers: Word of mouth recommendations! I bet you’re glad you read to the bottom of the article to read that tip.

Participating in a couples special day and providing quality entertainment is a really satisfying career. There is certainly a lot to consider when becoming a wedding singer, but if you are serious about making it in this profession, you really could have a fulfilling career ahead of you.

If you want to hire a great wedding singer or wedding band for your big day, you can visit Music Live UK.

Shaun: If you have music business knowledge and want to share it with our readers, you can check out our requirements for guest posters. Thanks again to Sam for this great guide on how to be a wedding singer.