How Reinventing Yourself Is Essential to Your Music Career

Should you reinvent yourself? Well if your answer is no, then you are not going to break out of your niche or gain a ton of new fans and maybe that’s fine for you. But if your answer is yes, then you have an idea of what it takes to keep your audience engaged and you want to expand your fan base considerably. In other words, you want to grow beyond the point you are at right now and for me, that is a key factor in some of the best bands around.

I am not suggesting that you change your style of go from metal band to a Brittany spears cover group or pull a Skrillex, but you do have to introduce new musical flavors now and then. It is important that you stay true to yourself and who you are as a musician but it is equally important to expose yourself to new ideas that might take your music in a new direction while maintaining your integrity.

Consider some of the bands who have maintained a consistent audience over a long span of time. They have constantly expanded their sound while still being who they are. Zeppelin, The Beatles, Foo Fighters. They all have changed somewhat or rather, they evolved and in doing so, have kept their fans coming back to hear what new sounds they came up with.

 One artist that immediately comes to my mind is Jack White. He started in the 90’s with the White Stripes, a bluesy rock band bringing in elements of punk and folk. They had a simple drum/guitar combination and although they never strayed form that format too much, each album had a new twist and when they format no longer could be enhanced, Jack started the Raconteurs, a full-fledged rock band and yet again, their two albums are quite different yet distinctively Raconteurs. After that, he again reinvented himself, with The Dead Weather, and now again with a project simply titled Jack White. This is a cat who knows how to reinvent himself over and over and still be true to his musical roots.

Now how to reinvent yourself and maintain integrity while still appealing to your current fans and finding new ones, that I cannot help you with but I can say this: don't neglect who you are now, just find new ways of expressing yourself. If you’re a blues act, stay a blues act, but maybe go acoustic, or add an element like a sax player and expand your forte.

Don’t be afraid to experiment a little either. Be bold and take chances, trust that your audience is willing to hear something new, something they have not heard before. Try out new things on stage and see how they work. You will know if it flops by the reaction it receives, I guarantee it! Your diehard fans will appreciate you for trying a new thing and even if they react negatively, they will not shun you.

 But, if you try something new and it works, you will also know by your reaction. Your fans will come up to you and let you know how much they liked the new song or direction. You will be amazed at how positive you feel afterwards and you will be inspired to go out and try other new techniques.

Just keep in mind that if you love it, your fans will love it too. 

It is important that you’re not just doing something different just for the sake of doing something different; you have to want to do something different because you want to expand your sound by adding something that you truly enjoy. You still have to love what you’re doing and the music you make in order for others to enjoy it. So go out, experiment and most importantly, have fun.