Many emerging artists don’t like to think in terms of genres or classification. They think associating their music with an existing category is impossible. It’s like being put in a box.

If you’re looking for discovery, however, genres are important. Consider streaming services — when you upload your music to a streaming service, you’ll have to put in a genre. While you can start your own “new” genre, there are advantages to sticking with established categories.

Casting a Wider Net

The biggest reason to pick a pre-existing genre is that it helps fans discover your music. Once you identify with a specific type of music, the streaming platform could potentially recommend your song to people listening to that genre.

Online music education teaches us that it’s important to be as honest as possible when classifying your own music. You don’t want to upload a country song to a streaming platform and say that it’s hip hop. In this case, an unsuspecting listener might hear 15 seconds and immediately turn it off. They may then never want to listen to any music like that ever again.

Important for Emerging Artists in the Music Industry

“At least trying to figure out what elements of your music fit into a specific genre can potentially help you to open the door to being discovered in that early stage of your career,” says hip hop artist Ryan Leslie.

According to Leslie, you want people who enjoy music in your specific vein to be able to discover and fall in love with what you create. If you refuse to “put yourself into a box,” then you have to understand the challenges associated with that. It may take you a little bit longer to find your audience. You’ll need to put forth some extra effort to find the relationships and people who want to go on your journey.

Leslie started out making R&B records and felt specifically attached to that musical style. When he did his “Les is More” album, which included a collaboration with Kanye West on a song called “Christian Dior Denim Flow,” that all changed.

“(Kanye) said, hey, make a rap album,” Leslie said “I did a rap album. And now I’m doing a hybrid. I got a new EP. We did a hybrid on that. So really for me, I’m still living in a world of music that I love.”

Even though Leslie “reclassified” his music, he said he still enjoys having artistic freedom. He can utilize his music education and make a straight piano ballad one day and then later decide to work on a hip hop track with some heavy sub bases with trap high hats.

“When you have artistic freedom and you build the audience that’s willing to go with you wherever you want to go, then you have a little bit more latitude,” he said. “I believe at the early stages of your career, though, when you’re looking for discovery, choosing a category of music that allows for you to be discovered in the algorithms on the streaming services is a prudent move to make.”

One of the most important parts about this online music education class is understanding what your story is and being honest about it. You know, for me, I grew up in Ohio as a queer woman with a mustache. This story for me hasn’t really changed. It will always be my story.

Now, we have to look at what your story is. We have to find what will never change for you. Where did you grow up? How did you grow up? Writing your first song is usually telling this story to your audience and finding a way to integrate that story into your body for your performance.

It’s important to do this storytelling without the music at first. What I usually do is have my students write down their story. We go through the beginning, middle, and end, and figure out what the real narrative is. Then we develop that into a song, writing out the lyrics and figuring out where they fit. What does the bridge become? And how do we end it? Are we still moving forward? These are important things to consider in music education.

Let’s start by writing a story of our lives. First of all, who is the main character? What do they wear? What do they look like? Where have they come from? Let’s figure out the beginning of that story, the middle of that story, and the end of that story. And this can be any kind of song you want — a ballad, an anthem, a dance track, anything. But we need to figure out where each part lies within the framework of the song and figure out how we move forward in our career in the music industry once this story is written.