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How To Survive The Music Industry Holiday Slowdown [VIDEO]

Music Slowdown Holidays

The music industry as a whole is about to take time off, but there are still things you can do to keep your career on track for success.

The annual music industry slowdown is fast-approaching. From the third week in December through the first full week in January, music professionals everywhere will be given a rare chance to relax and reflect. The biggest companies in music will have a bare-bones staff to oversee any urgent matters that arise, but everyone else will be putting up away messages and putting their phones down. It’s going to be a challenge for some, but it is necessary.

But not everyone sees this period as a good thing. Professionals and full-time musicians may celebrate the brief pause, but aspiring pros and artists on the rise may find themselves frustrated by the lack of correspondence. Some will view the out of office messages they receive in response to their emails as another way of saying their efforts do not actually matter. A select few may even get angry at individuals who feel it is their right to take time away when everyone knows the gears of the entertainment business never stop turning.

If that describes you, do not worry. We have some survival tips to help get you through the holiday slowdown.

First and foremost, you need to relax. I know you may hate to hear that, but it is true. There is only so much you can do at this time of year. Accept that and make time to reflect on all you already accomplished over the last twelve months. Celebrate the highs, learn from the lows, and allow your brain time to decompress.

Second, rethink any plans you have to visit the major music cities before the end of the year. New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville are beautiful around the holidays, but if your goal of traveling is to connect with industry peers you may find yourself sorely disappointed. The holidays are for family and friends. Anyone fortunate enough to not work around this time of year is also not interested in setting meetings that will increase the workload they return to in January.

Third, in an effort to help you relax, take time to schedule your social media content through the end of the year. Social media is what people use to distract themselves from things they don’t enjoy. At the holidays, most people find themselves surrounded by family and friends doing everything they love. Social media will fade into background noise in the coming weeks, so don’t stress out about making the perfect posts or increasing engagement unless doing so is absolutely necessary (and let’s be honest, it is never necessary). Schedule what you need to say, check-in once or twice a day, and let it rest. Your fans will understand.

Finally, make a plan to succeed in the year ahead. You know everyone will be away until the second week of January, so use this time to refine your digital presence. After that, create a list of goals for the coming months, as well as a step-by-step plan to achieve them. Be as specific as possible.

If you need even more ideas and inspiration, follow us on YouTube. The industry may be taking a break, but our content is not.

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Industry News News

BEWARE: The Annual Industry Slowdown is Coming [VIDEO]

Santa Claus wearing sunglasses dancing outdoors at North Pole in snowfall. He is celebrating Christmas after hard work

Every December, music professionals everywhere do the unthinkable: They take time off.

With Thanksgiving behind us and a seemingly endless amount of ‘best of’ lists making the rounds online, 2019 is coming to an end. Soon there will be holiday shows, an appearance from Santa, holiday sales, and one or two crazy reunion gigs that happen just before the ball drop at midnight on January 1, 2020. A new decade will then begin, and what comes next is anyone’s guess.

December is a strange time for music professionals, but a good one as well. Every year, from the third week of December through the first or second week of January, the industry experiences what many people call ‘the industry slowdown.’ During this time, offices close, unimportant emails are ignored, and professionals everywhere do the one thing they rarely do: They take time off.

Yes, the industry slowdown is an unspoken agreement amongst the biggest names in music that provides space for reflection and relaxation before another busy year begins. It is a cherished tradition that continues in the digital age despite consumers’ constant demand for fresh content and ideas. We at Haulix take it very seriously, and many of our peers do as well. We’ll let Music Biz host James Shotwell explain the rest:

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News

How To Survive the Holiday Slowdown

The holiday season is upon us, and in no time at all businesses across the industry will go dark so employees can celebrate this time of year with their loved ones. It’s a beautiful thing, especially in an industry notorious for long hours, but for a few professionals, it’s also maddening. Allow me to explain…

While many music professionals are able to set up out of office replies for the holidays, there are still bloggers, podcasters, and a wide variety of media people in between with audiences who demand a constant feed of fresh content. When the industry goes dark for a holiday, these poor souls (including yours truly) find themselves clicking through every pitch they receive in hopes of discovering something worth writing about. More often than not they settle on additional editorial content, generally in the form of telling you the best stuff you might have missed, and they pray it’s enough to keep clicks rolling in while the snow falls.

There is a saying in journalism that you should seek to tell stories you would want to read. If you should find yourself writing something you have no interest in reading it is highly likely those who see that article will feel the same. As much as fresh stories in a feed can be useful for business is it really worth whatever investment of time they require if next to no one cares to read them?

People care less about entertainment news around the holidays than they do practically any other time of year. Don’t take this personally though, as it is true for virtually every publication. Entertainment and entertainment news is the distraction we fill our days with when doing things we would otherwise avoid if we could, like work. Holidays are communal escapes, offerings friends and family the chance to do things they want to do, therefore lowering the need for distractions.

To put it another way, the demand does not exist because the need for something that brings joy is met through other (arguably far more important) means.

This year, I want to challenge all music writers out there to try something different. Rather than beat your head against your keyboard in between clicking refresh on your RSS feeds, take a little time to experience what the rest of the world does this time of year. Schedule tweets and make whatever necessary posts you feel you must make to maintain appearances, but as soon as that is done shut down your computer and experience this thing call life. Talk to the people who support you and tell them of your vision for the new year. Ask people what they have been up to with their time, and make it a point to really listen to their words. Be present, and remember you will never have two holiday seasons that work the same way. The people around you now may not be there next year, so don’t take a minute for granted.

This won’t be easy, but I have good news: The music industry will still be here when you get back. I know you will feel like you are slipping behind, but there is rarely a single headline in the last ten to fourteen days of the new year that drastically impacts the music landscape. You know this as well as I do, so quit lying to yourself and accept that it is okay to spend a little time offline. Who knows? It might even do you good to unplug.

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News

Brace yourself: The Annual Music Industry Slowdown is Coming

On the final Friday of October 2018 more than 120 albums were released into stores, with countless more being released by independent artists from around the globe. That number was a high point for the industry in a year that has felt flooded with new albums, but it also marked the end of what many to believe the last big ‘push’ the industry makes to grab consumers’ attention before everyone begins fighting for their cut of the holiday spending rush. There will still be albums released between now and the end of the year, of course, but the volume of releases has begun to taper off in anticipation of changing consumer behavior.

With this in mind, now is the perfect time to recognize that the seasonal music business slowdown is fast approaching. Traditionally launching one week before Christmas, this is a period where many of the industry’s most prominent corporations give their employees an extended holiday break. Those fortunate enough to be employed full time may see anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks of free time, if not an entire month. Emails will be minimal, calls will be sent to voicemail, and announcements – often the lifeblood of many music blogs – will slow to a crawl (or be nonexistent).

That is all good news for those fortunate enough to have full-time employment in music, but it is often frustrating for those on the come up. Bloggers and music writers, for example, have to work harder and harder to keep their readership up as industry announcements slow and people spend less time on their devices due to plans with family/friends.

Similar frustrations exist for independent professionals in management, publicity, production, and all other corners of the industry. Unless you are making enough money to live comfortably for a month without any new income, the end of the calendar year always seems to add a bit extra stress to daily life. Family and holidays can help to ease the mind, but such downtimes can start to feel like an attempt at financially treating water if one does not plan.

To avoid such difficulties, we want to advise everyone caught up in the struggle to begin thinking about how to use the slowdown to their advantage. Here are some ideas:

  • Starting today, make a calendar from now until the end of the year detailing all the work you hope to accomplish. If you’re an artist, outline your goals as a creator as well as your promotional ones. If you run a blog, describe your planned features and when you want them to run. Be specific.
  • Speak with any collaborators, parents, or bandmates you may have about holiday travel plans. Everyone deserves time to disconnect and be with family. Knowing when people plan to unplug prevents any problems over responsibilities and activity from interrupting someone’s time with their loved ones.
  • Make a plan to disconnect yourself. Contrary to what that crazy voice inside your head may be telling you there are very few, if any, people expecting you to be steadily churning out new work throughout the final two weeks of 2018. All websites see a decline in traffic around Christmas and New Year. Many artists see a decline in attendance at shows as well. People are still enjoying music and engaging with it, but their focus is mainly on other, far more important things. Don’t miss out on time with your family because you believe you need to be the creative that changes this global trend. For once, accept that you, like everyone else, need a break.
  • Set goals for the new year. Once you plan the remainder of 2018 and set aside time for relaxation, you might as well get a head start on your plans for 2019. You’ll no doubt want to hit the ground running once the holidays have all passed, and having a plan of action in place is a good way to ensure that happens.
  • Take time to reflect on – and take pride in – what you have accomplished this year. All creative people that I know are hard on themselves far more often than they should be because they have an insatiable thirst to see what else can be done. While a drive to keep pushing forward is admirable it can also be problematic. There will always be another task to complete or achievement to unlock. The mountain never ends, so if you’re waiting to reach the top before celebrating your successes that time will never come. The end of the year slowdown creates a unique opportunity to disengage from the day to day struggle long enough to look at your body of work as a whole. Don’t miss out.
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