WHAT'S THE PLAN
Set goals that make sense for your music and your life
WHY ARTISTS START IN THE WRONG PLACE
A lot of artists start with output. A song, a post, a release date, a clip. Another plan that looks like a plan. It feels right because it looks active, but activity is not the same as direction. That’s where a lot of people get lost. It’s not a lack of talent or that they’ve missed some secret clue. They’re moving without a clear route, so every move starts carrying more weight than it should. Suddenly strategy and motion are confused. What do we mean by that? We mean there’s activity, Songs are coming out; Posts are going up, but there’s no real direction underneath it.
Often times, artists believe the secret is to do more; put more music out, be online more, say yes more. Keep things moving so nobody can say you’re standing still. If you are uncertain of your goal and how you plan to get there, every opportunity looks urgent. A random show feels like progress and a collab becomes a whole new direction. A few good numbers convince you something is working, even if nothing underneath it is actually built. We’re not saying those things are bad, just that they don’t mean much on their own. THE BLUEPRINT makes this point clearly. Momentum doesn’t transfer automatically. Streams don’t equal ticket sales. Virality doesn’t build community. And visibility without systems is just noise.
So before anything else, we need to slow it down and get honest about what you’re actually trying to build. Not what looks good from the outside or what works for somebody else. The version of success that fits your life, your sound and your actual goals. Once your goals are clear, the noise starts to thin out, and the work starts making more sense.
DEFINE WHAT SUCCESS MEANS TO YOU
This is the part a lot of artists avoid. Not because its unimportant, but because it forces honesty. It’s easy to say you want more. It’s not as easy to find the path to get there. this is where success can get blurry. And when success stays blurry, you start borrowing someone else’s version of it. To put it plainly: undefined success leads to borrowed ambition. That’s how artists end up chasing things that look good from the outside but don’t actually fit their goal. More visibility, when what they really want is stability; or more shows, when what they really need is enough income to keep going. Just noise, without any real connection to the life they’re trying to build. That’s the trap.
BP 001 already made this clear. There isn’t one version of “making it.” There are different lanes with different outcomes. Some artists build through live. Some through writing. Some through rights. Some through community. Some stay visible. Some don’t. None of that makes one route more valid than another. So before you set goals, get specific. What do you actually want this to be? Think about:
Lifestyle:
How does being an artist fit into your life?
- Is music your main source of income?
- Are you touring regularly or are you mainly in the studio?
- Is it a part-time practice that still feels solid?
Income:
Your financial expectations may change how you approach your music career.
Do you want music to:
Pay rent?
Fund itself?
Be a side project?
Visibility:
What kind of impact are you chasing?
Cultural relevance?
Community?
Charts?
Sustainability?
Think of the artists that inspire you. Some are acclaimed writers, famed for their lyricism; some are regularly touring musicians celebrated for their stage shows.
You are building the roadmap of your career. Every answer will help guide the decisions you make in the future.
CHOOSE YOUR PRIMARY LANE
Once you’ve established where you’re going, you can plan the route you’re going to take to get there.
The music world is made up of different lanes; Recorded music, Live performance, Writing, Sync (you can learn more about this here).They all work differently. They ask different things from you. And they lead to different kinds of careers. A lot of artists get stuck trying to build in all of them at once.
They’re releasing.
They’re trying to gig constantly.
They want to build an online audience.
They’re thinking about sync.
They’re open to writing for other people.
They’re trying to stay visible.
And somehow all of it is meant to happen at the same time.
It doesn’t work.
The chaos leads to burn out. So this part is about choosing. The point is not to box yourself in, but, stop everything competing for the same energy.
You do not need to build every lane at once.
That’s where the 2-Lane Rule comes in:
Choose one primary focus and a secondary support lane.
Your primary lane is where most of your energy goes. It’s the main thing you’re building around right now. Your secondary lane is there to support it, not compete.
So if your main focus is recorded music, your support lane might be direct-to-fan.
If your main focus is live performance, your support lane might be recorded music.
If your main focus is writing, your support lane might be sync or a small artist project that helps people hear your work in context.
The lanes should connect. That’s the point.
Everything else can stay in the background for now. Not forgotten, just not leading. Because when everything is a priority, every new opportunity starts pulling you off course. The 2-Lane Rule gives your effort a centre. It helps you make better decisions. It stops random opportunities becoming whole new plans, and it makes it easier to build momentum that actually connects from one move to the next.
FOUNDATIONS BEFORE OUTPUT
Before you release anything else, take a moment to think about the foundations of you’re building upon.
Identity & Positioning
Start here:
Who are you? Not in a big dramatic sense, but as an artistic brand.
What kind of emotional space do you occupy?
What does your work feel like?
What are people meant to associate you with when they come across you?
You do not need a perfect “brand story”, but you do need some level of clarity, this is how people start to link the artist to the songs. In a world of visual hooks and short attention spans, if the look and the sound don’t correspond, audience connection gets weak fast.
This doesn’t mean boxing yourself in. It means being legible.
Digital Presence
Then look at the simple stuff:
Is your artist name consistent everywhere?
Do your profiles represent the brand you’re building?
If someone finds you today, is it easy to understand who you are?
That’s enough for now. No huge content system or perfectly curated feed.
You do not need to look like a finished product, but if your name changes from platform to platform, your visuals feel disconnected, or your pages give off three different vibes, people are left doing too much work. And most of the time, they won’t do it.
Put out enough information for someone to land there and understand the world you’re building.
Rights Awareness
You do not need to master rights today, but you do need to know they exist.
Once music starts moving, questions around ownership, splits, masters, publishing, and permissions are already in the room whether you’re ready for them or not. Artists quickly realise just releasing, performing, or posting does not mean you own anything. Ownership lives in rights, masters, lists, and relationships.
We’ll get deeper into that next month. For now, awareness is enough, here are some terms to familiarise yourself with:
Master rights = the sound recording itself
Publishing rights = the song that’s recorded, meaning the lyrics and composition
Splits = who owns what share of the work
Licensing = Formal consent, obtained from the owner, to use their material. (also referred to as rights acquisition)
Royalties = the money generated when that music is played, performed, sold, or used. (We’ll get more into royalties soon)
Time Audit
Then ask the least glamorous question of all:
How much time are you actually giving this each week? Five hours? Ten? Two scattered evenings and a Sunday? Be honest. Goals only work if they match your real availability. Ask yourself:
How many hours per week can you realistically put towards this, and are your goals aligned with that?
This is where a lot of pressure can drop. You might notice that you want a full-time outcome with part-time energy, or setting release goals that don’t match your schedule.Don’t get stuck blaming yourself for not moving faster when the real issue is that your expectations are built around a life you’re not currently living.
So before the next release, ask a simpler question:
Is the foundation there?
THE LOUDHAUS GOAL FRAMEWORK
Once the basics are in place, you need a system. Not a whole life plan, but something clear enough to keep you on track. The LOUDHAUS goal framework keeps it simple on purpose:
define a 12-month direction, break it into 90-day objectives, then focus on inputs instead of outcomes.
Step 1: Define a 12-Month Direction
Start with direction, not outcomes. Why? Because outcomes are not fully in your hands, while the direction you move in, is.
So instead of saying:
“I want 100,000 streams.”
or
“I want to go viral on TikTok”
Say:
“Over the next 12 months, I’m building ______.”
Examples you can steal:
“a 30 min live set + monthly shows around London”
“a 5–7 track project + a real audience around it”
“a sync-ready catalogue + consistent pitching”
“a small, strong supporter base + regular drops”
One is about chasing a result. The other is about choosing a route. A good 12-month direction should tell you what you’re building, not just what you hope happens.
Step 2: Break It Into 90-Day Objectives
Once the direction is clear, bring it closer. What needs to happen in the next 90 days? Keep it specific and controllable.
If the 12-month direction is to build a live set, your next 90 days might be:
rehearse weekly
lock in a setlist
test material in one small room
reach out for local support slots
If the 12-month direction is to build an EP, your next 90 days might be:
finish writing
choose the strongest five
record rough demos
get early feedback from a small group you trust
This is where goals stop being vague and start becoming usable.
Step 3: Focus on Inputs, Not Outcomes
This is the part people tend to gloss over while they’re focused on the results. Streams, followers, playlist adds, attention, but the market decides a lot of that. What you do control is the work. How many writing sessions you do each week. How often you rehearse. How many outreach emails you send. That’s where your focus should live. Because you control effort, the market controls results. That line is worth holding onto. It helps you stay clear-headed and it stops you building your whole sense of progress around things you were never fully in charge of to begin with.
BP001 introduced the bigger idea: structure comes before strategy, and the artists who last are usually the ones working with intention. This framework simply gives your effort a place to go. Something clear, repeatable, and sustainable.
Direction Creates Momentum
Most artists don’t need to do more. They need to get clearer, that’s really what this month has been about. Not chasing activity for the sake of it or building off pressure. First get honest about what success actually means to you, then set goals that match your real life, not some ideal version of it. Because momentum is not created by doing everything at once, it’s created by doing the right things, repeatedly, with enough clarity behind them that each move builds on the last one. That’s the shift.
Less random motion. More direction. Less reacting. More intention.
And once your direction is clear, the next step is understanding what you actually own inside this system.
