Music is a universal language. It is in every corner of the world, a lot of professions revolve around music and a lot of patience and talent is required to work with music. One of those most skill-requiring jobs is being a musical artist. Like any other profession, this has its own set of rules to keep in mind while being interviewed. It’s not an easy task to master a music interview but it’s not that hard either. Just the right number of guidelines and tips would help you do good. If you’re worried about where you can find them, we are here to the rescue with more than 10 sample Interview Questions for Music Artists and very useful tips. Want to know what they are? Let’s dive right in.
Let’s start with a very basic tip because this question is quite essential for any interview.
“Tell us about yourself?”
As boring as it sounds this question still has to be asked. And if you think of it as a waste of time and answer it without much attention you will be in a little trouble. It’s the time the interviewer makes a first assessment of your body language. So, it’s quite important to compose yourself and answer the question without seeming too over-enthusiastic or too unenthusiastic.
You can always hit it off with your full name, it might come by as a surprise when you realize a lot of people skip the very vital step when asked about themselves because of the desire of feeding them as much as you can about yourself. But it does not help you and might also create an impression of overconfidence.
Now you have to stop with the monologue to save time for the interviewers as well as yourself. It’s best for you to not fit every detail of your life into the answer. The person on the other side can get easily bored and it’s not what we want.
Interview Questions
- What made you, first of all, get into music?
Answer: This is another pretty common question, and you can answer with your real-life experience but as said before don’t try to fit in every single detail of your side of the story. You should always start on a happy memory for the best impression.
For example “I’ve always been very intrigued by the way music is produced or made and used to spend a lot of my free time trying to know about the things that we don’t usually see on the final product. While doing so I’ve realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life. I couldn’t see my future without it. Henceforth why I’m here today.” This gives the interviewer a peek at how passionate and stern you are about your career choice.
- Do you feel a bit scared to explore the maximum lengths of your creativity?
Answer: The question sounds normal and it is normal up to an extent. Feeling scared to explore creativity is nothing but restricting yourself. But at the same time, you don’t have to go to extreme lengths just to impress someone unless you think it’s worth the risk.
You can tell them how you can fearlessly explore every corner of your creativity until and unless it doesn’t get you in trouble. Make sure to assert your point about being a creative-minded person because being a musical artist requires a lot of unique thinking and that would be possible only when you get out of your comfort zone to look into other aspects for improvement.
- Who is your favorite artist or a person you look up to in the industry?
Answer: For example, you can tell them “I’ve always looked up to Usher, I like the way he carries himself and always tries to stay in his type of music yet blend in with the present day’s standards. Today’s competition requires a lot of consistency and creativity to stand out to people and he does that effortlessly which is why I find him very admiring and inspiring.”
- Do you think you can get better than you already are? If so, how would you do that?
Answer: When asked about improvement, always mention the chance for possible improvement. For this question, you can say something along the lines of “Yes of course! The ideal way to prove ourselves is to do better at all times. I believe we should never do less than what we have already achieved but it is obvious that isn’t humanly possible. Which is why we should always try and do better.”
- If you didn’t become a musical artist what would you be doing?
Answer: It’s hard to answer questions you have never thought of before and this is one of such questions. Because when you are confident in what you do and have succeeded in it already you wouldn’t be giving much thought about any other things. But at some point of time in your life, you might have thought of what you have to do if you didn’t succeed in the career you chose. Go ahead and tell them the normal answer. Put some words to your dry thoughts and cut the answer short to the question.
- Any skills you gained along the way that you would like to share?
Answer: Remember to tell them an easily understandable answer and at the same time interesting. For these questions, you can say some skills you’ve developed after getting into the career. When you’re in a profession as such numerous people look up to you and aspire to be in your place so never let them down with some random facts. Try to give them some genuine advice or tips.
- How much role do you think internet advancement plays in the industry?
Answer: “The internet has advanced at an astronomical rate over the last few years and it has become much easier and effective to get things done or get our message to reach out to people in all parts of the world. A while ago this wasn’t the case and the artists who had a large impact back then had to go through a lot of hard work and I respect them a lot for that. It is not that it has become too easy for artists now, everyone still has to go through a strenuous amount of work to get to where they are at the moment but the internet did make a difference and I’m thankful for that.”
- How do you deal with it if you made a mistake during a performance?
Answer: “What’s done is done, the chance of going unnoticed for our mistakes is very thin but that doesn’t stop us from correcting our mistakes in a reflex and that’s what I do too. Then I go back to the mistake once or twice to check on myself and to make sure that I don’t ever repeat it. Most of the time mistakes are unintentional so sulking over what happened is not going to get us anywhere. So that’s how I cope with my mistakes.”
- What is it about music that makes you feel the way it does?
Answer: “It might sound cliche but it’s undeniable that ‘music is the universal language.’ the world is huge and the people are from different places, races, tongues, etc. communication barriers are quite common but when it comes to music the communication barriers don’t exist. People would enjoy it if the music sounds good or they would just pass by. But when they do find it good they make sure to remember it and that’s what keeps us going. It is about how much positivity and peace we can bring to the world.”
- What would you say are the best and worst parts of being in this profession?
Answer: “The best part is that we get to bring joy into the world just by doing what we want to do and that also brings joy to us which is a great thing. But the worst part is that there are people who always point fingers at you no matter what you do. It’s not possible for a human being to not commit mistakes at all so being all too serious about every unnecessary detail wouldn’t do any good to anyone. However, on the bright side, we contribute to bringing positivity into people which makes it worth it”
- Do you think anyone can be a musical artist?
Answer: “Do I think anyone can be a musical artist? maybe not. But do I think anyone with a passion to pursue music can become an artist? Yes! All of the artists today have come from the basics some were given advantages and some weren’t but at the end of the day we still need to go through the same amount of hard work to be consistent and likable so it’s important to not lose your patience and always be sure about what you want to do.”
Conclusion
It’s nothing new to hear how strenuous it is to be a musical artist, it includes all sorts of challenges just like any other profession. And in interviews, you will require an immense amount of skill with your words to dodge the negative questions and pick up the positive pitched questions. However, it’s not hard when you are calm and settled so be a little attentive and you’ll do great.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the most common interview questions?
Answer: Here are the top five most common questions of interviews:
- Why should we hire you?
- Where do you see yourselves in five years?
- What is something you can do for us that we don’t already have?
- How would you describe your work ethic?
- What are your weaknesses and strengths?
- What are good random questions for interviews?
Answer: Here is a small list of interesting random questions for interviews:
- If you could end one world crisis what would it be?
- What is the most uncommon thing in your refrigerator?
- If you could talk to anyone in the world right now who would it be?
- How do you close an interview?
Answer: On an enthusiastic note, tell them how wonderful it was to interview them and show your interest in having them back. Also, don’t forget to address their concerns and compliment them required facts before they leave. Try not to make it awkward and be cheerful from the beginning.
