Should Artists Travel To Make It?

One big debate that goes around many local music scenes is whether or not an artist should move away to gain success from their music. Of course with the internet being a huge factor in today’s music, some may feel like they don’t need to move away since they can reach a larger audience from home. Of course there’s the noise issue of a lot of rap artists that flood people’s timelines and inboxes with their music. So, reaching new music consumers may require interacting with people in person, which would require an active music scene. So the question remains: should an artist have to travel in order to have a successful music career? Below is a list of artists that either traveled often either as children, or as adults to further their music careers:

· MGK born in the Houston, moved around to Egypt, Germany, Chicago, raised in Denver and settled in Cleveland, did Showtime at the Apollo in New York

· Kanye West was born in Atlanta, moved to Chicago, China, then Los Angeles right before he blew up.

· 2pac born in Harlem, known as a West Coast artist

· Post Malone born in Syracuse, NY, later relocated to Dallas, TX

· Eminem born in St. Joseph, MO. Moved back & forth between MO and Michigan. Got discovered at a rap battle in LA by Dr. Dre

· Wiz Khalifa was born in North Dakota, grew up in Germany, England and Japan. Finally settled in Pittsburgh.

· Lyfe Jennings from Toledo, OH, did Showtime at the Apollo in New York, moved to Atlanta

· Waka Flocka Flame born in Queens, NY then moved to Riverdale, GA

· Drake born in Toronto, spent a lot of time in Memphis with his dad, spent time in Houston after Wayne discovered him

· Rick Ross born in Clarksdale, MS raised in Carol City near Miami

· Chris Brown born in Tappahannock, VA, discovered by locals with connections to NY and got offers to sign when he went to NY

This may or may not prove that traveling could help your music career since there are plenty of artists that didn’t leave home to get recognized. Truthfully, even if you can stay home and get recognized from your music, you will still travel and gain recognition by touring, so why not start now? Use your resources and connections to travel and spread your message in different areas because even the best artists can get old to the people in their hometown.