Your Mental Health
Burnout, Failure & Self Esteem
At Syncr, we hold a responsibility to help independent musicians at all stages of their careers, through successes and “failures”.
We’re always working to improve how we work with our musician community and make a positive difference; by partnering with organisations, updating how we work and speaking to you directly.
If you have any further feedback or advice on how we can use our platform to help, feel free to reach out to us at hello@syncrmusic.com with the subject ‘Syncr Mental Health’.
Unsuccessful Applications
We understand that receiving unsuccessful emails can damage self esteem. Often though, it’s not that your tracks aren’t good enough. Mostly, unsuccessful submissions are the wrong genre, territory, format or just not relevant for what the client is after. Sometimes certain lyrical themes or instrumentals might be perfect for the job, so that’s not a comment on the quality of your track. Reading the briefs and considering if the track is right is key.
Sometimes competition is tough. But that doesn’t mean you’re not competitive either. If your track is sent on, for any of our briefs, then its been heard by key industry professionals who may work in other areas of music where you might earn opportunities. Artists have been turned down for playlists and signed by the same person in the same week.
If you submit an audibly rough track, it’s not going to work. This doesn’t mean you need to hire the best producers in the world for your track, but if you, or someone else, can hear a low quality of recording, it’s not your talent holding you back.
And remember, for our ongoing briefs, you can always try again.



Burnout
Burnout is a term to describe how we feel when we’re working ourselves into illness, perhaps through pressure and over-exertion.
Working as an independent artist can be a full time job sometimes and while we aim to help springboard and streamline your journey, sometimes things can get too much.
Here’s a really great video from Spotify about what it is, how even the biggest stars experience it and how to combat it.
“Failure”
Throughout the history of modern music, musicians of great talent have been told otherwise, at all stages of their careers; Madonna, The 1975, Lady Gaga, U2, even The Beatles and Elvis. How they handled “failure” didn’t stop them. Here are a few things to consider if you’re struggling with defeat:
No artist is successful every time, its ok to not to win.
Without a good base of mental health, music can be a difficult game, look after yourself before anything else. Then, let the great music follow.
You can’t control the result, but you can control how you react to it and what you do next.
There is always someone willing to listen to you, friends, family, organisations and us. Don’t suffer in silence.
Failure can be important. Experiencing a set back can give you more perspective about why you’re making music, what music you should be making and how you should move forward. Sometimes there’s a purpose, and it can help you discover your true voice.
Most importantly, failure doesn’t exist if you love what you do. So keep making music that you love making.
Talking
Hayley Kiyoko, Aminé, Christina Perri and Lindsey Stirling on how to talk to a friend about mental health. Made in a partnership with Portal A and Ad Council. Learn how to start a conversation about mental health with your friends here.
Mental Health Resources
There are some amazing groups that are helping with artists’ mental health, self esteem, addiction issues and more. Here’s a few.
Music Support is a charity ran by people in the UK music industry, working for individuals in any area of the UK music industry suffering from mental, emotional and behavioural health disorders. If you need to talk, you can call them on 0800 030 7689 any hour of the day, any day of the year.
Help Musicians UK offers a range of both preventative and crisis support – you can contact them on 020 7239 9100 or at info@helpmusicians.org.uk
Music for Mental Wealth is a community interest company dedicated to the prevention of mental health challenges in the music industry. We worked with them on our War Child competition Songs of War.
Thank you for being a part of the Syncr community, keep making music that benefits you and don’t be afraid to reach out!