100 Tips to Market Your Music - Part 2
Even if an artist has an outstanding talent, record deals do not fall out of the sky and land in your lap without music marketing. In this Internet age, A&R at most record labels is not what it once was, so those reps are looking for artists that already have CD sales, a great fan base, and already have the look and feel of being made even more marketable.
We started a list of marketing tips in 100 Tips To Market Your Music and continue more
great ideas here, so tweak any of them as you will!
Tag your MP3s with your name or band name, not just the song name. They need to know WHO did this material when they happen across it months later.
Know who you are! Get into an appropriate category so that you can be found. People have to be able to identify your sound into a category that they can identify with. You may want to portray a new edgy sound, which is fine, but there are still general categories that people search on in record stores or online and you have to be found in one of them.
Throw a listen-in. Contact record stores, coffee shops, book stores, malls, recreational areas, galleries, cool clothing stores or nightclubs that are willing to support local music. The free listen-in could have talk session and discounted CDs with coupons.
Keep it simple silly, web sites that take a long time to load, are not easy to navigate, and are not interesting will not keep the viewer’s attention long enough for them to get to know you. So don’t make your personal website or any site that can be customized, so frilly that it turns a potential opportunity away.
Join local communities and organizations and go to meetings periodically and pay attention. Listen for opportunities in what they are saying and perhaps volunteer. Help them and they will help you. Nonprofit organizations are likely to have access to media outlets that may give your some exposure.
Check your public and local radio stations that play your type of music and try to get some air time.
You will hear a lot of no’s and negativity. That is to be expected as everyone’s taste is different. Hopefully someone will give you some constructive criticism. Learn from it what you can but keep moving forward.
Develop yourself as a complete package. Record labels do not spend the money on A&R as in the day. Educate yourself as a well-rounded music artist and present yourself as such.
Elevator Pitch – If you only have one shot to make an impression in 30 seconds or less, can you do it? You will need to, so practice it!
Post your gigs on your website(s), class ads, Craigslist, Backpage and other sites for your location.
Submit your music to songwriting competitions, musician competitions, singing contests – try out for American Idol, for gosh sakes!
Do a free conference call to chat with fans using your website. Record the call and follow up by posting the MP3 on your site. Promote it for all its worth.
Never release an inferior product, send out professional, and only your very best demos and new releases.
Get testimonials and reviews from people that matter and start locally if you have to. Add them to your press kit.
Make sure you make it easy for potentials sales to happen whether on your site or at a show. Make the payment process, safe, secure and EASY.
Have a house concert. Invite the neighborhood to your backyard.
Give your fans insider, behind the scenes, back stage with the band info and videos. This is great info to include in newsletters – people that signed up to learn more about you on purpose.
Take the good with the bad, and take it all graciously. You must keep your image clean or at least maintain the aforementioned image.
Don’t waste time, prioritize and go with the best bets. Put your energy into the correct market for YOUR music.
If you can write well about a music subject, write and distribute articles. Always source the article back to your website. Let it be redistributed with the bottom author source info to spread your message and link.
Gig swap with other bands from another area to widen your fan base.
A music profile or bio, press kit and press releases should all be well written, free of misspellings, kept current, and to the point. Schedule updates of your various online activities.
Find a business in your area that you can partner with for mutual benefit. If something about a song, style, or image would boost a local business, develop a cross promotional relationship.
Respond to all your correspondence in a timely, businesslike, and correct manner – appropriate to the sender. Be considerate of your audience.
Give people what they want. It’s all about the fans. If they come to your website, give them information that makes THEM feel good. If they come to your show, entertain them, thank them and thank the venue for the experience.
Don’t disappear. Once you have started building your momentum, it is a continuous onslaught.
Attend music conferences, indie showcases, music festivals. Gain exposure and network.
Be easy to work with and be flexible. A good reputation carries a lot of weight. Flexibility can also mean possibly adjusting areas of your work or image so as to get your foot in the door if need be.
Have a cause. Create an event to promote that cause. Team up with other like-minded bands and make a news worthy event out of that cause.
Business Cards - When talking to anyone, hand one out. You must include the link to your website. Consider your link as your online business card.
Rolodex your contact list (some sites have contact managers in their member consoles). Make a list and keep it current of all the places online and offline that you need to post to when you need to send out reoccurring press releases of news and events. Be aware that many sites have limits in number and/or time frames, be careful to not exceed them.
Invoke your personality into your writings to make your invitations, announcements and introductions fun and effective.
Clearly define what you are about – quickly, online or offline. People have short attention spans and are short on time - not just the music industry, but most people in general. This is very important! Don’t waste words. Make anything you have to say about yourself or band enough to give the important necessary information and cut out the nonsense.
Create a band calendar with some humorous photos of the various band members at various events.
You heard it through the grapevine. Share “some” inside knowledge with other bands and songwriters in your area. Start your own information highway.
Create an automated template for emails. Take the time to add the person’s name with a personal tidbit, but save time with a ready made email guide. Respond to unsolicited emails with your own personalized marketing message and a link to your website.
Play for free if you have to, any where, any time. Create an event, an event with a cause and donate the proceeds to a charity. This can open up some interesting contacts and opportunities. Sponsor an event.
Reach out and touch your fans. Whether someone else is maintaining your online presence or not, occasionally touch base with fans personally.
Include every ounce of contact info needed upon every available surface.
Borrow an idea from other sources, even outside the music industry. If it works for that company, perhaps you can adapt the idea to market your music as well. Find a way to put a new twist or slant on a successful bands tactics.
Send birthday cards to your fans…of course you need to get their birthday info when they sign up for mailing lists.
Get involved in the music forums and message boards that target your music segment and ALWAYS include your signature URL (aka web link)!!
Start a Music or Band Blog, well written and kept current. Submit it to music Blog directories.
Create a novelty song that topics a holiday, a hot news item, your city or town, sports team, political event or other idea and gain exposure on promoting this song.
Listen to your fans and learn what brought them to your show. This is very effective to giving you feedback on which promotional tool worked.
Success does not happen to those that wait. A record label , music deal, stardom, just creating a website “and they will come” does not just land in your lap with you doing nothing. You have to make success come to you. Be persistent, be confident, roll up your sleeves, it is going to take some serious work.
But wait, there’s more! We could not stop at 100! Here are a few more great tips:
Use the Internet to research and keep current on new ways and new sites to market your music.
Strength in numbers. Build joint ventures, collaborations and/or online partners on a project and both of you market that project.
Have a professional email address.
Don’t burn your bridges. Even with the increasing number of music “wanna-be’s” the music industry is a relatively small and close knit community. A wrong done to you by someone early in your career, may be that “someone” in a position of music power one day that you just might need to do business with.
Join the party, even if not in the mood. Don’t respond to the inevitable “what do you do” question with your day job, but tell your potentially new fan you are a musician and hand them your business card.
Keep a journal of your marketing efforts with what worked and what did not work. This can be used in many ways down the road besides tracking your efforts. A book or e-book maybe?
If out partying, have a designated friend or band mate for image control. If you get into something that could potentially land you in trouble, that controller gets you out of the situation before it can hurt your image. Video can be on the Internet before you even get home, so protect your image at all costs if you happen to get out of control.
Business is business. There is a time and place for slang/explicit language, behavior, and the like. Project yourself in a professional manner. Know when you are onstage and when you are not.
Get your own competition going about your band or a new release. Give something away, have fans register at local record stores, find a way to get buzz going by asking a great question.
Self promote everyday, in every way, one way or the other.
Some of these pointers may not be for you. That’s fine. Do what you need to do, just make sure we ALL hear about you. Very true that many artists do not have the funds to do some of these tips, well, with the Internet and some ingenuity it possible to get around this to an extent.
The difference between you and another band that made it may not be that their music was better. It might be that they found a way to get noticed better. The music industry needs music talent and is constantly on the look out for something that stands out. If you have the guts and perseverance, it can be you.