Learning how to promote your music could be considered even more important than the music itself. Of course, this is arguable, but considering all the genius artists that litter the streets wasting away simply because they had no marketing experience, one must step back and ask a different question.
Perhaps even more telling is the low quality of music we hear on the radio these days. Everyone knows it, even Coldplay admitted they “were no Elton John”, but they were featured on 60 Minutes none the less. Why? Because of “Marketing.” This simple yet profound word marketing is the key not only for success in music, but the success of everything from finding a partner to finding a job.
So now the question becomes: How To Promote Your Music?
In this series we will cover the meat and potatoes of promotion, which applies to the current digital age. The meat of promotion is lead capture and the potatoes is the building of your relationship with those leads. Of course leads in the music biz are fans and fans want to be part of something bigger than themselves so first we must focus on our brand.
What or Who Are You?
If you’re saying, oh I know who I am and your not crushing it with fan building, you may want to reconsider who you are and why would some fan want to follow you. The first thing here is to consider what you represent. For instance, Chad Scott the artist is a yogi surfer and makes feel good music. He caters to the beach crowd and anyone who likes yoga and surfing. What or who do you cater to? Once you’ve determined this you can define your target market.
Accessing your target market
Your next step will be to find out where you can reach your target market and start promoting your music to them. Obviously, the first step here would be Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Since promoting on these digital platforms is a course in itself we won’t go into detail here, but encourage you sign up if you haven’t already on the right to gain access to a free Music Launch Pad PDF explaining these promotional methods. Additionally, Music Launch Pad will soon have full video courses that guide you step by step through the process of promoting you music on all major digital platforms.
Wrap Up
Make sure here you have clearly defined who you are and why some fan would want to follow you. Without this, your promotion and marketing will be a waste of time. Next, find out exactly where these fans are by following other famous artists who play similar music. You can make simple introductions to yourself and your music by first engaging on other famous artist pages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Some of these people, once they trust you’re not just trying to take their money, will check out your site. So leave a link as bait only after you’ve established yourself as a participant in the conversation about someone other than you.
Stay tuned for the next installment in this 3 part series.
Kevin – MLP Staff writer