I don't care what an artist says, they're not just making music for the love of music. They're making music to be heard. So if you want to get your message across, and definitely if you want to make a career in music you have to get the word out somehow. Enter a marketing strategy.
Back in the day, getting your music heard was expensive and difficult. An artist would send tracks to local and national radio stations and record labels hoping that it would get played. Only to have their wonderful track put in a bin underneath a desk, in a storage closet, in the trash. (Oh, you wondered what happened to that club banger you sent to
Get Played Records huh?) Sorry, I thought you knew.
I get unsigned artist dropping me music everyday, hoping that I'll pass it on to someone that they feel could give them that break that they need. So honestly I hear new music EVERYday. Some of them I know will never get past local acclaim, some of them just need to get to the right ears and some of them need to stick with their day job.
In this modern digital era, getting heard is basically a mouse click away. So how do you take advantage of the many, many, many avenues to get heard and possibly signed? Let's visit a few, maybe you'll find what you've been looking for to lead you on the road to stardom.
REVERBNATION
When I stumbled onto ReverbNation, I walked through the various components of the site and was impressed. Within it's pages and links you can find an extensive array of singers, artists, bands, management and indie labels. So with all this info passing through it's music superhighway, what lane do you get in? We'll that's up to you. The site requires work. But you knew that becoming a successful musician/artist was about the work right? To get the maximum out of the site, you're gonna have to sit down one afternoon/evening and organize yourself.
See, what the site does is offer anyone stumbling through a 360 degree visual of an artist. So with that said, you have to organize yourself so that when all sides are shown, you look like the artist that a prospective consumer wants to buy into. I say consumer because even if you just want a label to recognize your talents you have to get them to "BUY" into your vision as an artist.
The site even helps you find gigs in your area to assist with exposure. Could it get easier? I don't think so, but you have to sit down for a bit and sort yourself out. It's not just about making music. There's a whole business behind it. I can't tell you how many artists hit me, wanting representation. Because the bottom line is, they don't know how to maneuver through the vastness that is the music business. Yes, I reiterated business because, you not only want to make music but you want to be heard.
TWITTER
I don't even know how to start with Twitter. Believe me Twitter can probably be the best street team you ever have, IF USED CORRECTLY. I used to represent an artist that for the life of me, I couldn't understand why the sales numbers weren't going up. When I began to represent him the main thing I said to him was, "You put in the work, and I'll work on my end." Truthfully I wanted to keep up my end of the bargain. But his actions weren't helping his career. Of course twitter can be entertaining, but if you're building an enterprise, creating a brand or futhering your career.
Maybe you can help me understand, how a person has more than 1000 followers, releases a single on iTunes and only gets 12 sold in 3 months. That's one every week. Yet you talk to these people everyday, they laugh at your jokes, you have constant dialogue with them and they keep telling you they like your music.
So I went to the the tweets. Of the few tweets that I saw from him regarding his release, (When I say few, I mean five max). One tweet told me all I needed to know. The replies to that tweet we're promising...there were numerous congratulations. Then I saw a few "fans" that asked him to email the single. I think iTunes provides a substantial preview of all tracks, but he complied. Not just once, but a number of times. I couldn't believe it. So all that hard work of building a fanbase goes out the window. If after you would have given away so much free music, you ask them to pay, they want you to give it away too? Those aren't fans, they want free entertainment.
Watch how the celebs do it, they build a fan base and get their FANS to do the work for them. And it's not just celebs that have learned this tactic.
I recently featured
Greg D. in Music Monday's Who's Got Next. Guess how I heard about him? Someone else tweeted his stuff. And they didn't even say "Listen to it"...their tweet was actually...."I've been killing this
@LickMyTatts song for the last hour, I can't wait for his "Become A Fan" mixtape." At the end, they posted a link of where they were listening to it. So I listened to it and I liked what I heard. I began to follow Greg D. on twitter and guess what, he wasn't constantly promoting his music, but he was constantly promoting Greg D. the brand name. He interacted with fans, he talked about his music influences and he asked people questions about why they listened to certain artists.
