The scene of the music industry has been evolving so rapidly that one might feel as if they are caught in a time warp. Go just a couple of years back and you would find that a lot of tips and tricks to market your music have become totally obsolete. With so many independent artists, directors, labels, producers and whatnot coming up every day, just creating good content is no longer sufficient. We cannot even stress upon the importance of marketing your work through correct channels as not doing so would surely result in your work being buried in an abyss never to be discovered again.
There are organizations out there who solely handle the marketing part and the competition is ever-rising even then. Yes! There is a whole industry out there just devoted to finding ways of how to market the music which is being created. And oh boy they are doing a remarkable job coming up with ingenious ideas every day due to the sheer strength of their workforce and the power of money behind them. But what about someone like you who cannot afford to hire a marketing agency and is striving hard to leave their mark all alone? Well, don’t get disheartened as this article is exactly for you. So, let’s dive right in!
1. Perform Whenever And Wherever You Can
A lot of budding artists keep waiting for that one big break and never see that day. Yeah, that is the harsh reality of the industry you are trying to make it big in. Or even if they do get a chance to perform somewhere, they consider it beneath their level to get up on that stage considering things like their formal knowledge of the subject, their experience, being superior to others, etc. And this is where the winners differ. Now it is absolutely not wrong to miss gigs once your name starts spreading amongst the popular circles but in the beginning, you cannot and should not be choosy.
Winners here try to grab every opportunity with both hands as they understand how important it is for them to be seen by people when they or the artist they are trying to promote performs. Thus, they say yes to almost every gig possible so as to be in the active memory of people. This provides them the opportunity to create fan pages and other stuff where music enthusiasts can actually connect with them. Monica from PaperDoers still remembers the first time she saw this new lead singer at a concert and has been following his work ever since
2. Promote Yourself Like Anything
Neither you have a huge PR team behind you to make you a recognized face nor do you have the resources for the same. Thus the only person here in-charge is you. Think of yourself like a one-man or one-woman army and get going. Pick up that phone and see where the next gig is happening. Call the promoters and send them a sample of your music. Tell them that you are open to performing without getting paid and are even willing to spend money on yourself out of your own pocket in case they need to tour somewhere. Think of it as paying someone to do your homework. And in this case, the homework is promoting yourself.
This, like everything else, might result in a few rejections but it will surely set a few eyeballs rolling out of curiosity because now people know that you are out there delivering good content and they don’t need to spend a dime on you, at least initially. This will do a world of good for you as you will be seen in all the right places. When you arouse people’s curiosity, they would be more than willing to look into what else do you have to offer and bam that is when you hit them with your new record album!
3. Start Collaborating With Others
Collaboration is such a powerful tool. When you collaborate with other artists, creators, singers, directors, etc. you are basically exposing yourself to their fan base. The key here is the same ideology to get your name out there as much as you can. It is like getting some assignment help from an intelligent friend. By collaborating, you are exposing yourself to new people who would be seeing you with their favorite artists. This technique is also psychologically very powerful as people tend to assume that if their favorite artist is giving this person a chance, then they must be really worth it.
So, whatever their fan base is, one-thousand, five thousand or even ten thousand, you are giving those people a new kind of music along with the usual and a chance to register new memories. Many artists don’t collaborate due to the fear of being sidelined due to the star power of the other person. Little do they know exactly what they are missing and how important it is for them to get a foot in the door when nobody knows them.
4. Start YouTube Marketing
Before you start feeling uncomfortable after reading that word ‘marketing’, please hear us out. By marketing, we are not asking you to go around in suits, shake hands with people or even sell them something. Here, by marketing, we mean to make you use the worlds’ second-biggest search engine to your advantage. We want you to get in front of a camera and reach out to people out there. “But what should I say?” we hear you ask, which brings us to the golden trick here.
Get in front of the camera and start solving problems. Yes, that’s right. Solving their problems is the best way to connect with people. You can teach them something that you know or you can guide them through various obstacles that they might face as a young musician. Maybe they just want to know how to go about writing a song. Whatever it is, fill that gap between the problem area and the solution through your presence. This will earn you dedicated followers who would be more than willing to tell others about you. In between these videos you can always slip in a reference to your latest work. Sleek, isn’t it? By the way, in case you need written content on what to say on the video, this ProWritingAid Review will help you understand their services better.
5. Build A Mailing List
Sounds old and cliched right? That is exactly why a lot of budding talent is missing out on this trick and you can take advantage of right there. Old and cliched doesn’t mean it won’t work right? It also is dependent on the four steps we talked about above. Whenever you perform, collaborate, promote or market yourself have cards ready to be handed out to people who come and talk to you. Put in your details there. Have a website detailing what you are all about and your previous works. Give people a chance to know more about you once they reach home.
Having something as simple as an opt-in form on your website would get you dedicated followers who would be looking forward to hearing from you about your next work. Make sure you don’t spam their inbox with junk mail but are rather frugal about your mails and ping them only when you have something good to show. This will not only build their trust in your music but also in you as a person. They would then be all praises about you to their friends and word of mouth advertising is still one of the most powerful forms. Doug, from Essay Typer, says that it is not without a reason that still the biggest companies in the world believe in the power of a mailing list.
These are our top 5 tips in case you feel alone out there in the music industry. If supported by good content, these tips can make you rise up the charts pretty quickly and see yourself in places where you always wanted to be. In case you have some more cool pointers, please write to us and we here at TrumpLearning would be happy to include them in our article. Till then, let the music play!
