The era of the mega hit is gone - niche is the new mainstream. Find your niche and rule it - or better, create one and own it. In this interesting discussion with Ariel Hyatt of Cyber PR, Derek Sivers talks about an important feature of the online music environment vital to understand if one is to make headway marketing music online.
A few members of the Record Union team were recently discussing some of the gigs they had been to the last few weeks, and an important marketing point came up which will serve as the basis of today’s advice. The point is that if you are playing live in front of an audience, make sure they leave knowing who they saw!
Here is the story. There was an open mic at one of the local rock bars here in Stockholm and a band were playing who were seriously good. The crowd was engaged, the lead singer was doing all the right moves and they were quite honestly tearing the place apart. They played a great set, said their thanks and left the stage. However, at no point did they give their name. When they arrived, they said hello, began their opening song - when they closed they left with not so much as a hint at what they were called -let alone where people could find them online. Not only is this a real shame, but quite frankly, it is bad marketing. In desperation fellow gig goers were consulted, and yet again, a dead end - they didn’t know their name either.
So, please, if you are playing live do not make this mistake yourself - introduce the name of your band clearly, as many times as possible. Make it stick. A band who is good at this is Allout (pictured above) whose members include Record Union´s head designer. During gigs, Peter will scream variants of “Allout, Allout, we are Allout, dont forget it, Allout, no spaces, just Allout” before the opening song, in between songs, and even during songs - amusing the crowd but also providing a few memorable moments. People wont forget their name in a hurry.
Furthermore, if you are getting a good vibes from the audience, why not drop some more information? A MySpace address, a quick note that people can find you on certain popular streaming services. If you are feeling ambitious, you can even print some cheap flyers to hand out at the end of the gig.
People love to talk about “this amazing band they say the other night” but how can they market you if they don´t know your name?
We have received feedback recently from artists who would like us to post more articles about how to promote and market music as an independent/DIY musician. Not ones to ignore such feedback, we will put on our promotion hats and post a new promotion related article every Monday. Here is the first of the series!
The importance of a well managed mailing list cannot be understated. Having a strong database of email addresses to fans is very important, and if you are not putting some effort into developing your mailing list it is fair to say you really should be.
A mailing list is your number one way to communicate with your fans about new releases, new videos, upcoming concerts and tours and other news. If used correctly, a mailing list can also help you nurture and solidify new relationships with fans. Asking for feedback on new songs, videos and photos, holding competitions, giveaways and generally engaging fans and making them feel more involved will do alot to strengthen your their ties do you.
If the online music industry had a holy book, Andrew Dubber´s free eBook “20 things you must know about music online” would be it – it is the absolute must read for any artist who wants to make headway in the sometimes treacherous and often bedazzling online music business. Actually, it is a holy book; it expounds 20 undying and immutable truths which should guide your online music strategy; though shall not, on pain of eternal damnation, question 20 things! Ok, perhaps this is going a tad to far . The truths are not immutable, because like reality the music industry is everchanging, but it does provide some pretty sound guidelines. Containing sound insights crammed with useful tips and strategies it is a great resource to get potent advice and information about how to best utilize the possibilities now available to aspiring musicians in the advent of the web 2.0 (or 3.0?) era.
That’s right folks, just give it away! Don´t try and make money from music sales, make it available to everyone, for free! Or…don’t.
It is quite worrying when self proclaimed marketing gurus encourage musicians to not focus on trying to make money from their music itself (as this is a silly thing to do) but to solely focus on alternative revenue streams. This post is not criticising the wisdom of giving free samples away, this is the oldest trick in the book and a great way to introduce people to your music; but making things other than your music your primary revenue stream seems quite defeatist. The arguments for giving your music away free are understandable - putting a price on your music will drive potential fans away (since music is now free), people dont want to pay for music anymore (especially not yours), music is free like it should be! Get with it! - but these arguments are by no means conclusive.
The alternatives presented to not selling your actual music are to sell aspects of your music which cannot be “copied”, which is pretty much not to sell your music at all, but yourself. Get people to pay to be your fans and sell them stuff which non fans dont get, like behind the scenes pictures, interviews, limited edition merchandise, exclusive song releases etc. Fair enough, these revenue streams should be considered, but
