Music Artist
As an artist, one of your goals is to be able to place your music in front of mainstream media and newfound fans. You want to expose your talent, skills and music to as many listeners as possible. While having an influential manager with the right connections can help make that happen, the great news is you can share your music yourself by simply working on the skill of marketing yourself.
Is getting noticed in a space filled with other aspiring independent artists going to be difficult? Yet bet it will be! However, it’s not impossible. There are ways and means to get noticed. You have already proven yourself capable of being creative with your music, so why not implement the same with marketing yourself. It may seem daunting but with a little bit of effort and ingenuity, you’re certain to pull it off.
Here are several tips that you can use to get some attention for both you and your music:
1) Be relentless in making music
There are some musicians out there who believe that the first song they produce is immediately going to be their ticket to fame and fortune. In reality, though, that’s unlikely to happen. What’s more likely is that you’re going to have to put in a tremendous amount of work into your craft. This means consistently working on your music to create new songs to share with listeners.
Consider the songs that are currently at the top of the charts right now. They might stay there for a few weeks or a few months if they’re lucky but sooner than later, you’ll start to hear these songs less and less until they just simply fade away.
This is typical of the music industry, as it is fluid and is constantly changing. Listeners get bombarded with new songs every, which means you need to keep working as well so that you don’t get left behind.
2) Take every chance to perform
As mentioned above, being an independent music artist means you have to incessantly work on your craft. Yes, you need to constantly produce songs but at the same time, you also have to make sure you’re performing as often as possible. It’s a tricky balance. It’s exhausting even, but you have to ultimately keep at it to reap its many benefits. You see, every time you perform on stage, you enhance your stage presence, which means you’ll be more comfortable and eventually, confident with performing onstage.
Also, every time you take the stage, you’ll get the precious opportunity to establish and build your brand, bolster your social skills and expand your social network by meeting more musicians, producers, music journalists and other people who work in the industry. Performing often will help you become sharper, which can result in better performances. Besides, you never know who might be watching in the crowd. Your latest performance just may be the ticket that you’ve been waiting for.
3) Establish a solid fan base
When it comes to marketing yourself, you will soon find that to make a name for yourself in a space as crowded as the music industry, you will have to spend as much time promoting your brand as you do making songs. This is crucial in building a robust fan base.
One of the best ways to start building a strong following is by becoming social media savvy. Always take every chance to engage and interact with fans on various social media platforms. Who wouldn’t get excited by the chance to interact with their favorite artist, right?
In addition, you also have to entice listeners to follow your social media pages. And on your pages, you also have to make sure you’re churning interesting content to let your fans know you better. Regardless if you have a following of a hundred people or a million, you constantly have to publish engaging content on your social media pages. Once you build a strong fan base, others will follow and soon, you’ll see your music getting shared more frequently than ever before.
4) Forge a strong brand
A strong brand carries with it a lot of value in the music industry. Consider this situation: a record label is on the hunt for the next big thing and is basing its decision on the social media pages of two competing artists. The first artist has a logo that is symbolic of both their music and their journey. The pages that people see on their website feature clear, crisp images and they have a professionally written bio that links straight to their website. Most importantly, the messaging across all their social media pages are clear and consistent with what the artist and their music stand for.
Meanwhile, the second artist has different logos across their social media pages, the pictures are substandard and their bio reads like it was written by a fourth-grader.
Now, based on this information, which artist will most likely be given attention to by the record label? The answer may be obvious but all too often, a lot of independent music artists don’t fully grasp this concept, leaving them to wander in obscurity for most of their careers. And so, when it comes to establishing your brand, it is in your best interest to give some serious thought to how you come across to your fans and to the music industry in general.
5) Be mindful of your expenses
The rockstar lifestyle is what you may be aspiring for, but while you’re still working towards that, you might be better off being prudent with your expenses. That means spending your money like you’re running a business. Stay off buying things that you don’t need and focus your efforts on acquiring tools and services that can help you get your name and your brand out there more.
6) Get a professional photographer to take your pictures
While you may be all about your music, the fact remains that musicians are not judged solely on how they sound. With that in mind, you should seriously consider hiring the services of a professional photographer to take photos of your performances. You can then share these photos on your social media pages to further bolster your brand.