This is a guest post (submit your guest post) by Shaun Letang, a music industry consultant out of London. You can find more about him at Music Industry How To.
I'm going to share with you four mega-tips that could instantly change your music career for the better! All four tips are focused on your mental approach to music marketing, as without the right mentality, it'll be a lot harder to launch a successful music marketing campaign.
1. It's Not All About You
This is probably the biggest point of the article and one that a lot of musicians still haven't realized:
If you want people to buy in to you, you first have to benefit them!
As a music adviser, I've seen countless promotions by musicians in various forms. One thing a lot of them have in common is they focus purely on themselves. For example,"I want to become a big musician so I'm going to let everyone know about me."
Thinking like this can kill a music career.
Ask yourself, if someone came up to you saying, "I'm going to be the next Jay Z / Mariah Carey / Justin Bieber, buy my music," would you go on to listen to them?
No, my guess is you wouldn't. And neither would most people. So try and steer clear from portraying those kind of messages.
How can you draw people in instead? One good way is to get them involved.
Competitions work well, as everyone likes to win at something. Asking people questions and getting them involved with decision marking is another, as everyone likes to feel their opinion matters. And finally, letting your music do the talking.
Get your music on platforms that play your kind of music, and letting it be the first thing people hear of you. This will make for a much easier "sell."
2. Un-Targeted Promotions Are A Waste Of Time
I feel promoting your music is an essential part of any music career. After all, if you don't let people know your music exists, how are you going to get your sound heard right?
That said, not all things you can do to promote your music will be beneficial. You must make sure your efforts are target the right people -- people who will be interested in what you're doing.
Who are the people who have proven to be fans of your type of music?
Spending your time promoting to people who have no interest in your genre is a waste, and is time that would be better spent reaching places where your target audience hangs out. So look for those places and focus any marketing campaigns there.
3. Marketing Is An Ongoing Process
The music marketing cycle never ends!
The moment you stop marketing yourself is the moment your music career starts dying. (Click To Tweet This)
Competition in the music business is fierce and the market is crowded with talented people. New artists are always fighting for the attention of fans, and if you don't keep your fans entertained, they're get their entertainment elsewhere.
When you stop marketing your music, your reach significantly lessens. The compound effect needed for successful marketing takes a big dip and you lose momentum.
So don't stop.
As a musician, you should always be marketing your music in some form or another. Even if you've only got three songs, keep promoting them. Avoid thinking, “I recorded that song six months ago and I've already promoted it. I can't push it any more, it's old.”
If you've never heard something, it's not old. And, regardless of how hard you're promoting yourself, most people have never heard your music.
Never stop the marketing process, or aiming to reach new fans.
4. Marketing Your Music Costs Money
This is worth repeating. Effectively promoting your music costs money!
Yes, there are hundreds and even thousands of free ways to promote your music, but if you can promote your music a lot more effectively in terms of both reach and speed of implementation by simply paying money, why wouldn't you do that?
"What if I don't have the money for this?"
A common question... My response is, "How are you getting your music recorded?"
Hiring a studio (or purchasing a home studio), music distribution (physical or digital), and artwork (graphic designer fees, design software) all cost money. So if you can find the money to invest in these things, you can find the money for promotion.
Even if you have to push your release date back a couple of months so you can save enough to effectively release your single or album, make it happen! You'll give yourself a much better chance of success. The worst thing that can happen is to put your time, effort, and energy into music that nobody is aware of, so do everything in your power to make sure this doesn't happen to you.
And it doesn't end there...
The above things are important to remember if you want to make the most out of your music marketing efforts. That said, in the same way you should never stop promoting your music, you should never stop looking for new tactics and strategies to get your music out there!
I hope you found this guide useful, and I look forward to answering any additional questions you may have in the comments below...