Did you know there are now more than 30 million musicians in the USA competing for the attention and loyalty of a nation of discerning music lovers? The music industry is often labeled as relentless and even more so for female artists with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reporting that 2017 marked a six-year low for female artists as they accounted for a mere 16.8% of chart-topping artists. While raw talent and tenacity play a big part in overall success, something as seemingly insignificant as effectively marketing your own music often has the ability to make or break even the most talented of emerging female artists.
You play state-of-art instruments like a pro, have killer songs and have thought about going on tour with your band. You are ready to take your music to the next level, empower other up-and-coming artists and become famous, but you have no idea how to reach your fans. If you want to become a successful musician and sell your music to countless people, it is imperative that you create a significant amount of heat on the street. While word-of-mouth marketing is still seen as one of the most powerful means of promoting your music, the internet, and social media
While word-of-mouth marketing is still seen as one of the most powerful means of promoting your music, the internet, and social media, in particular, has opened up endless doors in terms of effective music marketing. Creating an emotional reaction over the internet that can see you gain life-long, money-spending fans and be relatively easy if you follow a few basic guidelines.
Don’t ditch social media
Just when we thought social media couldn’t get any bigger, it did. Despite some recent negative hype surrounding Facebook and its ever-changing algorithms, it remains the fastest-growing social media platform, with the average Facebook user accessing the platform as many as 8 times a day. As powerful as social-media marketing may be, it isn’t a straight-forward marketing tool and often acts as more of a catalyst for conversation and improved word-of-mouth marketing. Fan engagements are of vital importance, regardless of platform.
Artists and bands should aim to post fresh, interesting content on a regular basis, taking the time to ‘like, comment and reply’ on fan posts. There are a few brilliant social media marketing strategies that can be employed and that work particularly well if all your accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.) are linked. Posting short teasers to your new tracks is a great way to create hype around your music.
Going live on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during a live gig is great, although hosting a Q&A session is even better in terms of engagement. There are many artists who put a significant amount of effort into their social media presence. Selena Gomez, for instance, has perfected fan-interaction on social media and has even linked her accounts to her website, maximizing her exposure across all platforms.
Get in on the blogs
Promoting your music entails reaching out to new audiences and interacting with your current fans. Music-related blogs carry huge potential in terms of music marketing as bloggers are constantly on the look-out for new content. Even emerging artists are able to approach blogs with a cleverly worded, personal pitch that will sell their appeal to the blog’s followers.
Blogs generally have an established audience that could turn into fans for the artist or band if the blogger is sufficiently impressed. Generic album reviews may not cut it where some of the more hip blogs are concerned so aim to give interesting content of new songs, tours and charity initiatives. Podcast blogs, social media blogs and, website blogs should all be considered – your chances of being featured are greater if you approach as many reputable blogs as possible instead of only a select few.
The time and effort invested into the effectual marketing of your music will never go unrewarded. It is important to remember that even though internet marketing may form the basis of your campaign, traditional promotional methods such as print media and live music should never be discarded. The most successful marketing strategy will be one that embraces age-old proven methods as well as more modern-day approaches, combining them into a seamless, striking effort that will see you not only win over the hearts of new fans but succeed in keeping your current ones well appeased, too.
“I recorded the bed tracks for this album after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer and slated for surgery to remove it. This diagnoses itself came after a fallow period of illness and getting sober. I had started to write again, and wanted to capture my voice on tape in the event that something went awry in the surgery. Tony Scherr, my old friend, stepped up immediately; we recorded all the beds in less than three weeks in short 3-hr sessions while my son was in school. We later added overdubs and a couple newer songs, once my voice had healed” – Kate Fenner
