Wish to sharpen your music advertising and marketing expertise in an effort to develop your fanbase?
You possibly can create the very best tracks on the earth and distribute that music worldwide, however your songs received’t go very far with out good music advertising and marketing.
Sure, that’s true for artists in any respect ranges, together with superstars like Billie Eilish. In case you contemplate the careers of your musical heroes, I’ll guess most of them had been the beneficiaries of excellent music advertising and marketing.
However does “advertising and marketing” sounds intimidating? Or possibly like some soulless enterprise exercise? The let’s body it as one thing extra thrilling and artistic.
Good music advertising and marketing is:
- telling part of your music’s story
- in a compelling means
- to the correct viewers
- by means of the correct medium
- on the proper time
- so your splendid listener will discover, care, and take motion
You probably have a solution to monitor outcomes and follow-up with audience-members primarily based on the particular actions they’ve taken, all the higher! However I’ll depart extra superior ideas similar to optimization and retargeting for one more day.
In the present day I need to discover 5 frequent music advertising and marketing errors you need to keep away from if you wish to steer your profession in the correct path:
Be careful for these music advertising and marketing pitfalls!
1. Not advertising and marketing your music in any respect
What’s the MOST frequent crack in an artist’s advertising and marketing basis? It’s not advertising and marketing in any respect.
You would possibly know any such artist. They excel at taking part in exhibits, recording tracks, even releasing music. All of the enjoyable stuff. Maybe they publish a couple of present in Instagram Tales or create a Fb Occasion. Or they could put a hyperlink to their newest single on their homepage.
However they’re actually simply checking issues off a listing. These artists don’t take extra steps to make these actions really feel really particular. They don’t incentivize participation. What a disgrace!
That you must join the dots between the specified consequence and the steps it’s going to take to get there. As a result of the precise legwork of excellent music advertising and marketing begins by discovering the STORY you need inform, after which determining inform that story effectively.
Earlier than you launch a track, announce a present, or drop an album, you need to reply these questions:
- What’s distinctive about my track, occasion, or profession?
- Who’s it for?
- Why ought to they care?
- How will somebody really feel as soon as they attend, pay attention, or buy?
- The place do they reside?
- When do they should take motion?
Not each piece of promoting content material you create has to handle ALL of the above. However YOU ought to know the entire story earlier than you start telling it.
Then you need to listing all of the avenues and instruments you must inform that story. Phrases, video, photos, emails, texts, and extra. Make use of what you have got!
2. Neglecting your audience
One of many greatest advertising and marketing errors musicians make is failing to outline WHO their diehard viewers actually is: their demographics, preferences, wants, and behaviors.
We would like our music to be cherished. By everybody. However that ain’t gonna occur. Every time Taylor Swift sells out some large metropolis stadium, there are a whole bunch of hundreds and even hundreds of thousands of people that stayed house.
Don’t dilute your music’s affect by anticipating it will likely be all issues to all folks. If the web proves something, it’s the facility of leaning into your area of interest. You don’t need to solid too broad a web. That you must start with a audience in thoughts which helps you focus your efforts on the correct folks, the correct platforms, and the proper of content material that successfully drives engagement and motion.
Your viewers and your focusing on can change over time. However no less than start each advertising and marketing effort with a selected viewers in thoughts.
3. Not creating sufficient video content material
TikTok, Reels, Shorts. Social video is the whole lot proper now. It’s THE major means artists attain new listeners at the moment. So it’s arduous to overstate the significance of a vertical-video technique. I imply, frequent, high-quality video output.
You must create a mixture of movies, together with:
- Efficiency movies (“reside” at house, in live performance, or in an attention-grabbing setting)
- Behind-the-scenes whereas recording
- Touring adventures
- Enjoyable details about your songs or lyrics
- Speak to us immediately (whereas strolling the canine, placing on make-up, and so forth.)
- Livestreams and AMAs
- Cowl track snippets
- Gear evaluations or tutorials
- Highlights from non-musical elements of your life
- Occasional memes, skits, or tendencies (so long as it pertains to YOUR artistry or pursuits)
The best way that social platforms work now, viral moments have an more and more shorter shelf-life. So you possibly can’t lean on just a few good movies for too lengthy. They’ll go stale.
As for high quality, social video can seem informal, however it ought to NOT look beginner. Make certain it has stable sound and lighting.
You possibly can “batch” your content material creation by capturing a bunch of movies as soon as a month, or you possibly can combine TikTok into your each day life. Both means, video content material creation needs to be baked into your ongoing efforts as a musician.
4. Squandering social engagement
Are you aware the place your lifelong followers are most probably to be? Within the feedback of your posts!
And but numerous musicians make the error of ignoring the facility of social engagement. They publish content material as if social is a one-to-many distribution channel. They don’t encourage additional dialogue, ask questions, or invite participation. Or they DO — however then fail to answer these feedback. Both as a result of they’re too busy, too disorganized, or worse, they consider it as a activity that’s beneath them.
These are your followers, your advocates, your prospects. A coronary heart or a thumbs-up is the least you are able to do. Now think about how endeared you’d be in case your favourite artist put aside time to have a small however precise human dialog with you within the feedback part.
This kind of customized social administration isn’t “scalable,” it isn’t all the time enjoyable, and also you received’t instantly see the outcomes. However provided that it’s a free, easy, and direct solution to deepen your reference to individuals who’ve already responded to your content material, I’d argue there’s no higher use of your time.
Write ‘em again!
5. Ignoring the info
Information sounds chilly. Artists are heat, feeling, distinctive, proof against numbers. However we shouldn’t ignore what the info is telling us. Information is the story of how effectively we’re telling our story. How, if, when, and the place our music is connecting.
Information doesn’t promise to current a fairly image. However it may be a goldmine for musicians. In all these analytics dashboards, advert units, and insights, you’ll discover the keys to your profession development.
The place do it’s worthwhile to enhance? How must you pivot in your advertising and marketing? What are your choices to get higher outcomes for cheaper prices?
Your intestine instincts are beneficial, however the knowledge doesn’t (normally) lie. Make a behavior of checking your numbers and the story they inform. Comply with the surprises. Lean into the successes. Be taught from the failures. Repeat.
Conclusion
Whereas the music trade continues to vary quickly, most of the frequent music advertising and marketing errors above are (sadly) perennial.
So preserve them in thoughts this 12 months, and in all of the years forward. At all times attempt for a extra strategic method to your storytelling, focusing on, content material creation, engagement habits, and evaluation.
Higher music advertising and marketing might imply the distinction between obscurity and notoriety in our more and more aggressive and noisy world.
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