Page 46 - Zone Magazine Issue 018

STUDIOTIPS008
DIY MARKETING TIPS
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Daniel Daly <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
T he music business is forever changing and has evolved from the classic multi-million dollar record label model, to a more independent and digital model. More artists today are starting their own labels or releasing their music through various online distribution services. This development has caused a major rethink in the creation, distribution and most certainly the
marketing of music. The aim for most artists, is to turn their passion into a reasonably sustainable living and by marketing and promoting yourself correctly, this can be a very real possibility.
Assuming you have already gone through the painstaking process of picking a name for your brand/image, you should now look at how you can market your product (music), using your newly created image. From the very start even as an amateur musician/DJ, you should be portraying yourself in the most professional light possible. Your name, logo, online presence and overall demeanour, should be a reflection of how you want your music to be depicted. If your name or logo doesn’t stand out, you will get lost among the herd and the herd is expanding all the time at an enormous rate.
Have a direct relationship with your fans and followers wherever possible. If you engage with fans or offer them something personal, they will respect you much more than if were an online ghost. Have you ever met an artist you really love, only to be brushed to the side when asking for a picture? Never be that person. You should be a person first, artist second. The smallest interaction with a fan or follower, can make a huge difference. This one fan might turn out to be one of the biggest music bloggers on the internet and you have just ruined any chance of you being featured on their site. Keep these kind of ideas in mind when dealing with any followers.
1. A Website
Some people may be surprised to see this mentioned, as many artists have decided against creating websites and using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to host all their content. The reason I think having a website is still a good idea, is because you can customize it a lot more than any other platform and you can also embed every other form of social media on your sites page. This means you can host all your content in one place and design and organize it however you please. It is now easier than ever to set up your own website, without the help of a professional coder. By using sites such as Squarespace, Wordpress and Tumblr, you can easily build a website from the ground up, for a very minimal cost.
Now first and foremost, it should come as no surprise that to successfully market something, you must have a product people actually want. If people are to invest their time and money in you, they want to invest in something of high quality. So before trying to market yourself as the next big hit, make sure you ARE the next biggest hit. You should approach your music, interviews, live gigs with marketing in mind. How can you use this interview/performance to your advantage, how can you use it to spread more information about you and your product.
Having multiple social media accounts set up, should be a given for any artist. First of all It is free, most people use it as their main source of information and it gives you direct contact with your followers. But what you have to remember, is that just setting up a social media account doesn't automatically promote you, it simply helps in the process. Social media is a tool and like any tool it must be used correctly, if it is to be utilized to its full potential. There are many different platforms out there for you to choose from in terms of social media, so here are just a few of the main ones for you to try out.
2. Bandcamp
Next, you will need a place to store your music for people to listen to and download. For most people, the obvious choice for a streaming service would be Soundcloud. Instead, I will offer the alternative solution of using Bandcamp as your choice of streaming platform. Some of the main reasons I would choose Bandcamp, would be because you can sell your music directly on the site, when users enter their email address to download your music you can automatically add them to a mailing list and you can also select a "Pay what you want" option. Starting off as an artist, this can be a very smart choice, as you can't expect people to pay a lot for a newbie artist and by giving the option of getting the music for free, people will be more enclined to download it. You'd be surprised how many people would still pay for a track or album that has been offered for free simply as a kind gesture.
" Now first and foremost, it should come as no surprise that to successfully market something, you must have a product people actually want. If people are to invest their time and money in you, they want to invest in something of high quality. "
46 ZONE-MAGAZINE.COM
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