Marketing Mojo - What You Need To Do

How do I get my music heard? It's a million dollar question, I'm asked this one a lot and it has no simple answer.

Writing a great song, arranging, performing, recording and mixing it well is is no easy task, but for now, let's assume we've done all that and have a burning desire to unleash the music to the world. For someone like Lady Gaga, at this point in her career, getting a song promoted is as easy as sending out a tweet to her legion of followers, but believe me, her marketing genius did not happen overnight. It has been honed and developed over a number of years and expanded to include some of the best professionals in the business. One also has to consider that Gaga is arguably more of a celebrity persona than a singer songwriter. Take away all of the show, glitz and controversy and a lot of that goes right out the window. That said, love it or hate it, she's a master at what she does.

For Artist X working out of their bedroom / studio in Lawrence, Kansas it's going to be one small step at a time.

It's time to take off your creative musical shoes and change into your  creative marketing shoes. For many artists, marketing is the last thing they want to be involved with. "I just want to make music" is a common refrain when it comes to artists getting their hands dirty in promotion. Unfortunately, unless you have deep pockets or someone with deep pockets supporting you, be prepared to work very hard in the trenches for a while.

The first thing you should do is come up with a game plan, which includes a realistic budget, schedule, goals and a list of potential free or inexpensive resources.

Who is your audience? Where do they spend their time? How do they get their information? Who do you know that can help you reach them?

Are your fans facebookers, tweet followers, gamers, blog readers, youtubers? Do some research. Ask them? Do an informal quiz at your next gig. Ask them to friend you. Give them your website address. Start a YouTube channel where you can post videos.

What do you need?
Unless you have deep pockets, you may need some lessons in how to update posts, photographs, videos, and developing the discipline to respond to your fans quickly and keep it all going. Lynda.com is a resource I use extensively to learn new technical and software skills. Everything from wordpress tutorials to Logic, ProTools, Avid, Final Cut Pro and Quickbooks tutorials are just a logon away. $375 for unlimited use for a year is the best education deal around for creative types.

A good graphic artist can be a huge help in developing visually captivating artwork, logos and layouts. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Make it easy to navigate. ALWAYS make it easy to find your next gig with time, place, address and phone numbers of the venues and if there are special deals for tickets. Make sure your fans or potential fans know it.

You'll need someone who can build a web site. If you have a little money, it would not hurt to find a copywriter who can help you express your ideas simply and effectively.


All of this is marketing. Some of it can be fun and entertaining, and some can be tedious and time consuming, it can be VERY creative..so come up with a plan and stick to it. The plan will expand, contract and morph as both needs and technology develop, so be ready to respond to changing needs and resources.

Start slowly or it will overwhelm you. Probably the easiest thing you can do is create a fan page on Facebook. It's not too difficult to do and there are many online resources that can offer you tips and tricks.

You'll also want to get your music onto iTunes and sell physical CDs. The local retailers in your area can be a great friend if you work it right. You can do this with the help of any number of well known and reliable services.  CD Baby to Ioda  are two of the oldest and best known. There are many new and extremely innovative ways to distribute your music. If you are willing to put in a little legwork, this it relatively painless to do.

Now it gets interesting.  Beyond iTunes, facebook, myspace and your own branded web site, there are dozens of other companies both online and retail who distribute your music to the world. You can tweet, develop  an iPhone app, blog, post personal videos, sell merchandise, develop ring tones and link to your favorite instrument and clothing companies and start to develop relationships with possible sponsors. You might even find a local or regional business to help sponsor you. Get to know your local club owners or talent bookers. If they don't know you, they can't hire you. Get yourself known to music supervisors and advertising agencies. License your music for TV, video games, films, commercials and on-line  ads.

LOVE YOUR FANS!!! - They will be your biggest promoters if you treat them with respect and bring them into your family. Find out what music blogs they read and then get your music to the blogger. If your fans like the blogger, chances are, he or she will like you too. If you are in a college town, seek out the DJ's at the local broadcast or online college radio station. Give them a CD. Invite them as a VIP guest to one of your shows. Offer to do interviews with the local school newspapers.

To do this takes lots of time, and either some money to hire specialized marketing firms or lacking promotion capital, a very energetic friend passionate about marketing and your product who is willing to put in the time and effort to help you out. If you are lucky enough to have this relationship, don't abuse it and make sure you take care of them should success follow.

A few notable companies doing innovative work in music for both indie and major artists today are: Reverbnation, Tunecore, turntable.fm and Topspin. Turntable.fm is a new one to me and is still in beta testing, but it's very interesting and has the potential to be a great marketing tool.

If this information does not spark some ideas, then you might not be in the right business. If it seems overwhelming, it is; but it does not have to be. You don't have to do everything at once. Start with a facebook page and a one page website with a song and a link to your facebook page. Make a plan and stick with it.