Your music is on point and your website showcases you and all of your glory! What now? You have to have promotion to generate traffic to your website and social pages. So, do you hire a marketing and promotion team or do it yourself.
I say start off promoting yourself! Nobody knows you better than YOU! Social media is one of the places to turn to. It allows you to connect with your fans and make conversation. It gives people that one on one connection that we all look for in our favorite artist. Places such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and SoundCloud, are perfect places to start.
Now, you can't go and just make these pages and not put anything on them. A good social network promotion consists of constant updates, links to your other pages, and of course great content. Content is the most important point to remember when developing your social media pages. Fans need something that keeps them involved. This will drive your subscriptions, followers and likes up. Having dedicated fans will help you with promotion as well. Ever heard of getting rid of the middle man? The middle man may be a label, marketing, or public relations person. I am not saying that you will never need them, but starting off, you have to work with the funds (or lack thereof) that you have. Eliminating the middleman and focusing on your fans will actually shift the heavy load of promotion from you to your fans! If your fans like you, then your fans will give you the promotion without the need to pay someone to help you get it! They'll also help you generate funds if you give them links to your music.
With social media, your success in it starts and ends with you. You have to make yourself stand out and wanted. Be creative, tell your story, and make it interesting. Post short statuses that involve little tidbits of information about you, your music, successes, failures, etc., Make your fans want to know more. Make them say "hey, that's how I feel" or "I learned something that I didn't know." Keep them involved and they will help you get to that next level!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Steps to building your artist website
You've started your marketing and promotion, but you do not have a place to send your fans or potential fans to.
Every band, promoter, artist, producer, etc., needs a website. As stated in the previous post, you have to have a main place that you can send your customers to. From personal experience, most music supervisors, labels, and other artists look for websites, Youtube pages, and/or Soundcloud pages to view and listen to music from an up and coming artist. Not to mention, it's a great place to post your upcoming shows or placements. So how do you go about doing this?
A website is super easy to make. With sites such as Wix.com, GoDaddy.com, and others; all it takes is some creativity and something that makes it stand out from everyone else's. Why not let that be your music? An article entitled Making a website isn't as hard as you think, gives reasons as to what makes you special and how your "specialness" can promote you to the next level. Your website has to have this same "specialness." Your website should be a digital you. It should allow the viewer to step into your life as an artist.
5 vital features for your band website gives great advice on key factors that should be a part of every artist's website. Here are a few things that you should include based on the article and personal experience:
1. Photos: Your fans want and need to know what you look like. You may be like Deadmaus and not physically show your face, but they need to know that. They need to know what your "gimmick" is. The group that I am the Project Manager for called The Beat Geeks, has a producer who wears custom masks. Anytime a fan sees the mask, they know that it is Bobby Drake of The Beat Geeks. That's his "gimmick." You can also include photos of you at events, charities, or with other celebrities.
2. Bio: You have to have a bio. People want to know the real you and how you got to where you are. They want to be able to have an emotional connection with you. Include people that you have worked with and who has helped you along the way.
3. Music: Of course you need your music. Put your top 5 songs on the site. More can be added as needed. You want to pick the best of the best and ensure that it is a variety of music. After all, you are directing everyone to this page. You never know who might Google search you and fall in love! You also want to include links to your music for downloading.
4. Videos: If you have professional videos, you should post them on your site. People love visuals. Even if it is photos of you and your band with the music playing over the photos.
5. Contact: The most important part of your website is your contact page. You have to have someone listed that can be reached. Always include a name, e-mail, and a phone number if possible.
These are the most important items needed on your site. What else would you add to make your site stand out?
Every band, promoter, artist, producer, etc., needs a website. As stated in the previous post, you have to have a main place that you can send your customers to. From personal experience, most music supervisors, labels, and other artists look for websites, Youtube pages, and/or Soundcloud pages to view and listen to music from an up and coming artist. Not to mention, it's a great place to post your upcoming shows or placements. So how do you go about doing this?
A website is super easy to make. With sites such as Wix.com, GoDaddy.com, and others; all it takes is some creativity and something that makes it stand out from everyone else's. Why not let that be your music? An article entitled Making a website isn't as hard as you think, gives reasons as to what makes you special and how your "specialness" can promote you to the next level. Your website has to have this same "specialness." Your website should be a digital you. It should allow the viewer to step into your life as an artist.
5 vital features for your band website gives great advice on key factors that should be a part of every artist's website. Here are a few things that you should include based on the article and personal experience:
1. Photos: Your fans want and need to know what you look like. You may be like Deadmaus and not physically show your face, but they need to know that. They need to know what your "gimmick" is. The group that I am the Project Manager for called The Beat Geeks, has a producer who wears custom masks. Anytime a fan sees the mask, they know that it is Bobby Drake of The Beat Geeks. That's his "gimmick." You can also include photos of you at events, charities, or with other celebrities.
2. Bio: You have to have a bio. People want to know the real you and how you got to where you are. They want to be able to have an emotional connection with you. Include people that you have worked with and who has helped you along the way.
3. Music: Of course you need your music. Put your top 5 songs on the site. More can be added as needed. You want to pick the best of the best and ensure that it is a variety of music. After all, you are directing everyone to this page. You never know who might Google search you and fall in love! You also want to include links to your music for downloading.
4. Videos: If you have professional videos, you should post them on your site. People love visuals. Even if it is photos of you and your band with the music playing over the photos.
5. Contact: The most important part of your website is your contact page. You have to have someone listed that can be reached. Always include a name, e-mail, and a phone number if possible.
These are the most important items needed on your site. What else would you add to make your site stand out?
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Steps to getting your music heard? Part 1.
So you have great music and you know without a doubt that everyone will love it if only they could hear it...what now?
Many people in the entertainment industry are unaware of what avenues to take to get their music out to the public. One of the first things that I have noticed is the lack of internet presence. Every artist needs a main page or site to direct potential fans to. This can range from a music page on Facebook to your own personal website, which I recommend. The Importance of Having a Website for Any Business explains that people immediately research your name or business to find out more about it. If you do not have a website, potential customers, fans, and even record labels have nothing to go to as a point of reference. Your website should consist of your bio, professional photos, music, performances, press, videos, contact information, and links to your other pages (i.e, LinkedIn, SoundCloud, Facebook, Twitter, etc.,). It should be a "one stop" shop. It becomes your electronic resumé.
Once you have your website up and running, now you need to start promoting and marketing yourself to drive traffic to it. How To Make It In The Music Industry - 4 Key Factors lists key points in making it in the industry. One of those points is to know how to market the right way. Anyone can sit at the computer and tweet their music out to a limited number of fans. This is not the correct way of marketing and promotion. A good artist needs a team that can not only build up internet presence but also build up "real world" presence. This consists of going out and handing out hard copies, performing at small venues, linking up with a non-profit, and of course taking the internet by storm. By no means am I saying that Twitter is not a great place to network. However, it should not be your only means of getting your music out.
These are just a few steps to pushing your music out to the public. Ensuring that you have one main location to send everyone to and also having a strong team behind you is important to any artist that is up and coming. My question to you is what avenues are you taking to lay the foundation for your career in the entertainment industry?
Many people in the entertainment industry are unaware of what avenues to take to get their music out to the public. One of the first things that I have noticed is the lack of internet presence. Every artist needs a main page or site to direct potential fans to. This can range from a music page on Facebook to your own personal website, which I recommend. The Importance of Having a Website for Any Business explains that people immediately research your name or business to find out more about it. If you do not have a website, potential customers, fans, and even record labels have nothing to go to as a point of reference. Your website should consist of your bio, professional photos, music, performances, press, videos, contact information, and links to your other pages (i.e, LinkedIn, SoundCloud, Facebook, Twitter, etc.,). It should be a "one stop" shop. It becomes your electronic resumé.
Once you have your website up and running, now you need to start promoting and marketing yourself to drive traffic to it. How To Make It In The Music Industry - 4 Key Factors lists key points in making it in the industry. One of those points is to know how to market the right way. Anyone can sit at the computer and tweet their music out to a limited number of fans. This is not the correct way of marketing and promotion. A good artist needs a team that can not only build up internet presence but also build up "real world" presence. This consists of going out and handing out hard copies, performing at small venues, linking up with a non-profit, and of course taking the internet by storm. By no means am I saying that Twitter is not a great place to network. However, it should not be your only means of getting your music out.
These are just a few steps to pushing your music out to the public. Ensuring that you have one main location to send everyone to and also having a strong team behind you is important to any artist that is up and coming. My question to you is what avenues are you taking to lay the foundation for your career in the entertainment industry?
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