Hi everyone, hopefully you've already read the first module and the administrative instructional posts so you are up to speed, if not, here's links to them...
@christheaudioguy/music-marketing-course-lesson-1-market-what
@christheaudioguy/the-official-indie-artist-song-release-checklist
So... We know
you need recorded music
your first song should be your single and also the best song (2nd best at the very least)
you need to warm up your potential customers without asking them to just buy your music (remember 7 times)
-you need social proof to even have those people become fans
What's next?
We need to grow our fanbase and start to think about marketing this first song or single ahead of its release.
Did you know that when a major record label is going to release a new song to the public on radio and streaming, they prepare a 3-6 month window of advertising to get people interested in that song? Now usually, the artist they are releasing already has active marketing going on with their old music, so they use this to propel the new song as well. You'll notice that before the new song comes out, you'll start to hear more of that artists music playing more often on radio, you'll almost always see reports of a concert that takes place featuring the new song,and maybe even some extra paparazzi type stories coming out about the artist to put the in front of people in the media.
Now, of you are just starting out, you won't have all this extra free content made already to use.
Your next job is to start interacting with new potential fans.
The best way you can do this is to live feed yourself playing your music or coversongs to get people interested.
Each time you make a public appearance whether through a post, ad or other means, you will start to talk about or mention in the text that your single will be coming out on ______. Make a solid release date for your first song.
Even if you have released other albums or ep's prior to this new single, you can still use the same approach because the new single will eventually be part of a new album or EP.
There are many things you need to prepare for the release of your first track as well.
You will need...
a cover art (cd case image) with the title of the single on it somewhere
a set of artist photos for using to promote the release (photoshoot)
social feed pages for your brand (minimum of Facebook, twitter, Instagram)
a logo (the face of your brand apart from your own literal face)
a lyric video (artwork with the words Operating during the song)
a music video (a choreographed visual presentation)
lyric cards (text over image)
Now this one is interesting to me after learning about it. As you know by now, memes are the biggest thing on social these days.
The idea with lyric cards is to pick your most inspirational or meaningful lyrics out of your single and paste them over an image. The sky is the limit with this, but it's a good idea to try to use imagery that lends to the idea of the words and your song and also you as an artist.
Over time, the more content you make should really paint a story about who you are as an artist and brand.
You'll also notice that by doing all these extra steps and posting more and more content, you are fulfilling those 7 pre sales interactions that help to butter up your fans to ecentuallyake a purchase once the EP or album is released.
The Importance Of Creating BUZZ
Have you ever seen or maybe you've tried it yourself releasing music. The pre release time period has not been properly used to get people interested, the artist releases the music, posts "hey my album is out go get it now!"
....
And no sales are made :(
Theain reason for this is that you need to create buzz around your release.
You want people licking their chops drooling waiting for that very minute they can go get your album.
The more you promote yourself through posting and each time letting every eye that sees it know "there's an album coming ...there's an EP coming soon"
The more buzz you will create.
One other thing you should always do even if you have never played live before is to schedule a live event where you play a set for an audience just after the release of the single.
That way, you maximize your fanbase, your ability to get streams on your single when it drops, more sales and engagement from the live show, and also have a friend videotape the performance for more online post content.
I know when I go play live, I have a photographer there getting shots of me playing to later use as promotional materials.
The key to this entire marketing process is that there is A LOT of work to do.
Write down all the things you need to complete for the release, and work on a thing at a time. Bite size pieces of you will.
Rome was not built in a day, and neither should your release. That is the idea of spreading all these posts and work out over the 3-6 months leading up to the release date.
As always, remember you don't have to have perfection in everything, it matters most that you give everything youve got. Always try your best and nobody can expect more than that no matter how it turns out.
Being an indie artist is a process that takes time. You need to let your work pay off over time because you're not going to see massive results in a day.
I hope this post has shed more light on the marketing process and that you can go apply some or all of these techniques to create a stunning release and get your music selling FOR REAL!
If you have any questions, be sure to ask in the commebts I always check to see if there are any to answer!
Stay tuned for the next module in the series and if you are an indie artist and have not joined our discord channel, here is the invite link!
https://discord.gg/EaEsdF
Cheers,
Chris