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Marketing, Marketing, Marketing!! You have to sell your music. Record Labels are attracted to independent artists who sold a lot music (prior to signing a deal). Selling music gives you bargaining power when negotiating a deal with record labels. We’ll get into that later
Internet Marketing is very much a matter of trial and error. However, there are a few musts for independent recording artists. Independent recording artists must have the following types of web pages:
1. Their own website
2. MySpace music page
3. Facebook page
4. Soundclick page
5. YouTube page — post interviews, performances, videos, and communicate with your fans
Link all of your pages together as well, so people can jump around. Obviously you will have to have pictures made to post on these web pages. You may want to invest in a good video camera, I stress the word good!
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
That is what marketing it is all about for the independent recording artist. Arista can afford to have pictures of Usher in every magazine, on every billboard, and on thousands of posters. YOU CANNOT!!
You have got to get your name to the top of those Yahoo and Google searches so people can find you. They can find Usher on T.V and in every video. They can find you on the Internet. THEY MUST BE ABLE TO FIND YOU WITH EASE!! People have short attention spans. Fans should not have to dig through thousands of MySpace pages trying to track you down. They won’t, would you?
First step to Search Engine Optimization is to make a good web page (yourbandname.com), get a Myspace Music page not the regular MySpace page (myspace.com/yourbandname), get a FaceBook page, Youtube, Soundclick, WeMix, make a blog (wordpress.com/yourbandname or blogspot.com/yourbandname or do both) and link all the pages TOGETHER. This means put a link to each page on each page so people can hop around. This also bumps you up the search index (we’re optimizing).
On your main web page (yourbandname.com), make sure your Meta tags, title, and description are clear. They will not appear on the web page itself but in the coding. If you registered with CD baby, they give you a web page and templates to choose from so this is done for you. If you’re not good with web design find somebody who is or a company you trust. You don’t have to worry about Meta tags on pages like MySpace, Facebook, or WordPress. They do it all for you.
Continue to research Search Engine Optimization. I just gave you an introductory crash course. Search Engines will continue to evolve with technology and so will you.
Other Internet Social Networks (ex) WeMix.com
There are a lot of other on line social networks and web pages you can create. For example, Ludicrous and some other industry vets have created WeMIX.com for independent artists and producers to promote and network. Be on look for more on line communities like MySpace and Facebook.
Blogging — I recommend WordPress.com
Pick a topic that has nothing to do with music at all, but something you are interested in and know a lot about. Use your music as background ambiance music, don’t forget to post a link so they can find it. Jill Scott’s music used to be a Real Estate companies hold music before she became famous.
AVOID MASS EMAILING
Everybody hates SPAM, I know I Do. If you want, have a mailing list people can sign up for.
Catchy Hook
A catchy hook (chorus) is one of the easiest ways to market a song. I know, all of you think you have a catchy hook. However, how many of you would have come up with the Soulja Boy hook? The Soulja Boy Dance? I hate that song and dance but it is sooooo catchy. It stays in my head all day.
This is how Soulja Boy was able to market himself on the Internet and get discovered. People heard the song once, but it stuck in their head all day. I keep using him as an example because he used Internet marketing and that is what you will be doing.
***It’s easier to make a catchy hook with a hip hop track as opposed to a ballad. Ballads have a lot more words so you need to be careful***
Web Site Visits Are As Important as Sales
Here is the biggest secret. Website visits are as important as sales. Record labels look at whose getting the most visits on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and others in addition to who is selling. SoulJa Boy was averaging over 10,000 plays on MySpace.
If you have a MySpace music page, every time somebody visits you get 1 play on your music player. Don’t play yourself (i.e try to visit your page 1,000 times a day). It won’t help because they check computer IP address. They’re looking for artists who are getting hits from all over the world! Not your own home.
***Another Example of Why Internet Visits Matter: A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. She made a website and posted videos of her dancing. MTV came to her!!***
Time magazine gives the breakdown on Tequila’s visits and Internet numbers in this article. Here’s an excerpt below:
Nguyen—or, oh, fine, Tequila—may be the least lonely girl on the Internet. She has more than 1.5 million MySpace friends. Her MySpace profile has been viewed more than 50 million times. Her self-published single, the profane and attitudinous F___ Ya Man, now playing on her MySpace page, has logged 13 million spins. (To listen to it is to hear the sound track of a million parents’ dreams dying.) She gets somewhere from 3,000 to 5,000 new friend requests every day. She is something entirely new, a celebrity created not by a studio or a network but fan by fan, click by click, from the ground up on MySpace.
Read the rest of the article at Time.com or click here.
T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers
No don’t sell them, give them to your family and friends. Have them wear them as much as possible. T-shirts make people ask questions. Bumper stickers are hard to miss. The more people see your name, the more likely they are to Google it on the computer.
Give Away A Song For Free
Every now and then give a song away for free. This gets people listening to you. Pick a catchy song, they’ll play it in the car with their friends. Next thing you know they’ll be visiting your web pages looking for more.
New Technology = New Way To Market
Technology is constantly improving and so is marketing. In 1990 nobody marketed on the Internet because most people did not own computers. Now it’s the only way, and almost every home has at least one computer. Be on the lookout for the next technological improvement. Technology defines marketing. Example: Cell phone marketing with Ring Tones.
Ring Tones
BillBoard magazine tracks ring tone sales. Click here to see for yourself. Take your most catchy song and turn it into a ring tone. Put it on your phone, your mom, dads, sisters, cousins, boyfriends and anybody you can find. Next time your dad is golfing with his buddies give him a call. His friends may not like it but they will remember it.
Ever have a friend whose cell phone rang all the time and you hated the ring tone? Still remember what it sounds like don’t you? My point exactly, you did not forget the ring tone. In fact you may even catch yourself singing it. That’s marketing baby!
They may not even like your ring tone. However, if everybody starts using it and talking about it people assume it’s hot. I call it the Jessica Simpson effect.
If you’re distributing your music through CDbaby, you can sell ring tones. A couple of the companies CDbaby distributes to allows artists to sell ring tones. One of those companies is 3guppies.com
Internet Radio
It’s the newest thing so jump on it. Get your music on some Internet stations. Radio is on it’s way out. When you get in your car do put in for favorite CD? Do you plug in your ipod or Mp3 player? Hell yes. People spend less and less time in the car. Gas is almost $4.00 gal so nobody can afford to spend a lot of time in the car.
Everybody is on the computer. Jump on Internet radio and become friends with on line DJ’s. Let them remix some of your songs and put them on their mix tape. It’s great publicity, just make sure you copyright your music first.
Work With An Industry Producer For $100 or Less
Yes You Can! Trackmasterz is a big name. When you Google them you can see they’ve worked with Beyonce, Nas, Alicia Keys, and others.
To help aspiring artists they came up with Trackmasterz.com. Independent recording artists can lease beats from trackmasterz and are allowed to sell it with their vocals 10,000 times. Trackmasterz still owns the right to the beat. If a major label wants to use the song they have to buy the beat from Trackmasterz.
On your MySpace, CDbaby, Facebook, etc.. you can say you were produced by Trackmasterz. This will help attract more traffic to your web pages and move you up higher on the Internet search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Read The Secret by Rhonda ByrneImage may be NSFW.
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Yes, it works. It’s a quick read and a great book. In order to succeed in the entertainment industry you have to visualize making it and believe it daily. Doubt cannot stay in your mind. If it enters, kick it out!
In Conclusion
We’re in the digital era. Television will be completely digital by February 19, 2009. Radio will soon follow. Does Arista records still make cassette tapes? No they don’t. Distribute your music digitally, don’t waste money having CD’s pressed unless it is for a promotional venue or giveaway. Market your music digitally. Stick to the Internet and keep looking for new technology. As technology changes new markets and marketing approaches are created.
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By Jamille Luney
Music Analyst
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
