As a budding musician you doubtless are wondering how to get the word out on your great music. No matter that everyone in your family and neighborhood think you’re absolutely fantastic, the world must first meet you to judge you accordingly.
So let’s say you have a few songs under your belt, you’ve played them in some of the venues in your area and you have a pretty solid conviction that you have what it takes to go national or even global. Only thing is, you don’t have the resources to go on a national tour or play in another country, leave alone organize a local concert. How do you get people to take notice? Two words: social media. Everyone on social media is there for some form of socializing and where socializing is going on, there is a fertile market for your music. Here are five ways you can jumpstart your music career using social media.
Social means Socialize
Yes, first rule of engagement: DO NOT get into social media to market or advertise or promote your music. What you need to do is use social media to get noticed, so get socializing. Create networks, follow other people, join conversations that interest you and so on. The most important thing you can ever sell to your fans is yourself. They want to see who you are, what you are about. If you are cool then your music must be cool. Of course drop some links here and there to your music but do not become that boring social media account that is constantly spamming followers and everyone who will listen with the same link over and over.
Network
While you get to socialize, be very particular about the people you follow. Building extensive networks of people who do not have any immediate relevance to your needs is pointless. If you are a rock singer, seek out groups and people who have some affiliation with rock music or music in general. Following everyone haphazardly is a recipe for disaster. Keep your social media links very clean and well organized and know exactly who you are connecting with and why. Once you have a targeted audience, you now have the opportunity to sell them your song.
Image matters
Imager matters matter on social media. You are only as good as the reputation your Twitter handle, Facebook page or Google Plus profile has. If you are wont to post all manner of absurdities, ask yourself whether popular musicians handle their social profiles in a similar manner. Remember, people value genuineness, but they can be very unforgiving if you post something that offends them in some way. The saying is true always, “the Internet never forgets” so watch out what you put up on your social media profiles, it may come to haunt you when you get famous.
Playlists
Today many consumers have become skeptics by default. They don’t like your music before they even listen to it. Gone are the days that some few positive reviews would have been enough to convince listeners that you were worth their time. Today you have to serve up your music on a silver platter and let the listeners decide. Social media is great for this because today Facebook has some great tools for bands and musicians and only recently, Twitter launched their own music app. There are also many other social media platforms such as MySpace that are built specifically for music and musicians. Get a good following then let them have the best you have to offer. In the end, what you need more than selling a million copies of your first song is credibility and visibility. You may not sell much of your initial songs upfront, but you will get some much needed publicity.
The viral myth
Viral marketing has fast become the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If you are a breakout artist, this may work for you. However, if you are like most of the rest of the artists, you will not have much more than a few hundreds or thousands of listens on YouTube or MySpace. Don’t fret. Viral videos are a very difficult thing to pull off and sometimes end up becoming popular for reasons other than the original intended purpose. Work instead on building a steady following on your social media accounts. A few thousands is what you should be targeting initially. The point is, if the three or four thousand fans you have bought your music and liked it, and each told one friend, your exposure would double instantly. So work hard at impressing your “early adopters”, the rest will catch on later.
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Scott Ryan advices musicians on marketing and networking opportunities on the Internet. He also writes for Morris Brothers Music, a store that helps musicians get the equipment they need.