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Marketing Basics

Jan 05
Love314
Start Music Career

16 Essential Things You Need to Know to Start Your Music Career in 2024

By Marketing Basics, Music Business 26 Comments

2024 Update: This blog was originally published in 2018, but I recently updated it to reflect the changes I’ve seen in the past 6 years.

Have you recently decided that you want to pursue your passion for music, but have no idea where to start? If you’ve been doing music as a hobby for a while now and you want to get more serious, you’re in the right place.

In this blog, I cover all the major pieces and beginning steps you will need to take for starting your music career as an independent artist. Although this guide caters more towards performing artists, singer-songwriters, bands and rappers, I feel a lot of this can still apply to producers and instrumentalists as well.

Even if your end goal is to sign with a major music label, you’ll still need to take these steps to build your foundation. Just know that in the current climate of the music industry (thanks to the internet) you are no longer dependent on music labels to make a career in music, especially the majors. You have the freedom to do it yourself and have complete ownership. Read More

Oct 24
Love26
Identify Your Niche

4 Steps to Find Your Target Audience or Niche as a Musician to Grow a Fanbase

By Branding, Marketing Basics, Music Business 3 Comments

Have you struggled with getting new fans? Does it seem like no one is listening whenever you promote your music on social media? Although there can be a number of reasons for this, have you thought about who exactly your target audience is?

Just like a business needs customers, musicians need fans. To build a fanbase, one of the most fundamental steps is to identify who your target audience is. If you want to make music for a living, you have to know who to “market” or promote your music to.

How do you do all that? In this blog, I will share my perspective and approach in detail on growing a fan base by identifying your target audience first. Read More

Jul 02
Love16

Different Ways to Get Exposure for Your Music as an Independent Artist

By Marketing Basics, Music Business One Comment

Exposure for Artists

EXPOSURE. It’s what all artists want right?

After investing so much time into creating the music, you want to make sure it gets in front of people. How can you get your music in front of new potential fans? Maybe you’re unsure of the options you have.

A few people have reached out to me and asked about how to get more exposure. To me, there’s really no big secret.

The goal of this blog is to simplify the most practical routes to get more exposure for your music. It’s less about secret tactics or hacks, and more so about an overview of all your options you have to get your music in front of new people. Read More

Aug 01
Love4
Think Fan Funnel

Want to grow your fan base effectively? Think funnels. Fan funnels.

By Marketing Basics, Music Business, Strategy One Comment

If you want to grow your fan base effectively, you need to think about funnels. Of course, I am not talking about an actual physical funnel, but metaphorically speaking.

In business, a sales funnel (or similarly a buyer’s journey) is a process that consists of different stages or touchpoints that potential customers pass through as they become more interested in your products and services until they reach the desired action or sales transaction at the end.

As artists and musicians, your customers (or fans) go through different stages as well to take the ideal action at the end of the funnel, which is typically to buy your music and pay to see your show. However, instead of sales funnels, I like to think of it as a fan or relationship funnel when talking about music. Read More

Jul 05
Love3
Branding Butterscotch

The Basics of Branding for Musicians: Setting Your Brand Foundation

By Branding, Marketing Basics No Comments

If you’ve read my first blog about the importance of branding for musicians and some basic terminology, then you’re ready to start laying the foundation for your own brand.

One of the most important assets you have is your brand, and your brand’s effectiveness is determined by how well you are able to connect with people on an emotional level. Why? Because not everyone will listen to your music when they come across it. Instead, they will have to make decisions about you based on your name, online presentation, bios, descriptions and everything else that relates to you. If these aspects don’t get their attention or resonate with their identity, then they are less likely to listen to your music.

In this blog, I will go over the 4 general steps that are essential to help you build your own brand. Read More

Jun 05
Love5
Branding Butterscotch

The Basics of Branding for Musicians: Simplifying the Terms (Part 1 of 3)

By Branding, Marketing Basics One Comment

“Your music is the last thing that matters. Once they listen to your music, your music it the only thing that matters.” – Lisa Lepine (Music consultant)

It’s normal to think that your music is the most important asset you have as a musician. I mean, it is but it isn’t. Your music is only important if you can actually get people to listen to it, and it’s become increasingly harder to get someone to press play for the first time in this new digital world.

Many think being a musician means throwing some songs on some social media accounts and hope that something will magically catch on. Yeah, that’s not happening.

The fact is, there’s just so much great talent out there competing for attention that it’s not easy for musicians to stand out of the clutter. With so many options for music and entertainment, people have to make judgments and decisions about what they may or may not like before actually hearing the music. Read More

Mar 07
Love2
Marketing for musicians

Simplifying the Concept of Marketing for Musicians

By Marketing Basics No Comments

Are you unclear about what marketing is and why you need it for your music?

Marketing, just like branding, is a fundamental component of business, so it’s vital that indie musicians do not dismiss marketing as something only big businesses or major artists need.

If you want to make a living as an artist or musician, you need to treat your music like a business. As with any type of business, you need to have a product or service to sell and customers to buy it. In this case, the product or service is your music, and marketing comes into play to help you find the right customers to buy your product. Read More

Jan 10
Love12
Musician website

11 Things Musicians Need On Their Website (Plus Bonus Tips)

By Marketing Basics, Websites 2 Comments

Last Updated on 8/13/20

Having a website is an important step towards becoming a professional musician. Depending solely on social media is just not going to cut it for most artists out there. You need a piece of online property that you can call your own and have full control over.

If you’re creating your own website or having someone else doing it for you, this blog will provide a complete run-through of what should be on your website. If you already have one, this will help to make sure your site is optimized for a positive user experience so fans, writers and bookers find what they need. Read More

Dec 27
Love137
Choosing Stage Name

How to Choose the Best Stage Name For Musicians

By Branding, Marketing Basics 16 Comments

This blog was last updated October 4, 2023.

Are you a new musician still trying to decide on a stage name? If you’ve been having trouble, then hopefully this blog can help.

Unless you want to perform under your given name, you should devote a considerable amount of time researching and strategizing what your stage, artist or band name should be. For a new musician, choosing a name to perform under may not seem like that big of a deal. However, you can avoid a lot of potential headaches down the line if you invest the time to research your preferred stage name. Read More

Oct 04
Love5
Stressed Musician

6 Must Learn Business Concepts for Musicians Who Hate the Business Side

By Marketing Basics, Music Business One Comment

In an ideal situation, your sole focus would be on making music and not having to worry about marketing, booking, promotion, accounting, or any other business functions. Unless you are signed by a label or have a large budget (let’s face it, most of us don’t), chances are you gotta do it all yourself.

You may hate the business side of things (or just would rather spend your time doing something you actually enjoy), but don’t let that discourage you from incorporating these fundamental business concepts that will improve your chances of making a living off music. Here are 6 must learn business and marketing concepts that you need to know: Read More