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Make It As An Independent

Helping musicians maximize their potential by using online marketing tools, insights and strategies to increase music exposure and attract life-long fans.

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Music Marketing Blog

MUSIC MARKETING FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

With so much competition for attention out there, it’s harder for musicians to stand out of the clutter. The aim of this site is to guide you through the music marketing and business space to improve your chances of making a living off music and continue making a positive impact in people’s lives.

May 05
Love3

13 Best Jobs For Emerging Independent Artists To Fund Music Career

By Music Business No Comments

Many developing artists dream of turning their music hobby into a full-time professional career. The problem is that this transition is challenging. Not only do you have to make generate enough income to take the leap, you need to be able to keep it going for the long haul in an ever-changing, competitive industry. Until you get to that point, you’ll need to fund your music aspirations with other sources of income.

This doesn’t only apply to new artists. It’s not uncommon for professional musicians to bounce back and forth between doing music full-time and taking up another job to supplement income. Or, even returning to a full-time day job and doing music on the side. It shows how volatile music can be for independents and why you can’t always depend on income directly from music itself, unfortunately.

As an emerging independent artist, you might be wondering what are your best job options to earn money to fund your music career. In this blog, I will cover 13 jobs you may want to consider while you develop as an artist. Read More

Feb 08
Love2

How to Create Short-Form Videos to Gain New Fans As A Musician

By Music Marketing, Music Promotion, Video 2 Comments

Over the years, I’ve noticed that emerging artists’ number one problem is marketing their music to gain new fans and grow a loyal fanbase. It’s the most common question that I see in my inbox.

In our current climate, the key to getting yourself in front of potential fans cost-effectively is through short-form video content. Typically, musicians associate this type of short-form content with the dance, lip-sync and crazy challenge videos found on TikTok. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be any of that. This trend of short-form videos can actually be quite simple and more in line with what’s natural for musicians, which is “live” performance.

Short-form live performance videos have grown in popularity in the past couple of years and have shown to be effective for marketing new music and even helping some artists go viral.

In this blog, I cover all the basics you need to know about how to go about creating short-form videos as a musician to promote your music on social media. Read More

Sep 30
Love1
Living Legends. Photo by D4 Nguyen.

9 Lessons Today’s Musicians Can Learn from the DIY Independent Music Ethos of the 1990s

By Music Business, Music Promotion No Comments

We all know it’s hard to get your music noticed and grow a fanbase in today’s content-saturated world. Have you ever thought about how much harder it would have been to make a living with your music as an independent artist WITHOUT the internet and social media? Or how about without powerful computers (desktops, laptops, smartphones) to conveniently record and produce music from home?

In this blog, I want to share some key lessons we can learn from DIY independent music artists from the 1990s, specifically in the underground hip hop scene in the United States. Even if you don’t listen to or make hip hop / rap music, you should be able to learn something and gain perspective that applies to you today. Read More

Aug 30
Love1

How Musicians Can Maximize Merch Sales At In Person Shows

By Merch, Music Business No Comments

You’ve put a lot of thought into creating the right designs for merch based on your brand and music. With those designs, you decided on the best way to get those items made. Now, it’s time to sell!

For many independent artists, live shows don’t come as frequently so you want to make sure you’re maximizing these opportunities to sell when you’re performing live.

In this blog, we’ll go over all of the basics that you should keep in mind for selling merch in person and some tips to maximize your efforts. Read More