While many labels may still like to believe that little has changed, the internet has transformed the face of the music industry significantly. A revolution has occurred in the music business in fact, with the internet as its undeniable driving force. Rather than needing to rely on record labels and major media outlets to market music artists or bands, the internet has opened up a wave of channels through which artist awareness can be done independently. Here are a few tips on using the internet to market musicians.
YouTube
YouTube is the new MTV. Most people looking to listen to music online and watch music videos will use YouTube as their first port of call. In fact, YouTube is even used to listen to songs that do not have videos.
A channel through which musicians can broadcast their music to the world freely and effectively, YouTube is your most important marketing tool as a musician. A musician must have a YouTube channel, through which their material is showcased.
Such material need not be video material, however it is always more effective and entertaining to listen to music with videos.
YouTube is also a great means by which you can track and estimate your popularity, by analyzing how many hits your music and YouTube channel has. Having many hits will prove beneficial when negotiating with A&Rs, labels and managers.
Furthermore, the more hits your YouTube channel has, the more popular you will seem; and the more popular you will seem, the more popular you will become – since popularity is a vital marketing tool for musicians.
Social Media
A musician must also be all over social media, engaging with people and fans. You should be present on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. The purpose of social media is to ensure that you’re constantly present.
Marketing is all about presence, since presence puts your name and brand into the minds of people. Social media helps you do this very effectively.
Music Blogs and Websites
Once you have a YouTube channel with music on it, you should target relevant blogs and websites to get them talking about you. Most blogs don’t have too many readers, however if you target the right ones you will be able to reach out to a large number of people and create awareness around your music.
You should effectively contact every music blog you can, since 50 small music blogs can together reach out to many people.
Network
One way of generating brand awareness is through collaborating with other musicians. The pros with this are that you’ll connect and network with other people in the industry, while also drawing in more fans through the fans of the artists you’re working with.
However, you must be sure to collaborate with the right artist. Collaborating can be a flaw if the person you’re working with has a tarnished image or one that isn’t in unison with your own brand as an artist.
Free downloads & iTunes
It’s well known that music should be sold through iTunes. However when you’re just starting off you should instead give music away through free downloads. When starting off as a musician, your main aim is generating brand awareness, rather than making bundles of money.
Calculate how much of a following you have through social media followers and YouTube hits. This will determine whether or not you’re ready to make money off music yet. If you have followers and YouTube hits in the tens of thousands you can then turn to the likes of iTunes and Rhapsody.
If you become super successful there may be a point when you will earn so much that some of your revenue will need to be taxed under British law. There are a number of firms online that can help discern whether you’re due to pay any taxes and how much you’ll need to.
That’s all in the long term however. For the short term, your main aim is to make your music as viral as possible and free downloads help do this.