Indie Music Marketing Series: Get Organized
Posted on 09.18.06 in Music and there are 0 comments.
It’s easy to work hard and not get very far because you don’t have a specific plan or purpose. You might end up going in too many directions or just the wrong direction. You’ve heard the old adage “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Here are a few questions that will help you focus your efforts:
1. How do you define your music?
Many artists’ tendency is to not pigeonhole themselves and so they end up with a very nondescript description such as “I play a blend of rock, folk, blues, pop, with a touch of reggae, metal and opera.” Go ahead and be specific. If the message of your lyrics is an important part of your music, than include that as well. There is a lot of music on the internet for people to sift through and the more specific, accurate and intriguing you can be when describing your songs, the more likely people are to stop and listen and actually enjoy your music.
2. Who is your audience?
The odds are that as an independent artist you’re not going to be a household name loved worldwide by young and old. So, just as it’s important to clearly define your music, it’s also important to clearly define your audience. As you’re audience grows, you’ll have to consistently evaluate whether your defined audience reflects your actual audience. You’ll make a number of business decisions based on this information, so it’s important to be as accurate as possible.
3. What are your long term goals?
What do you hope to accomplish in your music career? Do you just want to be able to make a living doing what you love? Do you want to share a message? Do you want to achieve a certain level of success? Once you define your long term goals, these will be your reference point for many of the decisions you make along the way. These will be your foundation or mission statement and all other actions should work to advance these overall goals in some way.
4. What are your short term goals?
It’s also important to make yearly, monthly, weekly and even daily goals. Do you want to have 10,000 mailing list subscribers by the end of the year? Do you want to book 15 new shows this month? Do you want to update your blog/news page every week? Be as specific as possible.
It’s not always fun to plan, but it’s a very important part of a successful career. To make it more fun, plan a brainstorming/planning retreat with a couple other indie friends. Spend the entire evening/weekend planning and outlining your music, audience, goals and plan of action. Then commit to keep one another accountable to working, methodically, toward your goals.
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Corrections?
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The Comments:
I was just sitting in as a guest lecturer in a local college class about concert promotions today. Everything that I said pretty much boiled down to, “Know your product. Know your audience. Know where you’re starting. Know where you’re ending.” I’ve learned a lot, especially over the past year. I’ve learned as much from failure as success. (And believe me, I’ve failed!) But those principals are sound.
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thecachinnator
Sep 19, 06 at 01:28 am