Path To Stardom

As an up & coming artist, dropping singles consistently is the best way to grow your fanbase.  1) 60,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify daily, so the Spotify playlists favor artists who drop the most and consistently.  2) Dropping singles vs. dropping a full album gives you multiple chances to connect with new fans in totally different ways. 3) Gives you the chance to practice and hone in on your marketing message

As an independent music artist, it can be extremely frustrating to see that your friends and family don't support your music. Only if they were as passionate about sharing your music, as you are passionate about making it, then things would be perfect, but they don't.  A lot of the time it's because they don't feel connected to your music and it doesn't resonate with them.  A great way to get your friends and family involved in supporting your career is by including them in your process.  When they can say they helped you finish a song, or helped you decide on album artwork, etc. they feel invested in your work on a personal level, and this will make them much more likely to share your music and support you on your journey. 

Have you noticed that your posts on Instagram, are getting less and less views & likes? It seems like every time you post on your story or feed, less and less people can see it. If you have switched your profile to a business account on Instagram, your reach is being limited purposefully by Instagram.  This is because Instagram wants you to pay for ads.  On a regular personal account, where you say that you are not trying to grow your business, or gain revenue from Instagram, they allow your content to have a wider organic reach. By changing your profile to a personal account,  Y you will increase your reach to your followers and new people, but you will lose the ability to see your analytics so pick your poison, wisely.  

We make music from our soul, but that doesn't mean that it will pay our bills so we can survive.  Why as music artists do we feel like we have to choose one or the other? Why not have both? By building an email list of subscribers and nurturing your relationship with them, you can make $ as a music artist to support your art whether you're a big or small artist. 

When you know you want to put out a song, the plan on how you release the song is the most important.  Therefore, you must dig your well early.  By developing relationships with influencers, who share the same target market as you, months before you release a project, they can help your promote your project when it is finally ready to be released.

Many of the tips that I am providing are from the book, "Traffic Secrets" by Russell Brunson.  He is a master marketer and is the king of getting people to be interested in whatever product you may be selling. I am applying his marketing principles to music artists and music marketing in order to help us grow our fanbases. 

Your marketing message can be broken up into three parts: hook, story, and offer.  A hook is used to draw people into your content, your story is a way of building a relationship with your fan, and your offer is what you will give in exchange for your new fan taking the time out to consume your content.  Using this framework, will help your marketing message be more effective and attract rather than chase your fans. 

As music artists in 2021, we have to do so many things ourselves.  We make music, make our own artwork, edit our own videos, etc.  Often times we feel like a one man band, and this is all to create content.  Marketing is a whole other bear and by focusing on one platform you can gain a deeper understanding of of the platform, post effective content that connects with many people and grow your fanbase. After you have built a large enough fanbase, on one platform, you can push your fans to follow you on the others. 

In order to get get, you must give.  Seems paradoxical, but it's the nature of the universe.  Interacting with your fans, influencers who you want to get in front of their audiences, and new people who discover you are ways to build relationships.  Often times, we get attached to the numbers, not realizing that what makes the numbers are people.  Once you develop and nurture your connections, you will find that you are able to grow organically.

You can increase your views on your content by optimizing the platforms that you post them on.  More people will stop and actually watch what you post, when you make sure that your content is made in the way that the platform shines!

The best music ads are the ones that understand this principle. 

As I'm going through the tips that I'm reading in Russell Brunson's book, "Traffic Secrets" and applying it to music, I'm detailing certain pitfalls you may face, and ideas that may jump out to you as you build you list of influencers who will eventually help you promote your music.