by David Samuel
- Why most indie artist fail is a simple reason, they don’t realize they are a small business owner. You may be amazing on your instrument, sing like a song bird from heaven, have great stage presence and everyone tells you that they have never seen talent like you before. So why are you still spinning your wheels in the muck and mire of the hundreds of garage bands in your own neighborhood?
The indie artist needs to develop their business tools as well as their playing chops. Understanding how to network their connections is going to be the key to their success. But before they start this they must understand their own business better.
For example: they must think of their music as their brand they are selling. This means they must identify what their brand is and what is their demographic they are targeting. Are you a screemo band? If so then you are hitting the middle school and early high school kids that struggle with the emotions of becoming an adult. You are relating to the transition from a child into adult hood.
Maybe you write love songs. Your target market is going to be probably woman and somewhere between 25 and up. Your audience drinks coffee and wine. Why do I say this? Well, once you identify your brand and target your audience you begin to understand where to put your energy at. You can put your flyer’s up in coffee shops and wine depots if you write love songs or acoustic projects.
If you are a punk or screemo band that is not going to be very wise to put up your bands flyers in a coffee shop now is it? You need to find a skate shop, maybe a tattoo parlor to put up your advertisement.
You need to take control of your music’s or arts future. Do it yourself mentality is so vital to your career. Talk to your band mates and see who knows something about graphic design and have them take care of the website and flyer’s.
You need to stay connected to your audience after shows so they won’t forget about you. Remember it takes a small business about 2 years to gain name recognition. That goes for bands as well. The number one mistake new bands make in the beginning is to forget to build their mailing list. This needs to start from day one.
This list is your life blood to your career. This is how you get returning fans to shows; build loyal followings that buy your latest CD release. Don’t forget to start his list from the very beginning and send out an email at least once a month. No more than two though. Don’t bother them or they will get annoyed with you.
The newsletter should let them know what is going on with you. Are you in the middle of recording some new material? Do you have a show coming up? Answer the basics of any good article. The who, what, when, where. Why, and how.
Run a contest for your next show, whoever can write the greatest review of your band wins a trip to your next show in the famous gig van, gets to hang out with the band after the show and hang out at the all night diner with you. Give them a free CD etc.
Let’s talk about your website with a little more detail for a moment. A bands web presence is very important for their success. This is where the fans get to hang out on their time. Your site should include the following:
Upcoming shows Mention new songs, albums, and merchandise News about some recent success ( A sold out show, a good review from a magazine) Links to any kind of press you have on-line Photos from recent shows, studio sessions Announce upcoming projects you are working on (This keeps their interest in returning) Quote any interesting things that are funny or memorable that a fan said or did or even a band member.
Your tabs should be something like this on your website –
Contact – your email address, phone number etc
Testimonials – Quotes from fans, venues, booking agents, festivals, magazines
Mailing list info – have an easy to understand sign up process, let them know how often you will send them something and you will never give their info away or sell it for spam.
Bio- This can be about the band, or separate band member bios or all the above
Information for bookers – stage plots, contact for booking, press ready photos, downloadable flyers for the venue to print out for promo.
Music – mp3’s to download and cd’s to buy – allow them to play the music on the site to bond with it.
Photos – pictures of the band both studio, live shows, and on the road.
Links – link to any blog, ezine, podcast that features you. Cross promote!
Blogs – journal your experience to offer more perspective for the fan
Video – You have to have video now! Use your camera on your phone it doesn’t have to be pro quality. There is no substitution for multimedia
So there are some basics to get you started. One more thing to think about is niche marketing. Music is more competitive now than ever with the home recording studio era. Everyone is producing his or her own music now and trying to make it big.
There are thousands and thousands of bands out their trying to do the same thing you are. So how can you separate yourself from them?
Try writing songs that target a subject or tell a story that people are interested in. Recently this lady wrote an entire album about sail boats. She got her album featured in a sail boat magazine and the album sold like crazy. I just co/wrote a song with a friend of mine for a film that was about the homeless. We then pitched the song to helping hands, and homeless shelter programs like united, and because it was so niche specific we are getting all kinds of interest. This same interest brings attention to your entire music catalog.
Well without writing an entire book I hope some of these concepts will help the indie artist not to fail. Take care and good luck on your next project.