{"id":1216,"date":"2013-06-19T10:18:14","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T17:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/?p=1216"},"modified":"2013-06-19T10:18:14","modified_gmt":"2013-06-19T17:18:14","slug":"11-reasons-why-your-music-self-promotion-isnt-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/11-reasons-why-your-music-self-promotion-isnt-working\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Reasons Why Your Music Self-Promotion Isn’t Working"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-promotion in the music industry is a topic that has been explored extensively over the past 20 years. Some of the basic ground rules are the same that apply to any business or freelancer. Most people in the industry, however, bands included, don\u2019t know a whole lot about it. Many prefer to hover around the topic of social media because it\u2019s all they know. After all, once you call yourself a \u201csocial media coach\u201d, there\u2019s really not much room for expansion besides posting an analysis of every new Twitter or Facebook development\/etc. \u00a0Artists flock to new music technologies, discovery platforms, unsigned networks, indie authorities, and crowd funding platforms looking for the answer, and yet, the message generally being sent to the artists tends to do them a disservice. Promises, promises. Even the term \u201csubmit your music\u201d can be very misleading. Submit it where? Well\u2026the junk folder, to be blunt.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just as people starting businesses often under-estimate the amount of work necessary, so do unsigned musicians and bands. A quick disclaimer: it IS possible to be very successful as a musician in 2013. You can do it. It\u2019s helpful, though, to do away with some of the lies that we typically accept from today\u2019s music authorities, and I\u2019ll go over some of those here. The intention isn\u2019t to be overly blunt. Just to tell the truth. Below are some reasons why your music self-promotion may not be working.<\/em><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0You\u2019re waiting in line.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s wonderful that there are so many services for artists to use to send their music to either industry professionals, festivals, blogs, magazines, and radio promoters such as Sonicbids and Music XRay. Mixed feelings abound about these sites, but to call them positive or negative would be a snap judgement. Does it suck that it costs $40 to simply apply for X music festival given that this is a digital submission we\u2019re talking about, and chances are your music will not receive a fair listen? It sure does. Would it possibly be a life-changing experience if you were chosen? It certainly would. Musicians today are accustomed to waiting in line for just about everything. After all, it\u2019s busy as hell out there. While it\u2019s necessary to wait in some lines, and good results can come of that, if you merely play by the rules and wait in lines you\u2019ll get stagnancy, and that isn\u2019t a very fun gift to open up for Christmas.<\/p>\n

Artists need to think as creatively in their promotions as in their songwriting. Outsource your duties. Get momentum by getting freelancers on your side. Promote outside of the music blog arena. Hire people to promote your music; preferably a lot of them. Get the forums buzzing. Get people requesting your music. Get people writing about your music. Donate to blogs you like. Use Fiverr and similar micro-job sites. Read Tim Ferriss. Read business books. Get out of the \u201cband\u201d mentality. Ignore the music authorities and start infiltrating.<\/p>\n

2) You\u2019re only promoting on social media.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. Social media, when used correctly, can have a massive effect on your success. The only problem is, since most industry guru\u2019s and music marketing publications tend to focus on social media exclusively, the current generation of artists are spending all of their time posting, pinning, tweeting, hashtagging, reblogging, liking, sharing, tagging, stumbling, digging, and cultivating the perfect \u201creddiquette\u201d, but in the end, without the proper balance, the result is something close to a Warcraft or Angry Birds addiction. Time down the memory hole.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget that not everyone hangs around on these networks, and even if they do, they\u2019re often tuned into only what their personal perceptual filters will allow; not something new. It\u2019s important to keep your communication skills in tip-top shape, to send actual, conversational emails, make phone calls, and speak with promoters in person. The worst faux pas is messaging companies or industry people through networks such as Facebook. These often go unanswered, as these networks are riddled with spam, and real messages get lost in the shuffle. Send a real, personalized email and notice the difference.<\/p>\n

3) You\u2019re on automation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thought it might be a good idea to outsource your music marketing to a robot? Some of the most heavily advertised automated services such as Beatwire and Musicsubmit look very attractive to most artists. They promise to send your music to X number of journalists, radio hosts, and industry professionals, and charge a flat rate for doing so. The rates are often less than what most publicists charge, making it even more enticing. But how are these emails received? For one, most journalists and bloggers receive dozens, if not hundreds, of real emails daily from promoters, labels and artists who either wrote the message personally or at least prepared a proper email and clicked the \u201csend\u201d button. How much respect do you think they have for the \u201ceasy way out\u201d, an automated press release, or possibly a Reverbnation profile delivered to their inbox? If your music submissions say anything along the lines of \u201cpowered by\u2026\u201d, you can expect little to no results. I\u2019ve been added to lists by companies like these without so much of a \u201cHello\u201d or \u201cWould you like to be added to our recipient list?\u201d You know what that\u2019s called? Spam.<\/p>\n

4) You\u2019re not \u201cshowing them the money\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve submitted an artist to X Magazine or blog and received enthusiastic response back from their sales department, who conveniently request that I pay an exorbitant rate for an online or print advertisement. When I mention that I\u2019m unable to advertise but would still appreciate editorial consideration, I\u2019m told that the sales and editorial departments are separate. For one, this is the public statement of many publications, but it\u2019s simply not true in many cases. If you don\u2019t buy their advertising, which is often over-priced given that you\u2019re at times the only income stream, your submission goes mysteriously missing. Now, most artists can\u2019t afford to advertise on multiple major magazines, nor is it usually worth it if I\u2019m being honest.<\/p>\n

This can be the same with music blogs, and any kind of music service, which makes sense to a particular degree. If you think about it, no one really has all the time in the world to sit around listening to and reviewing albums. There needs to be an exchange, whether it\u2019s properly priced advertising, blog donations, paid reviews, crowd funders or anything else. If a paid review scenario is fair, do it. If it\u2019s outrageous, move on. Remember, you can always find freelance writers who may be interested in writing about your music by advertising on Craigslist.<\/p>\n

5) You\u2019re not already on their playlist.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The front door appears to be open, but it\u2019s all for appearances. Many music blogs featured in the coveted directories\/aggregators (Hype Machine, Elbo.ws) are closer to personal blogs than anything else. Hundreds of artists submit music to them every day, but chances are they\u2019ll never post a single one. The blog owner simply posts their favorite artists periodically. So why all this misleading the public then? Well, blog traffic is always a good thing for the webmaster, leading to advertising and potentially other partnerships, so cultivating an audience of indie musicians to rack up the hits isn\u2019t a bad thing from their perspective. It ends up being wasted time for the artists, though. Some blogs are good enough to post a simple statement such as \u201cDon\u2019t send me your music. I only post my own findings.\u201d<\/p>\n

6) You\u2019re not famous or gossip-worthy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Which brings me to my next point. Many supposed \u201cindie darling\u201d blogs and publications have, over the past 10 years or so, turned into gossip rags, and you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find any content outside of Lana Del Rae and ASAP Rocky (and not their new albums). Take these off your media list and don\u2019t give them your traffic if they\u2019re of no use to you.<\/p>\n

7) You have nothing to barter with.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Put yourself in the blogger\/editor\/etc\u2019s position upon opening your email. Why should they take an hour of their time to promote you? At the very least, you should have built a large network, and offer cross-promotion for the post. This shows respect on your part. The reason good indie labels, radio promoters and PR companies typically get much better results when promoting artists than the artists themselves get is because of leverage. They\u2019ve built up their networks and regularly cross-promote. They may have arranged other partnerships or deals with the publication as well. You scratch my back. I\u2019ll scratch yours.<\/p>\n

8) First-time introductions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re emailing someone for the first time, it\u2019s a lot like making a cold call telemarketing. You can\u2019t expect the results to be overly high. This is another reason why good labels, radio promoters and PR companies get better results. They\u2019ve established those relationships and they\u2019re not saying \u201chello\u201d for the first time.<\/p>\n

9) You didn\u2019t appeal to their ego (in the right way).<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no one rule. Some bloggers want personal messages while others would blacklist you for attempting chit chat. Some want you to tell them how much you just loved their recent piece on Daft Punk\u2019s new album (the 633rd one you\u2019ve read), while others would see that as a trite move. There\u2019s no way to win here. What I do, myself, is provide absolutely everything the blogger may need in a concise way, so no Googling is required, as well as sending a personal note going over why I connect with the artist being submitted. If you\u2019d like an idea of how to do this, check out my\u00a0music blog promotion template<\/a>.<\/p>\n

10) There\u2019s no time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was horrified when I first learned that many music blogs and publications often receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of submissions a day. Once again, we\u2019re waiting in line in the review queue. You can\u2019t expect time to magically appear for these people. If I were in their position, I\u2019d shut down. I\u2019d take more time offline and leave the disappointed in my wake.<\/p>\n

11) You haven\u2019t differentiated yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a big one. You\u2019re lost somewhere in the supermarket, and it\u2019s tough for the store manager to find you because you look similar to every other child there. You\u2019re certainly not \u201cthe blue child\u201d. If anyone ever told you to \u201cappeal to the industry\u201d or write songs for the radio\/etc, it\u2019s time to throw away those silly notions because they\u2019re destroying what your art could be. Often, the reason an artist goes unnoticed isn\u2019t mysterious at all. You may have, in an attempt to be \u201cheard by the masses\u201d, crafted yourself into a generic package. You\u2019re not really yourself. You\u2019re playing to someone\u2026a hypothetical creation. Be yourself, the weirder and more original, the better. If there are two people doing what you do, the odds are already against you. Be the only one.<\/p>\n

Via MusicThinkTank<\/a><\/p>\n

by\u00a0James Moore<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Self-promotion in the music industry is a topic that has been explored extensively over the past 20 years. Some of the basic ground rules are the same that apply to any business or freelancer. Most people in the industry, however, bands included, don\u2019t know a whole lot about it. Many prefer to hover around the topic of social media because it\u2019s all they know. After all, once you call yourself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[223],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-tips","tag-marketing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1218,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions\/1218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}