It\u2019s because of this that many don\u2019t get where they could have otherwise been, and why they struggle to make sales, get gigs, and generally move their music career forward in any meaningful way.<\/p>\n
The good news however, is if you\u2019re willing to put in the work, it\u2019s possible to learn how to market your music. There are plenty of guides which show you how to do that on both Music Think Tank and on my site\u00a0Music Industry How To<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before you learn specific tactics for marketing your music though, it\u2019s important you get a good idea of what music marketing is and isn\u2019t<\/strong>. There are a lot of common misconceptions about this among musicians, so have a read of the below to see some truths about what it all entails. I truly hope it gets you on the right path when it comes to how you approach the promotion of your music.<\/p>\n As someone who speaks to musicians almost on a daily basis, I know that many have the feeling that marketing their music is going to be difficult. This is an understandable fear; most people get in the music industry for the love of the music, and don\u2019t think they\u2019ll ever have to learn how to market in order for them to get their music heard.<\/p>\n That said, if you do want to get your music heard, marketing is a necessary part of things. The good news though, is promoting your music doesn\u2019t have to be hard. Pretty much all of it can be learned, and it doesn\u2019t require a degree in science or maths to put into place a solid promotion plan for your music career. As long as you\u2019re willing to learn and put the work in where needed, after a while marketing your music should become second nature to you. Who knows, you may even start finding it fun. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n A lot of musicians when starting out feel like if they make their music good enough, they will get noticed. That all they have to do is record a good album, make it available to people in stores (or somewhere online) and their music will start making sales and getting downloads.<\/p>\n While I can see why people would think this, it\u2019s far from the truth! Anyone who\u2019s tried this tactic before will know that this isn\u2019t the case. All that happens is you make 0 or very few sales.<\/p>\n Being talented and letting people know about your talent are two very different things. As well as making music that people actually want to listen to, you need to get them to give you a listen in the first place. After all, how will people know you\u2019re talented if they don\u2019t give you that initial chance?<\/p>\n New acts are coming out all the time fighting for people attention, to the stage where if you tell people online you make music and give them a free copy of your new album,most people won\u2019t even download it<\/strong>. It\u2019s because of this that you need to\u00a0convince<\/strong>people your music is worth trying out.\u00a0This is what music marketing is<\/strong>!<\/p>\n By marketing your music you\u2019re doing two things:<\/p>\n If these two things don\u2019t happen, don\u2019t expect your next release to do very well.<\/p>\n While some of things you do to market your music will only involve one way interaction (you relaying a message to fans and potential fans), things will really start taking off for you when you make this interaction with fans two way. By this I mean you don\u2019t always want to be relaying messages to them and then shutting your ears. When you update your social sites for example, as you get more followers, chances are people will often reply to something you\u2019ve said. They want to continue the conversation you started.<\/p>\n What I often see however, are fans replying on musician\u2019s walls, but the musicians not replying in return. Even if they\u2019re asked a reasonable question. While the affect of this won\u2019t be as big if you\u2019re always gaining new fans and have a very big fanbase, when you\u2019re still in the growing stage, replying to the majority of your fans will help you grow a lot quicker.<\/p>\n By getting them involved in your music career, you\u2019re creating more loyal fans who will stick around for a lot longer. When you speak to them, you make them feel like they\u2019re part of your journey. Because of this they\u2019re more likely to support and share what you do.<\/p>\n If you didn\u2019t reply to them however, it\u2019d be more likely they\u2019d become frustrated trying to talk to you, and you continually ignoring them. If then another musicians was giving them more attention, it\u2019s very likely they\u2019d continue following and supporting them instead.<\/p>\n While marketing doesn\u2019t always have to be two way, if you don\u2019t implement a two way dialog somewhere in your music career, you\u2019re going to find it a lot more difficult to build up a fanbase than those musicians who do.<\/p>\n This is a big one. As well as being aware that it\u2019s important to market your music, it\u2019s also important to realize the amount of time and effort that goes into this process. Most people initially think that the marketing process should start when you\u2019re about to release your next album or single, and should end before you start working on your next project. This isn\u2019t strictly true.<\/p>\n The marketing of your music should begin as soon as you\u2019ve a good level of talent to promote. While the degree of marketing you undertake at the time will depend on what exactly you have to promote and what else you have on your plate, marketing should be an\u00a0ongoing process<\/strong>\u00a0for as long as you\u2019re trying to become a more successful musician.<\/p>\n In my free \u2018Introduction To Music Marketing<\/a>\u2019 ebook, I look at how much you should market your music depending on what your aims are in your music career (among many other things). So if you want a better idea on how much you should focus on this side of things, give that a read.<\/p>\n While music marketing isn\u2019t that difficult once you know how to do it, it still requires a lot of time and energy to do it to the extent needed to make consistent money from your music. Often, doing all the marketing needed alone can lead to much slower progress, frustration, and possibly burnout.<\/p>\n The solution? Getting others involved with the promotion process!<\/p>\n This can be in the form of getting your fans to help you out, hiring a marketing team or knowledgeable individual, or eventually letting a record label largely handling that side of things for you (although it\u2019s still important you learn how to promote your music too so you know if the label is taking things in the right direction for you).<\/p>\n More hands make lighter work; it\u2019s not a good idea to do everything by yourself once you know you have something that people will really take too, So get others involved once your talent level is at a good level and you know what direction you should be heading in.<\/p>\n That said\u2026<\/p>\n That\u2019s right. When you\u2019re a new independent musician, you won\u2019t get much outside help. Ok, so you might get some help from a friend who likes your music, but other than that, don\u2019t rely on record labels or fans to help you promote your music. Why\u2019s that? Simple, because record labels don\u2019t generally work with unproven musicians, and you won\u2019t yet have a fan base at this stage.<\/p>\n In order to move things forward for yourself, you\u2019ll need to learn to market your music, and increase your status all by yourself. Once you\u2019ve done this and have something to show for your efforts (gigs under your belt, being covered in respected place etc), then it\u2019ll become a lot easier to get people to help you push your music further.<\/p>\n Lastly, don\u2019t only promote your music online! I know the internet has made it easy to sit and promote your music from the comfort of your own home. That said, if you only market your music offline, you\u2019re missing out on a load of other worthwhile opportunities!<\/p>\n Gigging is one of the biggest reasons you shouldn\u2019t stick to online music marketing methods. By gigging, you get to connect face to face with your audience, make instant money by selling merch and physical CDs (a lot of gig goers still buy them), and make money from royalties.<\/p>\n Another thing you\u2019ll want to do offline is chase up opportunities. Email can be a slow process, but when dealing with companies, often a phone call or going to see them in person can speed things up considerably. Not only that, but you have the chance to potentially connect with them in ways others who go through email simply won\u2019t.<\/p>\n Of course, these aren\u2019t the only ways to promote your music offline. Don\u2019t focus strictly on online music marketing, as working within your comfort zone will most likely slow things down for you in terms of progress. So give offline music marketing a go too.<\/p>\n So there you have it, 7 truths you really should know about marketing your music.<\/p>\n These things are important to know before you start implementing specific music marketing strategies, as even the most powerful promotion methods will become less effective if you don\u2019t know when and how to use them.<\/p>\n If you want to learn more about music marketing and how to effectively start pushing your music out there, I suggest you download the free \u2018Introduction To Music Marketing<\/a>\u2019 ebook. Here you\u2019ll get all the information you need to have a good ground knowledge on what it takes to successfully market your music, so if you haven\u2019t read it already, give it a go.<\/p>\n![\"Music](\"http:\/\/www.musicthinktank.com\/storage\/7%20Music%20Marketing%20Truths%20ALL%20Musicians%20Should%20Know.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1378739911611\")
<\/p>\n1. Marketing Your Music Is Necessary, But Doesn\u2019t Have To Be Difficult<\/h2>\n
2. Music Marketing Is All About Raising Awareness<\/h2>\n
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3. Marketing Is Often Most Effective When It\u2019s A Two Way Process<\/h2>\n
4. The Marketing Of Your Music Is An On Going Requirement<\/h2>\n
5. Getting Others Involved Will Make Your Marketing Efforts A Lot Easier<\/h2>\n
6. Initially, No One Will Help You!<\/h2>\n
7. If You Only Promote Your Music Online You\u2019re Losing Out<\/h2>\n
7 Music Marketing Truths, Conclusion<\/h2>\n