HEAR IT RIGHT
A COMPLETE CHECKLIST TO MARKETING YOUR MUSIC .
This is Bill . Bill is a musician . No one but his friends has heard Bill ’ s music . Don ’ t be like Bill .
Every six year old strumming his first chords on the six string gives birth to hopes and dreams . The Jimi Hendrix or Joe Satriani staring back from his poster filled wall means a lot to him . They promise him his own shot at fame . And it is this extremely dear and tempting vision that drives him to slog through all those boring finger exercises and arpeggios and borderline psychotic scales . At the end of it all , it is simply not fair to be let down .
Today ’ s music industry is filled with a clutter of pirated music , YouTube videos and commercially oriented labels . To differentiate one ’ s sound from the cacophony and make a place in the listeners ’ hearts requires much more than simply great music . An artist today also requires great presentation , great reach and great flexibility . In short , marketing your music is the need of the hour .
How you go about it depends on a lot of factors : the music , the market , the resources , etc . But here is a little bit of what you could do as a musician , picked and sorted from how the best musicians of today have done it .
Planning it out .
The first and foremost thing one needs is a well thought out plan . A good few weeks or months could provide a decent build up to an album or EP release . Every artist tours , but one has to slog through the planning process . Contact cafes and venues at various places . Prepare a short itinerary ( even if it is in the same city ) and put out the posters . The more you play , the more you are heard . Sometimes , doing it for free attracts more people . Adele clocked in a record selling album after throwing in a free concert in New York two days before the release of ‘ 25 ’.
A few teasers of the upcoming songs thrown in at regular gigs can do wonders to grab attention . You can also look at performing informal street shows within a few days ’ notice as a promotional for the release . Prateek Kuhad , for his release of ‘ In Tokens and Charms ’ went around various colleges , setting up dates and performing solo at their popular hangouts to promote his album .
Getting On Line .
In a world already flooded with some amazing , some mediocre ( yet popular ) YouTube artists , simply putting your song up does not do the trick . Even the best musicians have to sometimes force feed their music to be first heard . Creating a Facebook and Twitter presence is necessary , but making sure it engages users is as important . Your online presence builds your brand . Supplement your music with
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