7 Things I Wish Somebody Had Told Me About Releasing Music

 About 10 years ago, a pretty awful music producer was sitting in his parents spare-room on his computer trying to make sense of Ableton Live, and the world of record labels, sales and music production.

That producer was me, and there are a few things I wish somebody had told me back then.

I’ve come a fair distance since those days, but many of the things I wish I’d been told are still as true today, so I’d like to cover a few for you.

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5 Steps To A Successful Content Marketing Campaign For Record Labels

With the evolution of streaming platforms, the music industry landscape is in a constant state of flux and the role of record labels has been questioned. With a heritage in producing records, it’s been hard for labels to adapt to the issues of diminishing production costs and recorded music revenues. In my opinion, the solution here lies in marketing.

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The Value Of Keyword Research For Artists

Keyword research is vital in the digital marketing industry. It is valuable because of its high return on investment (ROI), and keywords help your website to rank in the search engine results page (SERP). Researching keywords that relate to you can help you to learn which terms and phrases to target with SEO. This is a good way to learn more about your fans, too. Choosing the most important keywords and phrases that describe you will help you to attract qualified traffic to your website.

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Take Your Music Promotion Up An O.C.T.A.V.E.

Before you choose any of the tactics or methods in this guide to promote your music (This is an excerpt from The Definitive Guide on How to Promote Your Music found over on Starsunderground.com), here are some music promotion basics that apply to ALL of them. Keep these in mind as you move forward. To make things simple, here’s an easy-to-remember acronym to guide you: O.C.T.A.V.E.

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3 Mistakes Musicians Make To Sabotage Their Own Careers

Musicians make similar mistakes all the time. When they repeat these kinds of things, it not only hurts them in the long run, but they’re often bewildered as to why things don’t go as well for them as they should.

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6 Music Business Skills All Guitarists Need To Know

For the most part, the music business skills guitarists need to build aren’t that different from skills other musicians should be equipping themselves with. Communication and networking skills. Marketing, image and branding. Punctuality and professionalism. Money and time management.

However, there are also some obscure or counterintuitive skills that guitarists should take the time to develop, like the ability to teach, write, or speak.

Have I piqued your interest? Then let’s delve in. here are six music business skills all guitarists need to know.

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The 5 Most Annoying, Ineffective Ways That Bands Seem to Always Promote Their Music

This article originally appeared on the Sonicbids blog.

We wholly recommend promoting your band on social media (duh). It’s easily the best way to maintain and grow your following, and it’s arguably eclipsed flyering as the most reliable way to announce a show and reel in a crowd. What we can’t advocate, however, is being obnoxious about it. We’ve all had our nerves grated by someone’s promo. No matter how alluring or special the artwork, there are certain marketing moves you just shouldn’t make online.

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Music Business Strategies

There are a lot of musicians out there struggling to pay the rent, grow their fan base, and make a profit on tour. It’s a tough road, but if you’re dedicated you can make music your career. In today’s music business, it’s not about forcing yourself into a one-size-fits-all box, or throwing a dice and hoping for the best. It’s about building the right career for YOU and YOUR music, experimenting, learning, and adapting to change. Today, you are an entrepreneur, not a product, and great success is waiting for musicians with this mindset. 

The New Artist Model is all about thinking of your music career like a business and using creative strategies to start growing now with the tools and resources you have available. In the New Artist Model FREE E-book, you’ll get a glimpse at some of the proven strategies we discuss in the full online course. Click the image to download your copy and check out the 10 key points of the New Artist Model below.

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7 Dangers To Watch Out For When Considering Music Promotion Services

Almost every artist who approaches me has had one or more negative experiences with music promotion in the past, and this is largely due to the “quick fix syndrome” on behalf of both individuals who engage in the partnership. First of all, there are the automated music marketing services who I tend to call the internet cowboys. They offer progress and lavish promises at the push of a button. Facebook likes? You got it. Youtube views? Not a problem. Get your press release on the desk of thousands of journalists? We do that too.

The artists who tango with these folks also suffer from the quick fix syndrome. Rather than build a team of people and gain fans organically one by one, they aim for the mountaintop, neglecting to do the proper research or seek out the proof that Google can provide.

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Self Publishing on YouTube

Everyone knows how important the YouTube platform is for indie musicians. It’s a great way to get your music out to fans, grow your fanbase, and provide your fans with great content from music videos to vlogs. There are plenty of musicians out there who have become successful mainly because of their YouTube channel, with Karmin and Pomplamoose being two of the most successful examples. They grew their audience by targeting young teens with covers of popular songs. Other musicians, like Alex Day, have based their career entirely on recorded music sales and a YouTube channel featuring music videos and hilarious vlogs.

However, there is another aspect of YouTube that is vastly underutilized by the musician community on the platform - publishing. You don’t need a publisher to get your music placed in YouTube videos. You just need to be proactive with social media and reach out to YouTubers you think would be interested in using your music with their creative content.

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How to Create a Music Marketing Budget in 4 Simple Steps

One of the most important things you can do to prepare for the year ahead is to create a budget for your musical activities. Having a budget will give you a much clearer look at where you want to go financially, how you’ll get there, and what your progress is along the way.

We’ve broken down the process into 4 simple steps to help you create a budget:

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“Pay For It, Or Lose Us – The Challenge Facing Independent Musicians

“Pay For It Or Lose Us” The Microdance’s Alex Keevill highlights the challenge facing independent artists.

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How To Promote Your Music - The Ultimate Guide

Hello again, my Music Think Tankers. Today I’m going to look at 6 HUGE things you can do to better promote your music.

Now before you roll your eyes and think I’m going to tell you to “create a Facebook account and promote through social media” or to “get your music in as many places as possible,” listen up. This guide is going to be full of actionable content and advice that won’t be found in every post on the subject that simply rehashes information the writer has heard and not tried out themselves.

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Online Band Marketing & Social Networking Crash Course

In our current society we are constantly glued to our tech devices and continuously downloading massive amounts of data through both our personal computers and mobile devices. In fact, over 488 million people use Facebook over a one month span with numbers growing everyday. With evidence like this it is no wonder that it is so important for artists to “put themselves out there”. Gone are the days of searching the Yellow Pages for a phone number, or buying a map to plot a course for vacation. These tasks and more are easily and efficiently carried out over the internet.

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