August 16, 2011 Just When You Feel Like Throwing in the Towel - Don't!
If you are an original artist, of any kind, I’m sure there are times you get immense pleasure from what you do. I’m sure there are other times when you get incredibly frustrated. And yet other times when you begin to doubt yourself. It’s completely normal to compare yourself to what is already out there; but don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because the “established” art that is out there currently, and “liked” by the masses, is better than your work for that reason alone. Or that your original work isn’t as good, because it doesn’t have thousands of fans, comments every few seconds, and invitations to large awards shows.
The truth is, most people in this world are followers, and they won’t follow you unless somebody else is. Most people “like” something to fit in with their friends, or the crowd they are in, or to look cool. The only reason most music is really “liked” is because of repetition, and because it is available through an “established” medium. Availability means exposure, which translates into repetition, which translates into the creation of memories juxtaposed with music. Which makes music powerful. We all know how a song can take us back to a specific time or moment in our life. It could have been any song, but it happened to be “that one”. Why? Because it was played millions of times during that time period.
So how can you get your song in people’s memories? Follow this simple strategy and you will have people humming your songs in public, which could become contagious at just the right time.
1) Focus - Choose ONE song at a time and determine a marketing strategy. This can be difficult, but it’s important to not overwhelm people with too much of your music too fast. Don’t you remember being at one of your favorite band’s concerts and wishing they wouldn’t play their new songs. You wanted the familiar stuff (so did I).
2) Be Persistent - You can’t give up if you don’t get a reaction to your song right away. Even the Beatles were once booed off the stage. Luckily for us, they didn’t give up.
3) Believe in Yourself - when you present your song to an audience, you need to love the song and believe in it so much that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. That alone will bring people over to your side. The best defense is sometimes no defense.
4) Repeat the process with new songs. Keep improving on your marketing efforts. Find new ways to present your music. Eventually that ONE song will resonate with people and you will be the next big thing that everyone follows.
…..oh, and hopefully it won’t happen on your very first song - unless you want to be a one-hit wonder.
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Real J.O.B is an MBA grad turned starving artist. Check out his latest song “Gotta Believe” at http://realjobsb.com Email him at rock@realjobsb.com
Reader Comments (1)
In the spirit of this article, (and if you don't mind too much), I will follow what you said and promote a song right here in your comments section! (
I'm Lewis my band is Junkyard Academy. I've been sitting behind my keyboard writing and performing songs about the underdogs, the geeks, the outcasts and pretty much every moniker we've all be labeled with in our childhood and more. I've hit the open mic scene, but the time has come to promote and do more shows. I'm doing a house concert series - fun stuff that allows me to connect with the fans on THEIR ground....literally.
I'd like to share a tune with you now, it's called "Annabelle" - I wrote this because math scares me like spiders and the only way I can deal with it is to write a song about a sexy smart strong woman who's really really REALLY into math....to quote the song, "that euclidean geometry just makes her steamy".
Now because I'm sure I can't place a link here, I'll simply say, "...hit my YouTube channel..." (located as a badge at the bottom of my site) a live performance of "Annabelle" will start to play.
Thanks for posting this article, it may change my life!