It is not a profound statement for me to say that trying to promote yourself as a new musician in the quick-to-shudder market of today is frustratingly difficult. You’re exhausting many hours trying to find ways to get out there, and maybe sometimes it works. You’re getting everything online that you think you should: a Facebook fan page, a Twitter, a ReverbNation site - all of the goods.
You’re inviting everybody that you know, and maybe don’t know, to the next gig you’ve been preparing for. Yes, this is all a process with the results never being the same, and that risk is the musical entrepreneur within you taking the lead.
Maybe you don’t find social media promotion frustrating, but rather, exciting. It is a constructive attitude to have as you seek new ways to reach your audience. While this dynamistic approach is obviously more propitious in attaining your goal, it is necessary to step back and realize that this very process could backfire on you before you even know it.
This claim comes from my many observations as an undergrad near Buffalo, NY. Being part of a school with the hard-to-find music business program meant that there were plenty of individuals starting their own musical projects, and utilizing various promotional techniques. While the activity was plentiful, I did notice how many of these artists and groups exhibited themselves through social media, and I have to say that I was pretty turned off by it.
A year out of college, I still tend to see many beginning artists trying too hard to promote themselves, and they are quick to vanish. As a result, I have constructed some pointers to consider to assist you in your promotional process and execution.
1. Watch How Much You’re Putting Up
Having a Facebook fan page is an essential tool in the world of today’s music business, and chances are that you already have one - excellent. Take a look at it right now and see what content you have on there, and more importantly, the post frequency in which you engage. Are you the type of artist who is putting up a status or media content every hour or two of every day? This needs to stop.
Think about the fans who have liked your page, and what they have to see every time they check their Facebook. I hate to break it to you, but while they may like your music, they don’t want to see everything about you and your content. Meaningless status updates and ambiguous statements are confusing, and will probably lead to you losing fans. If you have a gig coming up, don’t put up five updates in one day about the show. I understand your excitement, but this can get pretty annoying. Admit it - you don’t like it happening to you either. Just be considerate to those who have liked you, and imagine their perspective.
2. Moderation
This is not to say to never put anything up. As could be applied to many aspects in life - practice in moderation. Focus on the important events and gigs that you have acquired, and make it clear - but only once. (In case you already forgot, jump back to the previous paragraph.) Moderation means consistency within reason. Don’t let your fan page become a ghost town with your last update being from November of 2011.
Unless you’ve given up on the project, and maybe started another one, put in an update about what you’re doing in the studio, in the rehearsal room. Just keep it fresh in the mind of others, and you might be surprised in how much interest you strike up. If you have stopped with the project, just delete the page. It’s not a sign of failure - if you’re done then you’re done.
3. No Bad Mouthing
It is amazing when I see an artist or group say something that is openly hostile about another band or a venue. Look, not everything is going to go your way. Even the best musicians and groups out there on the scene today have undesirable events happen to them. Perhaps you got double booked, or you didn’t get to play as long as you had wished for, or the show got cancelled.
Openly announcing that you think the venue is a joke, or that the festival you played at was terrible will do absolutely no good for you. On top of your transparent immaturity, you never know who is going to be seeing what you say on social media. If a prospective manager or venue holder was thinking of having you perform, they’ll be looking elsewhere fast. Anger about bad outcomes is understandable, but you need to control it.
4. If You Think You’re Good, Make Yourself Look Good
High quality recordings, awesome press photos, a clean looking website will give people the impression that you really know what you’re doing with yourself as a brand. Make all of this media and information clear on your social media pages, and the interest will start rising.
Even more so, if someone got a good boot recording at one of your shows, get it on YouTube, SoundCloud or ReverbNation fast. Studio recordings are cool, but live performances are the key, and as many industry professionals have suggested, live music is the the new path of the industry that we are all already on.
While I don’t believe anything I have said here hasn’t been spoken of in conversation before, it’s necessary to be reminded. Most people do an excellent job with social media artist branding, and a lot of it is through observation of others, (which you are very much encouraged to do). Make your name and music desirable towards others, and simply put - keep it cool.
Author Bio - Mike Lamardo is a music blogger and musician from New York who is currently based in Raleigh, NC. His writing on music marketing, entertainment and social critiques of music can be found on various websites and blogs. His writing can be found on
DX3, ZME, Blogger News Network and others.