It is said that the best sales person is one who doesn’t actually do the selling. His job is to cultivate an enthusiastic team who will do the promotion for him. Ten hands are better than two hands. And so the same goes for your music.

The question you should always ask internally (or sometimes externally if the situation is appropriate) when speaking to someone is “how I can be of service to you?”. By doing this, you’ll allow yourself to do the things you enjoy and share the work of music promotion with your fans - the people who like your music.

One great tactic I love is what I call Artist Partnership Programs (APP for short). Setting them up doesn’t take long - it requires a bit of out-of-the-box creative thinking and effective planning. APPs are a simple and exciting way to get people who like your music together and create a community atmosphere around you, the artist, whilst you grow your music career and get it promoted.

In terms of music promotion, it simply means those individuals who get onto your exclusive artist partnership program (or come up with a fancier name!) will get a certain percentage of any of your music and merchandise that they sell. If they’re no good at marketing, you can give them free guides or some tips to help them.

Here are a few things to look out for:-

* Perhaps set up the program with three levels. Bronze, Silver and Gold levels for the amount of sales each partner makes. The more sales, the more they move up. The more extra rewards and benefits they make. Make it more than an affiliate program. Add the extra bonuses such as “dinner with the artist”, “two hours with the artist”, “shopping with the artist”, “free guitar lessons with you”, etc.

* Also consider holding monthly or bimonthly APP group meetings where all of your partners can get together, build a community, run bring-a-friend offers so you continue to grow your networks. Once you start to build an atmosphere, it becomes very attractive.

* Link up with local shops, retail and superstores and get them to become partners. Get your music in as many places as possible and offer your rewards and incentives.

Think about it. Ten hands are better than two. 50 hands are better than two. So you can definitely offer rewards and not quibble about it. Go set up your APP and start to build a community. Have faith in it working and it will.

I was at a Marianne Williamson talk in July last year and she said, “there is no such thing as a faithless person. You either have faith in miracles, or you have faith in disasters.”

The same thing goes for this.

Popularity: 40% [?]

Dan Gillogy is a musician who’s made up to $100k a year playing gigs. If the first thing you’re thinking is how many gigs did he have to play to get to that amount, it’s not hundreds. Here’s an interview I did with him a while ago. It’s a little long but very very informative so get yourself a drink and sit down to read it.

Kavit: Hi Dan, thanks for the interview here. Please share a little about you so my readers are aware of your background, and then about what got you to where you are today.

I’ve been playing music professionally since I left high school in 1977. My first pro gigs were with brothers Wayne and Bobby Lee Keeling. We played a lot of 50s and 60’s and a whole bunch of Country & Western. We played VFW Halls and Bingo parlors. I was in college in southern Illinois just north of Kentucky.

This was the land of Bee Hive Hairdos and checkered table clothes. Wayne would dress in black and play lefty guitar upside down. And Bobby Lee wouldn’t play unless he was drinking and wouldn’t drink unless he was playing.

We were really into jazz fusion at the time and fancy chord changes and all that. So playing I, IV, V changes was good training for me. I’d go set up my Wurlitzer EP and crank it through my Fender Twin Reverb and just let her rip.

We got paid $50 a night. My rent was $25 a month. I was in heaven! I couldn’t believe I could actually get paid to do this. Plus, getting paid to make music allowed me to quit work, play music and work on the stuff I wanted to during the week.

I haven’t looked back since.

I wound up living in New Orleans for awhile there. Or as we like to say I stayed there 3 years one night. Played with some great cats down there. Did a lot of touring from there. Lots of BBQ joints and gin mills.

Then I wound up moving back to Chicago, my hometown, when my Dad got sick. My brother had a real good band back then. We played the Tri-State area here. The drinking age limit was still about 18 then so we fit right in. Started our first recordings with that band. Started selling a lot of self produced tapes. Even had an EP for awhile there.

We really learned a lot about the business side in that band. We had this big house in the middle of nowhere. All of our friends would come over and hang out. One night the cops came and we got pinched for disturbing the peace or some crap. Well we took up a collection to post our bond. We raised like $1000 in an hour.

Afterwards we were like, “We should start charging at the door.” You know have a little discretionary fund available in case of emergencies like this.

So we bought a Coke machine, filled it with Budweiser, charged $4 at the door and started raking it in. Then we started renting our own halls, promoting our own shows. Other bands found out about us and wanted to be included. So we’ let them in and take a cut of that.

We started printing T-shirts and hats and stickers. I mean this was all back in the 80s. So we were really tapped into something here. That was just the beginning.

Since then I had a gig at The Second City 1986-1996 as the piano player, then eventually started writing bits for them. Learned a ton about writing with some really talented writers.

I was always doing commercials and jingles sessions back then. Universal had a big studio here in Chicago. They cranked Muzak tracks all day long. My teacher and mentor, Gene Esposito, got me into those sessions. First as a copyist, then as a synthesist and then eventually I got some piano sessions. Having a mentor like Gene was essential to my success.

But Second City really opened some doors for me. Even though it was a “theater gig”, I still got good training playing 6 nights a week, improvising and writing music, lyrics, comedy, advertising, whatever. I got into writing industrial films, corporate shows, training seminars. I got to work with some directors on films; I did about 20 short films. Most of these guys were just students in film school back then. Now they are all over Hollywood.

I did get to go to Hollywood for a couple of years. I landed a gig doing bumpers in and out of commercials breaks for a sit com on FOX-TV called “My Talk Show”. It ran for 54 episodes. I did a good size portion of those.

Then the jingle market started changing back in the mid-90s’ so I wound up taking a teaching job which was fantastic. I started writing songs and shows for children. I found out I was a really good teacher and it kept me off the road while we raised our family. From there I started a teaching studio, built that up and sold it. Left teaching because it was too much like work.

Went back into performing. Corporate gigs and private parties. Sometimes fronting a band but mostly singing and playing piano.

The convention market is alive and well. We travel all over the country doing corporate shows. Right now the big thing is Dueling Pianos Shows. Lots of interaction and comedy and it pays really well.

Kavit: Your website boldly states that you can show musicians how to make $28,742.76 part time this year? First impressions it looks like just by playing gigs you can get that money. Could you share the basic framework as to how one can get to that point? What are the key points your advising?

Knowing your target market. Once you know that, you deliver the message that tells them what they will get by hiring your band or act. Tell them what benefits they will receive, you’ll always be working.

I made over a $100K (US) last year. The year before I made around $96K. That number is almost inconceivable to most musicians. But the basic laws of supply and demand kick in here. Once you’re working a lot at $300 a night, then you can start charging $500 a night when someone really wants you. Right now I get $1700 - $3500 per night working as a solo act. Used to be I was happy getting $200.

Kavit: You’ve written a bit on music marketing. Could you share what you feel are three really important ways for musicians to get some traction in today’s internet world?

Tell ‘em, tell ‘em and tell ‘em again. Seriously, that’s all there is to marketing our bands and ourselves as artists and musicians. And of course, when you’r done telling ‘em, you know what you do next right? Tell ‘em again.

We are very creative people. This is easier for us then it is for most other business minded people. We can think of all kinds of fun ways to cover telling ‘em again and again. we go into all of the different ways in our complete marketing system. It is a Step by Step Guide on Marketing for Musicians.

When it all boils down to are these three things:

1. Knowing your target market

2. Knowing what you have to offer; what are your Features and Benefits?

3. How you are different from your competition

After that, you just keep fine tuning your message based on your responses. Which marketing piece brings in the most amount of money?

Becoming a music professional is not like any other profession. When you want to become an attorney, you go to law school, you pass your bar exams, you’re an attorney. Same thing physicians. Go to medical college, do your internships pass your exams – shingudda boom! You’re a Doctor.

Musicians only have to get paid. Hell, we don’t even have to learn how to play our own instruments.

Has anyone bothered to take the time to show you how book music gigs? Or did you just learn from someone else who really wasn’t doing all that great in the first place? You owe it to yourself to check this out.

It bears repeating tho, the most important of the three is the first one: Who is Your Target Market?

Kavit: What do you think of the current state of the industry for independent musicians?

There’s really no better time right now. It appears the economy is down. Fuel prices are high, the credit markets are in disarray and unemployment is on the rise. So I say what better time than right now? Our competition is probably cutting back on their advertising. Now is the perfect time to ramp up our marketing.

Besides, the internet has leveled the playing field for all musicians. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or if you are a seasoned pro. No matter what style of music you are into, you can be viewed as a polished act by putting up a polished web site.

If you are looking to sell CDs and other merch this is also a fantastic period in history. The facts are that CD sales are off for the major labels. Combine that with the fact that people are really tired of all the crap that major labels have had to offer them. That translates into golden opportunities right now. People are really starved for good, passionate music that is not computerized and pre-canned for the masses.

You can hear it in some of the bands that are coming out right now. The people really want to hear someone who can entertain, but they love someone who can actually play their instruments live with out the use of massive technological assistance. You don’t even have to play your instrument well. Just play with passion and feeling. The Average Joe can relate to mediocre performances. There are many amateur musicians out there who love to hear us as we are. Not all fancied up behind technology.

Kavit: What do you believe is the number 1 reason why many musicians fail?

Not keeping an open mind. Not challenging themselves to do something outside of their comfort zone. I think one of the two major reasons why I have succeeded are open mindedness and versatility.

I am at the point now where I can pick and choose my gigs. But when I first started out I got lots of experience playing all kinds of music. I loved rock and blues. But when I got a call to play Reggae, jazz, Latin, theater, Recording sessions; I would take it. Everything was fair game in my book. As long as it paid more than $50 bucks, I would take it.

I never thought I liked country music. But then I played with some real cow punchers. If I hadn’t kept an open mind, I would have missed that opportunity. The versatility I gained as a musician and a performer has served me well.

It requires a great deal of open mindedness and creativity to solve problems. Like going into a recording session and finding out there isn’t enough room to bring in all 6 keyboards, yet still getting the job done enough to satisfy the client. Or getting on a gig where the agent says no polkas. But then some old guy tosses a C-Note in your jar to play one.

So grab those chances to stay open minded and get creative. Treating music like a business can be very creative too. A lot of musicians don’t look at it like that. I say it is a very small leap to take. I find marketing my business is almost as much fun as writing a good lyric or recording a solid groove.

When a client calls, I listen closely to what they want and then deliver. That’s pretty important to be able to recognize that. When you remain open minded you can go where the money is. Get in front of the hungry crowd and feed them what they want.

Once you do that and they’re buying what you have to sell, you can then give the audience anything you want. Once you deliver what they want, you can play whatever gigs you want and you’ll always work.

Kavit: You’re offering an awesome 3-month free deal on your Musicians Gold Newsletter. Can you share a bit about that and how my readers can take advantage?

We are offering the most incredible free gift ever! 3 months of the Musicians Gold Newsletter sent to your doorstep every month.

All of your readers will get the opportunity to look over my shoulder as I go through my system of getting music gigs. I talk about the successes and the failures. Yes I do have failures. I love my failures because I learn from them and I will show how you can benefit from them too.

I will show Lead Generation Techniques that consistently bring in as much or as little work as you want. Learn from other professionals in the industry. I sit down once a month and conduct exclusive interviews; not just with successful musicians but music business authors, promoters, producers, club owners and talent agents. Just one of these interviews could hold the key piece of knowledge you will need to get your music career into overdrive. Use these CDs and MP3s to turn commuting hours into your own personal power learning hours.

Kavit: Anything else you want to share with my readers?

Have fun. We are in the business of fun. Nobody ever asks us to come over and ‘work’ music. They only want to us to ‘play’ music. And when we look at marketing and getting gigs as fun, it easily translates to our clients and fans.

Let’s face it. We’re the luckiest people on the planet. Everyone else has to work for living. We get to paid to play.

So go have some fun.

Kavit: Indeed, go have some fun! Thanks for the interview, Dan.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Have you ever been to a gig where the audience are all taking in the energy from the stage and adding to it in a way that enhances the profile of the musician through good reception?

I believe that could happen in two ways regardless of whether you have good or bad music. It’s either down to fluke or the musician is really working on the audience and stage dynamic pretty well.

Most of the time, your audience likes to be involved, instead of just being receptive. They want to take part with you rather than just sit back and listen. They want to be a part of your community rather than just watching the community from the outside.

Can you train your audience? Does your music have the ‘hook’ that the A&R reps talk about in order to pull in crowds and sales? Does your music involve any audience participation in the form of song, dance or movement? If not, can it accommodate that in some way?

Public speaking courses and schools teach audience and stage dynamics as a way of using the platform to gain maximum rapport. It allows you to work different areas of the audience and give them your maximum attention usually all at the same time.

Funny that - you’re looking for attention from your audience just as they’re looking for your attention when on stage. If that connection is lost between you and the audience, they get distracted and don’t follow through. It’s about trust.

If you think about it, it’s really the same thing that happens with e-mail communication through your newsletters or via your blog. If the connection is lost, and you’re not able to regain it, you’ve lost attention. And as I’ve mentioned many times before, Attention is one of our new currencies for success.

Some people don’t believe all the stuff on stage and audience dynamic. Does it really work and is it worth picking up a book and reading about? Let’s discuss.

Popularity: 37% [?]

A few weeks ago, I did a quick interview with Lior Shamir, director of We Are Listening (WAL). WAL is a London-based artist development company primarily giving opportunity through songwriting contests and their extensive and experienced list of content judges. Enjoy the interview. 

Kavit: Lior, thanks for doing this short Q&A. Could you share a little about your background and how you came to start up We Are Listening? What inspired you to start WAL?

Lior: I’m a Berklee College of Music graduate with a background in songwriting and post-production. After graduating, I knew I wanted to position myself on the business end of music (as opposed to the creative) because I felt that there were many others more talented than me as musicians, writers, producers etc. and, quite honestly, I felt that I was rather business savvy for a music guy. We Are Listening blossomed out of a kitchen table project along with a number of other new-media related initiatives.

Kavit: As far as I understand, We Are Listening primarily promotes songwriting contests. Can you share why you feel contests are useful and what you feel makes one successful as a songwriter contest winner?

Lior: Mainly because of the high return of a reward from a contest verses the risk of participation (or fee) and the relatively promising odds of winning. But, also, because the very nature of contests puts the participants in front of ‘people in the know’, win or lose, so there is always the value of exposure - which is a valuable commodity in the music space.

Kavit: Can you share a success story or two from your previous contests and what they have gone on to do so we have some idea of what’s possible with these contests?

Lior: We’ve taken unheard of artists and put them on 200 US radio stations. We’ve secured sync licenses for indies with networks such as MTV. We’ve made it possible for fledgling artists to work with big name producers, songwriters and executives. This is what we do and how we justify the entry fees.

Kavit: What do you believe to be the three most important success attributes or traits for music businesses?

Lior: 1. Know your shit. 2. Get online. 3. Make sure it sounds - and looks - fabulous!

Kavit: Where do you see the independent music industry heading and what can musicians do right now to jump on the bandwagon and get ahead in their career before the year is out?

Lior: I think LiveNation, TicketMaster, Radiohead and NIN have the right idea - but is that indie? As an artist/manager, if you’re not already very familiar with the various online tools and services available to you for self promotion (many of which are free), you will lose. Also, most artists think they’re great and, as we all know, most artists suck so try to be objective and focus on your strengths.

Kavit: So Lior, before we end, what can we all look forward to seeing happening in the world of WAL and Lior Shamir in 2008 and onwards?

Lior: Oooh… many wonderful things! We Are Listening is currently undergoing a facelift and we’re working with a number of up-and-coming brands that will make your head spin in terms of ‘getting ahead’.

Some interesting points in the above interview. I have never been a fan of promoting songwriting contests although if there’s a good enough reward at the end of it, I believe it’s worth the effort. It will help you move to the next level quite rapidly but it’s important you sustain yourself at the end by continuing your own promotion. Many of these types of contests offer promotion packages, but they don’t last a lifetime and you’ll need to pick up again and continue your own promotion unless you can afford to pay someone.

Here are some places you’ll find contests:

1. Jodi Krangle of The Muse’s Muse lists Songwriting Contests.
2. The UK Songwriting Contest
3. World of Music and Lyric Writer Awards from We Are Listening

What are your thoughts on this avenue (songwriting contests) into the music business? Have you had any experience and could you share your stories or tips for others…?

Popularity: 49% [?]

Don’t be surprised. Your fans talk to each other. Conversations between your fan base happen whether you like it or not. Can you control what kind of conversation develops? Maybe.

Imagine you played a gig. You had a healthy audience of 100 people who at least had five close friends each. That means, potentially, 500 more people could know of you. And of course, their friends would get told too. Based on how your music sits with your fifty audience members, those 500 people will shape their view of you. If the gig went really bad, word spreads. If the gig went really well, the word spreads.

Regardless, the word is going to spread.

And because of that, I believe you can direct the conversation. Everything starts with you, the artist and music business leader.

Good music, good marketing and good communities encourage better conversation amongst your fans. Music in web 2.0 world is all about building interactive communities where you engage with your fans. When you grow a community around you and your music, you keep people’s attention. You stimulate conversation. You engage fans by asking questions. You share your thoughts honestly and allow them to share theirs too. 

Building communities is no longer a one-way thing. It’s two way with a focus on relationship building. How can you do that? Here are some ideas:-

Start microblogging with Twitter. Grow your Facebook fan page. Write a proper blog. Start a local meetup around your type of music and meet people. Do what your fans do and hang out with them.

There are so many ideas in the web 2.0 world for building communities - but don’t do them all. The idea is to pick one or two and start really using them. Do too much and you will dilute your fan base.

For example, I currently prefer to just use Twitter and LinkedIn in addition to this blog. The Facebook page is something that grows on its own and I haven’t really focused on it. Not because it’s not good enough, but there’s just too many ways.

Your fans talk to each other. What do you do to instigate positive buzz? 

Popularity: 49% [?]

I hear this (or something along the lines of this) quite a lot: “I launched my CD about two months ago and sales have only trickled in, it’s been nothing spectacular. What went wrong, and what can I do to promote it and get more sales?” I respond with this: “What did you do in the six months running up to your CD launch?”

The answers vary, but usually along these lines… “I set up my Myspace page and just put up a few clips”… “I haven’t really done much, we’ve been busy recording”… “I did a few gigs but haven’t really performed any of this new material”… 

I rarely hear of independent musicians who devote hours upon hours to promote and market their new music months ahead of launch and frankly, you’re losing out and leaving a lot of money on the table if you’re not. 

In order to build up a successful launch during launch day and the following week, you’ve got to build up enough buzz to get people talking about it, getting juiced and marking their calendars for your launch ready to download or buy your CD. The ultimate record launch (or re-launch) is one that generates buzz, puts you in the papers, gets your music heard on radios and takes you up the charts. This kind of ultimate record launch can only happen when you plan and then act on that plan.

Nearly every musician is so juiced about releasing a music record that for the majority of the time, they forget about how important the release is and don’t plan it. I agree that I’d love it to be this way and hope that someone else can take care of it, but as independent musicians it’s important to remind ourselves that we’re music business owners and have to also take care of the planning as well.

The question is what should you do to build your buzz. Here are four quick ideas.

1. Start a blog. A blog is a great tool to use in cultivating relationships with your fans - starting new ones on the web and continuing relationships from your gigs. See this post for more: Do I need to blog as a musician?

2. Build your mailing list. Musicians Mastermind members, my audiences and readers know what a mailing list means to me: it’s probably the best way to tell how many fans you have and how many potential sales you’ll make with your launch. For example, if you have 1,000 subscribers, you have the potential to sell 1,000 downloads. I understand that other mediums such as the radio, TV, newspapers, websites and magazines can get you to hundreds of thousands of people - but the real fans are those who’ve subscribed. 

So make the mailing list a core feature of your promotional activities. Capture their details. Ideally their name, email and if possible, their contact number. The reason you’re doing this is so that when it comes to launch time and pre-launch offers, you already have a base of people you can offer this too!

3. Play regular gigs. Book a period of lots of gigs. Grow some momentum and grow your crowds. If you also play covers, use the gigs to also throw in some originals with some promotion of upcoming gigs, free downloads and launch information. That way you can also see what people think of your new stuff too. Get a friend to come along with a camera and video your entire show. Don’t worry too much about the quality, just get it all on video.

4. Upload all your recorded gig videos to YouTube and share them. Upload songs individually. Share them at your blog, share them with people who sign up. Offer them new videos on a regular basis to keep them coming back and checking out your music. The more they hear it, the more they’ll want to hear it and then download/buy it.

These are just four ways. There are lots more, of course. What have you done in the run up to any of your launches - what worked and what didn’t work? I’m interested in hearing how this has worked for you. 

Popularity: 46% [?]

Blogging is great - but sometimes you run out of stuff to say or you may not want to post every single day. I made the choice recently to post at least once every five or six days and I aim to make them informative and useful. That way you don’t get bombarded reading lots of stuff and lose focus on running your own music businesses.

Instead, I microblog. And so do hundreds of other musicians too. Microblogging is a great way to share with others what you’re up to in any moment. It’s a great way to note down something you’ve found quite interesting wherever you are. 

I use Twitter to microblog. Twitter is a microblogging tool that allows you to post “tweets” or updates that are a maximum of 140 characters in length. You can follow others on twitter. And others can follow you too. People can respond to your tweets and you can start a dialogue. You can update your twitter from your computer, from your mobile phone via SMS or via Instant Messaging.

If you’re not yet using a blog (and even if you are), Twitter is one of my top 3 social media methods to grow your network along with Facebook and LinkedIn. If you’re not yet using it, go ahead and sign up. Follow me on Twitter too. You can also link up your Twitters on Facebook so you’re managing just one network. It’s that great even Barack Obama’s twittering.

Right now, as you’re reading this, I’m spending the week in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt. It’s famous for the Red Sea, and I’m diving and snorkeling every day, reading by the pool, spending the time with my lovely partner and I’m also juiced in wonderful music conversations. I’m sharing my learnings with you at Twitter. It’s so cool. You don’t miss a thing.

As for you as a musician, Twitter is a great way to keep your fans updated on what you’re doing, where you’re at and what you are thinking. It’s a great way to share your ideas, your upcoming gigs, your latest news and spark conversation.

Share your song of the day. Share links to your videos, free clips and just have good discussion. Remember, being normal isn’t fun. Being abnormal, being insane, being creative and being different opens the door to more conversations and more attraction.

Join Twitter and start microblogging. It’ll help your music grow a following.

Popularity: 48% [?]

I’ve presented this workshop many times before in and around London. It’s back again for a new and fresh audience. The title of the event says it all really.

It’s only three hours long, one of my shorter events, so it’s going to be fast-paced, intimate and interactive. Participants have left with pages and pages filled with notes - it’ll probably be the same as well for you. No two events are the same so if you’ve been to this one before, you may want to come again.

Amongst other things, we’ll cover some of the following topics:

• - Having a definition of success
• - How to become a social musician (and why)
• - Two crucial steps for successful music promotion
• - Principles of musopreneurship (music business entrepreneurship) 
• - How to start locally and then build nationally
• - My thoughts on the death of the music industry

Here’s what John Gerighty said. He attended in January this year.

“I found Kavit’s workshop to be most inspiring. He had lots of practical ideas, but also I found that having been there, my motivation had increased immensely. Within six weeks I had more than doubled my previous year’s gigs total for the year. Fantastic!”

Details of the event:

• Date: Saturday 14th June 2008
• Time: 2.00 PM - 5.00 PM
• Location: central London (I’ll tell you where when you sign up)

Find out more and sign up here.

*** 

I’m running Kavit’s Hot Seat event the following day on Sunday 15th June from 9.30 AM to 5.00 PM. It’s for eight people maximum. I don’t give a seminar. Each person gets at least 30 minutes on the hot seat with me in front of the room and we tackle your most pressing challenge. It’s really fun, you’ll get a lot out of it. Only six places left. Sign up here. 

*** 

If you’re not in London, I understand you may not be able to make it. I have two sets of ‘Magnetic Marketing for Musicians’ left. It’s a 4-DVD set with 100+ manual and you’ll find it useful to help you promote your music on the internet and get more sales for your CDs. Check it out here free for 30 days.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Succeeding as an independent musician can be done through a number of routes - there is no one correct model. One that appeals to some of the musicians I speak to is the idea of starting to “dominate” your local region with your music before gaining traction and broadening your appeal through a progressive and carefully planned route.

The idea is straightforward and works great for those who really prefer the offline, personal touch than using the internet. Make and promote your music locally. Work with local venues often. Make and build strong relationships with the local newspapers, magazines and radio initially with press releases every few weeks and then as you get going, by e-mail. After a while, you’ll probably have their number on speed dial.

Be a social musician offline. Get out there and hang out where your fans would hang. Go to your local music stores and see if you can get your music there with posters, flyers and regular gig information. Do whatever it takes to get your local neighbourhood to listen to music. (Nothing illegal, please.)

This is what I believe to be the process to having success in the music business:

HEAR - LIKE - BUY - SHARE

That’s what people do. That’s the process they go through to get from first hearing your music to finally doing what fans do best - sharing your music with their friends. The process can repeat itself for every track, single or album you release.

Do it locally. Get enough people to like your music offline and go through this process. I believe it’s more easy to get lots of people locally to buy and share your music (because you’re THEIR local talent). Naturally, that will give you press, radio coverage and news will start to spread.

You can then move to the next region slowly whilst retaining your local base but with your focus now stretching between two areas, rather than just the one. As you continue to grow your fan base in different areas, the number of times you appear to perform in one area will reduce and your fans will want to make sure they don’t miss each event. It increases the attraction factor and uses the “scarcity” marketing tactic. They will change their diaries, get babysitters in and make sure they don’t miss your gig as you won’t have another gig locally soon. It’s possible to get to this point as an independent musician.

This strategy of starting locally before growing globally is also great for you as the music business leader who is assembling a team so that you don’t have to wear all the hats and can focus on doing what you love best - making music. You will build a good network offline and you’ll also be able to find people who can join your team so you can have them all in one place.

Start local, grow global. What are your thoughts? 

Popularity: 51% [?]

Being an independent musician means you’re steering your own ship. The direction you go, how far you go, the people who join you on the trip and the amount of fun you have is all down to you.

Independent musicians do much more than just make and perform music. They promote it, they deal with the legal stuff, they come up with strategies, they build teams, they get PR, they do interviews, they get and play gigs. If they don’t do it, they get others to do it, but they’re in charge of it all. Independent music is a business - and usually, all independent musicians are the leaders of their own businesses.

However, most independent musicians don’t think like this. Many are still living in the fantasy of achieving major record label success and although it could be possible, it isn’t possible if you don’t start thinking like the leader of your ship.

You’re the visionary. You’re the leader. You’re going to decide what happens and how far you go. Let’s explore what that means. 

Music business success isn’t easy - but it’s not complex. Most musicians make it so complex that they can’t comprehend and get it all done. Music business comprises music, marketing, sales, service and leadership.

In it’s simplest form, to get your business of the ground, you’ve got to have good music and good leadership. The good music helps with good marketing that comes from good strategy and good vision from good leadership. Sales and service falls into it when you get exposure. If you can get ahead in these five areas, your independent music business will be in the top 2% in your arena.

Here are seven things you need to do as the leader of your music business:

1. Be motivated by an exciting vision. What is the purpose of your business and how are you going to realize its objectives in today’s world? What is the vision and character of your music business? Be the champion of your music business vision. Live it, breathe it and share it every single day in the way you live and lead your life.

2. Be passionate. If you believe you have got good music that people will want to hear, you need to be passionate to have any level of success. Lack of passion comes as a result of a lack of compelling vision and drive to achieve your goals.

3. Define your strategy and align your tactics. Strategy without tactics is a waste of time and tactics without strategy is pointless.

4. Start to build a team. Find people who are passionate about your music, pay people and do whatever it takes to get some help. You can do well doing everything on your own but to get massive success, you’re going to have to leverage your tasks. Build a team, manage your team and stick to doing what you do best.

5. Be a great listener. Listen to your fans, listen to your team. They’re all telling you stuff to help you grow and be more entertaining and successful.

6. Take calculated risks. Work out where you can take risks and if it’s worth it, go for it. Calculated risk is safe. Playing just safe is risky.

7.  Retain people’s attention. I’ve mentioned attention many times. Gerd Leonhard talks about attention too. It’s the new currency. The longer you retain people’s attention, the more trust you’ll build. Communicate often and communicate consistently.

Each of the above warrants its own post. I’ll probably to do that at some point as I think it is very important. But for now, I thought I’d just throw it all out. What are you doing to lead your music business/career in the direction you want it to go?

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