Music Promotion | ArtistPR

Get Noticed, Make Money, Live Your Dream

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

As an artist, your goal is to make the world a better place by sharing your talents. But, in a sea of seemingly endless competition, it can be difficult to get the recognition you deserve. Today’s tips are for those of you ready for the spotlight. We will cover a few ways to get recognized, market yourself, and run your business.

Get prepared.

First and foremost, you have to be prepared to turn your hobby or desired career into a business. One way to do this is by making sure that you have a professional way to accept payments. Implementing new invoicing software is quick and easy, and you give your customers the convenience of paying online. Plus, you’ll be able to better balance your books by scheduling recurring invoices and knowing when your clients have seen how much they owe (and when you expect payment!).

Find a gimmick.

Your creative gimmick is much like a business niche. When you have one, you’ll attract fans that like your style. Some of the most famous bands in history, including Kiss, have established a gimmick, which is part of their identity or what Paul Stanley calls an identity calling card.

Understand marketing and promotion.

While you will ideally wind up with a business manager that can handle most of your marketing, you are on your own in the early days. Get to know how to utilize social media, websites, and other opportunities to share your brand. Even if you don’t have graphic design experience, some online banner makers are easy to use, meaning you can quickly and easily put together a display for your YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or other site. Banners are great because they can be edited, changed, and customized – you can even add a video to some.

Be discoverable.

If you want to be discovered, you have to be discoverable. This means putting yourself out there in places you might not normally consider. Many great artists got their big break in the most unexpected places. According to Flavorwire, Sid Vicious was found working at a store that sold provocative clothing, and Iggy Pop was discovered playing drums in Chicago’s blues bar scene. Don’t be shy about booking gigs at small venues, dive bars, or local music festivals. You never know when the right ear will catch wind of your sound.

Get connected.

Have a demo? Great. Submit it to ArtistPR to be distributed to thousands of journalists, music editors, and experts. Our network includes more than 28,000 music industry professionals, including reps, managers, and supervisors.

Ask for feedback.

This one is scary, but if you want to appeal to a broad audience, you have to ask for feedback. You may not always like what people have to say, and there is nothing wrong with sticking to your own style. However, if you’re trying to be mainstream, you have to listen to your fans just as businesses listen to their customers.

Work in the industry.

Another great tip is to take a job in the industry you wish to work in. Want to be a country music artist? Work where artists shop, relax, or play. Interested in classical music? Surround yourself with a more refined audience, perhaps as a museum docent. There are plenty of opportunities to work in the music industry, and, if you have other skills, such as photography, you may be able to capture local shows and gigs for other up-and-coming artists.

Not every musician or artist will be discovered. But, you can give yourself a leg up on the other creatives vying for a place in the spotlight. It takes work, and it is not all music and creativity. Sometimes, you have to position yourself for success by looking at your work as a business. If you can get through the stuff you don’t want to do, you’ll be that much closer to having laid the groundwork for a future on stage and in the airwaves.

Turning the Tables: How to Earn After the Downfallof Live Music

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

With venues shut and crowds dispersed, the pandemic has been disastrous for musicians worldwide. Despite this, many are learning to adapt, and, by tapping into the online space, it’s now possible to earn a living without ever stepping foot on stage. If you’re trying to earn through your music but can’t play in person, these suggestions go out to you.

Live Streaming

Live streaming is the process of performing to audiences in real-time over the internet. This is the closest thing in the digital space to a gig and even provides a few benefits over playing live (more control over audio, lighting, etc.) It’s even possible to monetize these performances by controlling their availability so that only patrons can view or access them or by using them to encourage donations via services like BoxCast.

Ad Revenue

If you’re performing on a streaming channel like Youtube, your videos may be monetized via ads. These ads play before and sometimes during your videos and, every time they do, you’re owed some of the money. Each platform (Twitch, Facebook Live, and more) handles this differently and it’s worth learning about the differences. Unfortunately, due to the popularity of streaming, the pay from ad revenue can be quite minimal but if you’re able to pull in large numbers of viewers you can earn a good living just by uploading content – the average Youtube channel stands at $18 per 1,000 ad views.

Royalties

It’s easy to conflate royalties with ad revenue but these are two separate means to earn. Music royalties are payments owed to the rights holders (songwriters, composers, recording artists, etc.) in exchange for licensed use of their music. This means that if someone uses your track for any earning purposes, you should be owed a chunk of that revenue. Trying to track down royalties is understandably difficult but there are now a host of agencies and platforms to help independent artists do just that.

Sample Selling

If you make beats, instrumentals, or even if you’re a vocalist, collaboration with others is a key way to earn in the digital space. You can record sounds and sell them as a commodity or you can reach out to individuals working within the industry and offer to collaborate for a price. This isn’t just a good way to earn, it’s also an excellent way to network and get to know people who are already in a developed position.

Direct-to-Consumer

Many musicians feel that the middle man is taking too large a cut and there is more earning potential by going it alone. Selling your music, performances, or merchandise directly to the consumer will require more time and energy than if you work through one of the platforms but you’re also more likely to command a higher profit margin. If you’re forming your own company, consider a sole proprietorship business entity – this will allow you to deduct business losses on your personal tax return and tax rates for this business structure tend to be the lowest.

If you’re selling directly to your fans, it helps to get a few of the branding basics down – this includes hosting your own website and designing a logo. Fortunately, much of this groundwork can be done independently without the help of professionals. Hosting sites like Wix or SquareSpace allow you to build and manage your own personal domain. Whereas there are plenty of online tools that allow you to bring your logo design to life for free and export this to social channels or print it onto physical merchandise.

The musical world has changed irreversibly and with power shifting towards independent artists, there are more opportunities than ever. The question of how far you can go now depends on how much work you’re willing to put into promotion as it does on the quality of your music.