Unless you have a major
label money behind you, the ability to promote your music yourself is
one of the most important skills you have to know. With the little money
you have, You can hire some PR people to run media Promo and Hypes for
you, it is up to you to make sure people know about the music you are
making by engaging some contacts where ever you are. Getting started can
be a little Stressful, however. These steps i compiled will help you
start out on the right foot, and make sure all of the right people are
standing up and taking notice of you.
1. Identify Your Goals -
When trying to promote your music, don’t try to cover too much ground
at once. Look at the way larger artists are promoted – they have
specific campaigns that promote their new music or video. Once you
choose what to promote, you will be able to make clear goals for
yourself, i.e. if you want to promote thru blogs/websites, then your
goal is to bring traffic to the site. With these goals in mind, you’ll
find it easier to come up with promotion ideas, and you’ll be better
able to judge the success of your promotions.
2 Know When to Act Small -
This step ties in with targeting the right audience and identifying
your goals – you can save a lot of time spinning your wheels by keeping
the small stuff small. While it’s always useful to keep other people up
to date with what’s happening in your career, that guy from club vegas
doesn’t really need to know every time your are playing a half hour set
at the local bar/club, especially if bloggers/websites hasn’t given you
much coverage yet. When you’re getting started, the easiest place to
start a buzz is your local area. Build up the small stuff to get to the
bigger stuff.
3. Find Your Niche -
The sad truth is, every radio station, blogs, or fan for that matter,
you are trying to reach is likely being bombarded with info from other
music hopefuls. You must be able to stand out. Try to find something
that will make people more curious about you – give them a reason to
want to know more. Being Different worked wonders for Terry G, Burna
Boy at the start of their career . You don’t have to tread same line
that’s not your thinking you are gonna get the same attention the
present top artiste is getting… Just find yours and work On it.. Burna
Boy has that different tone … Those who tried to copy are no where to be
found now.
4. Branding - Get
your name out there. Make up some artworks, posters or anything else you
can think of that include your name or band’s name. Then, leave the
stuff anywhere you can. Pass them out at your favorite eatery,clubs ,
leave them on the poster the light posts – go for it. Soon, your name
will be familiar to people even if they don’t know why, and when they
see your name in the paper advertising an upcoming show, they’ll think
“hey…I know that name, Am going and let’s see what he can offer.
6 Keep Track of Your Contacts -
As you go through all of these steps, chances are that you are going to
pick up a lot of new contacts along the way. Some of these contacts
will be industry people and some will be fans. Never lose track of a
contact. Keep a database on your computer for the industry people you
have met and another database of fan contacts. These databases should be
your first port of call for your next promotional campaign – and these
databases should always be growing. Don’t write anyone off, even if you
don’t get much feedback from them. You never know who is going to give
you the break you need.
6. Grow your Database -
When keeping tracks of the contacts you have, don’t be afraid to help
your database grow by adding some “dream” contacts to your list. Is
there an agent you want to take notice of you? Then include them on your
press release mailing list or promo mailing list when you have big news
to share. Let them know you’re still working and still building your
career – pretty soon, they may be knocking on your door.
LASTLY Most Importantly !
7. Bribe/Sort People -
This is the hardest but the most important tip to stand out from the
crowd is when you are expecting free stuff. DJs, Bloggers and OAPs love
getting something for nothing, and also you’ll whip your fans into a
frenzy (and get new fans) by giving stuff away. Some ideas:
- Put some money behind the bar at a show and give free drink passes to all the industry people who come to check you out.
- Give people on your mailing list an exclusive download once a month (be it a new song or an alternate version of a song)
- At gigs, raffle (for free) mix CDs made by the band – everyone who signs up to your mailing list at the show gets entered in the drawing.
Finally Pray and Work Hard And Surely Success Will Come….
Compiled By - Oke Femi ’Jaychoc’ ( Petr. Engr., Online Media Expert/Advertiser, PR. Nigerian Music Analyst
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