Musician: "I work so hard on making such good music, and the people who have heard it say my music is amazing, so I don't understand why I only have 150 listens? I mean I put it on Facebook and Twitter, and promote it as much as I can. How do I get more likes and listens?"
Ok guys, this is an ongoing problem and a frequent complaint from most artists. I am learning how to market my own personal music everyday as well, and it takes time. You can have the best music in the world, but if it's not being marketed properly, or at all, then who's going to know about it.
It is of absolute importance to spend a lot of time pushing your music out to reach new fans. Putting a bunch of songs out is not going to get you heard. You need to spend time getting people to listen to what you already have. How do you do this? You need to target music forums, sites, blogs, internet radio that already have a mass following. This is how you will reach several music lovers in one go.
You must make sure your presentation is on point. You want the fans to get excited at what they see and then at what they hear. First impressions are everything.
Too many artists make the music and then sit back thinking, 'it will happen; someone will notice me and the people will catch on.' No they won't! You have to show them. There are hundreds of thousands of artists trying to do what you're doing, so how do you stand out?
As independent artists, we don't have the budget to pay a team to do our marketing, so we really need to put on our business hats, and research ways in which we can reach new audiences.
Make make make the time! Don't start on a new single or album until you have marketed the crap out of your current one. Don't post it a million times on Facebook or Twitter; you'll lose followers and your friends will tune you out. I have artists send me Facebook messages about their projects up to three times a day. I don't even take the time to read those artists posts anymore, when at one time I use to. I just see their names, and then erase. Of course you should still promote on these social media sites, but don't flood it.
Target your core audience and find those music forums. Sell yourself to the writers, the bloggers, the music enthusiasts and the radio producers. Perform live gigs when you can. Make music videos. Sell your music in the street. Do whatever it takes. Then it will catch on!
We are hustlers as well as creators. So create and then hustle. It will pay off.
I'm still hustling, but I see results one day at a time, one fan at a time.
Let us all succeed together!
Peace and Love
HunnyB
