Why Sell Out Your Music Career?

Many independent musicians are known for their anti-corporate stance. It's not surprising then that the concept of "marketing" leaves a sour taste in many independent artists' mouths. The fact is though, there are ways to build your fan base and increase people's interest in and awareness of your music - without selling out. If you are an independent music maker, here are a few ways you can do some marketing without going corporate.



First, if your mindset is completely anti-marketing, you really need to change your tune. Marketing and administration does not have to equal selling out or going corporate. Finding ways to expose your ideas and creations through your songs and music to more people - marketing - shows that you believe in what you are doing.


Just stop and think about it for a moment. Doesn't what you create mean enough to you that you want to share it with other people? If not, why are you even pursuing music at all? Once you stop equating marketing and administration with these negative connotations, you can finally move on and start finding ways to promote your band that are still in-line with your ideals as an independent artist.

For starters, remember that your fans are not only your target market, but also your best promoters. Many independent musicians avoid pursuing marketing and administration because they think it means having to constantly deal with the media, promoters, record labels and other corporate types to help get the word out. If you're not comfortable with that, just skip it and go straight to the people who already are your best advertisers - your fan base. Provide them with ways to spread the word about you and your music. They will do the best job at it - and for free. Think about marketing in terms of your fans spreading their passion about you and the word loses even more of it's negative stereotype, doesn't it?


With that in mind, increasing your marketing simply becomes a matter of increasing your fan base. What could be better than that? Make sure to find out what it is about your music that attracts the fans you already have. Make sure you can describe your style of music quickly and clearly. With these tools it becomes even easier to find others who would also be interested in your music and your message. Reach out to them.


As you can see, independent music marketing doesn't need to be a dirty concept. Once you see it in terms of sharing who you are with even more people who will get pleasure from what you create, you can start using it to your advantage. Best of all you can do this using methods that don't require selling out or forgetting about your roots.

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What To Send To A Music Agent

If you want to be considered for work through a music agent or entertainment agency, you need to get on their books. Most respectable music agencies have a list of requirements they need from you. These things are generally common to most agencies:

CD demo
Your demo should be no longer than 5 minutes in total and should include 5-7 segments of varying song styles. For example, a jazz piece, a ballad, a rock and roll or soul piece and a top 40 piece. Make this relevant to the type of music you are providing. Each piece should be approximately 20 - 30 seconds long, perhaps incorporating a verse & chorus or intro & chorus etc.
Band Biography or Artist Resume / CV
Your band resume should be printed in a clear and easy to read layout and should briefly outline the highlights and current status. If you choose to mention details about each member, aim to keep each entry to 50 words or less if possible.
Sales Pitch & Band Marketing
Write a brief statement promoting the positive aspects of your act. Direct this to your prospective clients. (ie. anyone who books your band will receive these). This can be included as an introduction to your resume in paragraph or point form. You need to be able to answer the questions that a prospective client would ask you (Indirectly), eg; Why should I book your band over any other band?  What does your band do that makes it special?
Don't neglect to make mention of your internet marketing promotion. A true music agent will be impressed with a solid online presence. Any music angent who dismisses such a thing should be seriously reconsidered as an option as, lets face it, he's missing a huge business promotion product whether they like it or not.

Other aspects to consider
1. Musicianship
2. Punctuality
3. Experience
4. Dress code
5. Public relations (with clients and work suppliers)
HINT: Be concise, honest and to the point.
Songlists
Categorize your repertoire into styles of music: eg: Jazz, Ballads, Rock, 90's etc. and alphabetize each category. Remember to include the artist's name alongside of the song. Don't include the words "..and many more..." because clients ALWAYS ask "What other songs does the band do?" and this inevitably means you need to supply a more detailed songlist. (If you do literally have hundreds of songs - list the most popular ones)
Photograph
The photograph you submit to your entertainment agent can be black & white or colour but must be of good quality. Keep in mind that a great photo can make a huge difference in the decision process of a client. (A 1/2 page photo on the same page as your resume always looks great). You may have a gallery of great photos. Don't bombard the entertainment agent with all at once. Set a small handful and mention you have more photos if required.
Video
If you have any professional or live footage of your band or artist performance you should definitely submit this. Video has proven to be a very powerful marketing tool. It helps to solve the problem of clients wanting to view bands that usually play at private functions where viewing access is difficult.
Fees & Availability
An Entertainment agent will also require a statement of your proposed band fees for a standard 4 hour call (or whatever call time you work to. If there are a few different sized working groups within your act, you should give them a breakdown and specify ie a 3 piece is $xx and a 4 piece is $yy). Supplying ALL unavailable dates that you are already booked is also very useful to an entertainment agent.
Today's market is a consumer's market! Clients demand a great deal of information from an Entertainment agent so they'll require the right information from you (the band or artist). If you help the entertainment agent, they'll love you and will probably end up giving you more work. It's very much a case of, "You scratch mine and I'll scratch yours. It's the nature of the beast.


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Educate Yourself. Your Music Is Your Business

I know from personal responses to this particular blog that both full-time and fledgeling independent artists take no offence at the terminology and suggestions used here. I am thankful for this but I am even more thankful that they/you are gaining something from this blog.

If you are a serious musician, you might take your profession on top of everything. There may be times when you had to accept gigs and deals which might not really translate into getting monetary revenue, just as long as you get publicity or you get to make your music available to a wider public base. This usually ends up with the artist spending a lot more for the publicity and his "musical expression" rather than earning from it.

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. After all, the real essence of art cannot be measured in terms of how much it is sold for. However, as you go on and pursue a musical career, you will incur expenses along the way. Also, you'd want to grow bigger and bigger as a musician, and that usually means more expenses. Want a new guitar? Want new clothes to wear during gigs? What about communication expenses? Truly, the financial aspect of being an artist can get in the way of your artistic success.

This is why, if you are given a chance to earn (and really earn!) from what you already love doing, why not push your envelopes and make money out of it? Perhaps you can sign up with legitimate music business programs which can help you manage your finances well while helping you move forward as musicians.

Look at the people who earn from what they love doing. They maximize their productivity well. If they earn, they can buy things to upgrade what they already do. Anyone can always use a better phone, laptop, car or a musical instrument. Or maybe get extra assistance from a PR entity, use the money to produce your next album, invest in other non-music related things (music as a career is not that stable, after all), et cetera.

Also, another advantage with enrolling yourself with legitimate music business programs is that you will learn some technical music handling stuff, some things you might find difficult to ride on with if you just plunge into the music industry without any form of orientation. Such programs will help you understand and appreciate industry essentials such as artist royalties, proper trainings, professionalism and networking. The certifications that you get from such music business programs will help you build a more solid repertoire in music once you get across the hardcore technical managers, producers or hotshot music network.

Most likely these programs were made with emphasis on helping the young independent artists get their names on the mainstream music. So the design that you will be working with will be a ladderized design, something which won't overwhelm you.

Are you convinced with taking a look at some music business programs which boast of the potentials they've made famous? One of these artists could be you! So do you research as soon as now and get hooked with the best programs in your side of the country. This is one musical investment you don't want to miss out on!