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Leah McHenry April 12, 2019 2
You’ve likely witnessed the complete shift in the music industry over
the recent years…the Internet has flipped the model, and still so
many musicians are waiting to be saved by a label or going viral.
You have the power to find your fans directly without the need for a
label or middle man.
Can you make a living with your music doing this? Without a doubt.
The truth is…signing a record deal can actually put you into debt for
years to come (that’s the scary part they hide from you).
Labels are only concerned about making a good investment, and that
means you’d be paying them back first!
It’s like borrowing a bunch of money from a bank on the hope that
you’ll be super successful. This is not smart…
After many late nights and mistakes, I discovered how the marketing
game works, and my music was getting attention. I had no idea what
was to come…
My goal is to create a shortcut for you so you don’t need to make the
same mistakes I did (that is not necessary)!
Think about it like this… if your music is all over the place, there is no
consistency to your brand…
Even groups that do cover songs more so than originals still have a
consistent sound and style… They often stick to the same genre and
add their own trademark twist to the songs.
Maybe you enjoy several genres and you’re skilled in each of them?
Let’s do an exercise.
Consider all songs you have currently written – it’s totally cool if you
have many tastes and influences!
Now you should ask some friends and fans to tell you what your
songs sound like. If you change something in the song such as a
particular instrument, would your genre be wildly different? What
does the combination of some of your favorite bands sound like?
Consider how that would be described.
It’s hard to find anything truly “new,” but you can absolutely combine
the sounds of your favorite bands to forge the path for your own
“microniche.” Remember, the more specific your niche, the more
that your potential fans will relate!
A brand is way more than a logo, color scheme, or font (even though
all of these should work well with the brand)…
Your brand is the feeling your fans get when they experience your
music.
This feeling is not something that can be held in your hand or written
on an ad. Have you thought about how to make your audience FEEL
something?
The first step is by selecting songs that create the feeling you’re
going after…
Here’s an example.
For the songs that aren’t a good fit for your primary brand, save
those songs for another project, or you can potentially use them for
licensing.
Your Homework:
Select ONE (1) project to work on at this time, where you will spend
100% of your music focus. It is not recommended to try more than
one project initially as you will spread your resources thin and risk
not going anywhere with either project.
What is the genre? What are the related topics? What movies
would it make a great soundtrack?
Create a list of themes for your lyrics that you can revisit in your
writing process. You can also use this list to help determine
your microniche / microgenre down the road.
Think about it…most people check their emails every single day –
email is still, by far, the number one way to promote anything!
It’s good enough for the big players! I will almost guarantee you that
anyone with a big email list will produce more revenue than
someone that is not focused on email (all things else the same).
Well, you need to have an enticing offer for your fans. One of my
favorite strategies to build your list if to offer a free song download in
exchange for their email address.
YES!!
Next you’ll want an easy way to create landing pages, which will be
your webpage that offers your free song.
I use Leadpages. It’s second to none. You’ll soon discover that the
better your pages convert, the lower your marketing costs.
Leadpages is hyperfocused on high-converting pages, resulting in
better results for you.
There are so many reasons why you shouldn’t send people to your
homepage when promoting a specific offer, but to sum it up, it
You want to send your fans and potential fans to a page that has only
two options: YES or NO (not 20 different things they can explore,
like on your homepage – then, they’ll never put their email address
in the form)!
Above all else, even social media, EMAIL should be your NUMBER
ONE focus when it comes to marketing. Build your email list, build
your fanbase, build your revenue.
If all social media goes away tomorrow, you would still have your
email list.
Make sure your social media doesn’t lead your fans to a DEAD END
such as in your “about” sections, etc. You need to send them
somewhere to take an action
Instagram: You can use Linktree or Link in Profile to make the most
of the ONLY link you can put in your bio. Then tell your audience to
click the link in your bio – nobody can click links in your
captions/comments! Think they’ll copy and paste the link? Forget
about that. You want to make it easy for your audience..
Taking the time to tag, describe, and link your videos correctly will
pay dividends in the future as more and more people view your
videos.
There are tools to help you with the work involved to properly set up
each video. My favorite is called Tubebuddy. There’s a feature in the
upgraded version that will paste a pre-written, pre-formatted
description for you! This feature is super valuable when I have
certain promotions going on, and I can change the descriptions of
many videos at once, then change them back once the promo is
over.
I hope these tips have been eye-opening, even if only one of the points
resonated. If you take action on these now, you’ll definitely see much
better results in all your efforts!
Ryan Walker
April 13, 2019