What Every Musician Should Know About Digital Distribution, Part IV

Part IV: Good Marketing and Bad

Things get a little tricky from here, because marketing and promotion needs context: what’s right for one person could be very wrong for another, at any price. Everyone has a different idea of “success,” so what is “success” to you? Do you want to:

• fill the local bar every third weekend with forty or fifty happy drinkers, sprinkled with a few die-hard fans?
• fill a football stadium and tour the world on a private jet?
• remain perpetually “alternative,” always outside the mainstream, attracting fans that despise Top 40?
• record and sell your church choir’s concerts only to the congregation?
• see your music up in the biggest, most powerful music store of any kind in the world (iTunes), and don’t care if anyone listens or buys?

How about sales? Is this your hobby or career? Do you want to make back the cost of your instruments or buy a mansion in every major metropolis in the world? Are you supporting a family with your music, or a drug habit, or a charity, or are you hoping for a bit of mad spending cash reserved for fun purchases only? Are you dead-set against MP3s, or compact discs? Are you vinyl only, or compose exclusively on software for DJs to download and mix? Are you against the idea of selling music at all?

TIP #3: Define Your Own Success

Before looking into any kind of marketing and promotion, ask yourself:

• Who do you want to hear your music and why?
• How do you want them to listen?
• Do you want them to buy your music, and when, and how?
• Where do money, fame and your own musical career fit in?

Notice the first question—why should you ask why? Your music is good, right, isn’t that reason enough? And why should it matter how they listen? Isn’t it understood you want them to buy your music? What does “buy your music” really mean? These questions all highlight a trap, and if you don’t ask why, right at the beginning, you’re going to fall into it and exhaust yourself pursuing the wrong marketing and promotion.

Everyone markets and promotes for a different reason. A toothpaste manufacturer is wholly interested in making money (or perhaps branding), and selling toothpaste is how they plan to accumulate it. They promote their toothpaste to encourage people to buy it, they market their toothpaste to drive desire, to build demand. Music isn’t always so commercial: in fact, most people feel contemptuous towards music produced solely to sell or brand. Many consider it crass consumerism, or devoid of art. When you bring in beauty and art and even politics (if you don’t think music can have political aims, listen harder), the goals of creation are often very much at odds with making money.

So get a good idea of what you want your music to do. You wouldn’t be reading this article if you didn’t want it to get into at least a few hands, and presumably you’re not averse to making money when they get it. So now you have to ask “who, when and how,” and each of these has a value. Here are a few scenarios:

I want my music in EVERYONE’S HANDS, IMMEDIATELY, and in EVERY POSSIBLE FORMAT. I’m sure you do, since that means the most people will have the greatest opportunity to become familiar with your music, come to love it and buy it, in whatever format is easiest for them. Making things easy on the consumer means making it rough on the distributor. Are you really unwilling to disappoint the guy who insists on buying your album on 8-track? It’s going to cost you a fortune to make 8-track tapes, and fulfillment is going to be a nightmare (be prepared to ship them one by one). You can have all these, but you’re going to spend millions and millions of your own dollars on TV, radio, print ads, billboards, promotional giveaways, a full blitz. You’ll have to sell more than the Beatles and Elvis combined to make all that money back. No label is going to take that kind of risk on you, and unless your measure of “success” is to get your music to everyone and hope it’s liked, this isn’t a good strategy.

I want my music in AS MANY HANDS AS POSSIBLE as SOON AS POSSIBLE in THE MOST POPULAR FORMATS. Better—now you don’t have to make vinyl or reel-to-reel tapes, you are willing to let it grow a bit (what does “as soon as possible” mean?) and you’re willing to give up on some potential customers. This would still bankrupt any but the biggest labels, and unless your music is so beloved it outsells Cher and Pavarotti, this is another overoptimistic goal.

I want my music to reach AS MANY TEENAGED BOYS IN AMERICA as possible BEFORE THE SUMMER SEASON ENDS as UNENCRYPTED AUDIO FILES. Finally, you’ve reached something that’s actually reasonable, but it’s still wildly expensive. That demographic (teen boys) is heavily exploited, especially in summer. That’s also the group that tends to patronize music pirating software, so you’re running a higher risk by insisting on DRM-free audio formats. Labels target teen boys all the time, as do movies and the snack food industry and just about everyone. It’s possible for you to wade in, but again, heavy on the wallet.

I want my music to reach EVERY CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTOR in RICHMOND, VIRGINIA in time for CHRISTMAS on COMPACT DISKS and MP3s. Christmas is a long way away (I’m writing in August), and there are plenty of services who can help you in time for Christmas, as it’s a common demand. Richmond, Virginia, is a big city, but a little hard work with fliers by you and your friends could probably reach the few physical places where re-enactors gather, and they perhaps have a Website whose administrator you can reach out to. Just about everyone can play a CD these days in America, even if they don’t have a computer, so very few will be disappointed. In fact, you probably already know much of this crowd already, because why else would you be writing music that would appeal to such a narrow group?

Hidden in these scenarios are the keys to understanding not only the right kind of marketing and promotion, but also how to value it, put a hard dollar amount on it, and ultimately deciding where to put your marketing resources.

In Part V, Finding the marketing and promotional sweet spot!

Comments

[Michael John Woods]

I am 57 years old, and have been writing songs since I was 16. I love the creative process. I have found that over the years I have become much better at the craft of songwriting. It is something that I simply have to do. I've always felt that someday it would be nice to make lots of money from my songs so I could just live on my music.

I don't think that means that I do it for the money. In fact, given the fact that I've never really made any money on all my work, it seems almost ludicrous to think that way.

But I know I will keep writing and slowly I will market what I have and who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and make some money.

But if I don't, I'll still be trying to find the next song, or rewrite an old one.

Digital technology has been a great awakening for me. I am gradually putting together all the tools I need to produce and sell my stuff.

So these articles are helpful, if nothing else, to do the mental excercise of thinking about the process and trying to achieve some kind of realistic view of what is possible and why.

Keep em coming!

MJW

[David Clark]

These are very good articles. I wouldn't necessarily call them 'secrets', but it is hard to put the pieces together as well as it is done here. And the insights that come from putting these pieces together are very enlightening. I've worked for book publishers in the past and a lot of the same patterns and methods apply.
I am one of these people who consider music a part of creative communication. The only reason it really exists at all is because someone wants (and really needs) to express something that is emerging from the inside of them. Unfortunately, this motivation is not always from the heart, soul or mind. Often, especially in a cash induced society like a lot of the world, it comes from ideas on how to take advantage of this system. Too bad...
I believe that more people should realize that all of these tools expressed in this article would be put to better use (read: let's not get greedy--greed hurts) if we can help one another promote the communication and help see why we have this incessant need to make music.
The origin of this need for creative expression doesn't seem to fit with being entirely logical nor commercial. Where does this need to do it come from? It even becomes a passion and can be very transfixing for a lot of us (whether creating or participating in someone else's creative process or completing the cycle through listening and feedback). I believe it would be helpful to understand it in terms of some kind of gift or grace to let us realize that more than what we ourselves are capable of is involved here. Hence, it would be sad to just let it be turned into cash for cash's sake. It needs to help make the world go round.
I still need to check into the promoted distributor here, but I am glad that it looks like an institution (read: business in our way of thinking) is finally interested in the promotion/communication type of distribution and not so much the commercialism. I think, especially in the US, we've had enough commercialism to gag a truckload of maggots (who needs 500 digital tv channels? Or 50 ways to download music...from the same site?).

Thanks for reviewing my comments.

[David Keogh]

Hi Peter,

Just stumbled across Tunecorner. Congrats on a really useful blog and a great offshoot of Tunecore (also great).

Wondering if you archive so I might access What Every Musician Should Know About Digital Distribution, Parts I, II & III?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Dave

[David Keogh]

Hi Peter,

Just stumbled across Tunecorner. Congrats on a really useful blog and a great offshoot of Tunecore (also great).

Wondering if you archive so I might access What Every Musician Should Know About Digital Distribution, Parts I, II & III?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Dave

[David Keogh]

Hi Peter,

Just stumbled across Tunecorner. Congrats on a really useful blog and a great offshoot of Tunecore (also great).

Wondering if you archive so I might access What Every Musician Should Know About Digital Distribution, Parts I, II & III?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Dave

[courtney]

I had to just read one more time and say thanks onece more because these days even for this information people either hold on to or try to sell it to you..

[courtney]

Thanks for the insight.Greatly helpful in re-booting my miission towards my music.
Tha Major
www.myspace.com/majjor

[Alvaro M. Rocha]

It's argueably hard for an artist to view (some of) his work as a product, although pragmatic ones (like me) may rap the finished product in the best compromise possible between artistic freedom and market segment cliches.

I have one music called "Sleepy", which if sold as what is, a sweet electronic minimalistic track with huge brass pads, it will propably reach a bunch of delighted listeners you may gather at a dinner table... but if sold as "the best lullaby for kids ever made, sleep garanteed" (which it could be), the same song will reach a tremendously huger audience.

Why? Many people have kids who keep'em awake, and through that they'd reach Sleepy, and an amazing artist - that would be me - *ahem*.

Having said that, it's being marketed honestly, for the time being, until I realize it *is* the best lullaby ever *laughs*.

BTW, this is (yet another) excelent article. Is it me or musicians have to be more than that nowadays? (engineers, marketeers, webdesigners, search engine traffic optimizers, writers, photographers, etc.)

Kind Regards,
AMR
http://www.alvaromrocha.com

[JonnieXXX, R&S pop-rock band]

Thanx again Peter
It's so usefull to get all your inside ideas about the music business.
To get noticed, even with a good melodic music with a real story, is a hard job.
It's awesome that making your music available at (least as MP3) for the people is so much easier these days, partly thanx to U

[Richard John (CEO) aka R-Son]

Greetings Peter;

Thank you for the brief breakdown on this music industry. The education never stops. I for one believe in brand marketing. I believe in building different branches representing one brand. That way, we can market and promote the music and whatever else we're involved together. For instance, Rymatica Recordings/ Rymatica Films, Radio Rymatica/ Rymatica Apparel. If our audience enjoy our films, then most likely, they'll have an interest in our music. So, overall, my advise to all musicians....brand marketing! Hit "two birds w/ one stone." Build another brand to market your band! Take care and good luck.

-Richard John (CEO)

[Mike Asquino]

Your article is right on the money.
These are the kind of articles that will help anyone to realize where they need to go with their music.
I'm truly blessed and the continued support
from my fans and friends, make me realize
how we all can help others to reach their
goals.
Keep up the wondeful work and continue to
educate and inform. Mike.

[mirandaband]

this came at a really crucial time for me. I work a full time job to pay the bills, I am a band leader and I just shelled out alot of my own money to pay my musicians at my last show. Most of the band leaders I know are 10's of thousands in debt and I refuse to find myself in that position. I have no idea how to market myself; the task is completely daunting to me. Any help in that arena would help.
So thanks.
Miranda

[CMajor]

Thx 4 a great article. u really broke it down in a nice way. i'm personally going 4 the stadium private jet goal.

[Herman Maes]

I love the way you write this Peter. It's completely true. For me, I almost fall into the "see your music up in the biggest, most powerful music store of any kind in the world (iTunes), and don’t care if anyone listens or buys?" category. Except for the "listening" part. This is something that I do want and for that, a good way these days is putting your music on things like "Last.fm". It's a growing community with people who can "tag" your music whenever they stumble on a track of yours. At first is goes slow but after a few months your music is receiving more and more radio play or even people listening to it on-demand. Just because you reach the audience you want thanks to the tag.
Consequently, you get more people visiting your website and *sometimes* people even go to iTunes and buy something. For a hobbyist this is very rewarding as I don't expect nothing more than that.

[Aaron Cooper]

Thanks for the great insights Peter! Personally, I want to make at least 10 awesome and beneficial albums!