Viral Marketing–What’s Really “Real” About It?

Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, engineer and the owner of recording studios in both Nashville and New York City. Cliff is also a regular contributor to EQ Magazine and Pro Sound News. He can be reached at [email protected].

The Bad News

In my 15 years of making a full-time living in the music world, one thing has become more and more clear to me. It’s work. The romantic image of the starving artist being so incredibly talented that one day he or she gets “discovered” and becomes rich and famous is a dangerous myth. I say “dangerous” because the more you as an artist believe it, the less inclined you’ll be to do any work on your own behalf. The gritty reality is that if you don’t do the necessary (and daily) work promoting yourself and your music, it’s highly unlikely anything will ever happen.

The Good News

There has NEVER been a better time to spread the word about yourself and music. The internet, with its downloadable digital music files, social networking sites and countless other advances that we can’t even begin to imagine yet, has leveled the playing field in a way that will make the “work” you have to do infinitely more effective.

Gather Your Fans

The more you can identify and reach out to your fans the better off you’ll be. Whether it’s your friends on MySpace or Facebook or the email addresses you’ve been collecting at gigs or online, it’s these people who you need to be able to reach effectively to spread the word about what you’re doing. Treat your list of email addresses like the gold that it is. It’s these people who will not only consider buying your music when it comes out, but more importantly, will also help spread (“viral” get it?) the word about you and your music. Once you’ve got a network of fans that you can reach out to, you’ve dramatically increased your potential to spread the word about what you’re doing.

Be Creative

The fact that the playing field has been leveled and almost anyone can get their music out worldwide is both a blessing and a true challenge. Instead of fans knowing that the local Tower Records is where they should go to find new music, the internet, with its infinite musical venues, has become the new (and overwhelming) place to find what’s new and great. The more creative you are in your presentation, the more likely a fan of yours will be to forward a YouTube link with your video or any one of a thousand other ways you can create to present yourself and your music. Again, the plan is that by putting something out there that’s unique enough to rise above the typical internet fare, it will take on a life of its own and appeal not only your current fans but also to new fans in ways you’ve never imagined.

Stay Current

The outlets for music and ways of marketing online change and advance almost hourly. Taking time out of your day to be aware of the next MySpace, Facebook or Twitter will pay huge dividends going forward. It’s not enough to find one way of reaching people and stubbornly stick to it. If that were the case, bands would still be mailing postcards to let people know about their gigs. Did I just date myself?

Give It Away

Don’t be afraid to give something to get something. A free download of a song in exchange for an email address is the best deal out there these days. Make it worth someone’s while to give you his or her email address and you’ll be amazed at what happens. Let your music speak for itself. If fans like their free download, there’s a much higher likelihood they’ll come back and buy the rest. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to do this either. Take a peek at a simple and effective example by clicking here.

Make Sure Your Music Is Available

I can’t think of anything more depressing than the artist who comes up with an amazing vehicle to promote his or her music, watches it go “viral” and generate huge web traffic to their site only to have nothing readily available for sale. Don’t expect most people to wait around or check back with iTunes every few days until your music is up. Make sure that before you go about promoting your music, you’ve taken the necessary steps to insure that if and when people want to buy your music, they can do it easily. Companies like Tunecore make this essential step both simple and cost effective. Don’t wait around for people to start asking how they can get your music. By then, it’s too late. Do it first.

Trust Me, It’s Real

Be patient. Not every online marketing attempt you make will result in thousands of downloads and new fans. However, every effort you make to get the word out about your music (even if it’s fifteen minutes a day) becomes part of the bigger picture of reaching new fans. The more fans you have, the greater the potential for any one thing you do going viral and bringing in not only more fans but income. All of a sudden your “friends” on MySpace and Facebook just became a whole lot friendlier. Think of your work as a series of base hits that will get you ready for your shot at a home run. Good luck!

Comments

[Jeff]

Thank you for sharing this. I think the point about making sure your music is available is just so damn true.

One other way to get heard is to use a service such as Sonicbids, which I've found to be pretty good, although, I confess, it's a little early to tell for me.

Jeff

[M]

Where is that wheel that needs no inventing? I am missing the link in your post.
M.

[Damien McCarron]

I feel like the poster child for all you mention. The effort gets results, the results are leads to a higher profile and it all worked is some fashion over my 11 years. Our real world concern had been geographic in nature but we've fashioned a trip to Ireland and most major US markets at one point or other and are still passionate to grow and leave some form of musical legacy. No harm in trying while I breath. Today's we relased a free VIDEO and MP3 download. The base presence on the web is a huge way to launch a new tune and with Myspace facebook homesites etc. a niche genre crossover act has more weapons than ever.
Prove is in the pudding and the launch of "Whiskey Tonight" will hopefully inspire more listeners, downloaders, fans, friends and comrades.
Slainte (Good Health)
Damien McCarron
The Indulgers
www.shamrocker.com

[Cliff Goldmacher]

Hi All,

Just a note to say the missing link in the "Give It Away" section in my article is http://www.charliedegenhart.com. Enjoy! -Cliff

[Ian]

I concur - with my previous band we did lots of gigs waiting for Rich Richey of ‘Big Fuck Off’ records to come walking in to sign us - or a growing following of screaming fans like some scene from ‘Hard Days Night’ - it's a myth - and was a waste of time. Recently some tune core blog said it was all about touring and gigs – and dozens of real musicians – including me – replied with ‘this guy really hasn’t a clue’.

Since we've been doing the friends requests thing on myspace and imeem - where we direct fans of bands we like to some well recorded music, you tubes and links to itunes, amazon, etc we've suddenly found lots of people liking us. It’s actually gotten really exciting.

One thing missing from this article though – we’ve found US and Canadian independent radio incredibly amenable to us – be it via sonic bids EPKs or just sending out CDs. Apparently when Clear Channel bought up most stations and did the personality DJs / tiny playlist thing listeners just went elsewhere and the likes of Indie 103, KEXP, WOXY, etc started flourishing – we’re jumped on the back of that with some success.

Also getting onto Live365 via garageband.com (though CMJ cheaper) and Last.FM campaigns have worked really well.

Facebook and Twitter are a waster of time – though Myspace and Imeem are really good. Sonicbids is also really good.

[Charles Marlowe]

If I can quote Professor George Howard, "Distribution follows marketing". If you have not taken the necessary steps in order to drive people to your site, and grab your title off the shelf sort of speak, than it doesn't matter how many sites your music is for sale on, it wont work.
You have to literally drive people to buy your music, it's not enough just to have it available.
Really good points in this, I just think lots of band I've seen and worked with flood the market with there music, try to push it through to consumers. This business is a pull through business and you need to work everyday(for more than 15 minuets)doing the leg work in order to secure a career for yourself.
I got a lot out of this one though.

[zoram]

If you really want to spread the word I suggest you use sharing engines on your blog :)) you can go for Tell-a-Friend , it's the best yet.
www.socialtwist.com

[michael angel]

haha ps yo hablo español latino y ps no le entendi muy bien
pero grasias
en verdad grasias a tunecorner

[Susan]

Thank you for your article. I am currently employing many of your suggestions and am going to try others you've mentioned that we are not yet doing. Sometimes doubt has crept in and I have wondered if my efforts are being put in the right places. It has only been 2 months and we are seeing pretty good responses to our project. I will continue to plug along and follow your blogs. Thank you! (NOTE: we have hired a new web designer and are in the process of changing the entire look and layout of our website)

[Fronz Arp]

Nice article. I've been working on some various blogs and videos and things recently to work towards hopefully getting something which becomes viral. Even without that, creating constant new content is a great way to keep fans engaged. After all we are in the creation business. So fingers crossed for viral but thumbs up for content :)