Music Marketing Network for Musicians and Music Business Professionals
What's is Your Biggest Music Business Challenge?
As a musician/songwriter, what is your biggest music business challenge?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Billy Alley on -
Tell your story. Once you know what kind of people
would connect with your kind of music and style,
you can tell your story.
That's one way you can build relationships with fans
and potential fans. It's a good way to make the right
connections.
Do you have a blog?
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Permalink Reply by Circle of Fate on -
Our biggest challenge is booking. Sure, we can call and shake hands with clubs and theaters in our area but expanding our operation is a bit more difficult especially when working a full time job. We are extremely dedicated and want this to be our first full time job. I say first because each of us gets off of work and has dinner and then works another 8 hours on band stuff each night. Doing this, we don't get much sleep of course but we really want to get on a tour and have more time to write songs and focus on the business of our music. We've been together for 11 years now and finally have (what we feel) is a great commercial product. We just don't have the connections to get well paid gigs to do this for a living full time. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Permalink Reply by Paula Benson on -
I feel your pain of wanting music as a ft job. Do you want to handle the booking? Do you have The Musicians Atlas? The publications is great for all the venus in many many states. Do you want college gigs or clubs? The Atlas has all the information you want. There are listings for promotors, band equipment, radio, and bookers. Have you tried doing some charity events, corporate gigs, or weddings. Weddings pay a lot of money.
Have a nice day.
Paula
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Permalink Reply by David Hooper on -
Have you tried gig swaps? That's the easiest way to get gigs.
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Permalink Reply by Baby Jade PR on -
Time! It never matters how much time you spend on any activity, there's always more to do! It seems like working 12 - 16 hour days is never enough...I'm a workaholic, love what I do and always find that I find more ways to get the word out for my clients, so there just is never enough time as far as I'm concerned!
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Permalink Reply by Billy Alley on
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That's the same problem I dealt with. I worked up to 4 jobs one summer.
Not only was it time, it was finances. I was in the hole over and over
again working crappy blue collar jobs that I hated. I just wanted the
freedom to do my music.
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Permalink Reply by Pete Smith on
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Bands and musicians are beginning to outnumber fans. People have too much choice and short attention spans, just getting them to listen is the biggest challenge. Making music is (or should be) a labour of love, if you're lucky enough to make a living along the way consider it a bonus and be grateful.
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Permalink Reply by Billy Alley on
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Pete, the greatest thing about today's world is the fact
that we have the ability to connect with so many people
at one time.
The not so greatest thing is- we have the ability to
connect with so many people at one time!
You're right! Especially because of the Internet we
are saturated with new bands and musicians popping
up daily, if not hourly.
But you have an advantage and so does everyone
else out there. And it's those that are ahead of the
crowd that will succeed. I want to tell you what
I mean by that in a second.
But first I want to agree with you that Music is a
labor of love.
One thing about it if you're wanting to be a successful
artist, you have to realize you're in business too.
You probably already know this.
I know that a lot of people want to be able to just
play their music and give. That's great, and if that's
your aim, then I say go for it.
It is my opinion however, that if one focuses on
the marketing part of the business, then that is
where all your problems start getting fixed.
Professional marketers know that marketing is
the lifeblood of any and every business.
Because of technology and the Internet we don't
have to settle for a mere hope that we'll make a
living along the way.
You can be successful by intentionally creating
success. Focus on the personal branding and
marketing parts of your music endeavor.
This will fix the short attention span and listening
problem, which you said was the biggest challenge.
People do have a short attention span because of
today's information overload. As we both agree,
the market is saturated with musicians.
How to do this effectively is to find a niche market.
And I mean to find out spe-cifically what kind of
people are interested, or would be interested in
what you're all about.
People have become numbed and desensitized
because of so many musicians and bands attempting
to do the same things.
But if they see something different in you, and it's
something they can connect with, then you're
more likely to catch and keep their eye.
"Antiqcool" caught my eye because I never fit in
with the "cool" people when I was in school. And
that's what I first thought of when I saw the name.
I don't know if that's what you're trying to express
but it's proof that certain things catch the eyes of
certain types of people.
What kinds of subjects are you interested in? Why
do you call your album Resonant String Theory,
with DNA strands and a globe on the cover?
What does it say about you and the niche you
want to connect with?
Look up some articles on niche marketing and
see how that might help you. I did and it's incredible
to find out what this can do for you.
Once you create a niche, you can continue creating
relationships with the fans through your sites n'
blogs, n' tweets. Speak to them and share your
inspiring stories.
As you focus on this you will stand out to that
crowd, and rise above all the mess and clutter.
Now I'm going to listen to another song off the
album.
Take care.
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