I have just started working on the promotion for the Caravan of Dreams debut album and this is proving to be a big learning curve. The reason for this is that “the music business” is changing at some rate and this means having to adapt and course correct all marketing and strategic thinking
I’m lucky to come from a background in communication and marketing, so I have some skills, BUT the “music business” is a strange beast and is changing all the time. Its very clear to me that its perfectly possible to burn money on publicists and PR if you are not careful and that there is no “magic bullet” that will catapult any artist to mass success. Of course shows like X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent present the illusion of massive fame, but I have heard from very reliable sources that there is a lot of (I’m being polite here “crafting of artists” and what is presented to the public is essentially a carefully prepared image where “image” trumps music in every instance.
For original artists writing their own material and looking to reach a wider audience there are IMO absolute basics that need to be in place for even the most remote chance of reaching a wider audience. In my view attention to detail and quality control are crucial. I was amused to read on one music social media platform, endless artists boast about how they never spent any money on music production and that such help was not needed. I appreciate that everyone has budgets, but its obvious to me that working with a professional with decades of recording experience is going to produce a better sonic result that trying to do that aspect myself.
Its clear to me that as well as really taking time to craft songs, its equally important to have a multi layered delivery system to connect to a wider public.
The absolute minimum means having the following in place
A professional website with great visuals, blog and regular content
Facebook presence
Twitter presence
YouTube account
Sound cloud presence
Instagram account
These are IMO the absolute basics and interestingly when I invested in a PR promotion from a distribution company, they insisted on FB, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and sound cloud as a condition of applying.
I have also realised that the internet is essentially a visual medium, and its smart to invest in great photos, to attract attention. Many people really don’t get this and look to save money which IMO is a big mistake.
Prepare for some major work
I have realised that “the music business” like any other business requires a great deal of strategic thinking and building relationships. I recently attended an evening where industry professionals talked about what was essential in artist promotion and publicity. They stressed the importance of networking and didn’t think much of “professional pluggers” I surprised that it looked like I was the only person to audio record the event and one of the few people to ask as series of questions and to take up the offer to talk 1 to 1 afterwards which proved very useful. After all there is no substitute for experience and over the years conversations with professional musicians have proved to be invaluable and saved me a huge amount of time and money. I’m grateful to know a number of top class successful artists who have been very generous with their time.
Working on promotion means some major work and crucially sustained work. Its a careful balance of keeping an online presence that engages people and not flooding the internet with material. Often “less is more” and its better to pay attention to quality rather than volume.
With my first band “The Small Change Diaries” we initially looked at the ukulele market for an audience. I quickly realised after a few festival appearances that this was mostly not an audience that wants to listen to music. I’ve blogged about this many times, so won’t elaborate further on this aspect…
With “The Caravan of Dreams” we are far more diverse musically and I am investing a great deal more time in recording and musical promotion. This means a ton of work behind the scenes across many platforms. Other artists who have made any kind of impact tell the exact same story and “The BIG project” “Music for The Head and Heart” brings together all such artists who are more interested in promoting the love of music. Working with like minds is essential and I’m keen to promote mutual support. I am happy to share business awareness, do video and photographs as well as sharing other creative resources with appreciative artists who have a shared vision.
I’ve never been busier working on musical projects and have to work pretty hard to fund all of this from other work. To date I have avoided kickstarter style initiatives and I have seen some car crash scenarios where artists create a terrible reputation by failing to deliver after seeking thousands of dollars to fund their own recording time. There have also been major problems with Pledge Music in recent times which have been well documented in the media. Ultimately I prefer to literally put my money where my mouth is and fund everything independently.
I’m pay all band members for rehearsal and gig time as well as employing professionals for music production, photography and IT support. This leaves me to focus on what I do best. Its an ongoing balancing act, but quite a trip and a massive amount of fun. As I said in the title of this piece, its “unglamarous” as well as a constant learning curve, but despite the massive amount of work, I do really love it.
