Independent Music Success
How Is It Done?
The Formula Is Simple:
YOUR MUSIC + X = COMMERCIAL SUCCESS
What Is "X"?
X= Branding + Marketing + Public Relations + Planning + Administration
BRANDING
Your story and all the reminders of it such as your moniker, logo, origin, mission, motto’s, slogan’s, lingo, tone of voice, iconography, typography, illustrations, graphics, values, principles, ideologies, interests, lifestyle. Oh, and colors. This is your premise. The whole point. The reason why they may choose you over the others if they had to. What do you offer that can’t be found anywhere else? If you’re putting out projects and you don’t have this, you’re not putting out hot new music, you’re putting out cans of beans.
MARKETING
The multiple ways you allow or enable specified groups or individuals to learn, engage, and become more familiar with your brand. Also, finding the particular groups of people that will support you and the manner in which you develop and tell your story to those groups of people. How you connect with new/existing fans, the reasons you give them to buy and the consumer journey experience that ties it all together are important aspects that cannot be ignored if you plan on NOT spinning your wheels.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Look at the act of public relations as courting the company’s or individuals that represent the media. The ones that can bring attention to your story and help shape/spread your brand message. We’re talking about journalists, bloggers, podcasts, radio stations, and other media platforms that the public may choose to get their information from. One way you can guarantee that they support you is to present them with a situation where they win as well – such as providing a story that will boost their traffic of viewers / listeners / readers. And if you think having press is a waste of time because no one reads anymore, Google does, Wikipedia does. So do marketing departments with million dollar budgets. Go donate a dollar to Wikipedia, btw…
PLANNING
When it comes to having any kind of goal at all, investing time into the wrong thing and becoming stagnant are pitfalls that can be challenging to avoid. Two problems easily addressed with two solutions: deadlines that guarantee progress is being made and reverse-engineering which guarantees that progress is being made in the right direction.
ADMINISTRATION
There are at least a dozen and a half of accounts that either need to be created, populated or claimed. Making sure you’re represented in these databases (and in that press as mentioned earlier) will make you more “verifiable”. Getting your BMI or ASCAP situated is the tip of the iceberg. Also, keeping track of your statistics (plays, likes, engagement, financial figures, etc) is required for measuring progress and finding out what worked. No such thing as a failed experiment unless the results go unobserved.
Now you know the formula.
What do you do with it?
All the small details are with you and if you haven’t found them yet, you’ve at least found an agency that can help you answer that question. Join a community of elite independent recording artists that are growing their audiences every single day with a training program called ‘Instrumental Rapport’. Members are issued a copy of an eBook to get things started and access to the private online workshops where tools that will help your brand get some attention are shared – real hot nerd ish. You can also get some ideas for your next campaign. It’s also great if you just don’t know what to do next. It happens. But don’t worry, stick with the program and you’ll be a tAP partner in no time.
If you need a team, eventually, you’ll need to start thinking like a coach. Get active now and you’ll receive the eBook in your inbox immediately. The sooner we get to that, the sooner we can start mapping out your plays. No bench warmers though.
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