The music industry has been around a long time and thousands of artists have come before you. What if you could tap into that shared knowledge of the ages to help your music career?
Unfortunately, I often see independent artists thinking that they have to work from a totally new playbook. That somehow being independent means you can't do what the majors do with their artists.
I'm sure you're saying...
But I don't have a major budget to work with
- Majors have industry connections
- Majors have marketing departments
- Majors have radio on speed dial
This may all be true, but even with these advantages the majors still can't guarantee success. Which is why more and more they rely on the artist to bring their own audience. Going from 0 to 1 is still on you.
There is a lot that you can learn from the way that majors release and market music.
Consistency
Like it or not, if you want to get a steady fanbase and make money with your music, you need to treat it like a business. That means consistency. Major labels have a release cycle where they bring the audience through a journey expecting the release and eventually waiting desperately for it. This is the opposite of getting one song done and then going through the motions of releasing it and wondering why nothing happened.
There's no reason you as an independent artist can't follow a similar release schedule. Map out the next 6 months into the following phases:
- Creative Writing - aim to finish a certain number of songs before moving to the next phase
- Story - Plan out the way you're going to share your story or the story of the project. Keep this in mind with all posts or promotions.
- Brand - Plan out the imagery and branding around the project and stay consistent throughout.
- Pre-release Syncs - Work with your sync agent or send directly to supervisors in the hopes of landing a sync that could air around the release of the song.
- Pre-release Buzz - Build anticipation by posting teasers, sneak peaks, and countdowns. It's also super helpful to shoot fun music videos with your phone and chop them up into 30 days of social media content running up to the release. Try out a 30 Days of Reels Challenge.
- Release Day Events - Live stream performing the song in a quirky place, plan giveaways for your audience to share the song, the splashier the idea the better.
- Post-release/Bridge - Keep the buzz going by planning unique ways to share the story further. And transition and connect these into the next song release.
Consider doing this for a few key songs for the project, or all of them piggybacking on top of each other to keep the momentum going.
None of this requires more resources than your typical music production costs and your iPhone. It does require a decent amount of time, which is why I suggest you...
Build a team
No one will support your artist career as much as you, but there are many that will help along the way. I don't suggest going after management right away as once you're ready, someone that's excited about your project will usually find you. If you have management, sit down with them and make this plan together. Sync agents are a great way to get paid for your music and can help create buzz. Sync agents typically don't cost anything upfront and get paid only when you do, so it's a win-win to partner up with the right company.
It's also crucial to partner up with your friends and fellow artists. Help each other with creating content and making each others music better. Share your audiences and grow together.
Make connections
Major labels aren't the only player in town. Networking is a key way to get the word out about your project and put strategies in place like a major would.
During the creative writing phase, identify which markets and avenues fans find music that's similar to yours and reach out and make relationships with blogs, supervisors and promoters. Share your journey with them way ahead of the release. It takes time to build these relationships. Start planting the seeds early and they'll be there to support you when it's time.
Spend time out at live gigs with other like-minded artists, connect with their managers, ask who they work with for playlisting or promotion. Find out which sync agents they like the best. Immerse yourself into the culture surrounding the music you love to make.
Chances are, someone has done something very similar to what you're trying to do, so the more you can reach out and meet people the better you'll be positioned to get the word out about your music. Use all the resources at your disposal to move your career forward. If you own your strategy you will own the outcome.
Think like a major and you'll get major results.