Getting Started with your Music Marketing

If you’re just getting started with the idea of direct-to-fan music marketing then keep reading: I’ve put together this page to guide you through this new music business model and why I believe it’s the most profitable way to spend your time.

Direct-to-fan simply means that you get rid of all the middle men who usually take a cut of your music income, and create online offers that you promote directly to your people.

Building a loyal fanbase and making money from your music does not have to be hard, at the end of the day as long as you have a great product to sell and provide much more value than you ask for in return people will be happy to support you.

We’re not obsessed with getting signed…but a lot of what I teach on this blog will help you build a buzz and open all sorts of doors for you. It’s not that I hate record companies or anything, it’s just that if you focus on something you cannot control (like signing a record deal) then you’ll be in a constant state of paralysis because you need to rely on another decision maker who might have just run over his cat that morning.

If on the other hand you get proactive, and start seeking out pockets of new fans all over the world, you’ll build momentum. Every month Google will send you more hits, and as you start to take control of the music scene you’re involved with, you’ll get more and more attention from your target audience.

We don’t totally ignore the usual infrastructure of the music industry like radio stations and music magazines, because if used in the right way these channels can help your fast track your marketing. It’s just a shift in mindset, from focusing all your efforts on them to putting all your efforts into building a relationship with your fanbase.

By doing this you will find that new opportunities open up without you having to ask anyone for anything. The idea is that a record company may see the buzz you’re creating and come to YOU. Which is a great negotiating position to be in

When you follow along with what I’ve laid out here you’ll be on your way to a happier musical life…with more fans…more music downloads, better opportunities and more time to enjoy yourself.

I made the video below to show you how this Direct-To-Fan thing fits together and I suggest you watch that now:

This is the fundamental concept behind everything I teach on this website.

Before we get into marketing we need to get a little bit honest for a minute. This blog is all about going BIG or going home (I never really used that phrase before but I heard it on the Apprentice last night so what the hell )

The number 1 most important thing that you need to have right up front is a plan for creating mind-blowing music on a consistent basis.

Without that it’s going to be an uphill struggle to get anyone to share your tunes and support your work financially, so commit right now to make daily progress with this most important aspect of your success.

If you mess up all the marketing stuff or only decide to post one tweet a day as your whole marketing strategy, you will have a much better chance of inspiring people if you have a foundation of ever-improving music.

The funny thing is that you really can’t sit down and think “I’m going to write the next Thriller today”, my personal belief is that you just have to keep throwing a lot of new work into the world and the fans will tell you what’s good and what sucks.

You keep the winners and forget the losers…

Below is a free module from my Rapid Music Fans training program describing my Rapid Songwriting method.

It’s a little bit of a cliche but being truly DIY is a lot about your mindset and the way you see the world, so I want to take you through a few of the key concepts I live by.

1. You’re going to have to work your butt off - there I said it, it was not easy because I know that everybody wants a “GET FANS” button and that’s why scammers do so well.

Basically you’re going to be creating a music career and income from thin air, so as you can imagine you’re going to need to commit to working on this stuff on a regular basis. (Daily is the best)

Think about your career like a wheel. If you only focus on one part, your wheel is all wonky and you can’t drive properly. But if you keep making progress in each of the key performance areas you’ll suddenly wake up one morning and realize that you’ve reached the tipping point.

If you commit to keep going until you get where you want to be then there is no chance that you cannot find the success that you’re looking for. The only way to fail is to give up.

You may come across people that will tell you it’s going to be easy and that you can be an overnight success, but every fiber of my being tells me that is not the case.

2. It might take a couple of years to create enough music income to pay the bills – this is what so many people forget, and the reason that a lot of people give up. If you see things in terms of a two year plan then you need to think of the first year kind of like your first year at college.

You bum around, have fun with your friends and at the end of the first year you maybe get a C+.

But as you get into your second and third year you start to see things more clearly and know what works and what doesn’t.

The other day I spoke to James Schramko who makes a bucket load of cash online and even he told me that it took him three years to make enough monthly income to leave his job. He could have easily given up in those 3 years but he decided to stick with it and that’s one reason why he is successful.

Some people will get lucky and put out something that will go viral, but most of us will have to learn the ropes, learn what works and discover what the fans are really looking for.

I personally did not make it rich overnight and the methods I show you will build on this same process of consistent quality effort into a marketplace until you can support your family or your sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle.

3. It’s not a myth - when I first started out, the idea of subverting most of the normal routes travelled by musicians seemed like a big bunch of bullshit. I mean the idea of creating a fanbase of like-minded people from all over the world and convincing them that they should buy a product from me (that only existed online) seemed like a total dream.

But when you actually start getting your hands dirty and force yourself to figure out all the steps you start to see that this is a very reliable way for musicians to make a living. Once you get the bug there will be no stopping you!

You get to gig when you want, make the music that you want and work when you want.

Sure there will be days when you feel like giving up but if you ignore these natural doubts and let me know what you’re struggling with you’ll soon get back on track.

More about mindset:

Hopefully you’re starting to see that this is really possible, so now we can move on to some tactics to get you going.

The video below will guide you through a simple process for working this out and acting on the information you discover:

You want to have a hub where you can direct all your fans back to…

A lot of people would choose a free wordpress blog or send all their fans to the facebook page, but this is building your whole career on sand because you might do something wrong and get your account banned.

So the best idea is to set up your own site on your own domain name and then link to your other social media properties from there.

Below is another complimentary module from Rapid Music Fans that will show you how you can get your own site set up fast.

Some people will tell you that it’s not about the numbers but about the relationship you have with the fans, which is totally true. But this is also slightly missing the point.

I think about it like this…

Let’s say you have 100,000 people and 1000 of them will be interested in your music and want to follow along with everything that you’re doing.

Well it’s my opinion that you need to start filtering those people quickly, because the faster you can find those special people who are perfectly suited to the music you make, the sooner you can give up work and dedicate even more time to making them happy.

That is why I focus on methods that can bring new TARGETED fans to your site in the fastest possible time.

It goes without saying that the content on your new site should be highly attractive to your potential fanbase…that’s the whole reason it exists. All of the marketers I respect most will tell you that the best method to get hits to your site right now is to create outstanding content that people want to share.

Think about my blog – if I did not post useful stuff on here do you think anybody would visit?

NO WAY!

Invest most of your time creating the very best content that you can because at the end of the day it’s much better to have 1 amazing thing per week then posting up a bunch of crap on a daily basis.

If this seems a bit vague, consider this example.

Let’s say you play folk music, why not try and get an interview with Bob Dylan or Dolly Parton?

That would probably be very difficult, but if you could swing it that would bring a whole mountain of new fans to your site and they would instantly respect you because you’re talking to one of their heroes.

That is just a hypothetical example, but think about how you could make your content that attractive to people.

Use the articles below to help you do this on a consistent basis and your site will become the hub of your music scene:

So now you’ve got fans coming to your site everyday, the next step is to get them on your mailing list and start building a genuine friendship via email:

I personally make music because it’s my passion and I could not think about doing anything else, but I really don’t think that I would enjoy doing it as much if I did not have that happy feeling that people were prepared to pull out their cash and buy something I have put together. It’s such a thrill.

Below are some of my top articles related to making money:

Everybody will tell you that the music business is about “who you know” but when you ask them how to meet important people there is usually some vague answer about it being a natural process and you just need to be yourself.

Well that’s not good enough frankly…I know a load of musicians who are really shy and find it hard to sell themselves, so I recently wrote a post about connecting and impressing key tastemakers from the comfort of your own home.

A wise man once said that anything you want to know is in somebody else’s head. This simply means that if you want to achieve something all you need to do is find someone who has succeeded in doing something similar and ask them how they did it.

This is a very important idea in everything that I do and so a few months back I started interviewing successful people to give my readers an idea of what it takes:

So that’s about it for this fast start page, but before you run off and dive into the music marketing vault it would be great if you jumped on my newsletter below so that I can let you know when I find something cool that can help your career.

It’s packed with subscriber-only content that you cannot get anywhere else.

Don’t worry, this is not so that I can hammer your with viagra spam or penis enhancements, it’s a place for me to give away my best tips to musicians who really want to embrace “non-salesy” marketing tactics.

There is an unsubscribe link in every email so if my messages ever bug you, feel free to swat me like a fly

But I really think you’re going to enjoy what I have coming up for you.

As soon as you sign up I’ll give you an exclusive discount coupon to try out my brand new training program for just $10 (Normal price will be $97 so it’s a pretty sweet discount.)

Just sign up below and you get it all:

That’s all for now, I’m here to help you if you ever need anything, not as some crazy money-grabbing guru, but as a musician who has found a few cool things that make it possible to turn back the clock to a time when making music was something that people valued enough to pay for.

Thank you for your time and it would be great if you could pop over to my Facebook page and say hello, I look forward to getting to know you. Ask me anything and I’ll always get back to you personally.

Talk soon,

p.s. If you’re into what I’m doing here and would like to spread the word a little it would be great if you could hit the “LIKE” button below. Thanks very much!

Getting Started with your Music Marketing

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