The Importance of Marketing Music
Within the music industry, independent artists have access to multiple avenues for distributing and marketing music. The digital age of music has opened the door to the direct selling of digital downloads. Therefore, a serious musician can share their music with the world on an international level. Prior to releasing their music it is very important for them to draft a marketing plan for their new song. The marketing process of music is one that most tend to bypass and not give much consideration. Marketing music in order to garner a successful single is the primary goal of most record labels, but many fall short of continuous, high profile success. “For them, effective marketing is what gives them the biggest return on their investment” (Letang, 2014)! From experience, one should come to realize the steps that should be taken before implementing the marketing phase. These steps consist of the branding and development of a recording artist.
Within the music industry, independent artists have access to multiple avenues for distributing and marketing music. The digital age of music has opened the door to the direct selling of digital downloads. Therefore, a serious musician can share their music with the world on an international level. Prior to releasing their music it is very important for them to draft a marketing plan for their new song. The marketing process of music is one that most tend to bypass and not give much consideration. Marketing music in order to garner a successful single is the primary goal of most record labels, but many fall short of continuous, high profile success. “For them, effective marketing is what gives them the biggest return on their investment” (Letang, 2014)! From experience, one should come to realize the steps that should be taken before implementing the marketing phase. These steps consist of the branding and development of a recording artist.
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| Image credit: MusicIndustryHowTo.com |
Artist Branding and Development
Identifying the best way to build branding for an artist has a lot to do with generating the ideal image. The one thing that separates successful artists from those who are not is their ability to consistently remain in the eye of music consumers. With that being said, an artist’s team must fight for a vast amount of consumer attention. A great way to do this is with enticing content. This content is more than just music. The content I am referring to is visual content. Visual content is the key to gaining consumer attention in today’s music industry. This can be seen in the case of Beyoncé’s latest album release. “Not only did she break the norm by not marketing her release in the least, but the album is also unique in that it is simultaneously a visual experience” (Buli, 2013). Through the use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, music artists are capable of building and maintaining consumer attention through the constant sharing of images and video. Many music artists have a tough time at this stage. However, this is where you must be as creative as possible. Monitoring current trends and highly publicized topics can assist during this process. If one is in need of additional insight in this area, consulting with individuals such as stylists, photographers, videographers, and music agents can be beneficial.
Identifying the best way to build branding for an artist has a lot to do with generating the ideal image. The one thing that separates successful artists from those who are not is their ability to consistently remain in the eye of music consumers. With that being said, an artist’s team must fight for a vast amount of consumer attention. A great way to do this is with enticing content. This content is more than just music. The content I am referring to is visual content. Visual content is the key to gaining consumer attention in today’s music industry. This can be seen in the case of Beyoncé’s latest album release. “Not only did she break the norm by not marketing her release in the least, but the album is also unique in that it is simultaneously a visual experience” (Buli, 2013). Through the use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, music artists are capable of building and maintaining consumer attention through the constant sharing of images and video. Many music artists have a tough time at this stage. However, this is where you must be as creative as possible. Monitoring current trends and highly publicized topics can assist during this process. If one is in need of additional insight in this area, consulting with individuals such as stylists, photographers, videographers, and music agents can be beneficial.
Kedrick “Rick” Mahoney
References
Buli, L. (2013). The 5 Best Music Marketing
Moves Of 2013. Forbes. Retrieved 4 October 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/livbuli/2013/12/19/the-5-best-music-marketing-moves-of-2013/
Letang,
S. (2014). Record Labels Know The Importance Of Music Marketing, Do You?
- Music Industry How To. Musicindustryhowto.com. Retrieved 4
October 2014, from http://www.musicindustryhowto.com/record-labels-know-the-importance-of-music-marketing-do-you/
Kendrick,
ReplyDeleteThis post was very informative. A lot of independent artist believe that because their music is good that people will just flock to buy it failing to realize the prep work before the release. A marketing plan is vital to achieve sales goals of a product, and without it artist will be disappointed that their hard work will go unnoticed. I also believe that your points on branding were spot on. Image is everything in this industry; it separates those who are hobbyists from the serious artist. Beyoncé’s self-titled album was a great example to show how strong branding could take your career to new heights. This is a great post, and I will be following you for more content.
Crystal