Marketing
Business Talented?
You may have a passion for music… but:
You may have a passion for music – but realize that not everyone is meant to be a writer or a performer!
Often those who are more biased into the analytical side of the brain have wonderful technical abilities which are sorely needed by those who are fully living in the artistic half of the mind!
Big Record Deals
Jumping in With the Sharks
Here's the typical situation. You find your music starting to make waves. Maybe just locally: but you are starting to get attention. Your manager makes some calls and important people start showing up at your gigs. The thrill of fame and fortune seem to be knocking at your door.
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Selling Songs to Big Names
Selling songs to big names
I once sat in the personal studio of a songwriter who had successfully sold a Grammy Award winning song to a major artist. He was pretty well set financially due to this single accomplishment.
He shared some of the strategies that are employed to pull this off.
Music Earnings NOW!
The Business of Expression Can Equal Serious Cash – Examples One rapper-kid I spoke with never sells less than 300 CDs per night at $5 each. His following has grown to the point that anything he puts for sale on MySpace sells at least 900 units! ( Online his CDs go for $12 each. I'll let YOU do the math. SERIOUSLY! Get out your calculator now. ) People in his home region meet him in the street and ask for autographs. This guy lives in a relatively RURAL area. Not in a big city where performance options abound. Other local musicians now come to him for production help and he gives them exposure by including their material in his own recordings.
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Exposure that Pulls
A (Brief) Lesson in Working Smart I used to buy $5 sunglasses from the guy at the flea market. He wasn't even the guy near the front entrance with a huge booth and three employees. (They were more expensive and did not have my FAVORITE style.) After leaving a few expensive pairs here and there – I finally wised up!
The No Airplay Opportunity
Promotion If you really care to know the dirty details about how the big business music machine operates, go ahead and get a copy of "The Hitmen" by Frederic Dannen".
In summary, it's impossible to get any kind of serious radio airplay unless you are prepared to pay somewheres in the ball park of at least half-a-million bucks. In the industry these fees called PROMOTIONAL EXPENSES.
Performance Testing
BEFORE you go and invest a ton of money on studio time, session-musicians, or shrink-wrapped CD product: it makes total sense to test-market your material in the real world, and then keep evolving it until you have the sales numbers to back up further investment.
A Better Way to Go Big
The new (smart) way to go big!
Let's just assume that you have been carefully reading these articles and have started to realize that music is a business. Real business boils down to taking calculated risks – not gambling.
You've gone through a process of development and you are starting to see the sales to prove it.
Creating Demand
Regional Performance Saturation
Replace radio airplay by becoming a regional powerhouse. If your numbers make sense regionally you may be able to take it all the way. See A Better Way to Go Big for more details.
By developing regular ongoing relationships with REGIONAL venues you can build an ample following.
These venues can include coffee houses, bookstores, record stores, nightclubs, malls, and open air shopping districts: which are often open to quality free entertainment. A surprisingly strong market is the lunch crowd in certain business districts.
Sell Your Music NOW!
