How can musicians help elevate their marketing?

It's no secret that the majority of independent musicians today have a lot more roles and tasks to do than they did even twenty years ago. Social media has opened up the market for millions of musicians across the globe - but is that a hindrance rather than a help?

Let's look at the first conundrum, which is instead of battling to make it in your local scene first through local gigging and getting the attention of venues and A&R - there is now the added pressure of gaining followers on social media. Some venues now have a policy where they will only let you play if you have a certain amount of followers... but what if those followers aren't your audience? A venue may very well decide to put you on if you've got a following of 5,000, but only 5 % of those are people you may know (and then only a small number of those will turn up to your gig). So, if less than 100 of those followers may turn up to your events, then what's the point?

Too many musicians rely on social media as their only 'free' marketing source. But, what about just good old-fashioned networking? Going to gigs, chatting with your local record store crew, maybe even busking? Social media only works well if you've got a solid organic backing of a real community behind you (unless you've got a budget for paid advertising, which is a whole other blog post for another time).

Once you've got your organic following, you now have to make content to keep your engagement and fans interested, right? And the problem with that is musicians aren't always social media managers or marketers - they're performers, writers, entertainers... so more often than not musicians (and this isn't just independent) will post sporadically, or post irrelevant content (or post relevant content but become famous for doing it in their underwear -- perhaps another blog post for another time. And if that's your theme then, of course, keep trucking). Think of social media like a band scrapbook and share what you think your audience would like to see. Perhaps it's an album that's inspired you, or a new melody you've been working on. The possibilities are endless.

There's no doubt that social media has opened up free marketing tools, but sometimes it can feel like shouting into a massive room and no one is paying attention. Or, you start putting 'the algorithm' or 'TikTok trends' above the reason why you're making music in the first place. To summarise:

• Use social media and in-person activity in combination

• Share your journey as a musician and don't post anything that's not relevant or doesn't represent you or your band

• Don't hop on a trend unless you feel comfortable doing it

If you'd like a consultation on how to up your music marketing game, get in touch today! I've been helping promote bands since I was 18 ya know - and I won't reveal my age unless you ask me 😉

Me doing actual singing: