Archive for May, 2013

What Fans Are Looking For Vs. What The Business Needs

As an artist, there are certain things that are expected of you – from both the creative end as well as the business end of music. Understanding the needs of both sides will allow you to make better decisions in your career. When you are able to see things from different perspectives, it helps you understand what your next move should be. In order to build a fan-base there are certain things that your fans will expect from you. In order to get label attention as well as the attention from venues and other opportunities, there are other things that are expected of you. In order to make the best out of your music career you must find balance. If you learn both ends of the spectrum you’ll be able to make better decisions, which in return will get you the outcome that you desire.

To make things clearer, I’ve broken things down into a few different lists that elaborate on what is expected of artists from the perspectives of a fan, a label/manager, and a venue:

What Fans Want

– To Relate – fans want someone they can connect with, most of the time it’s through your lyrics but you can also relate through your image and even your lifestyle. In order to accomplish this, you must be sure to find your target market. Think about who will relate to your music and aim your marketing and promo at your target.

– Originality – Sure there are many other artists out there that sound exactly alike, but do they have long lasting careers? You need to give your audience something to remember by being the real you that cannot be copied.

– Authenticity – Basically if you talk about it in your music, BE ABOUT IT.  If you rap about the street life, they expect you to have some attributes of a street guy. You get my drift.

– Quality – Fans want something that sounds like what’s already on the radio. Why? Because they are not in the music business, therefore they are only used to what they hear on the radio – so you have to give it to them. This doesn’t mean that you have to record in all of the most expensive studios to get the sound that you want, but you should definitely be getting your music mastered so that it’s already ready for the radio.

– Access – Fans want to see you. They want to be able to look you up and find everything about you in a matter of a few clicks. If you really think about it, this means fans also want…

– Consistency – People like to be entertained, and the more you can keep them entertained, the more they’ll keep coming back. You can do this by putting on great performance, releasing behind the scenes footage, having contests, send cool emails to your mailing list etc.

Labels and Managers Look For:

– A Marketable Artist – From your name to your music to your look, you must be marketable. You have the qualities above and have used them to build your fan base. The days of an experienced manager (or anyone an artist would WANT to manage them) signing artists because they believe they can get to the next level, are over.  Managers want to see an artist who has a bit of a local buzz and then they step in and help the artist take it all the way.

– A Polished Artist – The days are gone when labels had ‘artist development departments’ so now you have to make sure you’re polished and ready to go before a label will even consider you.

– Someone Who Is Easy To Work With  – No one wants to work with someone who has a bad attitude or a crazy sense of entitlement. Labels look for artists who understand how the business works and who are open to different things.

Promoters/Venues  Look For:

– An artist with a decent following – They want to be able to pack a venue, plain and simple.

– Someone that can put on an amazing performance – it’s always best if you have your stage performance down to a science. The more you can captivate the audience, the more the venue will book you.

So as you can see, there is a lot that is expected of artists from all across the board. So now you have to figure out where your strengths and weaknesses are and fill in the gaps. The more well rounded you are the easier it will be to secure opportunities in your career. Your fans want that emotional connection where as the business end is mainly about money (which will come from building your fan-base). Of course, you cannot do this all on your own. You will definitely need a team behind you to make up for your weaknesses. If you don’t have a team yet no worries, you’re grind and consistency will attract people to your movement and from there you can see who will fit best.

If you are unsure where you are at in your career, need some guidance on what your next move should be, or have questions pertaining to the music business click here.

Things That Affect Your Brand

As an artist you are your own brand, whether or not you know it or acknowledge it, and it is up to you to make sure your brand stands out from the rest. Branding has everything to do with PRESENTATION – HOW YOU ARE PRESENTED AND PERCEIVED BY THE PUBLIC – whether it be online or offline. It is essentially what you are known for as a whole and believe it or not, your longevity will depend on how strong your brand really is.

This is a type of industry where you must always be ready. Someone new can check you out at any given moment so you have to look your best at all times, all across the board. We live in a digital world, so how you present yourself in person is just as important as how you represent yourself online. A lot of the time, your music isn’t the first thing people are introduced to. You are first seen on social networks, blogs, websites, magazines etc. Think about it, when you hear about something new and want to learn more about it, the first thing you do is look it up! The last thing you want to do is portray a negative image of your brand. You want to make sure that at first glance, the image you put out represents YOU at your best.

Ask yourself:

If someone judges you by your cover, what do they see? What type of image do you put out? Does your image reflect how you want to be perceived by the public? Would you be a fan of YOU?

So what are we getting at here? In order to succeed with a career in music there are things that you really need to be aware of and put your all into in order for your brand to stand strong. To clear things up even more, I made a list with a few examples of things that affect your brand:

Things that affect your brand: [examples in no particular order]

– Your music and lyrics – Does the recording sound professional? Do your lyrics represent who you are and what you stand for? Does your music stand out or sound like everything else that people are getting tired of? 

– How you use social media to interact – Yes, the way you use social media has a direct reflection on your brand. When you spam that gives off a negative image because it immediately shows that you are an amateur. When you engage with people and properly promote your music and are actively building a loyal following, it gives off a positive image of your brand.

– How ‘up to par’ your online presence is – Do you have a professional custom website? Are all of your social networking sites up to date? Do you have professional photos? What about custom backgrounds and graphic images? These are the main things that have to do with your appearance online. You have to make sure that your brand can be clearly seen throughout your online profiles.

– Your stage presence – Do you really know how to interact with the crowd and keep them engaged? Do you attract fans when you perform or do you give them a reason not to see you perform again?

– Your music videos – Are they good quality? Do they enhance your song or take away from it? Visuals are a must, however you need to make sure that they are making you look good and drive even more traffic to your music.

– How you dress and appear in images – Does your image reflect who you really are as well as what you want to represent? This is not saying that you need to be flashy everywhere you go, however you do want to represent yourself in a good way and often those that are a little flashy and show their uniqueness get noticed more than someone who doesn’t pay any attention to their appearance.

Let me give you a scenario:

You are performing at an event, there is only one other artist on the line up aside from you.

Other artist: Put on a decent performance and once he got off the stage, he made sure to mingle with as many people in the room as possible. He had business cards in hand that included links to his website and all of his social networks.

You on the other hand, put on a pretty amazing performance and once you got off stage people were coming up to you asking for your info – but you don’t have a website to tell them to go to, or a mailing list for them to sign up to, and since you have neither one, you didn’t bother making business cards with that info on them. So you shook hands and tried to remember as many twitter names as possible.

So now tell me, who got the best response from their performance? Who left the show with more twitter followers, more Facebook likes, and more people subscribed to their mailing list? You guessed it, the other guy.

What you show to the public has a direct correlation to what you stand for in general. Think about it this way: when you first meet someone, or hear about them, what factors go into making your first impression of them? What things affect them in a positive and negative way? Think of your brand as the core of your personality and what you are known for. If a girl dresses half naked and goes to the club every weekend, you’re automatically going to label her in a negative way, this is the same way you are judged as an artist. From the things that you do to how you present yourself to what you stand for, all make up your BRAND. You brand yourself through your actions as well as your professionalism and appearance.

While there are other aspects that go into building a solid successful brand (mentioned in the bullet points above), there are a few KEY components that an artist MUST HAVE to look professional and attract the attention needed to succeed. These same components also separate the professionals from the amateurs:

Key Things That Make You Look Like the Professional Artist That You Are:

1. You need to be easy to find. You need your own custom domain that is the portal to everything YOU. Your website needs to include your bio, music, videos, tour dates, a place to buy your merchandise and of course, links to all of your social media sites. Nowadays you just can’t get around it. In order to be considered a professional you MUST have a website.

2. If you want to be taken seriously in this industry, having a professional bio is critical. A well written bio is the ultimate marketing tool. Your bio is your first chance to get people interested in your music, plus it’s an amazing way to book more shows and get publicized in online magazines and websites.

3. Your brand needs to be recognizable from all angles. Your online presence needs to be crisp, clean and memorable.  Your social media presence must stand out! You can do this by having custom designs on all of your social media to match your personal website. Everything should have a similar feel to represent your brand.

4. You might want to use a symbol or tagline that people can use to relate directly to you.  Not every artist needs a logo, not every artist has a catch phrase or ‘tagline,’ however those that do have one have more chances of being noticed because they can post it everywhere possible and fans will begin to relate that image or tagline to a certain artist.

So ask yourself:

Have you released music and performed at showcases in the past and spent hours upon hours promoting but still didn’t get the response you were looking for? 

The answer to your problem is most likely BRANDING. If your brand is weak,  you won’t stand out – which ultimately means that you’re forgettable. So now it’s time for you to analyze your brand and make the necessary changes that will surely make you stand out (in a good way) and start to get a great response from your promotional efforts.

If you do not understand how to take your brand to the next level or if you are looking for someone to write your bio, design your website etc, please do not hesitate to contact me @BreezyB215 and take a look at the services on this site.