Category Industry Resources

There are thousands of people out there creating music. There are only a handful of those people that really understand what it takes to succeed, and they are the ones that are truly shining. Unfortunately, since there is such an overflow of clueless “artists” out there, there are also a bunch of clueless “companies” that make their money feeding off of these poor “artists” and making them think that their services are in fact useful to their careers. But this isn’t just the companies’ fault, it’s the actual mindset of these artists that allows these scams to go on.

We like to call these artists… “treadmill” artists, because, you guessed it, all they do is run in place.

Mindset of a “Treadmill” Artist:

• They think that all they need to succeed is to record a mixtape over industry beats.
• They hope to one day be “discovered” by a famous rapper and get signed off of said ‘mixtape.’
• They don’t feel the need to put money into getting the best quality recordings and they especially don’t think they should put any money into promoting their music, because ‘that’s what the record deal is for.‘
• They don’t feel the need to utilize social media because they are ‘hot in the streets.‘ OR, they only utilize social media as their main source of ‘promotion;’ they don’t see the need in getting out there and dealing directly with the people.
• They are constantly in search of a manager and/or have hired their best friend/cousin/uncle, etc. to be their manager, because they think that having a manager makes you look like you’re really making moves.

Because of this mindset, these artists get scammed and stuck at the bottom of the totem pole, doing things that only keep them running in place.

For example:

Characteristics of a ‘Treadmill’ Artist:

• Records a mixtape and tweets it to everyone on Twitter and tags a bunch of people on Facebook begging to be heard.
• Pays to perform at local showcases because ‘(insert big named rapper/producer/A&R)’ will be there.
• Pays a company $50-$100 to tweet their record.
• Pays an unknown DJ for a spot on their mixtape.
• Pays for a $50 email blast.

And the list goes on…

The thing is, you might FEEL productive, but are the actions that you’re taking actually bringing you closer to your goals? Or, let’s take a step back, do you even have any goals or are you just winging it?

Also, are you going around constantly talking about yourself or are your actions speaking for you?

Are you going around saying how hot you are or are others spreading your name in the streets?

The point is, if you plan on succeeding and really making a career out of music,  you really have to set goals and do things that are really going to put you in the position to reach those goals.

Just because you might FEEL productive, doesn’t mean that you’re actually accomplishing anything. You could just be spending a ton of time doing the wrong thing, which will lead to you wondering why your career isn’t ‘popping off’ the way it should.

Keep it real with yourself!

Do you have hot, undeniable, original material? Or do you have this ‘mixtape’ that you really only have a few hundred to a few thousand downloads on?

Can you pack a venue? Or even bring out 50 people to a show?

Are DJs checking for your record, or are you spamming them with tweets and emails asking them to play your latest ‘pound cake’ freestyle?

Are you selling any music or merchandise?

If you’re not doing any of those things, you really need to re-evaluate your plan and make sure that you don’t fall into the ‘treadmill artist’ category.

Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged, but let this be a wake-up call.

Remember, “Whatever you lack, someone else has mastered.”

Peace.

 Let us help you build your firm foundation; check out our services. Contact us to learn more.

First impressions are lasting impressions. Your actions on a daily basis reflect how you are perceived as an artist. Often you are seen before your music is heard.

There are common tactics that are perceived as ‘amateur’… in other words, the artists that are really out there killing it and making a living from their music (whether on an indie or major level) aren’t going about promo in this way – yet these tactics are so common, that most artists mimic what they see others doing instead of learning how to do it themselves, the right way.

The difference between bad marketing and good marketing is, bad marketing talks AT people, good marketing talks with them. Everyday I watch artists, that might potentially have good music, throw their dreams down the drain little by little with every unsolicited link they send out in hopes that someone will listen to their song and ‘put them on’. Understand that you need more than just a listen. I repeat: YOU NEED MORE THAN JUST A LISTEN! You need people to engage with you. You need people to share your music with their friends. You need them to want to buy your merch and come to your shows. There is no official blueprint to how to accomplish that, however there are definite ways that DO NOT WORK but yet these tactics are so very common. It’s time to put a stop to this now.

I’ve had numerous discussions about this on Twitter, through email etc. but I’ve decided to write an article on the subject to really make things clear. Once you are done reading this article, I hope that you are either giving yourself a pat on the back because you do not make these mistakes, or if you do, I hope that you change your ways and come up with an actual plan that will really help you reach your goals (because these tactics surely aren’t going to cut it!).

Here are a list of common promo tactics and the reasons why they aren’t effective:

Promo Tactic: Sending out unsolicited links via twitter.

Why It Doesn’t work: Twitter is a social networking site. SOCIAL NETWORKING. Understand what that means. Twitter is a place where things can get spread very quickly, however in order for that to happen, the content must be engaging and ‘retweetable’… Twitter is not to be used strictly for promotion, it doesn’t work that way. You can spend hours sending out your link to individual people, it will not do anything but waste your time and annoy people before they even listen to your music. You must take a step back and realize what you are doing. If you have to @ people with a link to your music, that just means that you’re not interesting enough for people to actually pay attention to your tweets.

Twitter can be great for building and promoting your brand, but not if you use it strictly as a promo service. You must build your clout by engaging with others, releasing quality content and building a following that looks for you and pays attention to your tweets.

Promo Tactic: Sending out unsolicited emails.

Why It Doesn’t work: There goes that unsolicited word again! That’s why it doesn’t work. Do YOU open random spam emails? Do you realize how many emails people get everyday? Do you really think that your email stands out with the title ‘Check Out My Music’ or ‘Music Submission’ when sending to a random person that you have never spoken to before? Come on now, you must think before you do. Email marketing is an amazing way to promote yourself, however you should be building your own subscriber list, filled with people that know who you are and want to hear from you. Emailing random people that you have never spoken to before is a waste of your precious time that can be spent being more productive. Also, how do you even know if that person accepts submissions? Most artists send out emails to people without doing any research on that person. They don’t even know why they are approaching that person, I guess it’s just to see if they can get someone to listen.

Promo Tactic: Posting a music video to someone’s Facebook and/or tagging a bunch of people that you don’t know in your status.

Why It Doesn’t work: You are talking AT people instead of engaging with them. Just because you are friends with them, doesn’t give you the right to promote your mixtape or freestyle all day by tagging them. You should be making sure that your posts are attracting viewers, so that when you post something, people look for it without you having to chase them.

If you noticed, there’s one common word that was used in all of those points… the word is UNSOLICITED. If you are unsure of what that means exactly, it basically means ‘not asked for’ – so if you are sending anything unsolicited, that means you are sending it blindly to someone that you do not even know, hoping that you’ll get a response. WRONG!

Promo Tactic: Paying to perform at a local showcase:

Why It Doesn’t work: Way too often a ‘promoter’ will come along and throw a ‘HOTTEST IN YOUR CITY’ showcase or something along those lines. They decided to throw this event because they know they can get 10 clueless artists to pay $100-$250 just to get on stage (because they don’t know any better). Once they accomplish this, they now have a packed room full of other artists and their ‘entourages’ that are only there to support who they came for. So the artist ends up performing in a room full of people who are generally not interested in supporting anyone except for who they came with. How does that benefit an artist? IT DOESNT. It just puts money in the promoters pocket. Money that you could have put towards something more beneficial, like promotion for your album or getting your tracks mastered. Sometimes the ‘promoter’ will even try to ‘woo’ you by telling you that ‘so and so from big named records’ will be in attendance to check out your performance. Damn gets them every time! But artists that learn the biz, understand how these scams work, and they understand that no 1 person is going to come along and magically ‘put you on’, therefore it doesn’t matter if the label rep is half-assed watching your performance, they can’t do much for you anyway! Honestly, you could of gotten more out of an open mic than you did out of that showcase. But it’s ok, now that you made that mistake, you know not to do it again.

Promo Tactic: Paying to get a slot on an unknown DJ’s mixtape:

Why It Doesn’t work: Let me say this, before you pay for any sort of promotion, you must do your own research. There are many unknown radio stations, DJ’s, Promoters, etc that will ask you to pay for a mixtape slot, or a radio interview, or a placement on their website, etc however that does not mean that you will receive any exposure from it. You need to research, find out how many viewers they really get, check out their website, are people really tuning in? Does that DJ get any exposure himself? If not, how do you expect them to get you exposure? If that website only gets 50 views a day, but they are asking you to pay $250 for a spot on their home page, is it really worth it? It seems that artists get so excited that someone wants to interview them or someone is offering to get them a spot on their website, that they forget there are other things that go into it. You have to bring yourself back down to earth and really analyze if things are beneficial to your career.

Promo Tactic: Buying likes, followers, views etc.

Why It Doesn’t work: It’s fake. Fake people and fake numbers don’t get you real support. You need to keep it organic. Having 100 real fans is better than having 2000 fake ones. You need to start small and build out. Those supporters that you already have are a power team. You need to keep them interested and have them help you spread your music.

”Artists tell themselves that if someone sees that they have 100,00 likes that makes it more likely it’ll be viewed. The problem is that they can buy 100,000,000 views – that factor alone won’t gain interaction.” – Tony ‘TheConnect’ Guidry

Promo Tactic: Only promoting online or vice-versa.

Why It Doesn’t work: Both online promotion and in your face street promotion are needed to build a buzz. There are many artists that hide behind a computer but no one on their scene knows who they are. Then there are artists that could care less about social media because ‘they are hot in these streets’ however they don’t realize that Google practically runs the world and even if you do meet someone that can potentially help you, the first thing they are going to do is look you up online. Your ‘but I’m hot in these streets’ attitude must reflect this online as well or else your falling short.

So you’re probably thinking, you told me all of these things not to do, so how do I do it the right way? You have to attract people to you, not chase them. 

It’s pretty simple actually – post extremely good engaging content on a consistent basis. I’ll repeat it. All you need to do to continually grow your fan base is to post good content that is engaging and interesting to your current and potential fans.

Supplying great content is the key to growing your fan base. If your site isn’t getting traffic, if you’re not getting any re-tweets on Twitter, if you’re not getting many likes on your Facebook fan page it’s because your content isn’t important or useful enough to the audience your trying to reach. It’s that simple. You’re not raising the bar, helping people, entertaining them, changing lives, and inspiring your readers to take some form of action. If you were, your audience would grow.

Remember, social networking is exactly that – NETWORKING. You need to show your personality while at the same time providing great content to your followers. Most artists only use social media for promotion, which can actually hurt you more than help your situation. There has to be a mix of both. You should be posting 7-10 tweets a day with content as well as interacting with your followers. Promotion should only take up about 20% of your time while the rest of the time is spent engaging. Nowadays the better content you have, the more fan base you have, it’s that simple.

Finding the right answers often comes from asking the right questions. As an artist you must always be aware of yourself and your brand as a whole. The more you know about yourself, the easier it will be to promote and build your brand and gain the exposure needed to have a successful career in music. Artists often overlook these questions and continue to shoot aimlessly in their careers, which leads to failed marketing campaigns, bad reputations and a whole lot of running in place. To help you understand yourself more as an artist, I’ve created the following list:

1. Am I Marketable? This has to be the most important question of all time. There’s a lot that goes into being ‘marketable’ as an artist. Most of it will depend on how you answer the rest of these questions and a major part of it has to do with how well you are branding yourself as an artist. What do you stand for? What do you want to be known for? Appearance, music, promo strategies, etc all go into making you a marketable artist.

2. Do I Make Music That Really Catches The Listener? Your music is your commercial for your brand. Your music – also known as your product –  is your marketing tool to gain fans and eventually make money doing what you love, but first you have to be sure to create music that will appeal to the masses and not just relatable to you. By no means am I saying that you must be a ‘commercial’ artist or that you have to make music that really isn’t YOU, however you need to be able to capture an audience with your lyrics, melodies and records as a whole. Actually, until you have this, your focus shouldn’t be on much else.

3. Am I Promoting Myself The Right Way?  Am I promoting the right product? This is a question that most artists as well as managers have a hard time with. What is the correct way to promote? Well I know one thing, the INCORRECT way to promote is by sending out unsolicited links to people via Twitter, Facebook, email or any other social media site. The main goal of marketing and promotion is to attract people to your music and brand. You do this by engaging with people, not just sending out music links to random people and hoping/begging for a listen. Truth is, you need much more than just a listen! You need people to share your music. You need to get enough people talking about you that others become curious and check out your music without you having to ask them. You don’t do this by spamming, you do this by talking with people and being yourself. They are called SOCIAL networks for a reason, be social! Also, both word of mouth buzz in the ‘streets’ and online buzz are needed, they go hand in hand. You need to be performing in your area, hitting up different events and networking with your peers, do what it takes to be seen and heard. Make it so that they can’t ignore you! Keep in mind that getting a great response from your marketing also comes from promoting the right product. You must be able to give the fans what they want. I was chatting with an industry peer of mine and he said, ‘If Biggie never released Juicy would we have heard Suicidal Thoughts?” I found this to be a great analogy because it clearly shows you how important promoting the right product can be.

4. Am I Investing In The Right Things For My Career? In case you haven’t figured it out yet, having a career in music really takes a toll on your wallet. Your best bet would be to find an investor, but in the beginning most of your career will be funded by yourself which also means that you want to be sure that you’re spending money on the right things. You should invest in your product, meaning invest in professional mixing and mastering to get your music sounding crisp and radio ready. Invest in design and branding, you want to make sure that when you promote your music it will capture the eye of the listener before they even give it a listen –  this means great visuals. Once you have the music and branding down, it’s time to invest in marketing and promotion. This can involve the materials needed to promote (merchandise, physical copies of your CD, banners, business cards, stickers etc) as well as actual promotion campaigns (viral campaigns, advertising, strategic blog placement and Public Relations). Notice, I didn’t mention anything about paying to perform or paying a bunch of money to feature your favorite artist on a track. If you promote yourself the right way, and you pay your dues, eventually you’ll be the one getting paid to perform and for features.

5. What Are My Strengths? Weaknesses? Ask yourself this often and be brutally honest with yourself. Being totally aware of what you’re capable of is important and will help you find your niche’. You should be constantly learning and evolving as an artist. Your goal should be to become the best artist you can be, but you can’t do this without first having a clear understanding of your strong points as well as places where you need some work. You need to build on both your strengths AND weaknesses. You might be amazing at writing hooks but your verses aren’t as strong, understanding this will allow you to focus your efforts on becoming a better songwriter while also allowing you to play on the fact that you write extremely catchy hooks. You might be amazing at recording but your performance needs work, therefore you focus your attention more on perfecting your live show, you should get the point. Understanding all of this will make you more confident, which in return will make a better impact on everything you do.

6. How Do I Compare To Other Artists (Similarities/Differences)? As a new artist you will definitely get asked this question at some point, and yet it is something that many artists resist thinking about. When asked this question, most artists will say things like “We don’t sound like anyone else,” or “We don’t want to be categorized,” however defining your sound is an important step in defining your brand. Understanding who or what you sound like immediately helps you identify your target market and creates a firm foundation for your marketing strategy. It will help you understand which platforms you should be targeting, which fan bases you should reach out to, and which media outlets you should contact during your PR campaign.

7. Who Is My Target Audience? This is basically asking yourself, who do I appeal to? Face it, your music doesn’t appeal to everyone, so therefore you shouldn’t try to promote it to everyone. The more detailed you get into this, the more targeted your promotion will be, which is much more effective than chasing random people for listens and downloads. Finding your target audience comes from learning about yourself and who you relate to through your music as well as your appearance. Does your music appeal more to the male or female audience? What age group would your music be suitable for? Where do these people go to find new music? Those are just a few questions to ask yourself when narrowing down your target audience. Please do not skip this step, this is something that you need to be aware of or else your marketing campaign will not get the response that you’re looking for.

8. Do I Have The Right Team Around Me? I don’t care what anyone says you cannot do this on your own – I repeat YOU CANNOT DO THIS ON YOUR OWN! You need power behind you, you need extra ears, you need hard workers to push you and keep you motivated. Now think about it, who are you surrounded by? Is everyone on the same page and working towards certain goals? Is everyone a good representation of you? Are you surrounded by honest individuals that have your best interest at heart? Is everyone actively making connections to solidify the teams future and help reach goals? The last thing you need is to be surrounded by a bunch of egotistical slackers that are only worried about themselves in the long run, or that just aren’t focused or professional enough to handle the hurdles in the music business. If you feel that there are people around you that just aren’t ‘cutting it’ be sure to make the necessary adjustments before it’s too late.

9. How Many Fans/Sales/Downloads/Views Do I have? In order to reach your goals you first have to know where you currently stand. You need to have a clear understanding at where your stats are currently in order to adjust your marketing plan to reach higher goals. You should also know how many people are subscribed to your official mailing list (please tell me you have a mailing list!) because this will allow you to measure and estimate how many downloads, likes, views etc that you will achieve with your next release. Keep in mind that all numbers must be real in order to make an impact. If a record label sees that you have over a million views on YouTube and 30,000 followers on Twitter, but you still can’t pack a venue or sell records, having those big numbers doesn’t look good. So remember it’s not all about the numbers, it’s about actual fan engagement.

10. What are my goals (Immediate + Long Term)? Artists fail a lot of the time because they are shooting aimlessly, just doing what they think is right and just ‘winging it’ when it comes to their career, instead of making realistic goals and sticking to them. The better understanding you have of your current situation plus your goals, the easier it will be to reach them. You should have a list of immediate goals (whether it be to get a certain number of downloads for your next project release, or you want to bring your views up to a certain level etc) as well as long term goals for the next year or so, and you must stick to them as much as you can.

If you need help with any of this please do not hesitate to contact us!

The following is a list of hip-hop blog sites that are most likely to post your music.

Artists need to be realistic in their approach; build the relationship first, then watch the fruit of your work grow!

The submission information can be found on each website.

Go to the hip-hop blog directory.

Learn about our PR services.

Let’s talk about spam.

You go home and sift through today’s mail (actual mail, from the mailbox outside your house, that the mailman delivers). You get a few bills, a birthday card from grandma (hopefully with $5 in it), and a bunch of junk mail. You know what junk mail is. I mean, how many people really win a million dollars in a sweepstakes that they never actually entered? You toss the junk mail in the garbage – possibly with the bills – then put grandma’s card on the shelf.

It’s annoying, but you train yourself to discard the junk. You expect a certain amount of this type of mail, so it’s not a surprise. You learn to spot it, so you don’t waste your time opening it.

That pretty much sums up the effectiveness of the mass emails you send promoting your music.

Read the rest of this article.

Let us help you with your PR and promo. Contact us to learn more.

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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.