Hello everyone!
Today I would like to talk a bit about how I’m trying to insert myself in the music world. The process has changed alot and now all musicians and bands need something more besides making good songs.
I have been reading alot and doing some research on how new artists are working to get their tunes to the homes of millions of potential fans and listeners. My understading is that the main new focus is the internet. Internet is a reality and a part of the life of most people today, just like watching TV, so we have to keep that in mind when preparing to advertise our music.
With that said, I would like to explain a little bit of what I’m thinking about doing. Not sure if it will work, but I have to give it shot at least.
Ok, so my songs are gaining life, some of them I like, some of them I hate, but at the end I believe I’ll have enough to realease an EP. And what will I do with that EP? I can’t just burn some CDs and distribute them to friends and family and hope to achieve something, that’s now how it works now. Also, the idea of searching for a record label doesn’t really cheer me up too much. So what are the good options?
Well, as I stated above, the new focus point is the internet. So I came up with some cool sites that help me with that process, and better yet, they are all free! Sites like Bandcamp, 100.000 Fans, FanBridge, etc., help you with the boring (at least for me) process of getting your music out there. Those sites will be my main focus in the beggining. I’ll explain a little more about each and how I’m using them on future posts.
“Cool, I registered my songs on every site I could find and now I’ll be famous, rich and happily ever after… !!“
NOT!
Sure, creating ways to people hear your songs, download and share them could help you get some fans, but unfortunately it’s not enough. Don’t get the wrong idea, I know that bad songs will get you nowhere don’t matter how much money you put into it, but what I’m saying is that just making good music and uploading it on the internet isn’t going to get you very far. Why? Well, because today we are bombarded every day with links from hundreds of sites with people almost begging you to hear them. It reached a point where this type of advertisement is becoming a spam and most people don’t even bother any more.
Now we need more options to give to the public, and fortunately for me (and other artists) there are some. One of them is this one right here! A Blog! No matter how lame it sounds, it actually works. People want to reach out and keep in touch with the artists they like, they want to be fans and they want to know more about you. So having a blog is always a plus.
Another way of getting in touch with the world is making videos. “Oh man, I hate taking photos of myself and now I need to make videos?!“
Well, yea, I know that feelling, trust me. I have been doing some videos of myself, and I must say, with my bad english, wierd voice (I hate it), and average nerdy male looks, I’ll tell you it’s not easy and I almost discarded the idea. But, what the heck, it can’t hurt too much to try (I hope!).
Now I have a Youtube account and will be soon uploading some videos of myself and where I work. So keep in touch!
“Nice! Making music, distribution on internet, blog, videos. Now I know what to do, let’s start working and get famous!“
Not yet!
Thre is still one more thing you need and that will also help alot to spread out your name and music. Social networks. Yep, you name it, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, etc., they all help you to keep in touch with fans. It takes a little bit of time registering and customizing your profiles, but after that all you have to do is keep it updated. So it’s a few hours of work that’s worth it. I personally don’t use all of them yet, but I’m working on it.
As you can see, the internet changed the world, and with that it also changed the music business. Today you need to work harder on ways of getting your music to the crowd than actually the music itself. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but, for now, it’s the way it works.
