I think most of us know that the music industry in this country is pretty messed up. Its become corporate greed at its finest, and dont even get me started on our sell out to Sony. So, how do you make it this business on a musicians budget? Despite the messed up music industry, people still buy music. I know many musicians who are working steadily, and making a descent income from playing live. How does one turn those live gigs into CD sales? That can be answered in two words; self publishing. Im not going to sugar coat this, self publishing takes money, but not as much as you think. If you were to land a CD deal with a label, they look at you as a commodity, and you are. The first step to self publishing is to do just that, consider yourself a commodity. Labels dump money into public relations, marketing, branding, and, most importantly, image. Those four key elements is what makes or breaks an artist. Out of those four, image is what grabs peoples attention. Your image is your lasting impression. Think it through, despite their music, what are artists most noted for? Elvis started with the hips and ended up with the trademark jump suites. The Rolling Stones have a front man who does the chicken dance. Johnny Cash is simply the man in black, and so, and so on. Your image is now your branding. Elvis had his jump suites, Micky Ds has its arches, what do you have? Once you nail that down, grass roots public relations and marketing can now take hold. Your live shows are your image, thats a no brainer. From the way you set up your gear, to your stage graphics and merchandising, your look becomes part of your feel, and thats what you want to accomplish. Keep it simple, keep it real, but make it count.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 15:36:07 +0000
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