New York City has some undeniably iconic music scenes.
From the Bronx-based birth of hip hop, through the leather-clad punk swagger led by the Ramones and the infinite influence of new wave, the five boroughs have proven fertile for many forms of artist.
That said, there is perhaps a problem brewing in these city streets… a saturation point that peaked many years ago and is struggling to maintain the sheer wealth of creative talent resting on its artistic support system.
Working as a concert promoter at small rock clubs for much of that year was an eye-opening insight into the mountain that most independent musicians must climb to achieve even the mildest attention. From 1am set times on a Tuesday morning, to paying to play on band battles that are a fast track to nowhere, it seemed like the pack is stacked against even the most savvy artist from the outset. And, yet, musicians still flock to the city to compete in this zero sum game.
Further confirmation came from a fellow musically-minded volunteer Alex, at my Musicians On Call program this week, who preferred even the schmoozy Hollywood leanings of Los Angeles to the gritty challenge of New York. His reasoning? At least musicians can afford to live and work in other creative arenas out on the West coast, where as the city I’ve come to call home has sky high rents, overpriced eating, and will force a needy musician into less creative pursuits simply to make ends meet. For all the love I have for the place, it was hard to argue with Alex on these points.
The benefits, of course, are myriad.
Everyone with whom any musician could wish to connect walks these streets, merely a connection or two away and easy to meet once you find that “in”. Venues are everywhere, be it a super star arena or a street corner, an alluring artist will almost always find some kind of crowd. Creativity flows across disciplines and you’ll never be stuck for a space to seek out other artists for mutual inspiration. Not to mention the ever present history of artists that have come before you, be it the enduring abandon of Bowery punk legends or the classic songwriters who called the Village home. All feed in to a highly concentrated artistic environment that is hard to replicate anywhere else.
And yet, the practical must really trump the poetic.
At least it must, to my mind, for any artist seriously trying to build a fan base and a career from their music.
One final point to consider is that of the niche, an important concept explained thoroughly by fellow music marketer Jon Ostrow in his article on Conquering Your Music Niche.
Essentially, this is connecting with a small group of like-minded individuals who will form a solid foundation for building out your craft. A significant part of this, in my opinion, is joining forces in the spirit of common artistic community. New York City (and other cities like it) can be a tough place to establish that groundswell of support. Not to overlook shining lights of hope such as Silent Barn or ABC No Rio, but the prevailing atmosphere is more of competition than camaraderie.
All that said, there is undeniable value in the lessons an artist can learn from the struggle of “the city”. As overused a phrase as it is, if you make it here, you really can make it anywhere. But when many less populous cities and states are crying out for artistic inspiration… for a music scene to call their own… surely there’s a lot to be said for building from your own area?
Your Turn…
What do you think; harsh truth or off-the-mark trash?
I know many of you have lived in NYC as musicians or worked around the industry here, so I’d love for you to share your experiences with everyone.
And those of you making music in other locations, is it helping or hindering your growth?
The comments section is yours to use with reckless abandon!
As the most literal point of the physical to virtual merch table analogy, price and product are simple enough to explain in a similar manner. As this post last year on the importance of product diversity explained, a range of merchandise covering a variety of price points is what you’re aiming for.
What we’ll focus on here is fullytranslating that aim to your online world.
How can you create a range of products that is attractive to those who visit your site?
How should you price them and where will they be most effective in moving listeners along to an a larger purchase?
These are the questions to be answered today, so we’ll dig in…
What To Produce (And Where To Put It)
Products inevitably stem from price, as you need to decide what you can afford to make and how to spread that merchandise across several price points.
The key is to understand your listeners and what appeals to them, both in terms of visuals and audio.
For musicians, of course, audio is going to be a huge portion of what you offer to fans. But content components such as video, images, rolling galleries, headlines and typography can all be incorporated to attract website visitors in the direction of your audio section and your online store. If you have a significant visual element to your music, consistently connect art work to individual songs and use it to focus attention on the home page of your site. If people gravitate towards your personality, record a short video greeting with yourself as the thumbnail summary image, prompting them to click and giving you an opportunity to thank them for visiting and direct them to a suggested next step.
In summary, identify the most compelling non-music aspect of your identity as an artist. Use a piece of content that reflects this to guide people towards a next step involving your virtual merch table, be it streaming a song or subscribing to your mailing list.
Some coming to your virtual merch table will be there to sample and be won over, meaning that a freebie should always be on offer. At the other end of the spectrum, you’ll be glad to hear, your lifelong fans need to be catered for with deluxe versions of products, offering them a reason to spend more money with you.
Hitting the right mix price points for the various products you offer thus becomes an important consideration.
How Much Should I Charge For Music & Merchandise?
As you’re catering to a spectrum of listeners with varying levels of interest, you need to provide a suitable price entry point for each of them. Let’s look at some price ranges and what products might be right for them:
Note: The inner circle e-mail will provide a full range of product ideas at each price point. Sign up via this link now to catch the first one in early March >> bit.ly/ManYourMerch
Price Point: Free!
Why? It’s a point of entry to ease new listeners in. It’s hard enough to get people to listen in this digital music environment, without putting a pay-to-play barrier in their way.
Products: Prominent free download (with no sign up hurdle) on every page. Embedded streaming music player. Access to alternative versions of songs and/or exclusive videos (sign up required, password protected part of site).
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Price Point: 99 cents & under
Why? It’s the standard price point for a digital download and provides the right range for an individual piece of digital content. This range also affords you the option of setting a suggested price, but making it pay what you want for anyone feeling generous. Don’t go wild in this area, just offer enough to give first time buyers a chance to dip their feet in.
Products: Single track. Pay what you want piece of digital content. Nick nacks for visitors to add to their larger order, such as buttons, stickers, or other items you’re not giving away.
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Price Point: $1 – $4.99
Why? This is where the rubber meets the road and the order amounts, when taken in multiples, can become a solid income. This range covers all forms of digital content collections and perhaps even combinations of the items in the range below, to offer your visitor a more substantial yet perfectly affordable purchase.
Products: EPs. Video content. Small posters. Access to early content or bonus areas of site, perhaps on a monthly subscription basis.
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Price Point: $5 – $9.99
Why? Here we move into album territory, as well as more substantial pieces of content and discounted older merchandise. This gives convinced listeners a chance to really dig in and contribute without breaking the bank. It’s also a handy discount range for additional “checkout extras”, like a $5 special on an earlier album.
Products: Extended EPs and albums. Singles club subscriptions (delivered over a set period of time). Sale merchandise from past campaigns, such as t-shirts, posters etc.
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Price Point: $10 – $29.99
Why? Here we start to attract the more passionate listeners, lifelong fans, and completists who want to grab your discography (and more!) in one fell swoop. More physical merch will be in this range, especially clothing like new t-shirt designs, hoodies, and specialist accessories. It will also be very dependent on what you’ve produced and combinations of product that you choose to offer together at one price point.
Products: Albums with significant extras, perhaps an EP or pre-order limited version. Physical records on vinyl or deluxe editions. Clothing, hats, accessories.
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Price Point: $30 – $49.99
Why? An extension of the previous range, largely to cover any “complete fan” packages you might want to offer, such as album/clothing/digital download bundles. Most of your items for relatively standard purchase should fit in this bracket, with anything above being somewhat specialist (and requiring another article entirely!) Buyers at this point will be your most passionate fans, or affluent newbies who have been thoroughly convinced by your freebies/lower price items.
Products: Deluxe or limited edition vinyl albums. Complete package bundles of your discography and/or physical merchandise (possibly limited edition).
– – – – –
Above $50, we move into “super-deluxe” territory. If you have fans that will regularly pay for this level of product, well done!
Items here are highly artist-specific and will need to be tailored to what you know that niche group of your fan base will want. If you’ve read this full series so far, you’ll understand the importance of having regular individual check ins with your biggest fans. This becomes all the more important when deciding on high-end items to offer, as you’ll be much better placed to craft something especially for them.
Does your music and merchandise cover the right price points?
What approaches have been most successful for you? Which need to be improved?
Share your best and worst in the comments so that we can all learn something more…
This post is one in a series called Man Your Virtual Merch Table, looking at how music artists can best use marketing practices to share their work and make life long fans. You can read the rest of the posts here or follow the #ManYourMerch hashtag on Twitter for more.
Earlier this week we looked at the intersection of placement and people who love music, finding where your people go and meeting them there.
Today we extend that to delve into the different types of listener that you’ll happen upon and how their varied levels of familiarity with your music affect the way you should approach communicating with them.
Different Strokes For Different Folks
Even before we get into how familiar someone is with your music, it’s important to accept that some people will inevitably dislike what you create. Trying to go after every listener is a losing battle, as you’ll waste time on those who will never be convinced and miss opportunities to nudge those who will towards a closer relationship with your music.
Effective marketing in any field defines the ideal customer and different segments in which they can be grouped. Taking the time to understand the types of listener to whom your music is most appealing will set you up to build much more lasting relationships with your fans.
But which types of person should you generally be watching for and how best to communicate with them?
The Spectrum of Music Fans
Below are the broad categories of listener/fan with whom you’ll come into contact. When thinking about them, utilize again the analogy to a live show and the types of people that will pass by your merch table.
Although there will be more to each and every individual, these delineations will help to understand where your efforts are best focused and how your approach should differ in each case.
The Hostiles – They flat out don’t like you. Be it your genre, lyrics, fashion, or haircut, haters are everywhere. Pleasantly dismiss them and move on.
The Unconvinced – These folks have heard of you but something hasn’t clicked for them, meaning there’s a barrier to overcome.
The Neutral – No opinion on your music as yet, either because they haven’t heard of you or are too new to have made a decision.
The Motivated Listener – Consumes more music than the average listener and is open to new sounds. May not have heard of you but has more passion than the neutral in finding a favorite new artist.
The Convinced – Those who are already on board with your sound and actively seek you out to listen.
The Lifelong Fan – More than just a fan, this person is a passionate advocate for everything you create.
Delving deeper into each of these categories, let’s look at the subtle differences in communication that you can employ to build better relationships with them online.
Hostiles
Again, you have next to no chance of overcoming hostile attitudes towards your work. Online, trolls and hostiles are a common occurrence for anyone with any degree of recognition. Go by the old adage that it’s better to be loved and hated than to be ignored and don’t waste energy on haters that could be better spent on more open-minded listeners.
Unconvinced
If someone has heard of you but has reservations, the key is to understand what they are and how deep they run. Ask open questions about their feelings towards your music to find this out, then zero in on the underlying concern.
Perhaps it’s something as simple as having heard the wrong song, in which case you can point them to something that more suits their style. Find out, from their social profiles or general comments, which artists are their favorites and recommend something from your repertoire that more closely matches their taste. If it becomes obvious that the point of uncertainty is something deeper, such as disliking a particular element that is central to your sound, recognize that they’re unlikely to be converted into a real fan, thank them for listening, and disengage.
Neutral
Every merch table sees a few visitors who haven’t heard of the support band. In that setting, you can only really guide them to check out your set and hope they like it. Online, however, the “blank slate” is more frequent and you have more ways to connect with them via social media touch points.
This “blank slate” listener is, of course, neutral to you until they have something to judge… so serve them up some music! First, though, take some time to build a personal familiarity, preferably based upon similar music or artistic tastes.
We’re more likely to listen to something recommended by someone we like, so build a little trust before serving up your finest slice of songwriting. Even then, make sure that you have the listener’s tastes in mind, first and foremost. Getting to know them and what they like, whether via a Twitter or Facebook conversation or checking their listening habits, will give you more understanding of the best song to recommend. Relate via lyrical subjects, preferred instrumentation, favorite genre, or whatever emotional music connection you can make that increases the likelihood that the individual will move from neutral to convinced (and beyond).
To get good listeners, you need to listen good… err, well – – – – Image Credit: Quinn Anya on Flickr
Motivated Listeners
This is a breed of listener who is more of a fan of music in general than a specific genre or artist. Inevitably they have their favorites, but they also tend to be open minded when it comes to trying out new sounds and are able to talk widely about different styles of music. This person tends to show up early to gigs to catch the support acts and is a step above the neutral for you, as you can connect more deeply around musical tastes and the likelihood that they will share what they enjoy is far greater.
Probing the motivated listener’s depth of knowledge is an excellent way to connect with them, opening a window for your music to enter. Allow them to do most of the talking – or typing, for our ends – and genuinely seek to learn from them as a music fan yourself. Find out which blogs and music sites they read, as these may be useful outlets to meet similarly motivated folks. Often these individuals will be music writers themselves, to some extent, and have the potential to be a great advocate for your art, even at these early stages of familiarity.
Convinced
This group turns up to the show to see you. Even if not specifically there as your dedicated fan, they won’t miss your set and have a firm interest in getting to know you better. Online, this means fans of your Facebook page, people on your mailing list, and anyone that has shown a clear signal of interest beyond just spinning a song or two.
For those you’ve convinced already, the skill lies in building that relationship still further via many individual touch points. There will be less need to ask open questions about who and what they enjoy, with more direct communications about specific songs, shows they’ve been to, what they’d like to see from you in future, and other subjects directly related to what you create. Even so, you should remain interested in their wider music tastes and current listening, so that you have a better understanding of both the individual and the broader groups in which they travel. The latter is, of course, a potential route to new listeners, whether by recommendation from your convinced contingent or jumping into those groups of your own accord.
In every instance you should be looking to forge deeper connections with those folks that you’ve already convinced. As they feel closer to you, they tend to be more invested in your career and move towards becoming…
Lifelong Fans
Every musician needs at least a handful of lifelong fans to have anything approaching a career. Whether following the idea of 1,000 true fans to reach a steady income, or simply because you need a third party to effectively represent your music without obvious bias, these fans are the cornerstone of making money from your art. At a show, they will be the person buying a t-shirt, poster, and your entire back catalog on vinyl.
Lifelong fans are rarely developed overnight. They are the product of nurtured relationships, born of your music but brought to fruition by regular, one-to-one connections. As they will go above and beyond for you and your music, you need to be constantly on the look out for opportunities to do the same for them. Share things close to their heart, check in with them frequently, give them insider access to your next work, think up creative ways to reward them when you’re out on tour, anything that strengthens that bond. As you do this, the effect will ripple out to their network of friends, as they listen and talk about you more often. This then feeds the earlier categories, with listeners just waiting to be converted from neutral to convinced and motivated fans.
Social media has made it even easier to identify your deepest fans and to feed their appetite for connection to you.
Use the channels that they frequent to engage, excite, and reward them in creative ways and you’ll build the basis to make a living doing what you love.
This post is one in a series called Man Your Virtual Merch Table, looking at how music artists can best use marketing practices to share their work and make life long fans. You can read the rest of the posts here or follow the #ManYourMerch hashtag on Twitter for more.
Where are your people going? Image Credit: John Lucas
Last week we framed the way we will view the various subjects that the series will cover, in terms of the 4 Ps of the Marketing Mix.
Today, we move into more detail of the first in that mix, placement.
More specifically, we need to look at the places that your people go and how you can persuade them to join you on your artistic journey.
Pick the Right Places For Your Music
Our prevailing analogy is to a physical merch table at a live show. As anyone who has been to a variety of concerts will attest, the level of visibility of said table can be anywhere from a tiny desk in a dingy corner of a small club, to a perfectly placed parade of merch in an unavoidable thoroughfare of the venue.
We see much the same variety from artists selecting where to place themselves on the web. Some pick all the right places, going where their people go, while others are scarcely to be found and lack even the most basic website or social media presence. Clearly, if your fans and potential listeners can’t find you online, you’re erecting barriers to your own career progression.
Why erect unnecessary barriers to potential fans?
As an artist your music needs to be easy to find and access, in the places that people want to access it.
Note that this is not a green light to start a presence on any and every music platform and social network out there. Even with several members of a band manning these digital channels, the workload will be untenable, resulting in your web presence ending up outdated and inconsistent. Instead, you need to find the best digital spaces to direct people to from the main hub of operations, your own artist site.
As a minimum, you should establish the following digital locations for listeners:
Artist site – updated at least bi-weekly in some way. Include your story, news, photos, links to other web outposts, and the best quality music you have (at least one or two tracks available for free).
Music streaming site – Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and ReverbNation all offer easy to use, well known streaming platforms. Make it clear to visitors that they can access more of your work there (or, even better, have the player plugged into your site).
Two social networks – Twitter and Facebook are obviously the most heavily used, but the main consideration should be whether or not your type of fan is actively using the platform. Social media channels act as outposts to more easily connect and converse with music fans, from which you can guide interested folks back to your music hub of choice. Update them several times a week and always be listening.
Digital music store – Which retail channels you choose is (and will be!) a blog post all of its own. Suffice it to say, there needs to be a way for listeners to pay for your music when they know they like it. That could mean anything from iTunes links to a full webstore all of your own, just don’t make it difficult for people to spend money on you!
For some musicians these are obvious points and long established, but I see enough acts overlooking the basics to believe it needs stating. For both them and the more socially savvy artists, though, the entire web presence boils down to one driving factor: go where your people go.
Filter every new platform consideration and website development through the question “will this improve my connection to the types of people who like my music?” If you’re not sure, either do more research to understand the platform’s user base or disregard it and move onto the next one.
Inextricably linked to the question of placement is, then, that of people. What types will you encounter and how can you persuade them to delve deeper into your music?
Persuading the Right People
Once you understand who your people are, you have a far better chance of connecting with them in the right places and knowing how to communicate with them to build a lasting listener relationship.
One-to-one connections are increasingly important as the barriers between fans and artists crumble to essentially nothing, if you choose to embrace the channels that allow it. As this communication with fans is going to be more time-consuming than it has been in the past, you need to be more efficient in finding the right people in whom you can invest that effort.
Again, we can return to the analogy of a live concert and the spectrum of people passing by your merch table, potentially interested in learning more about you and perhaps even buying something. The crowd often ranges from those with a significant interest to some who are outright hostile towards your music, and everything in between.
This spectrum and the appropriate ways to engage the people on it will be the focus of the next post this week, as I’m already pushing the upper word limits of attention spans here. If you have questions on anything related to placement and where your web presence should develop next, ask away in the comments below.
Remember also to sign up for the inner circle of the Man Your Virtual Merch Table series via the email box below. You’ll receive the newsletter – in the works now – that includes exclusive insights and resources available only to subscribers.
We can put all of these together and get your music to its correct destination.
Undertake any marketing-related course and you’ll come across the infamous 4 Ps of the marketing mix. It is to business degrees as drummers are to rock bands, ever-present yet disconcertingly easy to lose track of.
These four elements – product, price, place and promotion – are as crucial to music marketing as they are to any other product or service.
Though the words are easy to understand, the difficulty for artists often lies in translating the underlying concepts to your own creations. You may get one or two right but overlook the remainder. Even factoring all of these elements into your interactions with fans, if they’re not pulling in the same direction then your efforts are diluted at best, pulling each other apart at worst.
This is why I want you to visualize the marketing mix in more familiar terms, by framing them asmanning your virtual merch table.
Translating the 4 Ps to Your Music Marketing Mix
Picture a merch table at a live music event.
Broadly-speaking, the following three elements are are in play:
Concert attendees flooding in and out of the venue. More often than not they will have to pass by the merch table as they do so, providing a place for fans to gather. So this is a place where people gather… ideally your people. Your fans.
The merch table itself is the physical attraction, providing a reason to linger and items to consider. There are other distractions around, but the table content is a constant representing both the product and price elements of the marketing mix. Both can be directly translated to what is available for purchase and how much it costs.
Finally, there are those manning the merch table. This could be anyone from a disinterested venue employee to a hardcore fan of yours or, even better, you yourself. In this way, those who man the merch table represent the promotion aspect (or lack thereof). Without this element, no one is pushing your products and no sales will result (although some light thievery is may replace them).
There are several fundamentals of marketing that sticks in the memory, and specifically if any of these elements above are missing or not paid sufficient attention, either the fan experience suffers or sales do. In many cases, both will take a hit.
Fail to position the table in the correct place and you could miss a large portion of your potential audience. Offer insufficient product diversity or excessive pricing and you can miss or alienate those whom you do manage to attract. And without a passionate advocate to engage those with an interest, potential fans could easily wander off, never to be heard from again.
Your online marketing is like a virtual merch table, affected by many of the same dynamics and negatively impacting your relationships with fans if a particular area is neglected.
But how to set up and man a successful virtual merch table?
Each Monday in February I will be elaborating on each one of the three elements mentioned above, offering a deeper explanation of how it translates to your online music marketing and practical steps that you can take to develop that area of your web presence.
The goal is to provide a clear analogy and a variety of takeaways from each article in the series, some quick wins that you can apply immediately, others exercises that you can roll out over several months. As such, there will be companion content, further reading, and insider extras available via the e-mail newsletter, which you can sign up for here.
I intend to commit plenty of time to the conversation and follow up that I hope this series will generate, so comment below, join me on Facebook or say hi on Twitter with anything you have to . You can also track the #ManYourMerch hashtag on Twitter for daily tips & updates on the subjects we cover here.
So there you have it… all that remains is to get involved!
