Time to review notes & catch up! | Image Credit: Internews Europe
As we close out the month and move into the next phase of Manning Your Virtual Merch Table, let’s take a second to recap and gather together what we’ve learned so far.
For any artists just joining us, this is a great time to catch up on the more conceptual posts, before we dive into practical examples and case studies during April.
This month also saw the first Inner Circle newsletter go out, including a private link to bonus material reserved as a special thank you to subscribers.
Get access to that and future updates by subscribing here or entering your details below. You’ll have close access to both the material and, well, me, as I’ll individually check in with every new subscriber to see how best I can customize the series to your needs.
Next Steps
It’s all very well understanding the methods behind music marketing via a virtual merch table approach, but what about real world examples of how artists are implementing these ideas?
That’s exactly what I’ll be dedicating April to, unearthing case studies of independent artists using this approach (some unwittingly, perhaps) to build an online presence that nurtures listeners through to becoming lifelong fans. The research for this is underway now, so let me know if you have any exceptional examples of musicians successfully marketing themselves online.
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Just a little over ten years ago, the business of promoting your music to an audience was a very different animal indeed.
Certainly, Napster had hit and its impact was being felt to some degree. But the relative position, given the seismic shifts to come, was much closer to the heyday of major record labels, rather than the almost fully digital music world we see before us today.
The Lefsetz Letter is currently on a “Now & Then” kick, comparing various music and media approaches in a pre- and post-digital environment. This holds value in music marketing terms as well, so here are my thoughts as to how it relates to the Man Your Virtual Merch Table series that we’ve been running.
Music Marketing in the Digital Era
Then
You had limited access to the mass marketing resources and distribution needed to reach fans. Signing a deal with an established label rapidly accelerated your visibility, via a few mass broadcast channels to fans.
Now
You have direct access to fans, limited only by the amount of time they spend online and the attention they pay to music. The cost is the time you invest, meaning that you need to choose the places carefully. Signing a deal with a more traditional company is no guarantee of success and needs to be done on your own terms (if it comes up at all, as investment in developing artists has plunged from these sources).
Then
Communication was to your audience and the channels limited. A certain distance from fans was to be expected, perhaps even aspired to, in order to maintain that “rock star” mythology.
Now
Communication is to your community and the channels are almost limitless. Distance from fans is impossible for all but the most enigmatic and talented of artists. Direct relationships, collaborative efforts, and the art of asking are the order of the day.
Then
Recorded music was scarce and expensive, relatively speaking. Selling your record was the main focus of both marketing and touring, and listeners invested in the album purchase and built relationships with artists from there.
Now
Recorded music is abundant and inexpensive, often free. Selling a record, even a digital album, is the product of having built a relationship with listeners already, often on the basis of streaming music singles from your site or social networks. You need to think more widely about what routes and products you offer for fans to invest in you, the artist. From crowd funding an album before it iss fully conceived to purchasing a diverse range of merchandise, you develop relationships first, get the sale second.
Then
Album cycles were the basis for promotional campaigns, usually on a record > press/hype > release > tour model. Release dates were widely anticipated, reviews and radio coverage important, first week sales and the resulting chart positions vital.
Now
Albums themselves may be passing into obscurity, with the format prevailing more for reasons of familiarity than necessity.
Lead time from recording to release is almost non-existent for independent artists, who can create music at home and release in the time it takes to upload a file. Single songs catch the attention (if you’re lucky) and build interest in subsequent releases, be they albums, EPs, or whatever the artist feels most comfortable with. Traditional release models are thrown out of the window, coverage is fractured and often to a niche audience via many small websites, charts are arbitrary as no one measure covers digital interest to any degree of accuracy.
Make Your Own Marketing Schedule
The final point there is a suitable one to leave you chewing on, as there are almost no rules right now.
New marketing standards and filters may well be developed in the years to come but, as it stands, the only limitations are those of your time and creativity. Traditional elements of communication to fans, press coverage, touring, and hype all remain key elements in raising awareness of your music, but the balance and structure of them is entirely up to you.
My recommendation is to experiment. Push the boundaries of what you’ve done before, be it pricing, promotional stunts, release format, or the type of press you approach to cover you. Move from a “why?” to a “why not?” mentality as you generate ideas to market your music, viewing traditional standards with suspicion and probing the potential of more outlandish promotional ideas.
What can you do to market your next release in a completely new way?
This is a guest article by Simon Walklate, co-founder of Bristol, UK based game developers The Motion Monkey. He is also a drummer, former independent record label owner and music fan.
Having played in bands for years (and even run my own independent record label at one point) I know just how difficult – and potentially costly – it can be to get your music heard.
Successful musicians and bands have been licensing their music for use in video games for decades. It’s a great opportunity to expose music to potential new fans. In fact, I’m sure pretty much everyone that plays video games can remember at least one occasion when they’ve discovered and become a fan of a band via a video game soundtrack.
But what if you don’t already have a publishing deal and label support to help make these sorts of opportunities happen? Is there a way for independent artists to get involved?
This is where the casual games market comes in.
An Introduction to Advergaming
Free-To-Play, web-based Flash games are a massive source of entertainment for millions worldwide. It’s possible to commission custom games for marketing purposes (often called ‘Advergames’) and they’re perfectly suited to help get your music heard.
You could almost think of it in terms of an interactive music video for a track, with all the same creativity involved in production. A good game designer can either create suitable game concepts and visuals that complement the music, or help you develop your own ideas before producing the finished game.
You can include these custom games on your band website, as well as have the developer distribute the game to online gaming websites for possible inclusion. This way you’re also harnessing existing online casual gaming communities to get your music heard.
The Benefits of Advergaming for Independent Musicians
Advergames provide a number of advantages to artists over other forms of paid advertising they might use:
Direct exposure for the thing that matters most, your music – Having your music as the soundtrack to the game (or the game as the visual and interactive accompaniment to your music, depending on how you want to look at it) means you’re quite literally showing, not telling people about your music.
Takes your music to the people – Having a website, social media presence and your music on streaming sites is great. But you need to get people to those places to hear your music, which can be tough. With an Advergame you’re taking your music to the people, rather than waiting (and hoping) for them to come find your music.
Potentially huge worldwide exposure – Although there are no guarantees of specific numbers, the potential is virtually limitless. A great Flash game can get millions of plays (and sometimes even tens of millions). Is there another medium that has the potential for that kind of exposure for your music?
Drive traffic to your website – Advergames are a great source of traffic for websites. Links within the game direct players to your website to find out more about you and your music and ultimately help you build your fanbase.
Long term exposure – Advergames can continue to get huge numbers of plays over the longer term. It’s not unusual for them to keep attracting players years after launch.
It’s innovative – Because Advergames are still a pretty new way to advertise, that’s not yet in widespread use, it may help you stand out from the crowd. Been looking for that hook to get your press release noticed both online and with traditional media? This may very well be it.
Next Steps
Custom Advergames don’t come cheap, but they don’t have to cost the earth either. Keeping it fairly simple is the key, and having a band of four or more members to split the cost, may just make it financially viable.
You should also be aware that The Motion Monkey are offering reduced rate Advergames for self-financed artists, so get in touch if this introduction has piqued your interest in this unique and creative marketing channel.
As we move into the last of our 4 Ps in the marketing mix that we’re applying to music marketing, it will also be the most familiar to artists: Promotion. Fear not, though, as there’s much more depth here than you may be touching upon with how you currently promote your art.
Beyond merely posting to Facebook and putting up a poster or fifty for your next gig, at the heart of promotion lies evoking an emotional response in fans and listeners. The way that you promote says a lot about how much you value those taking the time to invest themselves in your music, which in turn makes a huge difference as to how long listeners will stick around. The longer they stick around, the greater the chance that a listener turns into a fan, perhaps one for life.
Traditional broadcast (“tell and sell”) approaches to promoting music now fall on deaf ears. At best, it reminds a few convinced fans of your existence and is ignored by casual and potential listeners. At worst, it puts the casuals off for good and alienates fans seeking more from you, the musician. What truly sets artists apart in the digital era is those using these new channels to forge deeper, direct relationships with listeners. A record label can’t do that for you. Nor can a manager or an agency, even though they can advise you on smart ways to go about achieving it.
No, it now falls to those making the music to be available, in touch, and engaging with what fans feel about your music. As such, there has never been a better time to focus heavily on your own promotion.
The Personal Touch
Giving your mobile phone number (even a temporary one) out to listeners online would be a disaster, right? Endless calls, open to abuse, no control over how and when you reach people… you’d have to be crazy.
When indie-pop favorite Kishi Bashi did this last month, fans couldn’t believe it either. An opportunity to simply pick up the phone and give an internationally acclaimed artist a buzz to shoot the breeze?
It was indeed true, as you can see to the right here, and it made a world of difference to the small section of his 20,000 Facebook fans who caught the request. Moreover, it made those of us who missed it eager to like the post and check back, to see what other connections the affable songwriter might make in the weeks to come.
This is a prime example of manning your virtual merch table. Being present, available, and taking the initiative to connect with fans on a one-to-one basis.
At a live show, fans get an extra kick when they can buy merchandise from the artist herself and have a personal conversation. Finding those personal touch points online is just as, if not more important.
First Impressions Last
Everything you put out there on social networks and your own site(s) is a potential first impression to a new listener.
Harking back to product and price, you need to have the right hooks to pique people’s interest that first time around. What helps immeasurably is having both systems and people that man your virtual merch table in the most welcoming, unique way possible. Promotion is really about striving to connect a great product (you!) with the value it will offer to the buyer. In this case that’s the listener, and the value is the intangible emotional connection that they’ll make with your music.
To make that connection more understandable and rapid for the listener, communicate your personality, interests, outlook and opinions via online platforms. Have a deep web presence with all manner of media, from music to personal interview videos, a broad range of your musical style to the songs on offer, and regularly updated content on both your artist blog and your chosen social networks.
Think of every touch point with your fans – a follow on Twitter, a like on Facebook, a comment on your blog or e-mail subscription – as an opportunity to make a first impression. Even if a listener already knows you as a musician, find a way to make the interaction personal and make an impression as an individual for that first time.
When every encounter is seen as a make-or-break opportunity to win over a fan, you’ll begin to nurture those relationships that will develop into life long fans.
Over to you…
I’ll have specific examples (in the newsletter, so sign up below) of approaches that you can take to seek out deeper fan relationships but I’d value your input here.
When have you gone that extra mile to win over a fan? What did you do?
