Very few things are scarce in the music industry as it stands today.
From vast online libraries of digital downloads – legal or otherwise – to over 20 million tracks available for on-demand streaming, abundance abounds in an industry that once traded on limited distribution and highly anticipated release dates.
All of which makes it crucial for today’s musicians to seize the day when a moment of scarcity arises for your art.
I define “your moments” as any opportunity to connect with a fan in a way that is unlikely to arise again for some time, if ever.
Sometimes this will be limited to deepening your relationship, but often it will include a rare chance to offer them something that supports your art monetarily. Some examples:
Talking to fans after a live performance at the merch table is a moment,
The day you release a new piece of music is a moment,
Filming a music video is a moment,
The buzz a fan feels after purchasing a ticket for your future show is a moment,
Collaborating with other artists on a new project is a moment.
Making the most of these requires you to actively nurture the nature of the moment, turning an already important interaction into something even more lasting, be that emotionally, materially, or both.
To transform the scenarios above, for example:
Creating a unique recording of that live show and offering it for sale before the adrenaline fades makes the most of the moment,
Offering limited edition versions of your new release in a physical format with creative artwork or merchandise is making the most of the moment,
Inviting fans to participate in the filming process, perhaps even helping to inspire and refine the concept, is making the most of the moment,
Capturing that excitement and channeling it into a social share or offering a VIP experience is making the most of the moment,
Planning a unique launch event for the collaboration and inviting a select group of passionate fans is making the most of the moment.
Eyes Wide Open
More important than following specific examples such as these is keeping your eyes and mind open to opportunities around you. As you create, network, and interact with fans, always keep one eye on the potential to develop a unique moment.
Anything that closes the gap to your listeners is what you’re looking for, but especially those with the potential to create a memory that can’t be replicated.
Making those moments gives you a long term, inimitable connection to the individuals with whom you live the experience, something that could be worth its weight in gold in an environment where it’s increasingly difficult to make your music stand out for a single spin, let alone the span of a career.
Where have you seen musicians creating moments that live long in the memory for you as a fan?
Direct-to-fan (D2F) music was one of the first widely lauded advantages of the digital era for independent artists. With barriers removed, musicians could simply create songs, get them online, and connect them straight to listeners with no middle man delaying the gratification process. Nirvana!
At the very least – and more accurately – we need some standardized channel, because there exists a mass of music and a bewildering variety of ways to process the payment for it.
In these early years, efficient digital stores have risen up to fill the void. From iTunes and Amazon to Bandcamp and CD Baby, paying music fans have chosen convenience over a deeper commitment to their favored artists. This is understandable, given a voracious appetite for music and the ease-of-access that consumers have come to expect from online transactions.
Nonetheless, this need not eliminate the original promise of D2F, to connect artists directly to their most passionate fans and deepen the relationship between them. This includes selling music and merchandise and is an area where most artists are leaving money on the table.
Know Your Fans, Narrow Your Focus
At any size an artist needs to develop deeper relationships with listeners, but the extent to which a platform is required to do this will vary greatly according to size and stage of career. For those just starting out, the emphasis will be more on discovery and gaining attention, making the breadth of platforms more crucial than the depth.
As a fan base accumulates, however, too many artists stop short and continue to focus on that breadth, without customizing their art, content, and merch to the most passionate fans. This fails to take D2F to its most beneficial conclusion. Those building the closest ties to fans, offering the most of themselves, lay the groundwork for those same people to spend more time with – and more money on – their music.
By narrowing your focus to that small percentage of your fan base that is intrigued by everything you do, opportunities arise to better understand and cater to their needs…
Are they moved by visuals you present?
Do they react particularly well when you post lyrics to your songs?
Perhaps they praised a specific collaboration or project that you worked on?
When you know the answer to what really gets your core fan base bubbling up, you have a starting point for creatively-minded merchandise and physical records that suit the D2F approach.
Separating Merch From Marketing
Although the two are of course inextricably linked, it’s important to remember that D2F music and merchandise is largely to be considered in terms of income. It can be time-consuming to set up anything more than a rudimentary store and will require ongoing maintenance, so both the product and the demand must be there to justify investing in D2F merchandise to any great degree.
Knowing your costs and projecting what you expect to make are crucial factors in deciding just how viable any given D2F product will be.
This doesn’t preclude artists from producing simpler items for fans that can be given away at shows or included as a bonus with other orders, of course. Just remember that these are generally not items with any significant profit margin and, as such, they fall into the category of marketing materials. In the same vein as a show flyer or postcard, their job is to keep you in the minds of listeners for further connection, rather than make money in their own right.
Retaining a focus on cost and sale price helps you to judge what fits into the category of merch that you should sell directly to fans, as opposed to outsourcing the sale to an established digital store front. Limited edition releases and intricate art work related to your music are ideal starting points but this is an area where you can let your creative streak run wild, as the concept of this recent Music Think Tank article explains.
Over To You…
Was the promise of the direct-to-fan model vastly overstated or has it simply been swamped by the generic digital offerings that are presented to music fans today?
What examples have you seen of artists succeeding in offering their fans unique products?
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.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget tosign up to the newsletterand pass this on to any artist friends who may find it useful!
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?
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).
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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…
