Many musicians undervalue the concept of self-promotion and how much artists can do on their own to get their music heard by others. With labels not having large budgets to financially support musicians, A&R reps not scouting venues as they once did and the internet becoming the new medium to take artists in a new direction, where does a musician start when you are all on your own and want to get your music out there for the world to hear?
There are many basic yet time-consuming and energy driving tasks that musicians can do to market, advertise and promote their music. Please keep in mind that all musicians have their own way of promoting their music and there is no right or wrong way to do it. The use of the internet and social networking sites are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get your music not only heard by the locals in your town, but also across the globe. There will be mixed reviews from all artists about which sites are better than others, but one of the sites which have been around for a long time is MySpace.
MySpace can be a highly valuable and effective tool for promoting one’s music. For instance, look at all of the major signed artists who continue to use it. They don’t only use it as a supplementary page to their formal website, but those who do not have a website, use it as their primary means of getting their music out to the world and connecting with their fans. An essential and valuable aspect about MySpace for musicians is it is a One-Stop Shop! This means fans can access pretty much anything they would want to know about the band, such as a biography, photos, tour dates, videos, blogs and most importantly music! Although, please keep in mind that it is crucial for musicians to keep information on their pages relevant, consistent and up-to-date to in order to maintain your fans interest.
Although it seems simple enough to develop a MySpace page by registering with the site, to effectively construct one, it will take some dedication, time and effort on behalf of the artist. Here are some tips for creating an effective MySpace page to promote your music:
Create a visually appealing MySpace Page
Although we would all like to have a fancy MySpace page like the major artists, don’t worry if you are not a graphic designer or do not have the budget to hire one. The primary goal is to figure out what you want to convey to your fans. For instance, put a cool photo of the band or a logo on the top of the page which will introduce who you are to your fans. All you need is a professional photo or logo to initially capture your fans attention along with the other user friendly and eye-catching images with the tools and applications MySpace provides to assist in creating your unique, original page.
Make a simple to navigate MySpace Page
Once you develop a page that can catch the eyes of others, you want to also hold their attention. It is easy to keep others on your page by making sure it is simple to navigate and does not visually have too much going on to distract the viewer. For instance, it has happened all too often that the friend request button is located in some random area of the page that cannot be located by the viewer. The last thing you want a potential ‘friend’ to do is leave your page because he/she becomes frustrated about not being able to locate the friend request button.
Develop a fan base
This seems simple enough. Well, it is easy to do, but it will take time and effort by the artist. We all see pages that have thousands upon thousands of ‘friends’ or what can also be referred to as ‘fans.’ But how do we get them? To get fans, the easiest way is to start requesting ‘friends.’ To build a fan base quickly, it is recommended to set a quota aside each day by requesting, for example, 10 ‘friends.’ For instance, if you have four band members who are all actively involved and they each request 10 ‘friends’ a day, you could potentially have 40 new ‘friends’ per day.
Accumulate 1,000s of ‘friends’
Does the number of ‘friends’ you have mean anything? Yes, it does mean something. Although it is unknown if there is formal research to support this concept, the society’s perception often follows in the direction that the greater your number of ‘friends,’ the more likely you are an established and professional artist. It is not recommended that you sit around for hours requesting ‘friends.’ Once you start developing a moderate number and getting your name out there, you will see people start to request you. There is also what can be referred to as ‘free friends,’ which are major bands and companies that have their default set to accept anyone who sends them a request. This means you automatically become a ‘friend’ without having to wait for approval. And finally, it is not recommended to use tools such as ‘friend blaster’ to increase your ‘friends’ as it is illegal and the last thing you want is your hard work to be affected by MySpace shutting down your page.
Post and receive positive comments
Receiving comments on your page, especially when you are a new artist, also exudes a sense of where you ‘fit in the music world’ to your ‘friends.’ Of course, it feels good and positively impacts our self-esteem to receive a positive comment about our music from a random ‘friend.’ But it will also take time for this to happen. In order to start receiving comments, an artist will need to take time and leave comments on others pages. Leave a positive comment about something you like about the band or person. In return, kindly ask for them to check out your music and leave a comment. Don’t get discouraged if you are making a lot of comments and only receive a few in return. Leaving comments on others pages, allows their ‘friends’ to see you and potentially send a friend request to you (so now you are increasing your number of ‘friends’ which in return ties into ‘Developing a fan base’ and ‘Society’s perception of having 1,000s of friends’). Finally, it is recommended that you have your comment default set for you to approve those by others as the last thing you want is a negative or critical comment on your page for the world to see.
Network with other artists
The use of MySpace is a great tool to use to network with and meet other artists who have a similar genre or sound to your music. This is especially important when you are a new artist and/or band looking to start playing shows. Being social and friendly while sending a professional email to introduce yourself is highly looked upon. However, don’t be discouraged if the artist does not respond back to you. It is readily known and important to realize that there will be many more no’s than yes’s in the challenging music industry. But the important thing is you keep reaching out and trying. If you work hard, are professional, dedicated and persistent, you will see progress over time.
Use other social networking sites to promote your MySpace Page
Since MySpace, especially when you are a new artist, can initially be your One-Stop Shop, it’s important to spread the word about your page by promoting it on other social networking sites. There are so many out there which, at times, can be overwhelming for an artist to know which ones to use. However, the ones that are recommended when starting out include Facebook and Twitter. Again, these sites are simple to put together, easy to navigate and extremely effective to get the word out about your music. As you become comfortable using these sites, start slowly branching out to other sites which tend to focus more on your music such as Reverbnation, Purevolume and last.fm, to name a few. Nevertheless, keep in mind that the more sites you join, the greater the likelihood that your music will be recognized and heard by others.
This article was written by Kerri Edelman, Psy.D. who is a Freelance Writer. It was featured in the December 2010 Holiday Issue for Really Great Magazine.
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