Marketing music without facebook or twitter?

D

D-toks

New member
Hi all,

Was wondering what those who don't have facebook or twitter have found success in doing to market their music effectively. I've never been a big fan of social media. A youtube and soundcloud are all I have. Is this going to be a problem if I hope to reach people with my music going forward?
 
There are a number of musicians who have found success primarily through YouTube recently. (Justin Bieber and Psy* being two obvious examples. Brental Floss, Boy in a Band, and Mystery Guitar Guy being more realistic examples of what you could achieve.) But a lot of them supplement it with other social media, and very rarely does it work to just market *music* that way; you need engaging videos too.

* Psy was a professional musician before Gangam Style, obviously, but that video was what made him an international star.
 
It's still work, no matter how you slice it. Gotta get out and promote yourself. Gotta do what it takes. There's lots of sites. Get on Reverbnation and release a song. Goes out to lots of places that promote your music for you. Not just iTunes and Amazon, but radio play places, Napster types, Pandora types, etc.
Get on Noisetrade if you want to get your music distributed (mostly for free). You can, however monkey mail your fan base and "suggest" a tip amount (which actually does work). People who are willing to support you just sometimes need a little nudge.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
There are a number of musicians who have found success primarily through YouTube recently. (Justin Bieber and Psy* being two obvious examples. Brental Floss, Boy in a Band, and Mystery Guitar Guy being more realistic examples of what you could achieve.) But a lot of them supplement it with other social media, and very rarely does it work to just market *music* that way; you need engaging videos too.

* Psy was a professional musician before Gangam Style, obviously, but that video was what made him an international star.
Click to expand...
I have not gotten into music videos yet. But I guess you're right, making videos means you're putting yourself out there a little bit more. I've been trying to go all through soundcloud and build a fanbase slowly but steadily but it's not really building at all if I had to be honest with myself.

BroKen_H said:
It's still work, no matter how you slice it. Gotta get out and promote yourself. Gotta do what it takes. There's lots of sites. Get on Reverbnation and release a song. Goes out to lots of places that promote your music for you. Not just iTunes and Amazon, but radio play places, Napster types, Pandora types, etc.
Get on Noisetrade if you want to get your music distributed (mostly for free). You can, however monkey mail your fan base and "suggest" a tip amount (which actually does work). People who are willing to support you just sometimes need a little nudge.
Click to expand...

I actually had never heard of those sites before so I definitely will look to create accounts. Having people promote and distribute music for you sounds pretty awesome, there must be a catch I'm assuming? I really like your last sentence. I'll keep that in mind!
 
Are we talking online only?

Playing gigs is the traditional method of getting people to hear your music - very dependant on the local music scene where you live though, but you tend to meet interesting people who might know other interesting people if you play enough of them. Word of mouth.

Local studios/labels/etc in the UK who put on weekly or monthly podcasts, quite a good route to get the name out as well but mostly they are aimed at social media as you can re-post/tweet/. Quite often you can just mail in and ask to appear. Don't know if it's the same everywhere but I would assume so...
 
Soundcloud, reverbnation, bandcamp, etc etc - will do nothing to expand your fanbase. They are just places to host your music (and other stuff, sometimes). the only people who might 'browse' these sites looking for music are other musicians/bands.
Ever notice on SC, the suggested songs on the right side, or the 'random' songs that come up after you play a song? How many 'fans' do you think that's going to bring in?

You've got to do the foot sloggin' yourself. Send CDs to bloggers. 'Tags' on your videos that will pop up when people do a search. Even FB and twitter won'
t do a thing for you unless you do the marketing -or pay someone to do it for you.
 
Well, Reverbnation's "catch" is that it costs. Paid $9.99 to release Oh Lord, My God (new single in sig line) and have gotten minimal response. Doubt I'll ever recoup the $10, but hey, it's fun.
 
BroKen_H said:
Well, Reverbnation's "catch" is that it costs. Paid $9.99 to release Oh Lord, My God (new single in sig line) and have gotten minimal response. Doubt I'll ever recoup the $10, but hey, it's fun.
Click to expand...

Nope, you got suckered in. It doesn't cost anything to have a site there, it costs to be able to submit to any of their "promotional opportunities'. And maybe to sell downloads through their site? (why bother, only traffic to them is what you point there - anyone browsing is a musician/band and won't be buying).
 
Okay, let's change the direction of this thread back to the positive spectrum before it takes a turn. I like the feedback I've received so far and I get the sense that of course you have to really just go after it and send your music everywhere and get people's attention through posting and mailing music all about. That's fine but where do you bridge the gap between what becomes marketing and what becomes spamming?

Ideally you want a fanbase to grow from people spreading the word rather than forcing the word around. I don't have a band since I'm really a homerecorder singing over backing tracks so I'm not sure how much of a fanbase live gigging will build for me so really I guess online is where I feel I need to be. It's great to know of these other more music/less invasive platforms but like I said, there is most likely a right and wrong way to use them to maximize success!
 
No negative here...just having fun (as I assumed Mike was). My info was clear (as mud) that I payed for the distribution, not for the RN account. :)
 
Oh haha see I'm still only 3 months into this site so I'm not always aware of the relationships that already exist among members :P. Good to know.
 
But his point is valid. Those sites are only markers. You have to come up with the creative ways to get you fan base to look at (and hopefully buy from) those sites. Also you'd like that fan base to increase your fan base. Usually, that happens because of one of two things (or both)...having something that people love to hear, or blind luck.
 
D-toks said:
Oh haha see I'm still only 3 months into this site so I'm not always aware of the relationships that already exist among members :P. Good to know.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that you're taking marketing advice from people that have no marketing skills or fanbase themselves.
 
D-toks said:
I get the sense that of course you have to really just go after it and send your music everywhere and get people's attention through posting and mailing music all about. That's fine but where do you bridge the gap between what becomes marketing and what becomes spamming?
Click to expand...

Simple.. If you're sending it, it's marketing. If you're receiving it, it's spam.
 
Ask yourself about the last time you spent your money on a Soundcloud-level home recording artist that you discovered through marketing. What was the marketing tactic that worked?
 
D-toks said:
I've never been a big fan of social media.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter what you're a big fan of. Where are your fans? You have to go to them, because very few will come to you. It's understandable that you might not want a personal social media presence (I don't have a personal presence at all, for example), but for marketing, you have to be present where people congregate. . . plus, the targeted ads FB and such offer can be a good bang for your buck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top