Market Your Music One Day at a Time

If you want to do anything with your music that is more than pure aesthetics, you will need to set aside a little bit of time - each and every day - to do a marketing task.

No matter what your involvement is in music, marketing needs to be a way of life. This is true more for the musician seeking to make a living in music but it generally applies to anyone with goals other than pure aesthetics.

What is marketing? Marketing is the entire range of activities that involve increasing your exposure in the market that you have chosen. This exposure then needs to lead to sales. These sales might be for CDs, DVDs, digital products, books, concerts, merchandise etc. It includes but is not limited to advertising, promotion, public relations, sales, endorsements, articles, interviews, establishing contacts, etc.

A typical musician runs hot and cold in this regard. He or she gets enthused about marketing and works very hard…for a couple of weeks. Then, nothing, for months.

What you need to do is to set aside time every day for something… anything…that would promote you, your work, and your products. It’s a good idea to follow some simple advice from the exercise and diet worlds. Focus on maintenance. In other words, marketing becomes a part of your lifestyle, rather than an emergency event.

Many find a marketing calendar helpful. This is simply a pre-planned scheduling tactic for getting things done in a timely fashion—send out this announcement on this date, meet with so and so on that date, etc. Continue to add things to your calendar that will drive your career forward and create sustainable activity.

It’s always important to remember that music remains a business. It may be art, but it is a business if you want it to be your living. Contrary to popular dreams, the phone doesn’t ring because you’re good at your instrument or an excellent vocalist. It rings because people know who you are, how to reach you, and because you’ve created an appeal. Yes, in the long run, appeal is even more important than how fast you play, how much you know, or how well you sing.

The more you do, the more you will develop an attitude, a momentum. Soon, the process will be natural. It becomes something that you don’t even have to think about. When this happens and continues to happen, you’re on your way!

Note from LRG: Read more about marketing and the business of music:

• A Manager to Manage Your Tweets
• Get a Real Job! (Playing Music)
• Making  a Living Performing Music
• Making Money from Your Music by Giving it Away