music business | Selling your music online pt 1

Selling your music online pt 1

The internet has been called the great leveller by some; no longer do major labels hold the monopoly on getting your music effectively to a worldwide market. But because this great resource is out there what good is it if you don’t know how to use it properly?

So you’ve decided that you want be your own label and you want to sell your music online, because you have access to a potentially huge market it doesn’t mean all your prayers are answered and you just have to stick your music on MySpace and everyone will come running, ABSOLUTELY NOT! The same rules apply as before you have to build a concept people will understand if you wish to have longevity as an artist, you can have a hit song but to build a fan base that will buy even before they’ve heard a track like a Madonna, people have to buy into YOU!

Question 1

Are you selling an artist or a song?

I’m going to take for granted you guys want to sell an artist.

Now one of the most common statements that pretty much everyone I talk to gives me, is I want to sell my music to everyone.

MISTAKE!

WOULD YOU SELL MEAT TO A VEGETARIAN? NO YOU WOULDN’T.

If you think about it costs you time and money to market your music, so why would you spend a percentage of that time and money to market your music to people who 1) don’t like your type of music and 2) will never buy it. Now unless you have bags of both money and time I suggest you think about your market or in other words your core audience, or in other words THE PEOPLE MOST LIKELY TO BUY YOUR MUSIC!

Question 2

Who are my core customers?

Once you have decided on your core audience for example 15-25 year old urban youth or 25 -40 year old working women, you have to look at your competition and find a place for you to sit. If there are 10 successful solo female artists like yourself in the R&B genre why would anyone bother about buying your music? Because it’s better I hear you say, as I stated before it’s not about being better if that was the case would the Spice Girls be the number one selling girl band of the 90’s? NO I DON’T THINK SO! You need to decide on something marketers call a U.S.P. Unique Selling Point. The difference between you and another similar band makes all the difference. Eminem has quite a simple USP he is a talented white rapper in a black dominated genre. (Note the term talented in there as he is not the only white rapper)

Question 3

What is your USP?

Now you may be thinking what about the internet in this article, well when you want to be a success on or offline these are the starting blocks or foundation your career must be built on. Now some of you may have your material recorded already and feel you are past this stage, but if you cannot answer these questions in one sentence answers then you may need to re assess your release.