If there is one thing clear about music and the internet, it’s that there are no clear options for distribution. Rather, there are hundreds of varied strategies that may work depending on who you are and what your situation is. Creativity and understanding of how the web works are the two things that will help you the most.
Free Music Can Spread Faster & Further In this article I aim to show that you can profit by giving away your music for free. To most people the idea of releasing free to use music may sound crazy and unprofitable, but when looking at the bigger picture it turns out to be a very smart move. You have to understand that this is a great way to spread your music when you release it for free, especially if this is your debut and you are just starting out. In most cases you wouldn’t be making much from selling it anyway. Just like in any business, you need to have a customer base before you can make any profit. CD’s Are Making A Transition Assuming you are a musician or singer who can perform live as well as produce studio recordings, the ways to make money in the modern music environment will not be from CD sales. If you follow the trends and news of music reports, you will notice that CD sales have been on the decline for quite some time now. This is partially due to the many types of streaming platforms were people can listen to music for free. The CD as a concept is slowly but surely disappearing, as music is no longer released on disks and more emphasis is being placed on EPs and singles. These are harder to sell for considerable profits, and by offering them only for payment, you limit how many people will obtain them. Instead of trying to go against the unstoppable giants of illegal file sharing and music downloading, go with it. Give your music away and watch it spread as far as it can. Keeping in mind that you could only make so much off it anyway, in the beginning at least, the positives outweigh the negatives. Free Music Doesn’t Mean Give It Away Freely In return for passing out your music free of charge, you obtain promotion and reputation in return. You can also exchange free music for emails to build a fan list. In other words, you get more fans. Fans are what lead to profits down the line if you are a musical act, and they are the most important thing when it comes to the business side of the equation. So the move is to get your music out there in any way that you can if you think it will lead to promotion and new fans. New fans can lead to increased music sales, concert ticket sales, and music placement in commercials or films, especially for music producers and that is when the money will bring you passive income and royalties. But if you started off selling a few CD’s for $10.00, you would be sitting around with $50.00 and five fans. That $50.00 is nothing compared to the long term income obtainable from establishing yourself as a popular musical act. Think About Monetization So when you are thinking about how to make money with your music, think about how to get fans before you think about monetization. Look for sites like Epidemic Sound that work to get people’s music out there and their names recognized, and use any tool you can find. There are many ways for you to monetize your music on various streaming platforms, like YouTube, SoundCloud etc, etc… However, for me to share with you how to do this goes way beyond the scope of this article, so I will save that for another time. Creativity in promotion is the name of the game on the internet, and it’s the key to getting your music heard.
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This is crucial information that will help you succeed as a music industry professional.
Getting your music placed with a solid publisher or library is a great first step and getting your first placement or two is an even greater step forward. But your work doesn't stop there. In a way, this is just the beginning. For music to get licensed, it has to be the right piece of music at the right time. This is why sometimes songs will sit in catalogs for long periods of time, inactive, and then all of a sudden get licensed into one or more projects. This is just the nature of the business. But if you know what projects your publisher is pitching to behind the scenes, you can write more music that is a good match for projects they're pitching to. Now obviously everything you pitch won't get placed, but if you do this enough and you're on target with your music, some will. You'll also be building up your catalog so that in the future you'll have even more tracks to pitch to future projects. So if you're working with a publisher or library don't be shy to ask them about what their music needs are. There are people out there who will want to help you meet your goals. Find them! Want an in depth education on the music licensing business? The A-Z Of Music Licensing is the most clear and concise program available on how the music licensing business works. In addition to detailing exactly how the business works and the steps you need to take, I also include a comprehensive directory of people working in the industry so you also have information on who to submit your music to - information that is vital! For an in depth education on how to navigate your way through the maze that is the music licensing business and start generating money with your music, Click On >>> "The A-Z Of Music Licensing". Promotion is probably one of a musician’s worse enemy! I say this because it’s the part most people get wrong, intentionally, or not. There are people who take the time to record the perfect CD, pay to have it mastered, have an excellent cover, get it into shops worldwide, then just sit down and wait for their CD to sell. But it hardly does. Why? Because they hardly promoted it! You can’t expect people to walk into a record shop and buy your music. You must let people know it’s there and give them a good reason to buy it! The same goes for selling your music on the internet.
Doing It Your Self Now I know for most, you may not see yourself as a sales person. That’s OK! Most musicians don’t. But I’ll tell you now, without including some form of promotion in your campaigns, whether you do it yourself or hire someone else to do it for you, awareness will not get very far. So how much promotion do you need for a successful new release? Well, that would depend on the size and type of the project. One thing’s for sure, you should be promoting your release between 2 – 4 weeks prior to the release date. Start out by establishing a rapport with your followers and audience. As you get to bring more awareness about who you are as a person, then you can mention your upcoming project without too many details. Whatever you say, don’t advertise yourself as someone who merely wants to sell music. Make a serious connection! You are dealing with real people that like to have a real social connection. Then, as the date gets closer, offer more details while making a bigger deal out of it. Creating anticipation and a buzz is a great way to pre-sell your music. If done correctly a nice portion of your sells should come within the first week or so. Keep in mind that the quality of your music and the demand for your style of music must be factored into sales. New Release Suggestions Just before releasing your CD, you should carry on spending the time to promote it. It’s a good idea to appear on live radio shows, get interviews, create content marketing with insight into the songs, link flyers to Landing Page, use music entertainment news platforms, get a professional music review, promote music by guest blogging, and anything else you can fit in. Simply writing a post on a music forum will not get you the amount of exposure and sales you’ll need to even cover the cost of making your music project. Even an article in a popular magazine often isn’t enough by itself. So, think bigger! People react better to buying when they’ve seen your promotion in different places. They become curious about your product. That means you need to be everywhere your customers are! Please don’t make the mistake of under promoting your music. If you’re going to put the effort into recording and releasing your music, the least you could do is let it reach its full potential! |
AuthorBy David E. Maxwell |