Essential independent music promotion tactics.

Here are a few tips and guidelines on promoting yourself as an artist.

Independent music promotion: Getting radio stations to play your songs

Getting your music on the radio can be a bit difficult. Gone are the times when DJs would choose their own music. Nowadays you have to encounter Music Directors. Even worse is the fact that most radio stations are now owned by a small number of companies. If you're turned down by one company, then you know what that means. You can't get access to a whole chain of radio stations.

Getting airplay on radio stations is however, not impossible. What I would advise an artist to do is to try to make contact with college or public radio stations in his/her area. Try to get on shows which feature new and upcoming local artists. Make friends with the radio personalities. Try your best to win them as fans.

Independent music promotion: Booking gigs on your own... or through a booking agent.

You could either book gigs on your own, or ultimately, through a booking agent.
Don't be afraid to call club owners. Just pick up the phone (as they say) and make some calls. You may be surprised at the number of connections you make. One thing I know is that procrastination has never worked for me. I don't know if it has worked for others.

You may even offer to play for free, if nothing else works. Nobody at the club knows that you aren't getting paid. It happens more than you probably think. Sometimes you see bands playing at specific locations and think they're getting paid, when really they're not. When you get gigs, try to use the opportunity to build a fan base. Make sure that you do all the marketing you can to get folks to flock to the venue.

Since you now have a connection with the club owners, you can try finding out what booking agents they use. Try to contact these booking agents. Send them your CD. If you're attracting lots of people to the club or clubs you play at, then they will be more than eager to work as your agent.

Music marketing and promotion: Getting through to your fans

Music promotion can be quite a challenge. One fatal mistake that many musicians make is to try to reach everybody at the same time. They waste a considerable amount of time and money trying to force everybody to embrace them.

If you want to succeed at music marketing and promotion, you must follow a different path. First of all you need to define your unique identity as a musician. You must discover what it is that distinguishes you from everybody else, in clear and unambiguous terms. Don't be just another pop, rock or hip hop act. Be yourself, and know yourself.

Now that you know who you are, the next step is to know who your fans are. What is it that excites them? What is their culture? Where do they hang out? What is their lifestyle like? I try my best not to alienate myself from my fans. After all without fans you are no where. I try to mix with them sometimes, so as to 'feel' them.

Music marketing and promotion also includes clearly identifying what your fans want. Refine your act, and hence your songwriting, to suit their wants (not their needs). Give them what they want!

The mistake that a lot of songwriters and musicians make is to force their own preferences down people's throats. It doesn't work in the regular business world and won't work in the music business. If you take music as nothing but a hobby, ignore me. But if you're running a business, you should see some light in my position.

Now that you know who your fans are and what they want, you need to find out through what mediums you can reach them. Find out what newspapers and magazines they read, what websites and forums they visit, what radio stations they listen to, and so on.

O your music marketing and promotion through the mediums which you've identified and selected. In other words, since you know where they are, you go where they are.

Don't try to promote your music to everybody. Start by targeting a specific group of people and carry out your music promotion.