Hello @SineWave, good inexpensive idea. Now for Christmas you could give away little cards with a download link / YouTube link.

 

sticker your whole neighborhood with a picture of the album art, and add a qr that goes trough a counter on your own website/server
and direct that too Spotify or your streaming service of choice.

Simple, effective, cheap.

 

Lol, no. Online marketing is the worst thing you can do because you'll just attract random people from 3rd world countries that spam views and likes. Even if someone gets interested, they're likely to be on the other side of the globe, which is of no value to you. US has nothing to do with it, everyone plays local shows because that's where you make money. If money for session musicians is an issue, play an unplugged gig with piano or guitar at a local restaurant.

Have you gone outside and showed up in all the local restaurants, bars, clubs, music stores, music schools, etc, etc? Looked up if there's a popular place that local bands practice at, and went there to say hi?

A 30 minute show before someone else's show gets you some audience, and gives you priceless experience. Even if unpaid or paid with beer at the bar. Gets you much further than another 1000 useless plays on soundcloud.

They wouldn't. You don't need much of a following, but you do need to be able to do the job. That is, entertain people and have a conversation with them. Show up on time and with everything you need. Be easy to deal with.

Above all, show up. Often. Befriend the people in charge, you want to be one of the first people to come to their mind when they need an evening event at their bar. Befriend other musicians as well. Above a certain level, the most common way to get a gig is to be recommended by a fellow musician who doesn't have that date free and asks if you'd be willing to take it.

You don't play shows out of nowhere. A "chunky following" is something you build up many, many years after you've started performing live. Remember the first track you made? The first live show you do will be just as garbage. You have to do dozens of them to learn how to not stare hyperfocused at gear/lyrics/chords all the time and make the audience actually have fun. For the kinds of gigs we're talking about, nobody cares about your following since you're going to be playing to students and drunkards for a little while anyway.

Also... don't make a CD, or ISO. Put stuff on soundcloud but focus on the important stuff, which is having something that people are willing to pay for. And at this point, this something is most likely not your music specifically, but having a fun evening with their friends . So give them a fun evening.

 

Except, nobody cares and it just gets pissed on by dogs.

It's no secret. They're making money of live shows and merch. As a listener, when do you spend money that's music related? That's right, tickets, shirts and mugs. Streaming can give you some spare cash, but it's just change compared to where the real money is made.

No. When's the last time you've read a music review to choose what album to purchase next or what show to go to? exactly.

Because you're advertising to an empty room and random people who really just wanted to click skip and watch another minecraft let's play. You want to be where people are looking for music to have a good time to, and online ads is just not that place.

Really, I see a fundamental problem here:

You are asking what you can do to get people to give something to you
when you should be asking what you can do to give to other people

Provide value to others, and the right people will recognize it.

 

Seriously dude? Niruvana comes to us for help and guidance and you tell him to burn CDs?

I'm honestly quite tired of your low effort copy-paste replies and many others here agree with me. If you have nothing of use to say, better to be silent. @Olymoon ?

Staying on topic, I'd say Facebook ads are kinda dead. TikTok has insane conversion potential (conversion into plays, that is) and Spotify playlists still have some clout.

I'd highly recommend Jesse at Musformation for promotion strategies, he has some top notch advice. I bought his 'Get More Fans' book and it is an absolute goldmine of knowledge. PM me if you need a copy.

 

That is exactly how I find new music

 

Please tell us what music are you doing? Which style? Live performance? Do you play an instrument ?
Or do you sit at a PC and make music with the DAW?

This is an assumption that he is a live musician: best we ask him:

Hello @Niruvana, please tell us what music are you doing? Which style?
Live performance? Do you play an instrument ?
Or do you sit at a PC and make music with the DAW?

 

I feel like I have most of this on lock and potentially could do the job. I would need to brush up on DJing more I think since a producer is a one trick pony today.

Killer advice. I did know a local guy around here that I've bumped into several times but I never mentioned I made music to him. Been several years since I went to one of his gigs so I'm not sure what he's even doing any more.

I could hype up pocket lint and be happy with it. I'm prepared for nothing to come over night as I've learned with music production. Which has been an uphill battle for too long to count.

Thanks for taking the time to post useful information! I highly appreciate it. All great and valid advice.

 

Last edited: Nov 13, 2021

OP mentioned being a singer-songwriter before, which presumably means piano/guitar

Yes. So many options once you can not only make music, but also host a show, perhaps working at a radio and mixing new releases with your own stuff. Or playing at a local club. Plenty of options once you're up for expanding your focus. Remember the best job is one at the intersection of what you enjoy doing, and what people are willing to pay for

Yeah, we all try hard not to plzbro to other people, but there's nothing wrong with mentioning you do something. I've since learnt that not mentioning it would be a disservice to them, if they needed someone at one point.

This is not how the general public finds new music at all though.

 

You have to get to know other like-minded people where you live and then make music on a birthday - at a street party - on the market square - in youth clubs - in old people's homes. Get together - organize your meetings, exchange ideas, go to the press, print or paint posters. grübder a music association and so on ...

 

How do the general public find new music? Give some examples, name the artist, and explain how they came to the attention of the general public.

 

Traditionally, ....

a) You need to be talented, and arrive with the right thing at the right time .....and you will find that your audience grows initially by word of mouth.

b) sooner or later this will attract people with influence, who will champion what you do.

from there it will grow exponentially and you will get radio/ tv/ bigger gigs/ people with even more influence etc etc .... and it just grows organically.

if you have no talent(and/or no luck), then you are going to have to get very good at hype and be uber creative that way. if you are lucky you will get a peak for a short while then fade into obscurity.

There is no substitute for talent ( and a bit of luck) if you want to play the game for a long haul.

Alternatively I can just post a bunch of crap and tell you you're the best

 

Last edited: Nov 14, 2021

Traditionally, the no 1 thing you need to do is show up often and do hard work. Talent is overrated, luck is overrated as well. There's no use for random music posted online if you can't commit to creating regularly and making it more than just 3 minutes of audio. You're selling a show, an experience for the listener - not WAV files.

 

It doesn't matter what you think about the effectiveness of each site for promotion. Just do this, check the analytics and you'll see which platform is the most effective. Yeah, I can certainly tell you that now YouTube has such algorithms that it primarily promotes videos that the masses will like, rather than unique and, I`d even say, masterpiece things. In short, the sillier the video - the better it`s promoted. Unfortunately =( There`s another way - contact some promotion company. For example, artist pr. I`ve heard they`re super experts in their field. In any case, I advise you not to stop halfway.