Musician's pain??

[buckapple]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to ask in here about how to start out on the journey of finding a problem, a real problem that people, (musicians actually) (please save the jokes for later for I'm a musician) which makes this kinda strange question, because I think I'm too close to see a problem.

A real problem that musicians have, they desperately want solved. This is the first step as I understand it, to providing a solution.

What I want to do is take my musician's website that has attracted nothing but freebie seekers and focus it in the direction of helping musicians solve a problem their willing to pay money for. So what I would like to do is change the theme of the site.

I know I could install survey software and go that route.

But as I step back and look at this situation, how do you focus right in on any problem that a group of people are having so you can focus on how to solve it?
Especially so you're focusing on a crowd with a real problem.

Is it a matter of hanging out in forums and looking for problems?
Is it as simple as looking at what's hot on amazon?
Is it a situation where the target audience isn't really that desperate to start with?
Or do you just drill down, find a so so spending crowd, and then's it's a matter of copywriting chops to expose a problem they never even knew existed to the point there willing to pay money to solve it?

OR?

Is this really a process that's not ready for the copywriting process and would be more under product developement? Are the 2 connected?

Thanks,
Gary

[KenStrong]

Ask them -- you don't need to install survey software, just use SurveyMonkey. You can sign up for a free account and get up to 100 responses; if you want to read unlimited responses, it's $19.99, I believe.

Or go to musicians' forums and see what they're asking about the most, or complaining about the most -- and find a solution.

[dorothydot]

I guess my first question is, what aspect of music are you talking about?

If bands, then they crave name recognition, exposure, followers and gigs.

Musical instruments? Then your prospects need to find the right kind of instrument (that has a voice, a music quality that resonates deep into their soul) and then find the exact of instrument with the individual voice quality that most satisfies their soul's need for expression.

Writing music? Then your job as copywriter is to find the right vehicle (band, arrangement, etc.) to make their exact style of songs/tunes as meaningful as possible to as many listeners as possible.

I've sold harps for a number of harp-builders and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. There are some priceless memories - such as the 12-year-old harper who plays for nursing homes and whose mother was determined to buy her a harp. Mom wanted the most expensive and decorated; I took the girl aside and together we explored the harps until she found her own exact harp that felt and sounded totally right for her. Or the time a father came to buy the best harp possible for his adult daughter for Christmas - but she was home sick with flu. I wound up playing 3! different-makes of harps for her over the phone so she could select the one with the best sound. Rather unusual, that!

Hope this helps,
Dot

[buckapple]

Hello Ken,

by software I meant like survey monkey, thanks!

Hello Dorothy,

I would say I'm heavily experienced in every topic you stated. So I could go in any direction and have knowledge of the subject. So maybe it's just a matter of pick one after the survey.

I still got a feeling I need to find where the most money is being spent online concerning the different categories.

thanks for your input!

Gary

[John_S]

The danger with surveys is people say one thing and do something else.

Let's say you're in the fashion industry and do focus groups on what you should stock for the coming season. Asking in a focus group setting tells you what people think.

One smart business took some advice and made a critical change. They offered participants one of the products, as a way of thanking them for their feedback. The focus group responses didn't match what the participant left with -- but sales did.

Now they do the focus group just the same, watch what participants select as they leave ...then throw away the survey.

If human nature completely changes to where people start putting their money where their mouth is ...then yes, by all means put up a survey. Otherwise, not so good an idea.

Mostly because people are even more clueless about survey design than copy. (and I'm talking intelligently structuring questions, not the bare minimum primitive software)

Related:

Most Musicians Have This Problem... Do You? Pretty obvious. The problem is not having the wherewithal to provide a solution once you find a real problem, then offering whatever you can scrounge up and forcing a hapless copywriter to "Make people buy." Sorry, doesn't work that way.

Here's a wacky idea -- how about a working business model for musicians to avoid freebie seekers and bottom feeders? I hear that's a problem -- what with music downloads and whatnot. Come up with a working model for band promotion could be worth a billion or two.

I imagine you know the problem these people want solved ...you just don't have the faintest idea of how to solve it.

[buckapple]

Hello John S.

That's good copywriting for "most musicians have this problem".

Generally when I was in the biz people on that level were not really near the top (in the know) other than the info the artist could get anyway by asking questions to other artist or reading. The ones that really knew the score wouldn't need the money and they would never expose themselves (because of possible legalities) like that. In my experience anyway.

But it is good copy...

Thanks for the promoting tip!


Hello Anarchy Ads..


Sounds like you really miss your record company...


Another promoting tip, and creating the NEXXUS is good food for thought.


Thanks!

[Loren Woirhaye]

The number 1 pain in a lot of musicians is that they aren't
able to make more than peewee money at it.

I think some of this has to do with bad songwriting -
but most of it is due to the "artistic temperament" -
confusion about how artists make money.

How do artists make money? Relentless and informed
self promotion.

[dorothydot]

I've been thinking about this thread. Something somehow didn't feel right, to me both as a musician myself and a copywriter and successful [if occasional] musical instrument seller.

I think musicians would respond best to ... selling a dream. Music is a way to soothe pain, granted. But that's not the major reason most musicians buy/make music.

Music is the language of the soul, someone once said. True! Music expresses the inexpressable. This is why musical people make music. It's a dream, to be able to help others find ways to communicate on a soul-deep level. To find the precise instrument that expresses YOUR own soul's message to the rest of the world. To write the melody that expresses YOUR innermost feelings - and that equally expresses the same deep feelings of other people, that is success. To sing a song so meaningfully that tears/smiles spring onto the faces of all who hear it - that is why most sing.

Money, sure. That's important. But music goes FAR deeper than need for money.

Selling harps, I stress the beauty of sound: how birds come around and sing when I play it outside; how magical the sound is when the wind makes the strings sing all by themselves; how healing the music is, even to people in comas and close to death; how the music sparkles even in a group of musicians, magnifying the good qualities of all other instruments playing with the harp. And so on.

This is what sells harps. Every harp-buyer is searching for the instrument that suits their particular tastes, preferences, needs.

This is how to sell music - not by making musicians feel pain.

Just my opinion; hope this helps.
Dot

[buckapple]

Hello Dorothy,

I can see you are a good salesman if I was ready to buy a harp. I like the visual of the birds showing up as you start to play. I was ready to put down my 5k or whatever they cost...

What I meant by saying pain, as in what is the pain?, so I can provide a solution. So I would have an eager crowd to spend money. And I think you're saying you don't have to use the pain route to sell a musician or a wanna be musician. Even know you could use the pain route to suggest that with the harp you can now express yourself, etc.

And I agree with you on one level, yes that is what music is about to some people.

The gentlemen above reminded me that a big need for musicians is they know how to play but they have no business clue. And this could be a pain if they want to make money from their instrument so they can play it all the time and make a career with it.

One thing I remembered by reading the above posts is Mark Joyner did something very similar to what they were suggesting. Now there's a guy that knows research.

I personally love playing but I forgot what it was like to try and make money from it.

A lot of good ideas in these posts!

Gary