Marketing for an Artist Musician

by lirikh
13 replies
Hey,
My friend is an artist musician and I want to help him out market himself.

He already has a youtube channel with multiple videos. He also has a facebook and twitter.

I want to drive more people to watch his youtube videos and more people to like his fanpage, but I'm struggling coming out with a plan.

He also has a mobile application just for him. His songs are all available for free.

Any ideas to persuade people to like his fanpage and watch his youtube videos?
#artist #marketing #musician
  • Profile picture of the author kymobilemedia
    This may not help, but I plan on targeting musicians/bands with sms marketing. They can let their fans know when their next show is, when they have new vidoes, songs, give coupons to shows, etc.

    Maybe during his next event, have a banner, or announce to text his keyword to his shortcode to get something for free. Or maybe a discounted entry, or have them text to enter a contest to win a backstage pass or something.

    Just a few ideas I had right off the top of my head.

    Later
    Jason
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    • Profile picture of the author lirikh
      Originally Posted by kymobilemedia View Post

      This may not help, but I plan on targeting musicians/bands with sms marketing. They can let their fans know when their next show is, when they have new vidoes, songs, give coupons to shows, etc.

      Maybe during his next event, have a banner, or announce to text his keyword to his shortcode to get something for free. Or maybe a discounted entry, or have them text to enter a contest to win a backstage pass or something.

      Just a few ideas I had right off the top of my head.

      Later
      Jason
      Yeah I thought about SMS marketing, but that won't increase his youtube videos' views, nor get him more "likes" on his fanpage.

      I was thinking of creating a QR Code that links to a mobile page that requires users to "like" the fanpage in order to receive, let's say, a special ringtone. What else can I offer as incentive for people to like the facebook page?

      On his fanpage, I will post his youtube videos. This whole process will increase the number of people seeing his fanpage, thus increasing his "likes" and youtube views. What do you think?

      As for SMS, I was planning to create a text campaign for people to text a keyword to a longcode (I prefer long codes, but I'm not sure anymore if people would remember the longcode during the concert, what are your thoughts?) and enter to win tshirts or whatever during the concerts. Then later, text all the contestants about new upcoming events, and even a new keyword to text for winning backstage passes.
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    I actually had my own indie record label a few years ago. The true key to getting a band or artist exposure, really isn't THAT much to do with common ways we increase a businesses exposure. A lot of the old school methods, are still popular and most effective for indie artists.

    The MOST effective thing for you to do, is cold call. How can cold calling increase his likes, and plays? Well, you cold call, bars, venues, schools to book your friend. Getting live events, is the best way to connect to people and make money! From there, you will be able to pass out flyers with the youtube address, facebook, website, etc. Or you can just get their email and have a sign up sheet and blast those emails with some updates.

    Is your friend releasing a CD? an EP? Send out press releases to media... get in some local magazines, do a CD release party at a popular club. We had so much interest going on, cover story in a local paper, got into some decent semi national magazines, had review copies sent to different media outlets. A lot of true offline marketing will work best with this kind of stuff.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Maybe find youtube vids of songs that are similar to his style, and allow video responses...link his song up.

    The way FB fan pages work is that when someone comments on yours, or Likes it, all of their friends see it. So it expands who you reach by a lot if you can get them to do that.

    Encourage dialogue between your musician friend and his fans--have him on a couple times a week for an hour (at the same time both days, say 5:00 to 6:00), sitting on the fan page to answer any questions or chat with people! When fans comment, all of their friends will see the post.

    Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author deepestblue
    Could target through Facebook ads. Of course if he isn't selling anything this may not be a viable option. But through this method if he received enough fans that could be used as leverage to book club gigs (could even request that fans send an email request to a club in a city or whatever).
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  • Profile picture of the author maywebdesigns
    Check out mycellspot.com
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    Buyforatweet.com - Stop giving away your promotional items. Sell them for a tweet or FB post and watch them go viral.
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  • Profile picture of the author danoercwd
    If you want to make people like his fanpage and watch youtube video is you should make an advert on facebook to promote his Fanpage, and on the fanpage can be attach youtube channel, you can add it to the fanpage. so when people see the advert they will look to the fanpage, and then watch the youtube video.

    Hope this suggest helpful...
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  • Profile picture of the author kingkamruzzaman
    I want to more about marketing for an artist musician.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jon Martin
    I once made an attempt at this with a friend of mine who had wicked talent - didn't go far because I did not have the time or the vested interest.

    The best thing I can tell you is to start small and scale your way up. Don't be embarassed to do the little things to get this guy out there (ex. cold calls, asking friends to check out and share him on facebook, etc.).

    Honestly, why not start right here? Plug him in the off topic section - try and get some of us to tweet or FB a song of his if we're into his style. The key is to build a strong, LOYAL fan base looking to do whatever they can themselves to get their own friends to listen to the kid and give him a shot.

    Someone else who mentioned cold calls to bars and venues is also spot on. You'd be surprised what a simple "please like me on Facebook" at the end or middle of a gig can do depending on the venue.

    Here's an idea that might work in accordance to the cold calling / venue idea:

    SOCIAL MEDIA -- BUSINESS CARD
    Get a cheap yet cosmetically appealing business card drawn up for the artist, promoting his facebook page, twitter, youtube channel, and even website. Have them passed out at the venue and politely ask audience members to check him out on facebook. Get the artist himself to carry some along with him wherever he goes too. EVERY FAN COUNTS!

    I have no experience here but it's just a brainstorm. Hope I helped!
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    "Be the hero of your own movie."
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    does he want people to like his FB and watch his videos, or to buy his cds and book tickets for his gigs? ie are you/he focussing on the wrong things?
    Signature

    Mike

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    • Profile picture of the author Brant
      Getting live gigs booked is definitely one of the most important music marketing (and money making) strategies today. Try not to do small town coffee house type gigs, however. Your client needs more exposure than that, and the revenues generated from the performances need to be enough for food, transportation, instrument and sound system maintenance, and re-investment into the business end of the music. (Booking gigs is best accomplished through cold calling and direct mailing - snail mailing, that is.)

      Today, another one of the most important things for musician marketing is getting subscription music service deals. This is now far more important than making albums or getting on traditional radio. Making albums is still important (and making a comeback in fact), but the effective, revenue-generating ways in which those albums and individual cuts from them get sold today is radically different than it was 20 years ago. The musical artist's website should also offer up a few free songs that can be downloaded and then offer to sell, via download or snail mail delivery, the rest of the artist's songs or albums directly.

      Finally, there is the multimedia marketing and selling aspect to music today. Music CD sales are way down, overall, but music DVD sales are through the ceiling. Why? People want to see music almost as much as hear it these days. Video killed the record star! The artist's website should be replete with video and dynamic animation and graphics, and it's a good idea to send out a promotional DVD mailer for booking gigs or getting music fans to the gigs.
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      Visit me at "A New Domain" digital magazine here!

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  • Profile picture of the author vCr8
    In youtube there are many artists that are discovered or are given breaks just because they have many viewers, comments and likes not basing from the artist's innate talent. On the other I've seen a couple of artists pair up with other more popular youtube musicians. You can also ask your friend to make cover songs and post them as replies to similar songs. It is recommended to check out the hottest songs since they probably will get more views. It will also be helpful to put in the right keywords and description since this will put your videos in the "related videos" section. I also suggest placing a link to his fanpage where followers can get updates on new videos and ofcourse his gigs. I've seen some successful youtube mucisians who made it big in another country outside of theirs just because they did a cover of a song originaly from another coutnry, this fascinates and flatters viewers, and in return becomes your loyal fan base.
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    just realised how old this thread is .
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    Mike

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