I have been in the music industry for over twenty years now. I have worked in recording studios, booked bands and artists on tours, done a million or so radio calls, set up distribution, managed some great groups and artists, and do a heck of a lot of music marketing consulting for indie labels and artists and it shouldn’t, but it does still amaze me at the one thing that always works in the industry…..

You have to actually take an active roll in the music industry to succeed.

That is all there is to it. You have to wake up everyday and decide what you are going to complete, and then actually complete the task. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering or record breaking – it just has to be a step towards your ultimate goal. I know, it just sounds too simple to work. But it does. It has. And it will continue to be the #1 best course of action, strategy, or marketing campaign ever created.

If you follow the blog or read my articles over at www.IamMusicNetwork.com you know that I lay out a ton of strategies and try to tie them all together into a campaign plan to move your music from your hands and into your potential fans hands. But if you look at each and every article or word I have written over the years you will see one thing over and over…. you have to take action to make it work.

I think we all make the same mistake. We are always looking for the magic bullet or secret weapon that will get us ahead of the pack. The one thing that will finally get us to the top of the charts, booked in the exclusive venues, or get our name on the lips of waiting fans. But as we search and search for that solution – that magic trick – we need to stop and actually look within our own mind. Is the problem really that you don’t know what to do next, or is the problem that you are not actually taking steps, consistently, that will lead to your success?

What have you done today to get your music in front of fans? Did you call someone to see if they gave you the “hook up” or did you actually take the time to reach out to potential fans in your social networks to build relationships? Did you send out your EPK to blogs and online radio stations hoping someone would email you back or did you actively seek out the owners of those blogs and radio stations and start relationships? How about this…. did you simply ask people to join your email/newsletter opt in list or did you send out an email today?

Setting up a great website, having a ton of videos on youtube, creating a dozen or so profiles across social networking sites, and signing up for a newsletter/email subscription service is only the first step towards getting your music in the hands of fans. We have all heard the sad story of “Build it and they will come.” or “Play it and they will hear it.” Meaning, if you simply build a website or create great music then surely fans will find you and buy your music. But this simply is not true. Just because you have a killer website, social networking profile circle, or a ton of videos does not mean anyone knows about you or your music. You can not “build (or play) it” and expect fans to come to you.

You have to get up every day and ask yourself – “where are my fans today and how am I going to reach them?”

But here is the secret – when you don’t find them today, you still have to wake up tomorrow and ask the same question! Then, you have to work again tomorrow at actually finding and reaching those fans. It’s not easy, I didn’t say the #1 easiest method of winning in the music industry – But this is the #1 secret to the music industry. You can not get discouraged and stop looking for fans. You can not expect your manager to find you fans. You can expect your record label is getting you fans. And by all means, you can not count on anyone but yourself to wake up every day and search for fans but yourself.

Are you going to hit road blocks….. everyday! Is it going to be tough to stay motivated…. everyday! Will you want to give up because you have been trying for six months or a year and are not much further along…. everyday! But you know what…. everyday, if you keep on the grind, you will get more fans, sell more music, and create your space within the music industry. It does work, it does pay off, and you can make your living. Don’t get me wrong, you still need luck, information, and acquired skills to hit “the big” time. But in order to acquire the skills you have to be honing your game, and luck – luck is being in the right place at the right time and having the skills in place to take advantage of the situation – how are you going to have any luck if you are not on your grind daily? How are you going to develop skills if you don’t work at them everyday – and sometimes fall flat on your face?  Information comes from doing it over and over to see what works and what doesn’t and by actually being in the game to network and meet more people that have the information.

There is only one fundamental truth to the music industry: You have to be in it to win it!

Counting on others to do for you is not being in the industry. Waiting on something to happen is not being in the industry. Watching fro the sidelines is not being in the industry. And most important – you don’t have to have money to make it in the industry if you are willing to work harder than anyone around you. We are in the internet age now, you can make a living right from your house, with your music and merchandise, if you actually work the industry – and that will fund the rest of what you need to do.

You know, really, there is no excuse to not making it in the industry except you didn’t try.

This has been a motivational minute by Jai. LOL!!

Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”
Buy my new book – The Music Business Bible – and learn EVERYTHING you need to know about the music industry to succeed!

Beth’s email from last night:

Hey Jai,

Thanks and be well,
Beth

Folks, this is the real deal. This is what injecting your personality into your fans does for your music marketing efforts. In just a week Beth was able to increase her email list, sell some CDs, and most importantly – get her fans to take the requested action. You have heard me say it before but it is worth repeating: action breeds action! If you can get your fans to take a small step of action -  you can get them to take a large step of action. Meaning; once you get them to take the action of signing up for your newsletter or downloading your free music single – you can get them to take the larger action of buying your music and your merchandise.

There is no real secret to making a connection with your fans. It is about reaching out and interacting with them, talking to them, and taking an interest in their lives. You want them to do it for you…. but why should they take the time if you don’t? They won’t. You have to participate in your fans daily lives to become friends with them and get them to take action when you want or need it.

Think about this: when is the last time you moved? Last month? Last year? Last week? How did you move? I would be willing to be that you are like most artists, producers, and musicians and really don’t have the cash to hire a moving company… right? I am further willing to bet that you grabbed a couple of your favorite pizzas, some beer, and called up your friends to give you a hand lifting that dresser into the uhaul. Right? Ok, now ask yourself this: why did those friends come to help you? It’s because you take an active part in their daily lives. I bet you didn’t call up friends that you have not talked to in the last three years to help… did you? It is the same thing with music marketing! You don’t ask supposed “fans” that you do not communicate with to help you with your career!

Take action -  a lot of action towards getting to know your fans. When you do, you will see the exact same results as Beth!

Learn how to connect with your fans and create massive music marketing buzz!

Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”

I just finished up a one hour music marketing consulting cal with Beth Schafer (http://bethschafer.com) and wanted to share one of our topics with you that I feel every indie artist, musician, label, or producer needs to understand a bit better while trying to marketing their music to fans….

First, Beth is an extremely talented artist that has been on the grind for quite a while. She has a solid fan base, great website, and a good start on social networking. Beth called to discuss specifics about how to transform her fan base into an active machine that helps gain new fans, buys more music, and takes the action needed to further her career – like radio requests, live show requests, and beyond. After talking to her for a bit I found that she has been doing all the right things – but just needed a little help in communicating with fans….

Here are the specifics on one topic out of about 12 or 13 we cover in our hour conversation that I felt could help a lot of you on your quest for the “silver bullet” of music marketing strategies…

Jango Radio
As I have discussed here in this blog, as well as in my music marketing books and on I am MUSIC network, I am a huge fan of Jango Radio and all they offer to artists, musicians, labels, and producers. But like anything, you have to take action and then follow through with that action to really see the benefit of the service. Beth told me that she was getting fans and a few comments, but really didn’t feel that she was getting all she could from the service… After looking at her page and discussing what steps she took in the process of aquiring fans on jango it hit me that she was making the same mistakes I find so often from other independents while marketing their music.

Jango tells you on your profile how many fans you have and how many people hit the button to say I like this artist. What you need to realize is that a “like” is a single action taken by someone who hears your song on Jango. When your song is played they have to do one of three things…

1. Hit the little “x” to close the window
2. Hit “I like”
3. Hit “I don’t like”

No matter what, they only have to take a single action, picking which button to hit to get rid of the pop up anytime an independent artist’s music is played.

On the other hand, a “fan” on Jango means that a person had to actually take several action steps to become your fan. They had to first select “I Like” on the pop up, and then they had to take another action of hitting the button to view the artist’s profile, and finally they had to hit the button “Become a fan.” That is three additional steps a listener went through to actually get to your music. In marketing independent music this is huge! Getting people to take action is sometimes the hardest thing you can accomplish. But what next….

Your journey to gaining a loyal fan must not stop with that listener taking three steps. You can not be satisfied with it, no matter how it makes you feel in the moment. These “fans” are golden. You already know they are motivated to take action for the sake of learning more about you and your music. If you simply walk away now you are leaving money on the table… literally! Your first step has got to be to send each person that becomes a fan of your music a thank you note through Jango. Do not use a copy and pasted message. Make each message unique, personal, and address your fan by name. In your note you want to get that listener to take another action. You want to draw them closer in to your circle of loyal fans. With all the myspace.com pages on the internet now a days it is most likely that your new fan has his or her own myspace page…. so, in your note ask them if they have a myspace page. If they do, they will more than happy to give you the address – remember, everyone in the world likes to think they are important and craves attention… it is why there are so many myspace.com profiles!

What you are doing is telling that fan that you are interested in getting to know them better, learning about who they are, and connecting with them outside of Jango and your music. This is making a personal connection. Again… GOLDEN while marketing your music.

Once you get the fan’s myspace.com profile name go to it, actually take the time to learn about your fan, and then send them a friend request… but do not send a generic request. First you want to remind them you have already connected on Jango. Then you want to let them know you checked out there page… how you do this is by mentioning something that you connected with while on their profile. Here is an example….

“Hey Loves Rabbits… This is (Artist Name), we connected on Jango and I just went to your profile here and saw that sunburn you got last week… you look miserable! Let’s connect here on myspace.

Peace,
Your Name”

Realize, There is nothing in this friend request that talks about you, your music, or why that fan HAS to check you out because you are the next big thing… rather, the entire message is about them, where they met you, there profile, and something in their life you found on their profile. Selling your music has nothing to do with you! LOL…. Maybe you missed that…

SELLING YOUR MUSIC HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR YOU!

If you want to gain fans, create demand, and sell your music – you have to realize fans buy music because of what they want or need, not because you tell them anything or talk about you. Again, people crave attention – if you only talk about you – you are stealing all the attention!

When you connect with your Jango fan outside of Jango you are establishing an action oriented relationship. That fan first had to take several steps in Jango, then they had to take the action of accepting your friend request, then… since you took the time to go to their profile and learn about them, they will take another action of actually going to your profile and learning more about your music and possibly you. That is a lot of steps – and steps equal action – action equals buzz, buzz equals demand, demand equals sales of your music and the path to you making your living off your music! Marketing music is a chain reaction.

If you take these steps, with each new fan, you will fast see the huge benefit of taking the time to get to know your fans on a personal level.

This is only one subject Beth and I discussed to further her career in the music industry. If you want to learn more about what I can do to help you kick start your career in 2010 off with a bang drop me an email or give me a call… 972-510-5244.

Music Marketing Consultation packages starting as low as $50 per week!

Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”