To be a successful musician it is very important to know how to promote yourself as a musician. If you don’t know how to promote yourself you will be in low demand as an artist in the music industry, this means you will be unable to establish yourself as a professional musician in the music industry. If self promotion is done right you may never run out of work within the music industry, this will because your skills as a musician may be in high demand from others.
Be Yourself
When you are composing music it is important that your music is coming from your heart and not a replica of someone else’s. This is because the audience will only want to see authentic music that was made in your own image. When you are being yourself you also tend to make better music, this is because it is fuelled by your own artistic expression which leads to powerful moments of emotive expression in your music.
Getting Paid and knowing your worth
When you begin making music it is important to join a PRS for music and collect your royalties. This is because it is very important to be rewarded when your music is performed on played on TV or the radio. As a musician you also have to be aware and in control of your own: taxes, pensions and your freelance status. As a musicians you should never do anything for free, this is because giving away your own work for free removes the value of your work. It is important for the public to see your work for what it is worth. Of course you might want to give your work out for free when working with a friends or doing a favour for someone. But when you are working on a professional project you should always get paid for what you are doing for someone.
Create your brand
As a music artists it is important to build am image around yourself as an artist, this can now be done through the internet and its ability to network with others in a global level. It is important for you to invest time into making a website around your music career, this will be the first place people will go when looking into your career. The website will have to be well presented to represent your self as a musicians in a professional matter. Online biographies are also key to promoting yourself, this is because this will allow the audience to understand you more as a person as well as an artist. This is why biographies are a good way to get more in touch with your fan base. Thanks to online listening platforms such as: iTunes, SoundCloud and Spotify you can make your music very accessible to the public, which will be very useful when promoting yourself as a musician. Your brand should also have a logo, tagline and colour scheme that is visible across all assets, your logo should be what represents your music and yourself.
Learn how to promote yourself
When you are promoting yourself you will need to know how to present any project or composition idea you own in a unique way. You should also pinpoint and explore what the most interesting and noticeable parts of your work are. This will be great for networking and building your brand, but this skill will also be very helpful when you end up publishing funding applications for people to invest in. Your portfolio should always be up to date so people can see all your work on a showcase, this also shows people how organised you are with your work. As a musician you should also be promoting yourself on social media all the time and creating stories to chare to your favourite blogs.
Build your community
Connecting with your fan base and audience is very important when you are promoting yourself, because this will only make your audience grow bigger. You should share your music generously with your fan base and keep them engaged and interested in your work, this will show people that you are loyal to your fans. It is important to establish a tone of voice when talking when talking to your community. You have to be patient when building your community, building a fan-base takes time to make.
Social Media Suiting
The different platforms of social media specialise in different areas, here are the different uses of social media. Instagram is used more for taking photos and posting them, which gives people an insight into your life outside of your work. This is very good for building a fan base because they can see you for who you are. If you want to directly talk to your audience and ask them questions the best platform for that is twitter, this is very good for keeping your audience interested and engaged with your work. YouTube is good for vlogging and talking to your audience directly in the form of video. You can chose to use as many forms of social media as you want which may attract a bigger audience or stay on one platform of social media.
Research and networking
Look on LinkedIn where you can find and contact other music artists. You should do extensive research on other artists and be brave to contact artists who are relevant. This can lead to collaborations in musical performance or production or both. Positioning yourself as a: high profile, honest and reliable contact can sometimes be the key to more collaborations and partnerships. You should always make sure your approach to others is kind and professional.
Perseverance
In the music composing industry the key to be successful is continuity, music industries tend to like ‘up and coming’ as a tag. That tag can only be used for a limited amount of time, this is why it is important to be persistent. Always be on the look out for events such as: gigs, concerts and other industry events. This is will show people that you have stamina and ambitions, as well as a open mind for collaboration and projects. People do not like pushovers, however it is a fine balance to let a project go because someone will not keep in touch with you. You are allowed to chase people down if they are not contacting you for a musical project.
Seek and ask for help
Research to seek who is there to help you, whether that be the government, foundations or awards. There are many organisations and charities that are their for helping composers, one of which is ‘sound and music’. Enter competitions and research crowd funding opportunities. Obscure societies that look after only one composers heritage might even be interested in funding you, if your music fits. It is important to know when to hire a professional for help, especially a PR. If you have a special album release or upcoming performance a PR can make sure the correct journalists are informed about your events.
Work with others
It is important to collaborate with others for your projects, whether these people be from a art college or amateur orchestra. Meeting people of similar minds can create amazing pieces of work for the world to see. One famous example of a composer who often works with others is Olafur Arnolds, this man has become very popular by often working with others on his projects.
Reading List
Awbi, A., 2017. 10 tips to help you succeed as a composer. [online] Prsformusic.com. Available at: <https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/how-to/10-tips-help-succeed-composer/> [Accessed 5 April 2021].