Music Marketing Tactics that Make People Take a Second Look...or Listen

So your band has written some great songs and finished recording an album.  Now you need to get your music out there and build a following.  You'll have to come to terms with the fact that you're not going to make much money at first until people actually know who you are and care enough to pay for your music and merchandise (Herbert, 2010).  (If you really love playing music, then it shouldn't be all about the money anyway, right?)  Simply giving your music away in the beginning and performing as often as you can (wherever you can) are two major ways to help spread word of your group and develop the fan base that is needed to keep your musical career afloat.

Here are some interesting, more specific marketing ideas I found that you can use to get people listening, and later on down the road make some decent music sales:

1.)  Put a "squeeze page" on your website (Herbert, 2010).  Similar to the picture to the left, a squeeze page is where you can post a video of your group speaking directly to potential new fans.  After giving them a brief intro to who you are, tell them they can score a free copy of your album by joining your mailing list.  This way you are are gaining name and contact information from those hearing that free music.  They can spread your music and you have a way to get in touch with them later on to further promote your band.

2.) Play live in places other than typical performance venues in order to attract attention.  Knab (2003) suggests being "the musical entertainment for your favorite local record store."  Or see about playing for free at local schools, parks and/or restaurants where your target listening demographic is likely to hang out.

3.)  A couple creative printed marketing ideas are promotional Post-It notes and business cards with lyrics (Knab, 2003).  Instead of handing out regular flyers promoting your next live show, album or website, hand out pre-printed Post-It notes with that information so the ideas "stick" better with people.  If you plan to hand out business cards to prospective music business partners, have them printed with some good lyrics from your songs or even some cool facts about the band to catch their attention.

4.)  If you have the resources and are ready to sell, do something different with your album packaging.  Although most music albums are sold digitally these days, you can hang on to physical CD sales if you step outside of the normal jewel case or cardboard sleeve.  For example, Indonesian group Tika and the Dissidents released their 2009 album, The Headless Songstress, "wrapped in a thick floral fabric" including "a free notebook in which listeners could write their own lyrics, as well as a booklet full of photographs of old Jakarta [Indonesia]" (Thee, 2011). Their album turned out to be one of the best local records of the year in Jakarta.


If you can be creative in your music marketing techniques, you will have a better chance of getting your band heard and eventually making a profit off of doing what you love.  For some other unique guerrilla music marketing ideas, go to http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/gmm_suggest.htm.  To read about some creative marketing approaches taken by specific music groups like Tika and the Dissidents, check out this article from the Jakarta Globe.com: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/the-art-of-music-marketing/430176.

References
Herbert, E. (2010, March 13). The evolvor music marketing manifesto for 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://evolvor.com/2010/03/13/the-evolvor-music-marketing-manifesto-for-2010/

Knab, C. (2003, April). Guerrilla music marketing suggestions. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/gmm_suggest.htm

Thee, M. (2011, March 19). The art of music (marketing). Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/the-art-of-music-marketing/430176


Images
[Squeeze page]. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://www.alberthallado.com/video-squeeze-page-template-free-download-its-my-birthday/
[Post-it notes]. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/post-it-note-calendar.html 
[Tika and the dissidents album]. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://omuniuum.net/cd-the-headless-songstress-tika-the-dissidents/

Adele Hits it Big with New Album, '21'

While some artists struggle to make hit follow-up albums after their initial debut records, Adele Adkins is one talented British singer who has had no such problem.  After her debut album, 19, Adele has created a smash follow-up, appropriately entitled 21, to indicate an increase in age and experience when she wrote the songs on the record.

Adele

Although 19 only made it to No. 10 on the Billboard U.S. pop album chart, Adele's follow-up album went straight to No. 1 with "the biggest sales total for any release since November [2010]" (Caulfield, 2011).  Unlike other No. 1 debut albums in the U.S., what makes this new album so significant is its strength in digital sales.  Based on Nielsen SoundScan data, "62 percent of the sales for Adele's 21 in its first week out were for the digital album version, with only 38 percent of its overall 352,000 units sold coming from CD sales" (Perpetua, 2011).  With Justin Bieber's Never Say Never: Remixes coming in a distant second last week with only 102,000 units sold, Adele would have made No. 1 on digital sales alone (Perpetua, 2011).  If that's not a testament to how influential the digital age has become and the growing obsoleteness of CDs, then I don't know what is.

Adele's music sells because she isn't a cookie cutter star and doesn't rely on Hollywood glitz and glam to get recognized.  All she needs is her raspy, jazz voice and relatable, raw lyrics to hit home with listeners and draw them in.  She also has a down-to-earth, enjoyable personality that will make you fall for her even more.  (Watch the recent RollingStones video at the following link to see what I mean: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/adele-on-21-the-songs-on-here-are-the-most-articulate-ive-ever-written-20110216.)  Both the everyday American public and other U.S. celebrities can't get enough of this soul artist right now. Take Kelly Clarkson's tweet from early this morning where she says "I have been listening to Adele's new album pretty much non-stop and oh my goodness what a talented girl! If you don't have her album yet, trust me you need it!".  I definitely agree.

Get a nice taste of Adele's new album in this interview with New York Post:

References
Caulfield, K. (2011, March 2). Pop singer Adele leads U.S., UK pop album charts. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/02/us-sales-idUSTRE7216Y220110302


Perpetua, M. (2011, March 4). Adele hits number one on huge digital sales. Retrieved March 6, 2011,   from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/adele-hits-number-one-on-huge-digital-sales-20110304

Image:
Retrieved March 6, 2011, from http://www.thisiswomen.com/adele-adkins/