Independent Music Business

Investing in your career as an independent musician is a business venture. It isn't free. I didn't anticipate the journey as I was barely aware of the music industry online when I began and this is just the premise. This is an enterprise almost similar to a start up company in a new music industry where the internet plays a major role in distribution and copyrights. Th upside is...many avenues can be pursued free as opposed to what used to happen in the 'bad old days.'

I fortunately encountered a music industry specialist who produced great results across the independent music spectrum  This guy said he believes there is a free recipe. At this point it is still too early to talk about success as an independent musician or anywhere near it. I still remain optimistic about my career. One can say that being a working artist is a complex adventure. It is. Especially when the economy is still unstable globally. Again, however, there are many avenues that can be investigated and/or pursued for free.

Managing the distribution process is essential; therefore, the use of alternative distribution is mandatory nowadays. Starting with new independent distributor taking a portion of your revenue. This realm is now slowly shifting to the attitude of the independent artist submitting their music free whilst the distributor takes a percentage after a sale. Then satellite radio airing music for free and even malls and grocery stores distribution, the scene is changing rapidly today. A famous digital platform, available though apple computer products, (not to name it) is already challenged with digital rights management technology available for your cell phones and computers.

The use of regular distribution is still possible through regular major labels but is rare and should be embraced when made available. Some structures feed your one single to all kinds of distributors within the whole industry. This particular point will be addressed in a later blog so you may wish to subscribe to this blog for free or sign up to my free mailing list at the end of this entry.

You name the location and independent musicians needs to find its market, such as the appropriate radio stations to air songs. For example, I have read that there are people who are paid to sit down in New York City and wait for the radio reps to listen to your tunes. Later in the game agents, with their business and administration prowess constantly oozing from them, come in to the picture to develop your talent and brand the artist image as an independent artist selling your act and helping you open for major artists. One advise, use email promotion wisely. (see below). It is mandatory. Your own mailing list could become a goldmine and should start helping you selling. It takes time to build a solid list of followers so get to it as soon as you can.

Then it always comes down to the quality of your production, recording and your music and how much people like your stuff, which is only possible if it is good. And it must be good as people in the value chain are taking a little share of your revenue.

It is exciting to develop a universe around art. Nowadays I wonder and realize how many hats an independent artist needs to wear to be capable of entering the music industry. It is business. The golden days is coming leaving space for all kinds of artists and a new industry.

The question is to find out whether or not the independent artist is ready. I do not think too many truly are and I'll probably be shot at dawn for saying this. The difference is; one independent artist and the next one is that one knows how good they are. On the other hand, someone like myself knows how good I'm not. I finally understood the complexity of the new and ever-changing environment and can feel comfortable enough to take myself as an example. Scars and all. We are quick to assume. The industry is changing constantly and reinvents itself. Keep in touch right here.

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How To Earn An Income As Independent Musicians

It is extremely difficult for independent musicians to be identified on a large scale in the conventional music industry. Quite often a good musical entity can generate a small fan base but the free marketing capabilities are difficult due to regional limitations and finances. These opportunities are growing as independent musicians are moving onto the internet with the generation of large and free online profiles and the creation of independent band websites. Although these internet opportunities have increased the abilities for an independent band to be found online, there is still a lack of consistent marketing for these underground bands.

There are websites currently on the market that work with new and unsigned bands so that they can grow themselves into a marketable independent band to achieve a global fan base, increase their music popularity, and even make money in the online economy of the internet. The opportunity to compete with other new independent bands is the first chance that working with these sites produces. These sites will offer your group a chance to go head to head with other new indie bands, being as independent rock music is a well liked genre and the fans of the music choosing the winner. This allows your music to be distributed amongst some of the biggest fans of indie rock music, encouraging the spread of your music on a global scale. This free music atmosphere will generate interest in your band and the music that you create. The global market you are now revealing your band to will show the benefits of online competition in contrast to radio competitions and country competitions. Free.

A group can post online videos and gigs that exhibit their performance capabilities in addition to online competitions. This will assist in the generation of local interest as you travel with your band to various gig locations. Using the virtual world of the internet the fans will now have a one click alternative for previewing your new music live and in person. Allowing you to view how your competitors are performing will assure you that you are up to date on the most current trends and visual cues to help to get your fan base to continue to expand is possible with the online videos.

Finally, outside of the opportunity to finding free online fame and spreading your independent music you have the opportunity to market your band through the sale of goods and services. Promotion opportunities that many groups do not have until they are picked up by a label is something that these sites offer your band. You can open an online store, sell clothing and music for free through these websites. Helping to spread your band name and escalating your chances in band growth will be accomplished as indie rock music fans worldwide can sport your band clothing and download your music. Every occurrence they use your music in the different ads they post online, these sites will pay you, in conjunction to your making sales. It's now time to join the online network, that brings together a massive free list of independent musicians all at one place.

Independent Bands And Email Lists

Independent music promotion strategies are the same as the music promotion techniques used by major artists. The main difference, however, is that indie musicians do not have as much financial resources at their disposal as the major record labels do.

As an independent musician artist, you may not get your music advertised to millions via the various forms of offline media, such as in a TV, radio or magazine. You might not even be able to afford to be able to create your own CDs to sell at gigs. But the good news is that no-matter how limited your resources, you can still reach a large audience and make good money using indie music promotion strategies on the Internet.

Whether an independent musician or an artist with a major label behind you, the primary aim of the online music marketing techniques is the same: to develop a relationship with fans to help make sales. When you have developed a relationship with people, it is then much easier to make sales from them.

OK, so let's look at how indie musicians can promote their music on the Internet by using search engine traffic and an email list.

The Email List

The email list is the best way to make sales of your music. Now, when I say "sell your music", this does not have to be CDs that are sent through the post - this can simply be MP3 files that are downloaded.

The email list is such a powerful resource to use in order to make money from your music. It is especially important for indie musicians who do not have all the promotional resources in the world at their disposal.

The email list is so powerful because the people that have joined your email list have an interest in your music - otherwise they would not have signed up! Even with a small list of subscribers, you can make good sales if you handle your email list correctly.

The email list should be used to develop a relationship with your fans. You should be encouraging discussions of music in general with them, asking their thoughts, giving them cool members-only gifts and special offers, and announcing general news in the music world that is likely to interest them. When you have developed a relationship with the readers of your email list and have gained their trust, then they will be so much more likely to buy your music and merchandise when you promote this to them.

Many bands just use the email list as a way of sending out the monthly newsletter. A monthly newsletter is very important (and you should have one), but I think the contact with your fans should be more frequent than the just monthly newsletter. The communication does not always have to be about promoting something. Just sending out general emails to discuss interesting topics is a great way to develop a rapport.

OK, great, "but how exactly do I build my email list if no-one knows about my band in the first place?!" I hear you ask.

Fear not, we will get on to this. But it is important for you to first understand that you should have a means to capture the email addresses of your fans before you start an indie music marketing campaign.

So presuming you have your own website with an email opt-in box in the sidebar, we can now get down to business with getting people to your website. This will be done by using search engine traffic.

Search Engine Traffic

Having your website rank highly on Google for certain keywords can do wonders for your exposure. The good news for musicians is that it does not cost any money to get a high Google ranking and it can be relatively easy to achieve high rankings for certain keywords.

I am sure if you type in your band or musician name into Google, your website will already appear on the first page if you already have a http://www.yourbandname.com domain or social networking page that is. This is great, people who already know that your band exists can now click through to your website and learn more.

But what if people don't know that you exist yet?

It can be very powerful to have your band website appear on the front page of Google for a wide range of search terms other than just your band name.

You should try to get your website ranked highly for more generic terms such as the genre of your music, the geographical area of your band, the type of gigs you perform etc. This way people who are trying to find a new artist in a certain part of the world can find you with a generic search such as "New Jersey Punk Band' or 'Rock Music Gigs in Ontario'.

For certain keywords on the Internet, it can be very hard to rank for them. But music related keywords are much easier to rank for because they are not directly related to selling a certain product. Also, most musicians are not aware of the Internet based indie music marketing techniques that can be used to help them to rank highly on Google.

For example, it would be hard to rank highly on Google for terms related to buying an iPhone as many businesses are in competition for these terms, but competition for music related terms are going to have much less competition.

Think of as many relevant keywords as possible that people could type into Google in order to help them stumble across your band. Then you can try to make your band website (or separate blog posts on your website) rank on the first page of Google for as many of these keywords as possible.

You may find it impossible to rank for very generic terms such as 'indie band' or 'rock music', but more specific terms such as 'indie band Pittsburgh' or 'wedding band Cambridge' or 'singer-songwriter similar to Nelly Furtado' will be more achievable.

In order to rank highly for a certain keyword term you need to have this keyword phrase appear a few times (or at least once) in the text of your website and you also need to have other websites on the Internet linking to your website using your keyword as the anchor text link.

The anchor text is the keyword you wish to rank for, and appears as a link that is highlighted in blue and underlined on a webpage. If many other web pages around the Internet link to your website with this keyword, then Google will rank your band or musician website highly for that term.

The link to your website from another website on the Internet is known as a backlink. The more backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank.

Then as you get more and more traffic to your band website from Google, you will start to build you email list, develop a relationship with more fans, and make more sales.