How is the Music Industry for you? #Opinion #Blogpost #IndieMusic

Have not posted any opinion pieces for a while, and thought it high time to give it a blast, and see what bites.

Not a Pro, by any stretch of the imagination, but after 2 –1/2 years, I’ve seen a fair bit of what happens, on the INDIE side of the music world. (Major Labels have deep pockets, so if they sneeze, they make another million.)

I still need to repeat a theme from a previous post….. MAINTAIN YOUR BRAND!
”WHAT DO YOU MEAN, brand?” I mean the entire PACKAGE of WHO YOU are as an Artist. From your Band/Artist LOGO, your BAND NAME, your musical theme, basically everything you live and breath as an Artist.

WHY? Because you are trying to build a FANBASE, and also generate Search Results on these World Wide Web search engines like Google and Yahoo. (THIS is your new metric for your identity) If you change your NAME, whether it is on Twitter, ReverbNation, Facebook, MySpace, or any other number of sites, then the search results will be confusing to those trying to follow or find you! And because a great number of these sites are indexed regularly, a search on Google will show ALL the sites you are on, as long as you have maintained your BRAND!

I know, you are sick of this so called Social Networking, but what else do you have that is FREE? You don’t have a label PUSHING your latest track to 3000 national radio stations for total listening audience of 30,000,000 at some point during the day, you have your OWN sweat and tears hitting the twitter and Facebook, looking for new fans. AND if you gain 100 followers, what percentage will BUY your music?

BUY, that’s a strange word to most folks these days, with so many ways to stream content, Spotify, Online radio stations, Mobile Phone Apps, how do you break through? Do you GIVE AWAY free music to get fans TALKING about your music? Do you BUY ads on major sites like Facebook?

For ME, if the PRODUCT is solid, the HARDCOPY is a must have. Any that know me, already know I follow a lot of artists, with a wide eclectic range of music genres, but there is some music that move you beyond just liking, to the obsession side, at which point the QUALITY makes a WORLD of difference. NOTHING beats a fully Mastered CD for dynamic range, and it brings the music to the LIVE quality. (Then we open the CD/Vinyl debate, oops!)

“What’s your point mate?” I know, dancing all over the joint here! (squirrel!) {inside joke} The point is CONNECT with your audience, connect on every Social Site you can, and build a following, then hope that 5% of the 5% that follow will actually BUY your ART! YEP, I said 5% of 5%, since that seems to be the current trend. If you are moving 1000 units per week, then don’t need to follow back on the Social networks, but if you are lucky to move 100 units per year then you need to follow all the folks you can, and hang on for the RIDE. Because this is the SOCIAL Revolution. CELEBS only follow a hand full of people but have MILLIONS of followers. INDIE ARTIST need to follow ALL that follow them, and hope that a tweet, or status update, get’s reposted and generates some extra buzz. If your NEWTORK is large enough, you never know who else is WATCHING, and may get a lucky bite from a label with the resources to take you to the next level.

This brings up the next item, do you WANT the next level? All the added stress of demands put on you, or do you want to continue to build in a DIY method, so you have total control, and no other percentage takes on your art? Only YOU can answer that question. I know for a fact, some bands continue to DO IT THEMSELVES and are reaping the rewards for themselves. AND some have left the major label in favor of the Indie way, just to have CONTROL of their product and life.

Bottom Line..... nobody has ALL the answers, but loads have made mistakes, so LEARN all you can, and keep the music flowing. IT'S A PASSION.