So you’re in a band and you’re working on your record and touring locally and all you’ve been hearing for the past years is how the music industry is dead and how every indie artist have to promote themselves on the web... You have to be involved in social media, SEO, blogging, create quality content and interact with your fans (even when you think you don’t have any...) And it’s overwhelming and mind boggeling, cause all you wanna do is just make music and play shows....
It’s the same for any business owner - which in fact - is what you are...
Being a musician and/or songwriter means running your own business. And you should take it seriously. If you don’t - don’t expect anyone else to. Being a musician or playing in a band is no longer an excuse for slacking, showing up late and unprepared, and disrespecting your fellow man. The days of sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll have been gone for a long time... Yes, there are still plenty of wanna be rockstars hanging out at the Sunset Strip, desperately trying to keep the myth alive, but none the less - it’s dead. If you check out the green room of any serious touring act, you’re more likely to find organic, local produce and purified water than Jack Daniels, strippers and coke.
So back to my point of self promotion... I’ll admit my muse has run a little dry and it’s been three years since I was last part of a national tour (seven months pregnant, might I add) with www.grandduchymusic.com, so now I’m functioning more like a straight up business owner of Atomic Disc and Wavelength and less and less like an artist. But my dilemma is still the same... The reservation to shamelessly self-promote and keep hacking up “quality content” of things that have all been said before...
That being said - I’ll do my best to start doing just that - and keep in mind, just as when you’re touring, that fans are won over one by one. It doesn’t matter if there are only three people showing up at your gig. Those three people have taken the time and paid the admission to come see your show, so they deserve the best you’ve got. And if you wanna reach more fans, you gotta hang where they hang, which is the infamous cyperspace. They’re on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and reading blogs and googeling for information. So let’s make it easier for them to find us. And like us.
Written by Silver Sorensen