Building Your Musical Persona
Music is one of the greatest pleasures of human civilization. It is one of those rare things that transcends race, religion, borders, and age. It brings us together. Fills us with happiness or helps soothe those darker moments in our lives. It allows us to express ourselves in ways that we couldn’t with any other artistic medium.
Music as a career path is a very alluring prospect. But it is also one of the most difficult and unreliable paths we can take in life. In an ideal world we wouldn’t need to rely on money to survive and people would be free to pursue their musical dreams without needing to worry about marketing or logistics. Sadly that isn’t the world we live in. And making a name for yourself as a musician is no easy task.
This guide will be focusing on building a name for yourself within the industry. We won’t be looking at anything to do with musical composition. This guide is focused on the integral marketing and logistical aspects of your musical career.
Network In Your Local Scene
The first step in building a name for yourself is immersing yourself in the local music scene. Attending as many gigs as you possibly can. Joining local music groups on various social media platforms. Maybe even getting a part-time job working at a local music venue. All of this is in the vein of networking as much as possible.
Networking is the key to success in nearly every industry. And this is especially true in the music world. The main thing you want to be doing is connecting with those responsible for organising gigs. Venue owners, agents, popular local bands. The quickest and most effective way to build a name for yourself is by performing as often as possible. In as many venues as possible.
Performing will help you increase your exposure to the general public. This will ideally lead to bigger turnouts for your gigs, which in turn will lead to more gig opportunities down the line. The other main advantage to networking with other musicians and venue owners is that you will learn more about the industry. You might even consider collaborating with other musicians to help boost your exposure.
Social Media Is Key
This one might seem obvious but it is shocking how many aspiring musicians completely neglect to use social media. In our digital age social media is the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. Especially for anyone working in a creative industry like music.
You need to ensure you have a separate music profile on as many different social media platforms as possible. Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. It is important that you use a separate profile and not your personal profile. It makes you seem more professional and will allow you to maintain a healthy level of separation between your private and professional life.
Once you’ve created your profiles you need to start posting samples of your music, as well as heavily promoting any gigs you are playing. It is also worth promoting gigs of musicians you are friends with. This will show that you are supportive and will likely lead to them offering you the same support in the future.
Posting consistently is key here. But there is a fine line between a consistent posting schedule and spam. If you are posting too frequently you might end up with a shadowban. This is a form of banning where you can still post but all your content is invisible to other users. You also need to ensure you are properly promoting your content with relevant hashtags or posting it to relevant subreddits.
Social media is also a great networking tool. Connecting with members of the industry both on a local and global scale. There are thousands of successful musicians who would be more than happy to share their advice to you. And social media is the best way to connect with them.
Connecting with your fans in person is a great way to build a name for yourself. Spending some time after a gig to speak to the audience is a pivotal part of the marketing process. But social media is where the majority of your audience interaction will happen these days.
Spend a bit of time each day responding to messages from your fans. It has been proven that musicians that actively engage with their fanbase are more likely to succeed. This is because their fans are more likely to maintain regular support through buying gig tickets, merchandise, and albums.
You should also spend some time posting content that allows your fans to get to know you better. Question and answer sessions are a great way to do this. Apps like Instagram and TikTok have live stream functionality, which is a great way to host a Q and A session.
Peter Williams is a graduate of B.A Arts and Culture from the University of Technology Sydney. Peter is very much interested in cultural practices around the world including music, history, languages, literature, religion and social structures.