Music That Feels Good

Breaking Through the Clutter (The Details)

Mar 16, 2011 Front Page
Posted by Tina

In the very first Music Marketing Minute podcast, I gave you an overview of some of the creative things that you can do as an artist to break through all the clutter or the social media noise. If you didn’t hear it, I strongly encourage you to give it a listen. As you know most Artist are doing what everybody else is doing when it comes to the internet, but if you want something different, you’re gonna have to do something different. And the number one thing is to always BE ORIGINAL! Although the tools that everyone is using may be the same,  you’ve got to discover how to use them in a way that’s gonna set you apart and that will cause you to lead from the middle of the pack.

Feeding online content to your audience was the focus of the first Music Marketing Minute in the form of songs, mixtapes, videos and articles. Now days this can be done very easily without having a huge marketing budget. Technology has leveled the playing field for Indie and Unsigned artists. It’s a fabulous time to be an Indie! After all, an Indie band did get “Band of the Year.” So here are some”no excuses” things you can do right now with what’s in your hands. At this time I will elaborate only on using video and mixtapes because I feel that these two mediums will help you create a buzz very fast if done correctly.

I absolutely love the power of VIDEO! With it, you can be as original and creative as your mind allows. For instance, if you don’t have the means or budget to do a music video, think about a video blog or vlog, webisode or your own TV channel via You Tube or Ustream and chronicle the making of your next CD or songwriting session or even rehearsing. If I were to do that it would be called “The Making of Nikki Ruth” because ‘Nikki Ruth” is the title of my next full smooth jazz project. You can use a flip video which is very inexpensive or the camera of your choice as long as the quality is good. The point is to invite fans and supporters into your world.  Strategically  build  a relationship with them, after all marketing is more about relationships than anything else. Then upload that video to a one-stop distributor like Tubemogul, which I love, love, love! It’s FREE and it has a plethora of other places that it will distribute your video to with an account.

To create even a bigger buzz, release a mixtape (no matter the genre) and give it away. Mixtapes are no longer for just hip-hop. Asher Roth struggled to attract attention as a white rapper even though he was signed to a major label. After releasing a dope FREE mixtape, Asher Roth finally got noticed and started getting interviews, features, cover stories and bookings at larger venues.This will give people an incentive to buy the rest of the music on your album.

Hopefully I have stirred your creative juices, so when you jump up out the bed and put your swag on..you will go and make it happen!