Recent I've learned a few things about the music industry that I thought I'd share.
1. The music industry typecasts people based on their look, skin colour, or other features.
If you're a teenaged girl with blonde hair, you don't belong in the Disney pop genre, as they currently only want brunettes. So a teenaged girl with blonde hair has to either sing country music, or wait a couple years, get implants, and aim for a more mature audience.
If you are a black girl and you try to make it in the country music industry, good luck. The music industry typecasts black girls as R&B singers.
2. People find fame attractive. This is why people think Britney Spears and David Cook are hot. When one looks like drunken trailer trash, and the other a sleazy bartender. If they didn't have some level of fame, they wouldn't get second glances.
3. If you're male and you don't rap, or you're not in a (all male rock or punk) band, you'll probably never see your name on any Billboard charts, unless you aim for the tween girl market.
4. Communicating with fans is the key. If you don't update them on what you're doing, they'll lose interest. Also interact with them by having meet and greets, and never refusing signing an autograph or taking a picture with someone. Don't get too close to fans though, like making a fan your friend. They're still a fanatic of yours.
5. You need to heavily promote yourself, there are tons of viral marketing options now, YouTube, imeem, ReverbNation, MySpace. Make sure your music is out there, and try doing covers of popular songs to make it easier for people to discover your music. When you release something, let them know.
1. The music industry typecasts people based on their look, skin colour, or other features.
If you're a teenaged girl with blonde hair, you don't belong in the Disney pop genre, as they currently only want brunettes. So a teenaged girl with blonde hair has to either sing country music, or wait a couple years, get implants, and aim for a more mature audience.
If you are a black girl and you try to make it in the country music industry, good luck. The music industry typecasts black girls as R&B singers.
2. People find fame attractive. This is why people think Britney Spears and David Cook are hot. When one looks like drunken trailer trash, and the other a sleazy bartender. If they didn't have some level of fame, they wouldn't get second glances.
3. If you're male and you don't rap, or you're not in a (all male rock or punk) band, you'll probably never see your name on any Billboard charts, unless you aim for the tween girl market.
4. Communicating with fans is the key. If you don't update them on what you're doing, they'll lose interest. Also interact with them by having meet and greets, and never refusing signing an autograph or taking a picture with someone. Don't get too close to fans though, like making a fan your friend. They're still a fanatic of yours.
5. You need to heavily promote yourself, there are tons of viral marketing options now, YouTube, imeem, ReverbNation, MySpace. Make sure your music is out there, and try doing covers of popular songs to make it easier for people to discover your music. When you release something, let them know.
3 comments:
Okay. Number 3. What about singers like John Mayer? Unless you count them as part of the tween girl market...
That actually did go through my head when I was writing the post. It's rare to see singers like John Mayer or Jason Mraz have huge success. It kind of depends on the song, really. Jason and John have both had hits and misses, and not many people knew who Jason Mraz was until "I'm Yours", despite his previous two albums.
Maybe I should re-think the entirety of #3.
I have to agree with the communicating with your fans bit. I follow a few different artists (Marina & the Diamonds, VV Brown, Little Boots, Calvin Harris). It's cool to have the artists actually tweeting their thoughts. It brings you closer somehow.
Little Boots has it all sorted. She somehow finds time to blog, use twitter, make covers (with tenori-on!), release free mixtapes, do gigs, and record her album. She doesn't have an album but she's already created a vast brand for herself. It's impressive marketing. If the album is half as good as her push, it'll be amazing.
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