Artists World

Imagination is everything

Independent Recording Artist Promotion 101

The entertainment industry has been and is at the forefront of an apparently endless wave of change created by the Internet and technology revolution. New technologies have changed the way music is made, recorded, distributed, sold, delivered, used, and enjoyed. Well established companies such as Sony, MCA, Capitol, Columbia, and others have been slow to adjust. Their profits have fallen, as a direct result of their totally predictable resistance to changing a business model which had a long history of hugely profitable success.  

Their resistance to change threw them into a state of disarray and created massive opportunities for independent recording artists and independent record labels. A quick tour of social media sites such as MySpace, U-Tube, Facebook, and others will lead to the discovery of a million or more independent recording artists, bands, and musicians who have rushed in to take advantage of the evolving situation.  

Doing a Google search for independent singer/songwriter will reveal additional people around the world. There are more than six billion people on earth. If only a tiny percentage of those dream of stardom, there still are very large numbers of people dreaming the same dream. Most independent recording artists have been unsuccessful in their efforts to seize the opportunities and reap the huge rewards success creates. An overwhelming portion of them will continue to fail; until one by one they drop out of the competion.  

There are a number of reasons for their failures. Many just don’t have the amount of vocal control required  to create a large fan base. Another large percentage of independent singer/songwriters lack the work ethic, perseverance, and determination required for success in any field of human endeavor. Still others are not pleasing enough to the eye, in this increasingly visual age.  

Advice to those independent recording artists and bands is simple. Hire a vocal coach. Read motivational books and listen to audio recordings by Tony Robins, Zig Zigler, Joel Osteen, and other well known motivational speakers and authors. Seek advice from more fashion savvy people. The sales clerks in upscale haberdasheries or women’s fashion shops are valuable resources. Obtain and use a membership at a YMCA, Curves, or other gym. If your weight and size are problems, see your health care provider, go on the Atkins’ Diet, live on Slimfast, or do whatever it takes for you to drop those excess pounds.  

Almost any independent recording artist, band, or singer/songwriter can benefit by taking dance lessons and joining a community theater troop. Being able to move gracefully across a stage enhances eye appeal. The lessons learned from the director of your community theater will improve your stage presence and pay large benefits whenever you are interviewed by newspapers, magazines, television reporters, and radio disc  jockeys. Many major recording artists attend media school to learn interview skills. Your community theater troop provides similar training free; or at a greatly reduced cost.  

If all this effort is more trouble than it’s worth, chances are you don’t want to be a professional entertainer badly enough to compete. Some independent recording artists crave stardom so much they will do whatever it takes to reach their goals. You can easily spot these rare individuals, by the words they speak. They do not talk about their dreams. They speak of their goals. Dreamers wait for somebody else to fulfill their desires. Goal setters take significant and almost continuous action to reach their goals Dreamers talk. Goal setters do things.  

Dreamers sit around waiting for some famous record producer, Santa Clause, or the tooth fairy to knock on their doors and beg them to sign a recording contract. Goal setters know, if they don’t take control of their lives, somebody else will. When other people are in charge of your life, they will use you to reach their goals.  

All of this explains why most independent recording artists, singer/songwriters, and bands have not achieved stardom. However; this leaves a large number of talented, persevering, determined, and physically attractive, self financed seekers of stardom, who fail.  

These poor souls have everything it takes to reach their goals, except key elements of knowledge. The most common piece of knowledge they lack is exactly which industry they are trying to break into. Most of these will say they are trying to enter the music industry. They think of themselves as independent recording artists, singer/songwriters, musicians, etc. They fail to think of themselves, as entertainers attempting to break into the entertainment industry. They think their competition is limited to other singers and songwriters. If they thought of themselves as entertainers, they would realize their competition is every form of entertainment.   Most consumers have limited entertainment budgets. Money spent on computer games, tickets to baseball games, football games,boxing matches, professional wrestling, bar hopping, NASCAR, sky diving, bass fishing, etc. can not be spent buying concert tickets, or recorded music.  

Bill Gates and a few other truly wealthy people can afford all the entertainment they desire. Most of us have to decide which form of entertainment we want badly enough to purchase. We get most of our entertainment from television and Internet browsing.  

However; this is not the most critical piece of knowledge missing. In my opinion, the single most important piece of knowledge they lack is what promotion is and how to apply it. Let’s deal with the simplest aspect, first. Promotion is another word for advertising. One promotes an independent recording artist. One advertises cars, beer, and toothpaste. What is the purpose of promotion? Is its ultimate goal to get people to buy something? Does it seek to sell recorded music and concert tickets? If promotion is intended to sell something, how is it different from advertising?  

One can argue promotion is directed towards a certain targeted group of people. These people would be the buyers of independent artists’ recordings and concert tickets. Isn’t running shoe advertising directed to a targeted group called runners?. Are ads for Cadillacs directed at poor people? Or; are they directed towards financially successful automobile drivers?  

In order to be effective, advertising must include a  variety of repetitive elements. Television, newspapers, direct mail, radio, and billboards to list a few of the vehicles used to deliver advertising. Each of these elements supports and builds upon the other portions of the ad campaign.  Effective promotional campaigns require an ongoing effort wherein each action taken supports and expands upon current, previous, and future actions.  

For example, newspaper releases and radio. Keep in mind, daily newspapers subscribe to wire services such as the Associated Press (AP) and have reporters out gathering local news. They don’t need information to print between the ads. Newspapers make their profits from ad revenue not from the sale of papers. The ink between ads is the magnet that attracts eyeballs to the ads.  

Weekly newspapers seldom have a large staff and usually do not subscribe to a wire service. Being short staffed, they devote most of their efforts towards selling ads. Therefore; if you provide them with ready to scan and  use  news about a local entertainer, they are more likely to print it. Typically; I find any given professionally written and formatted press release to every newspaper in a state will be printed by about 10% of the daily papers and 50% of the weekly papers.  

Other keys to successful promotions include providing a quality black and white photo of the independent artist in the first such release.  And, doing regular monthly press releases each one having a news worthy piece of information. This requires the creation of a series of news worthy developments.  

For example, (January) local artist in discussions with famous Nashville promoter, (February) local artist employs famous Nashville promoter. (March) local artist releases music to X number of radio broadcasters. (April) local artist plans to entertain American troops. (May) local artist to tour overseas military bases at some determined time. (June) local artist appearing at _______. (July) local artist commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel. Thus joining Bing Cosby, Alan Shepard, and Elvis Presley, who also received this honor. (August) local artist departs to entertain American troops. (September) local artist wows troops in Germany. (October) local artist releases another song to X number of radio broadcasters. (November) local artist to be interviewed and perform on local television morning show. (December) local artist leads toy drive for impovrished children. Again, these are just examples. The exact press releases will vary. However; these do serve to guide your thoughts along the proper path.  

No one shot promotion will significantly advance an independent artist’s career. Just as no one shot ad will sell tons of Crest toothpaste or Ford vehicles. Advertising agencies develop ad campaigns. Successful artists develop promotional campaigns.   If an independent singer is not working with a professional promoter, one can usually assume their promotions have been ineffective. If Ford Motor Company’s advertising was ad hoc, it would not be the only American car company currently earning a profit. If Crest toothpaste ads were unprofessional, Crest would not be the most popular toothpaste in America. If George Strait’s series of promotional campaigns were were a series of one shot events, he would not sell millions of albums and be paid $1,000,000 per show.  

The entertainment industry is a very profitable and highly competitive business. Success comes by following the basic rules of business. Just as people buy all other consumer products based on advertising, quality, perceived value, and price; they purchase recordings and concert tickets from artists whose names they recognize and whose music they believe they will enjoy.            

About the Author

During the last forty years, Charlie Ray has promoted numerous stars and albums including Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
He has been inducted into Halls of Fame for his work in Blues, Country, and Southern Rock. He is a legislative advisor to the Tennessee House of Representives and was appointed Ambassador by Bill Clinton.He serves as Executive Director for the International CMA and is on the board of several other music organizations.

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