Findout How Youtube Is Gonna F**ck Over Independent Artist

 

Youtube Is About To Change How Musicians Use Their Site!

We all know that YouTube helped change the music game especially for independent artist trying to get their music  the world without having major label support. It has allowed thousands of artists to be known and especially upcoming independent artists But this is all gonna come  to an end if  YouTube implements they changes intend to make. Some of your favorite videos that you watch are going to be deleted from Youtube forever if the artist doesn’t sign up for the new subscription service  in a couple of weeks to come.

YouTube is planning on changing their site and boy is it gonna put a twist on the music game.Now if you’re an independent artist you will be required to subscribe to their new subscription service in order to submit your music videos. This is because it wants to compete with everyone live streaming now in  the music industry. If you are an independent artist, it is going to be extremely hard for you to share your videos and music.Youtube which is owned by search engine giant GOOGLE has already accepted and signed the new license deal with some major labels. YouTube is also going to make some changes that will affect music listeners also.Now anytime  that someone wants to listen to music or even download a video without ads is subjected to payment even if your downloading music  to your cell phone, Ipad, or any device you use for downloading stuff from Youtube

.As an independent artist whether you have a huge following or your just starting out, Youtube isn’t giving you a choice  your only option is to sign up  with this new paid Youtube subscription program  if you want to use the Youtube platform to release  your music videos  and if you don’t they won’t let you submit any content.. The messed up thing is if  you don’t sign up and you already have content on the Youtube platform it’s going to be deleted from YouTube. 95% of the music industry has already signed the paperwork and made the new deal official, but many independent artists don’t agree with the new program and haven’t signed any contracts. The only alternative you will have  is to  host your videos on a different site which will work also, but you can’t piggyback off of all the traffic Youtube receives.According to YouTube Head of Business and Vice President Robert Kyncl. But the fact is, it is not going to be easy for them to achieve this goal and therefore they have a big responsibility to their users and Youtube has  to make sure they launch an enhanced music experience.

Everything about YouTube and the way people use it is going to change forever. There is also gonna be an ad-free subscription service that YouTube plans on putting into effect in a couple of months. The new subscription service is going to make it so you can pay a premium subscription fee and it will give you the option to skip any ads, stream artist music etc and when you want to download music from YouTube.you will be redirected to Music pass . This drastic change is gonna affect alot of  music comanies in this niche like ITunes ,Spotfiy,. When this policy takes affect, music from indie artists like Kevin Gates, Migos Bobby Shmurda and more  will be removed from Youtube unless they sign up for their new paid service  Also if you’re wondering what will happen to your video if you are using Vevo there won’t be any changes with those videos and they still remain playable because the licensing agreements are separate.

I can understand what Youtube is trying to do but they might be setting themselves up for failure on this one because only a small number of independent labels will agree I mean if an artist is just uploading their mixtape cover art and lyrics to a song why would you want to pay.  YouTube is well known and is the number 1 video sharing site online and with all these changes, it is going to have an affect alot of independent artists. The Worldwide Independent Network organization (WIN) is an established organization that helps in pushing businesses and accessing the market interest for independent music communities is going above and beyond to get fair deals for indie labels before their this new subscriptions services starts and they start removing indie artists music. The Organization is explaining  to YouTube how valuable independent music is  to any music streaming service . Nowadays majority artist are doing it independently and these artist have a hige loyal following and music fans also go to the site to see  there favorite independent artist not just a major artist so indie artist contribute alot of traffic to Youtube and is like there not  getting the same respect as other artist just because their not on a major label which is crazy because alot of these indie artist have a bigger more loyal fanbase then some signed artist have.So pretty much. If you’re an independent artist this could have a negative impact on your music career if  people aren’t willing to sign up and pay for the service.This might be a positive move for YouTube but again is it going to be indeed successful? So how do you feel about this new system?   Are you gonna  have an extra $200 - $400  a month to pay so you can get your videos seen because  if your an indie artist on the grind and you want to use Youtube as a marketing platform its gonna cost ya. I’m not saying its not worth it by any means because alot of artist make a good living because of Youtube but what I am saying is that it’s  the price they want to charge indie artist is BS.  and they’re dam near forcing people to join the program. When will YouTube start this new service is the question.

T.I. Explains How You Can Get Him To Sign You!

Get A Record Deal With T.I.

So are you an independent artist trying to get a record deal? Thats coo but the music game has changed and you can become a star and make a living from music just by using the internet and pushing your music in the streets without a major label.

All you have to do is focus on building a solid fanbase, release quality music, and videos and make sure all your graphics are professional from your mixtape covers,website, and logo. Once you build your start building your branding correctly and getting  your music in from of he people the labels will come to you including T.I.s label Grand Hustle. Press Play to see how you can get T.I. to sign you.

Mixtape Cover Special Buy One Get One Free

Hi Def Mixtape Cover For Free  

Are you a independent artist who is working on a mixtape, single or album? Well today is your lucky day because I'm gonna give you the best deal on the net point blank period.I have worked with thousands of indie artist and it seems like most of them have the same problem they don't have a go to guy for all their graphic needs they kinda just wing it after the mixtape is complete and they find the first graphic designer they can find just to hurry up and get their product out and boy is that a big No No lol.

Having a cheap mixape cover is like wearing a ugly outfit to the club and you world never put on something you thought was ugly that represents you so don't do it with your cover art! You can make people judge you the wrong way. So after working with hundreds of different designers online I can say hands down that Mixtape Cover King is the best site to deal with their the total package.Not only do you get hid def 300dbi custom graphics they have affordable rates and they have a 24 to 48hr turnaround and they actually stick to it unlike other companies and another bonus is if your on a deadline say you need a cover in 8hrs they will work with you to get it done without charging a fee like most companies. Another thing that makes them stick out from all the other designers is that their designs are created from scratch there not from a cookie cutter site with premade templates to me that some bullshit and its really scamming the artist in some sense because there paying for a custom design for their project. The funny thing is the people that are using the templates are the same ones charging an arm and a leg for the design.What a joke!

I have been working with Mixtape Cover Kings over the last 3 years for all my clients graphic needs and I can honestly say we haven't had any problems and I'm always amazed with the work its to the point where I don't have to give the designer an idea they just create the mixtape cover art based off the title of the project. I attached an example of their work they did for one of my clients this is a before and after pic.

Before

After

 As you can see they can take any photo and turn it into a high quality design.I would recommend them to any artist trying to brand themselves like a professional so check out Mixtape Cover King today and make sure you tell them artist development sent you and you qualify for the buy one get one free design..

How To Hustle Your Music On Twitter

Ok you finished up recording and you got your mixtape cover completed and your ready to release your music, but you really don't know alot of places online to promote your mixtape well today I'm gonna tell how you can use twitter to get listeners to your music and building your following at the same time.Twitter is one of the most slept on sites to use for music marketing everybody just wants to post on facebook to their group of friends and they wonder why their music career isn't going anywhere.Twitter is a highly active site and there are some slick tools out there for Twitter that you can use to get in font of thousands of target music fans.

You need to be using www.justunfollow.com this site allows you to find people by keywords for example you could type in Atlanta Dj's and it would pull up all the Atlanta Dj's you can add at the click of a button without having to do all the research yourself.A slick thing to do when your releasing your mixtape is to add music fans from other rappers with a huge following that your music is similar to. For example if you have a sound like T.I.  you can literally take his twitter Id and out it in the search field on this site and it will bring up all his followers and you can add them at a click of a button and the good thing also about justunfollow is that it will show you the last time they were online so you know its an active account and you can't beat that.Justufollow has a paid and free option and honestly I have never had to purchase the paid versions because the results I get from the free option the only downside is that with the free version you can only add 200 people a day which is still great thats 4,800 people month.

Another way to search twitter for music fans is right on Twitters search you can in any phrase bar and type in whatever your looking for but type it in  parenthesises  and it will pull up profiles using those keywords that were recently online and you can add them instantly.So if your looking for a way to add Twitter fans by the masses to promote your mixtape or single I guarantee this will work.

How Hip Hop Jewlery Can Blow You Up Fast

Why Jewelry Is A Smart Investment For Rappers!

 In the rap game image is everything and I know this might sound crazy to sum of you who don't understand that but custom Hip hop jewelry can take along way in the rap industry.Most fans relate jewelry to success and the amount of jewelry that fans see you are wearing usually signifies your level of success in the game. 

Jewelry makes people pay attention just think about how you look at artist when you see them with custom chains of their label etc you think they gotta be doing something I know thats what I think. Jewelry will make people put you in a different category then other rappers and this is a good thing because it  leads to a  large amount of attention from the public and thats a good thing because you need publicity and as much exposure as possible to the public eye  to blow up and become a icon in America today.

Once you actually real think about it from a marketing aspect  you will realize that hip hop jewelry is really an investment that can actually make you more money and fame in the long run, and that will give you the ability to use your  status to sell anything to your fans from clothes,books movie etc.

You would be shocked at how many rappers wear fake jewelry including some of your favorite artist, but in reality it really makes more sense to get a fake pendant that looks real then to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars on a real one its a waste of money and you hardly even wear the jewelry unless your at a show or an event.. Nowadays  some of the fake jewelry looks even better then the real jewelry and you the untrained eye will never be abe to tell the difference..

Most recording artist wear some form of jewelry to so their success to rap world. Pretty much, if your a  rapper with a lot bling fans  assume that your getting rap money and they  will  idolize your lifestyle.

 Lil Boosie said it best you think I wanna wear all this heavy ass jewelry all day? Hell no but this attracts attention and once youu pay attention me you will become a fan.

The fact is , everybody wants to shine and be the one blinging but unfortunately alot of artist  don’t have disposable income that will  allow them to purchase the custom jewelry and fancy cars,  So they take a different route and get fake custom jewelry which I think is smarter and it saves them a ton of money but still has them stuning in front of the camera. The fact is most of your favorite artist have fake hip hop jewelry that just looks real and you just don’t know it..

Whether you want to Believe it or not 98% of  rappers hip-hop jewelry isn’t 100% real. It’s kinda common sense just think about the real rolex that has  a couple diamonds on it and it cost $50,000 then you see some of these artist will have over 10,000 stones in their chain and there is no way in hell most of them have enough money to purchase all real diamonds they would go broke fast as hell.Diamonds are expensive.So  they take a different route and do the next best thing to save money ,but  still impress the rap world they buy custom high end jewelry that looks like it cost millions but the diamonds are really lab made diamonds , genuine cubic zirconias,or czech crystal and they look exactly like authentic diamonds.

When you got money to show and you find the right high value jewelry , it will be impossible to ever call it fake, because it will have the exact same features as real jewelry the whole purpose of the jewelry is to get people to pay attention to you and get your music. Its not like rappers walk around like yeah my chain is real trying to convince fans, fans just assume its real because they have it and its custom and it blings.Hip-hop jewelry gives you credibilty and people will respect you more.

Imagine this your at a video shoot without any jewelry on....

For starters off no one will take you serious, and they will put you in the same category as the rest of cookie cutter rappers who just rap and don’t get the marketing aspect of game.

Why…

Because when people think star rapper they instantly think fancy cars and iced out jewelry. With that being said believe it or not when you have your jewelry game on point your fanbase will grow RAPIDLY! People will look at you like your already made it in the game and you probably have some shit to talk about so they will be more likely to listen to your music.

Then what happens is fans join aboard so they can  witness your success. The funny thing is so many artist don’t have enough resources to find high quality hip hop jewelry and they assume it cost alot ,and the truth is that  high quality  hip hop jewelry isn’t expensive at all it just looks like it is and it’s definitely worth the small investment because you will reap big rewards later on and so many rappers don’t look at as a  branding tool and go without it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

All the artist in the game know about the jewelry hustle but it is something they keep within the game,and they  use the bling technique  to get their shine on and build their fanbase plus you get

a huge return, from people buying their music just because the mixtape cover is dope and they have on custom jewelry, buying tickets to their shows, etc its really a bunch a different ways to profit from it and it all boils down to the fact that hey respect their hustle all because their look and jewelry game
 e Click Here here
If your ready to take your career to the next level and get you some highh quality custom jewelry  for an affordable price  CLICK HERE

Mixtape Cover Art- The Best Graphic Designer Online

#1 Mixtape Cover Designer Online.

      Since the internet exploded it seems like everyone and there mama is either a rapper Dj, beat maker, or music graphic designer. I'm not saying anything is wrong with it, but its to the point were the bad out weigh the good lol. 

Being in the music niche for so many years I run into thousands of artist who have either been scammed online in some way shape or form, but most of the complaints that artist had were about mixtape cover designers delivering low budget graphics or they would just get the clients money and never respond back and that's some bulls**t. I can't stand a petty thief the whole goal is to network and help each other get to the next level.

So I decided to make this article to give all you independent artist,beat makers, Dj's, managers, or anyone needing music related graphics a resource that is used by me, my clients, major mixtape websites, and alot of record labels they provide high quality custom graphics.

Whether you need a mixtape cover,itunes artwork, a single cover, logo,  any custom graphics I would Mixtape Cover King. After trying over 23 different  graphic designers to create one of my artists mixtape cover a friend of mine had me check out there site and I can honestly say they have the best work I have seen online with the best prices.Alot of these sites are overpriced I feel based off of the work they provide . I mean $100 to $150 for a cookie cutter design ain't cutting it and on top of that alot of these sites have the nerve to charge you for revisions like its your fault their work is ugly!lol

At Mixtape Cover Kings  they only charge $50 for a high quality 300dbi custom mixtape cover from scratch. The artwork they provide is amazing and jaw dropping I will show you some examples in a minute. Another thing is if your trying to meet a deadline there turnaround within 24 to 48hrs and if you let them know you need it with a day they will do a rush order with no extra charge and that comes in handy. On top of that they provide free unlimited revisions with their work so once you receive the mixtape cover art if you have any changes are add ons you would like they do it no problem. You can checkout some of the work they've done for some of my artist below.

 BEFORE                                                        

AFTER

As you can see the graphics are clean Hi def and the theme fits the title. I got this cover back within 10hrs of placing my order and there was no changes needed.The designer at http://www.Mixtape Cover King is good at taking your idea and bringing it to life thru your cover art  design. 

If your looking for graphics that will attract attention to your project at an affordable rate I would recommend them hands down.You can visit there portfolio here http://www.MixtapeCoverKing.com/mixtape-cover to see other work they have done and also if you want to get a design created.

 

Know what iTunes Can’t Do for you and How to Make Sales Know what iTunes Can’t Do for you and How to Make Sales Online Online

The music industry evolves fast, and it drifts with the shifts in fashion, technology and people’s tastes.  This explains why the music as product is among the first to go fully digital and be sold over the internet.  I’m going to explain in this post how you can sale your music online.  I am going to tell you just how much you should expect of these online stores before you take the next step.

What Online Music Stores like iTunes, Amazon

The feeling of finally getting to upload your music and let online music stores pay you is probably the most thrilling feeling for any upcoming musician. But  there are a few things you must know.

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and the many many other music streaming and selling services are not marketing tools; all they do is sell your music to their subscribers.  Getting your music to these digital content platforms is like getting your mixtapes on a music store stand; they do not market your music, they just make it available to the buyers.Just like you mixtape covers you need attention grabbing graphics to entice people who view you music to listen.

Most musicians fail to realize that getting music on to these platforms is one thing, getting the average listener to buy it is another thing.  Before and after getting your music online you must promote and market them as a product, these sites will just give you exposure and nothing else.  It would be unfortunate to set your expectations too high if you are just starting out and don’t have a huge fan base.  You will not start making bucketloads of money in a few weeks just because you are on iTunes.

As I mentioned before, iTunes is an online market place that gives you exposure to millions of music lovers all over the world.  Although it does nothing to promote your music, it is a platform with amazing tools you can use to reach these music lovers and if you have just what they want and you catch their attention the right way, you may be making bucketloads of money if you do it right.  Here’s how you can get started.

How to promote your music online and make sales on iTunes

The best way to market your music and get it downloaded more is by linking it from a source outside iTunes.  You can create a website to promote your music or give out links on social media, blogs, forums or via email to people you know.  Once you get your music on iTunes or any other marketplace, the next task will be to promote your music and convince people to buy it on iTunes.  This is why you see ‘Available on iTunes’ on web pages.

How do you promote your music?

Well, there are many ways anyone can sell anything online, and music, being downloadable content, is among the easiest to sell.  You will need to make people listen to you, to love your music and to connect with them on a fan-to-celebrity level.  It takes effort, money and time to build an image and get people to notice your content.  But thanks to the internet, you no longer need to deal with an agent or manager just to be found.

Step 1: Start building a brand right where you are.  Get your own musician page on Facebook and connect with the friends you know.  Promote your link and make many friends by sharing your music and engaging with them.  Remember that whenever you link to your content on iTunes, clearly indicate where the link is heading and re-check to ensure it links to the music track the listener wants.  Always do this on every link you describe or share – even on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, email and websites.

Step 2: All musicians start on YouTube today.  While iTunes has the largest and most organized library of music on the planet, most fans you will get will not be on it, but on different online resources.  YouTube is one of them, and it plays a crucial role in branding and selling yourself as a product.  Share your music on YouTube and promote it on Facebook, whichever way works, and make sure people actually like what you share and how much you share.  Don’t focus on selling at this point.

Step 3: It’s time for you to have a website.  Once you have enough following on YouTube and Facebook, create a website dedicated to you as a brand and your music as the product.  Encourage people to visit by making special content available on your website and include a shop page where they can be directed to iTunes.  There are countless ways to direct traffic to your website that we will not cover here, but all this is to ensure more people listen to your music and like you as a brand, as a person and as a celebrity.

Step 4: Engage with your fans and encourage them to bring their friends too.  iTunes has secret tools that talented artistes benefit from – rankings.  The more effective your promote yourself outside iTunes and get people to listen to and buy your music, the more recommendations the tracks will get to other iTunes listeners.  You should build yourself as a brand even before getting your music on iTunes, rumor has it that it even speeds up the process and could get you better deals.

Step 5: Lastly, you must figure out how to retain people who land on your iTunes page.  Getting people to click on your ‘buy on iTunes’ link is a completely different thing from getting them to actually buy or even favorite your music.  Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you can increase your conversion rates and make more sales instead of traffic landing on your iTunes page and bouncing right off by using iTunes as just a step closer to your customers, and nothing more.

iTunes is a great stage where the world can watch next idols emerge from the crowd, and for you as the artist it can be the magic formula where you will get to sell yourself to the world.  It all depends on how you use it.

Other Resources
Mixtape Cover Design

How to Sell your Music on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Spotify and Others

Start Selling Your Music

Back in the age of Compact Disks (CDs), it was every musician’s dream to get their music on the local store racks and get as many people as possible to buy their disks because it was the best way to sell music after cassette tapes.  The times have changed and people are acquiring digital content online.  Every musician strives to get his or her music online, to get them on music retail and distribution services like iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Napster and others.  Getting your music listed for sale in these sites is not as difficult as it used to be, and I am going to show you how you can get it done.

Step 1: Do you qualify to work with Apple directly?

Apple, and most other online music retailers today do not deal with musicians directly for the obvious reason that there are millions of musicians and other artists who would love to have their creative works listed on these sites.  However, you should check the iTunes’ application to determine if meet the requirements that could qualify you to deal with Apple directly.  These requirements are pretty hard and are meant for the very established musicians.  To get your music directly on iTunes, you would have to:

• Have a catalog with at least 20 albums.
• Have JAN, UPC and EANs for all the product you wish to distribute.
• Have ISRCs for all tracks you wish to distribute.

Step 2: Will you have to use a middleman?

If you don’t meet the requirements to deal with Apple and other music distributors directly, your next move will be to find and sign up with an aggregator who provides submission services to get your tracks on most online music retail stores.  Apple has a list of approved aggregators you can choose from (see the list here) but you don’t have to go with that as there are many companies today that act as middlemen to get your content online.  Some of the most popular services today are TuneCore, CDBaby, Song Cast, Nimbit, ReverbNation, The Orchard and Route Note.

Step 3: Choose an aggregator

There are many aggregators who act as the middlemen in getting your content to the largest music marketplace in the history of the industry – the internet.  These aggregators promise all kinds of bells and whistles but each offers different benefits.  While comparing the different aggregators, put your needs first.  Make a list of the services you expect to receive and find the aggregators that offer them.  Most musicians look for companies that submit music to over 10 distribution sites besides making hard copies of your music on CD and DVD available locally.  Pay close attention to other factors as well such as fees, after sales services and bonuses before settling on one aggregator to get your talent online.

Step 4: Get your music ready with a dazzling cover art

Before you upload your music, you want to make sure that people can actually see and listen to it and the best way to achieve this is to appeal to their visual sense.  Music lovers can tell a lot about the quality and type of music just from the mixtape cover design and same thing goes for selling singles or whatever on online sites you need to have attention grabbing graphics.  Even when you plan to sell your music digitally, it is wise to ensure your music is properly visually represented with the right artwork, logos and color schemes.  You will have to upload high quality original square images at least 1,000 x 1000 pixels images in JPEG (.jpg) format and further prepare the audio by converting your music to 16 bit WAV format at 44.1 kHz stereo sound.  You can do all this using the iTunes PC or Mac software available on Apple’s homepage.

Step 5: Understand what benefits there are to selling your music

Before you take the next step, first do some research to understand what benefits will come your way on successful upload of your content and be familiar with the intrigues and challenges of selling online.  To be an effective musician, you must be an effective entrepreneur.  iTunes and all the popular music distribution services are focused on serving you, it is imperative that you read their ToS and subscribe to their newsletters to be appraised in time of any changes that have a direct impact on you and your music.

These are the most important steps to follow to get your music online.  An aggregator is a very important entity in the whole process, you should ensure that you choose the right company to get your content found and to pay you when you make a sale.  Once you settle on one company, visit their web page and you will get more detailed information and how to register to hand over the rest of the process to the professionals.


Other resources:                                                                                                                                                                      Mixtape Covers

Learn How To Build Your Image And Brand As An Independent Artist.

Build Your Brand And Image The Right Way

There is a saying ‘image is everything’, which perfectly describes the current music scene and the industry at large.  Making music is easy when people value your contribution, love your music and see  talent in you, but if you are going to sell yourself and reach even the undecided, you will need to understand everything about image and more importantly, understand what image you will need to present out there and how.  Read on to get insight!

1. You cannot have an image without music.  It should start with the music

I’ll go right on and accuse many upcoming musicians who are easily blinded by their desires that they put too much effort in building the image to the point of forgetting to make quality music.  You are a musician, therefore your music should come first.  Image will never be more important than the music, as an upcoming artist you should focus on letting your music define and speak for you, everything else will fall in place.

While image may be everything when packaging yourself, the actual product is your music.  Quality music is handmade and human.  Be multifaceted when creating your music, be honest and set high expectations for your listeners and aim at meeting the promises you made.  This is how you will get to build an image – from your music.  Every musician wants to get rich, but most fail because they lose focus.  My advice to you is to focus on your music, and let your listeners judge you.  This is how you get to know who you are, why you are doing what you do and what is really important in your future life.  From here, you will have an idea to build your image upon.

2. Know what your image is and be ready to build upon it

There is no specific advice on sprucing up your image that I can give you, but I have invaluable tips that you can use to convey something about yourself even without opening your mouth.  An image is a holistic label for many things that include your appearance, your vibe, your past, your future, your association, your style and fashion and your personality.  An image is not something you just wake up and decide on, you have to first know who you are to properly market yourself.  Understanding the meaning of a true image is the first step to effectively branding yourself.

Building an image is a process that takes time and effort, and if you are promoting a true picture of yourself, something you believe in, and have a clear vision of where you want your music to take you, you will not have a problem branding yourself.If your image is made up of intangible and often unquantifiable elements, you will be striving to appeal to the hearts and minds of people and there are only limited ways to do this.  You are off to a good start settling on colors, getting a logo designed, getting a professional mixtape covers designed for your releases and having a website that gives a name to your image.

3. What to focus on when building an image

Building an image is something you first do for yourself, then for the world.  It’s not the other way round.  You will be aiming at coming up with an image that people can easily identify with you, something they can recognize and can remember because the impression it leaves is a lasting one.  The areas you will focus on when creating and marketing your image as a professional, entrepreneur, musician, idol or celebrity are:

• Your music genre and your sound in general.
• Your choice of clothes, fashion, hair styles and physical appearance.
• Your name, logo, cover art, website, color choices in posters and mixtape art etc.
• How interact with, and talk to, the media and your fans.
• The instruments you play.
• The brands and people you associate yourself with.
• Your past including your journey to stardom, and past experiences etc.
• What you want to become or next and how you work towards it.

Many upcoming musicians get the wrong idea of an image, and assume that pop culture, style and trends constitute an image.  You will never be unique if you follow the crowds because you will get lost.  If you believe your image is wearing torn jeans and performing at the subway, by all means pursue it and see what it brings from inside you.  It pays to be unique.

4. Why is image important for musicians?

Before I delve into the importance of creating an image, I should point out that an image in this case has to be a genuine outlook you want to portray.  If you try something and it does not feel authentic, if it feels different and you are not comfortable with it, then you haven’t discovered just what will make you tick.  You will have to do a little more searching to know who you are and how to present yourself to the world.

Image is very important for musicians  for the primary reason that people need a lot more than amazing music to help them make decisions whether they like your music or not.  Some will fall in love with your music without caring who you are, but a true fan will want to know the person, to understand where the music come from and what nurtured such a talent.  Your image is what will convince prospective fans that you are human and reachable and you are the visual representation of the music that touch their hearts.

The role of a musician’s image cannot be overstated and it is unfortunate it is often misunderstood.  When you decide to present yourself to the world, you have to package your music and give it a personality and your style.  It is true to say that image is everything that matters before someone actually listens to your music.  Once they listen to your music, your image will have served its purpose and will come second henceforth.

5. How do settle on an image to sell to the world?

Your image is basically an invitation for people to your party, and your music is the actual party.  Whether anyone shows up depends on how well the invitation was.  To appeal to the people, you have to know them, and you have to appear to offer something new, something unique.  It is also important to invite the right people to your party, which sums up the importance of creating an image that appeals to your target audience.  In a nutshell, here are the most important things to consider when creating and marketing an image:

• Your image must tell a lot more about your music than about yourself as an individual.  This means that you have to dress for your genre and your vibe should sum up your music preferences.
• Present your image confidently, and be ready to impress.  Confidence is one thing that people can sense from a mile away, but it is something you cannot fake.  See how the people closest to you respond to  your image then start improving it gradually.
• An image should also have a personality.  When you add a personality to your image, it adds a lot of emotion to the image and you will be remembered even by people who see you the first time for longer.
• Give people an easier way to describe you and your music.  There is no correct and incorrect way to perceive you and your music, but you can influence how people describe you to themselves and to the people they know.  This is the secret to successful image branding.

Start searching deep inside yourself today to find out who you are and what image best sells you and your music.  I believe this post has all you need to point you in the right direction.

Good luck.

Other Important Resources:

Custom Mixtape Cover

How To Get A Vevo Channel

Registering a Vevo Channel: How to Get Your Own Music Channel Easily

As a music lover, you are probably very well familiar with YouTube as a music channel.  Almost everyone today views music videos and even listens to music on the most popular video channel.  However, today, YouTube is not the best channel for aspiring artists to  focus their attention on, if you are not sure about what I am referring to, its Vevo

Isn’t Vevo just like YouTube?

No.  Vevo is not just another YouTube copycat, it describes itself as a personalized MUSIC video and MUSIC entertainment platform.  This channel has the word music appearing twice in its tagline, it is designed to provide viewers and content providers a way to share music content in more ways than offered by YouTube or any other video channel.  The channel is owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Abu Dhabi Media and universal Music Group.  The content on the channel is licensed by EMI without taking ownership stake.  Simply put, Vevo is the number one music platform on the internet now, and you need to get yourself a channel if your an artist.Where your pushing your mixtape, single, or album Vevo will get your video more exposure..

How to Get a Vevo Channel

If you need to get a channel on Vevo, you will have to go through one of the several affiliated music distribution companies http://www.factmag.com/2014/03/27/ditto-music-offers-off-the-shelf-promo-for-independent-artists/. As a musician, you cannot sign up directly with Vevo because it is not a free video sharing site like Google.  A good musician would instantly take this to mean Vevo is very selective in the music they broadcast, and this exclusivity is what makes it the most coveted music promotion channel on the planet.  With 80 million unique users who watch music because they want, and not because they were re-directed, Vevo should also be your ultimate online distribution and marketing resource.  The question is, how do you get there?

You will have to pay a small fee to register a Vevo account to the affiliated companies but you will get your own Vevo channel.  This means you can easily build an audience and build a reputation from a fraction of the 80 million active users on Vevo.  Once you have an account, you will be guided how to upload your music, how to use your mixtape cover to promote your music even outside Vevo and ensuring you meet the best standards of music as set by Vevo.

How will you use your Vevo account

Having a Vevo account is also the best way to network with your music fans and listen to the mixtapes made by other upcoming artists just like you.  While most of these mixtapes are always on Google, Vevo has advanced tools that helps you follow the best musicians and the quality standards set mean you will only compare yourself with the best.  Your vevo channel will be your music name, so there is no harm in starting to build a brand now.  When you pay the registration fee, it takes between two to three weeks before you can upload your videos but subsequent uploads will be much faster.

Anyone with a Vevo account, or simply the Vevo community, will be able to see your videos when they go live.  Most artists sign up and start watching music in their own genre, getting access to a databse of music from other upcoming artists and leaving as well as receiving criticism and ideas.  You can then create your own playlist, encourage other musicians to follow you and connect with artists going through the same stages of  building there brand just like you.