Thursday, August 21, 2014

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.

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Friday, August 15, 2014

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.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Guaranteed Way To Increase Anticipation For Your Single Or Mixtape Release

Learn How To Create A Buzz For Your Next Music Release!

So you have invested nearly all your resources into making your brand new single or mixtape. Well, what next? Do you have a plan to snatch the much coveted crown in the music industry, or will you sit there and wait to be successful? I hope not... I have a motto that I've been living by since  16 waiting on the next man you won't have shit and that definitely applies to the music industry.

 I can tell you that one of the best ways to get disappointing and heart wrenching results with your new music release is to launch it without plans to promote or market it. It  seems like most artist nowadays just release their singles or mixtapes, by literally “making it available” in the market by putting it on Facebook, Datpiff , or any other 3rd party music site , but what musicians fail to realize it that those sites are just platforms to host your music (Really you should have your own site) and you still have to promote and market to get people to your music.

 When all these megastars you always hear about, such as; Kanye West and Rick Ross release their single,mixtape or even an album, they do not just put it there blindly, and sit back. Successful musician will be strategic enough, and even release a single in advance of the entire album. Here they build anticipation. Its about building a buzz and having a strategic plan.
Unfortunately, one of the mistakes I normally see many artists make from time to time is lack of building anticipation for their music releases. It seems that independent musicians have the tendency to just announce they are releasing their new single or a mixtape, and then just  release it foolishly. Well, this is a big NO!
Allow me to break down this whole idea behind, proper releasing of music, and anticipation. You see, human beings are wired in such a way that they respond much better to enticing perks and, when they have sufficient time to hype about it. By dropping a hint that you might release an awe-inspiring music, it is no brainer that many fans will be anticipating to buy your music or you can release little snippets of some of your best songs also.  Eventually, this will increase the probabilities of being successful with your single or mixtape.I'm pretty sure your getting my drift on how you can cut your niche successfully, without much hassle?
By alerting people or your target market, per se, you give them time to carry out a few things such as;Fans will get excited about which kind of music you want to drop. While some fans will be excited, without raising their anticipation high, it is definite that more excitement will just build up over time. Making your prospective fans wait that much longer can even increase their interest in your work-piece, and get excited when the D-day arrives.  For example, just think of small children on Christmas holidays.

A little and deliberate delay of the single or album will allow the fans to try to save some money required to buy your product. It is most likely that if you release it instantly, they might lack the money, hence reduce the amount of sales you could have made. Moreover, this can be bizarre as some people are naturally discouraged to buy things after it was released long ago, they will forget about it. However, if you alert people about your forthcoming single or album, they might just set aside some cash to buy your music upon its release. If you furthermore talk about your forthcoming songs, I’m sure some avid fans will mention it to their peers, and by this it will help spread the buzz quickly.Think about how movies work they make their most money on the opening weekend due to the buzz they created before they released it and after that the sells dwindle down. So the whole goal is to create the most buzz before your project drops.
Trust me when I emphasize on proper marketing and promotion of any music release prior to the D-day. Actually, I bet you have heard or even seen, some big and established record label advertise about a forthcoming single or album, like 3-5 weeks before it is released, and it all boils down to raising your target fans’ anticipation. Anyway, now that you have grasped some ideas regarding how important anticipation is to any music release, let us see how you can create it, and possibly keep the fans involved.
Allow fans to know you are about to drop something
This is the preliminary stage. Prior to exciting your prospective market or fans, you fist need to give them something to get excited about. Make it a big deal announcing your forthcoming music item. And even make them believe it will be the best of all, and you have given your best shot. However, do not narrow it down to a specific date, just tell them that you are working on it, and it will ready in a few weeks or months.
Ensure you update them about every progress
As you are working on the final touches on your project, it is important to give people updates regarding your progress. For example, you can let them know that you have finalized recording all the songs in the album, and you are busy shooting high quality videos somewhere. Well, just tell them anything relative to your music and it will stick on the fan’s mind.
Moreover, do not fail to mention, how you are excited about this project and give them an idea of what to expect on your mixtape and have a custom mixtape cover, or single cover use as bait also.Trust me this kind of excitement will get to fans.
Involve your fans in the making process
Another big way for getting the fans hyped is by getting them involved in the whole process. It instills some sense of importance, and fans will feel like you appreciate their efforts and immense love. If you really want to people to be excited about your project, a perfect idea is to bring them on board. This can be in terms of; asking your fans to suggest some of their favorite lyrics or punch lines  for you to put in a song, ,those are just some examples you can add your twist to it, but make sure you apply it to your strategy it will pay off  . You can ask them to tell you what they feel it should be incorporated in your videos, or which artist to collaborate with him or her.
Music is the universal language, and it is a great tool to connect and relate with others. For this reason, an artist needs to create a buzz for every  project, and so fans are  ready to receive the single or mixtape,and your project will be a success.Remember people don't plan to fail they fail to plan if you don't have a strategic plan behind your projects your just wasting your time. Really it should be common sense just think about your favorite artist you listen to now you heard their music because they marketed and promoted it correctly and when you see any mixtape covers, album covers, or any graphics that represents them its always professional.