Marketing plan of major labels include certain crucial elements that will improve the chance of an album to become successful. These elements are:
Music
Like every great business you need great music to be best marketed. Even if you don’t think about who will listen to music you are recording, a segment of people will most likely to listen more than others.
Most records start to take a shape during recording and reveal where it may fit the best for all your marketing plan. While being creative having a wider look at the music you are producing will let you have an end goal easier to achieve.
This doesn’t mean you should make the music for a certain genre or crowd (which you can), but be aware of where things may go with the music you will share.
Identify Listeners (Customers)
Next to your friends and family, you want other people to listen to your music. The best way to reach them is to know which group of listeners they might be, what other artists they might be listening to and where they hangout, online and local.
You can’t give the answer everyone for this as it is to broad to reach that many people. The better you describe ore chance of reaching and letting them listen to your music.
Describing your potential users is great for publicity and events as well. You will know which music magazines they read and which performance places they go.
Presentation
Presentation is the detail of content and material you will be sharing throughout and after release. The videos, writings, press release material, songs etc.
Write all the material you will be preparing and make a weekly presentation plan. People will forget about you and your music very fast. Release a material every week before, during and after the release so you can engage more and more people.
In todays world, your story is as important as your music, you can expand material for presentation from your daily life as well, at the end it is your life.
Publicity
Sometimes a new album comes out and you hear about it from several places like websites, blogs and magazines. How on earth some albums get featured on magazines and some not?
There is no easy answer to this question but a connections matter. The big labels can roll out a new artist and make almost anyone hear the music in a couple of months with their already established relations. What relations do you have as of publicity?
Connect with anyone and everyone that can help you spread your music. From local small cafe to bigger news outlets. Get in front of them enough times with high quality presentation material and some of them will be happy to give a hand.
Distribution
Distribution defines how are you going to sell your music, through which mediums and how will you collect the earnings. This distribution will also define which formats you should release.
Even if your label deals with the details of distribution, you have to know how it works to prevent getting screwed on the contract.
Performances
If you are going to give concerts, adding these to your marketing and start pushing events before the release will further advance your albums success. You can have small and local events or play as a starting act for a bigger event.
Today most artists still make a living mostly out of events and concerts they give. Concerts are another way of spreading your music as well.
Here we are with the basic elements of a marketing plan, not rocket science ha?
Your first plan will not be perfect, no need to be. Though this mindset and organisation will give your artist career the edge to become successful over the next few years.
If you like this article share it with other producer friends and comment below with your opinions and most recent music.
