Good art finds its own audience. If it’s truly special, you just need to put it up on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, etc. and people will catch on. They’ll find it without marketing.

I’m sure this is what will happen with the project that you’re currently working on because it’s incredible. You’re bound to blow up just because the music is great!

Make a video for the first song. Put that brilliant conceptualization of your music up on YouTube and people will immediately respond making it go viral!

Look, I believe you’re an astonishing artist. Your music is so compelling that once a few people hear it they’ll have to share it. They’ll tell two friends then they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. That’s how it works, right?

You don’t need to spend one ounce of energy thinking about marketing. You certainly don’t need a marketing budget when your music is as good as it is.

If you believe in your talent, then your music will market itself; like drugs. Therefore, there is no need for marketing.

If they don’t get you for your art, so be it. It’ll be the same as a vegan who doesn’t understand the world’s best hamburger.

Here are 11 other artists I’m sure you’ve heard of. Their music literally changed our lives.

This will prove you never need to worry about marketing. So, there is no need to change what you’re currently doing. When you’re this good the music will find its own audience.

Let the music do the talkin’, right?

1. Beatles – You can’t argue with 600 million records sold! FYI, the bottom rung of “superstar status” begins around 20 million records. So, it’s safe to say they’re at the top of that food chain. The Beatles music was so amazing the word-of-mouth spread like wildfire. Yes, Brian Epstein (their manager) cleaned up their look, created the image and taught them to bow after every song (adorable!). Epstein sent girls out, in the beginning, to purchase Beatles records at record stores that reported sales so the Beatles would chart. The charting changed the perception of the radio Program Directors and the DJ’s. Because the singles seemed more legit, the PD’s started spinning them more. “Yesterday” has the third most performances ever on American radio and TV with over 7 million spins. Let’s not forget that 73 million people watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. But they didn’t need the exposure from radio or TV, they were the Beatles. They would’ve sold 600 million no matter what, right?
2. Rolling Stones – One of the most recognizable brands on the planet. Incredible live show. It’s not surprising that the Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, was Brian Epstein’s former assistant. Oldham changed the image of his band making them the “anti-Beatles”. That meant their image was dangerous as opposed to boys you could take home to mom. He created a new “lane” in the market. Then Oldham implemented the same chart strategy that was effective in legitimizing the Beatles. The Rolling Stones were exposed to millions of people via radio and The Ed Sullivan Show alone. But we all know how good The Rolling Stones are. They didn’t need any of that promotion. The music would’ve found its own audience just like yours will.
3. Def Leppard – Over 100 million records sold. Love them or hate them, you can’t argue the superstar status with this act. Their sophomore release, High & Dry, got the ball rolling in America. “Bringing on the Heartbreak” became a high rotation video on the relatively new MTV. This spurred a massive increase in radio spins as well. All that love only sold 250,000 copies but set the stage for their third release. This groundbreaking Mutt Lange production spawned 4 radio singles. Polygram easily spent millions promoting this record with the videos and radio promo, but all this exposure really didn’t matter. Pyromania was awesome, consumers were going to tell everybody about it anyway. The art was so good, Phil Lynott, leader of Thin Lizzy, broke up his band. He told Joe Elliott, the lead singer of Def Leppard, he couldn’t compete with Pyromania. That’s how good it was, so they really didn’t need to be the darlings of MTV with 5 videos. They really didn’t need the exposure from the radio spins.
4. Guns & Roses – Everybody knows who GNR is. Their first release, Appetite for Destruction, has sold 30 million copies. It became the best-selling debut ever and the 11^th best-selling record in the United States. Appetite had 5 singles and 5 MTV videos to support the singles. But the record was released July 21, 1987, and didn’t break for a full year later in August of 1988. How’s that? This record was so good nobody cared about it for the first year? I’m sure the phone call from label head David Geffen to MTV applying pressure to finally play the “Welcome to the Jungle” video didn’t matter. It would’ve broke no matter what, right? It was just a matter of time.
5. Michael Jackson – Michael Jackson was an international superstar in the Jackson 5 with over 50 million records sold. Every record the Jackson 5 released went multi-platinum. Side-note: It’s interesting that when they left Motown for Epic Records, they had to change their name to The Jacksons as Motown owned the name Jackson 5. It’s even more interesting that these famous household names only managed to sell 500,000 copies each on the first 2 releases following the moniker alteration. You could argue that the market didn’t know The Jacksons were the Jackson 5. But they were famous and the music was great, so the consumers would figure it out. Michael was also signed to a solo deal. His first solo release for Epic was Off the Wall and it sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Then, of course, Thriller was released which sold more than 110 million copies worldwide. To this day, Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time. They released 7 singles. I’m quite sure that the tens of millions of dollars they spent promoting the radio singles and the unforgettable videos wouldn’t have mattered. The music is so good it would have sold no matter what.
6. Wham!/George Michael – Wham! was a huge act worldwide. Millions of records were sold in Europe but nobody knew who they were in America. Why was that? Clearly, they were amazing! You could argue they wasted millions on videos and a tour in Communist China to break into America because clearly, the art would break through eventually. It was that good, right? Then George went solo and his first record entitled Faith sold 20 million. He was famous so of course, it did, right? When his second solo release dropped his label CBS Records was purchased by Sony and George wasn’t happy with the situation. He rebelled and new Sony America President, Tommy Mattola, sat on the record in retaliation. By this time, George Michaels was a superstar with almost 50 million records sold. Listen Without Prejudice Volume 1 failed miserably in sales compared to Faith. Critics and fans hailed George’s 2^nd solo effort as his artistic masterpiece. But it must’ve been the music, right? The music must have been of a lesser quality to the fans because they all knew about the record, right? How else would you explain the decline in sales when it’s all about the music? He didn’t need to market either. George was a superstar.
7. Kiss – I’m not sure which brand is more universally recognizable on the planet, Kiss or Coca-Cola. The band released their first three records for Casablanca Records within one year and nothing took off. In fact, they almost sunk the label. Then the fourth release was Alive! and that did the trick. Kiss was on their way. The live record consisted of songs off the first three records. The audience sounds were the only “live” performances from Alive!. It was completely re-recorded in the studio because the musical performances were terrible. Here is a PRIME situation proving that marketing doesn’t matter when the songs are great. They had already released the music before and it failed. Then the fans liked the live version. No marketing necessary, the fans decided, right?
8. Carrie Underwood – Carrie was a farm-girl from rural Oklahoma. But she could sing. If you study pictures of Carrie prior to her American Idol appearances, she looked plain. Now she looks like a star. Why would she do that? It’s all about the art, right? It’s all about her voice. Why change the look? Oh, let’s also remember that she came into the public awareness singing covers in front of a TV audience of over 30 million people every week. But I’m sure THAT had nothing to do with her rise to fame because her voice and look were so powerful. What AI really did was make some famous music producers aware of her talent. Once they recorded her the art took over and Carrie was on her way. No promo necessary.
9. Miranda Lambert – Miranda Lambert came into our awareness after getting tons of exposure placing third on the talent show Nashville Star. Like Carrie, she was singing covers for 9 weeks to a huge TV audience. This exposure gained her an audience and the interest of Sony Records. They signed her and released her first single. Sony, of course, went to work getting the art and the artist in front of as many people as possible and it worked. The rest is history. Miranda, in my opinion, is one of the true artists on the planet. I’m sure she would’ve broken no matter what. No marketing necessary.
10. Blake Shelton – Blake is one of the best-selling country artists. He has 24 #1’s with 17 of them being consecutive. Yes, Shelton had great songs but they became staples on the radio. His star rose higher when he started making regular TV appearances as a judge on Nashville Star in 2007 as well as The Voice which he’s been on since its inception. But all the fame and radio spins don’t matter, Blake would still be famous without them. When you’re that good you don’t need to market. You don’t need exposure because your audience will do it for you.
11. Every Record Label – Have you ever wondered why record labels have marketing & promotion departments? Especially if you believe that great art will find its own audience. In fact, most record deals will allow 10% of the overall budget to the recording and manufacturing of the product. The other 90% is saved for marketing and promotion. Why is that? Why would they spend so much money promoting when they have such good art?

 

The better question would be why aren’t you spending 90% of your money and 90% of your time promoting your music?

Remember, you’re promoting something that nobody needs. So, make them want it.

 

I obviously want you to compare here, but don’t forget the small steps. It’s not ok to say you want to become an astronaut but quit because you can’t immediately go into space. You must fly jets first. Before jets, multi-engine prop planes. Before prop planes, single engine planes. Oh, and you attend school to be allowed to operate any planes.

It’s a process.

My point is, “I don’t have any money to get on TV or the radio” is a lame excuse. You have social media and YouTube.

Artists break on social media and YouTube.

Spending every penny you have on recording your music won’t work if you want other people to care about it. If you’re not spending 90% of your overall budget on marketing, you won’t see results.

What’s your plan?

Good art does NOT magically find its own audience. Rather, audiences react to good art when they’re exposed to it enough times.

Therefore, if you don’t have any plan for marketing your masterpiece, nobody will hear it.

HINT: Market YOU before you release the project in the new music business.

Artist first.

Music second.

These artists blew up because somebody spent some time putting their art in front of NEW EYEBALLS.

Yes, you can argue that the labels had millions to spend on radio promotion and you don’t.

I would argue that even if you did have the money, it wouldn’t help you today. Period.

The formula is the same though. Get the art in front of new people who would like that kind of art.

Simple, right?

Radio and music videos used to be effective in executing the formula.

But now they’re not effective for debut artists. Especially if they don’t have big marketing budgets.

Look at the record sales.

How can you get your music in front of new, targeted eyeballs?

Social media is a start.

Oh yeah, that’s free.

YouTube is another method to potentially reach 1 billion people per day.

That’s free too.

What’s your excuse now?

You don’t know how to do it?

LEARN.

Want to be a plumber?

LEARN.

Do you aspire to be a teacher?

LEARN.

Don’t have time?

Then you don’t really want to be an artist. If you don’t have time to do the free stuff, believe me, you don’t have time to go on a radio tour either.

Good music must have marketing. It’s the way we find out about it.

If you don’t have a marketing plan, you’re wasting your time and your money.

Aren’t you sick of being disappointed?

Stay

In

Tune

“All paths are present, always… and we can but choose among them.” – Jacqueline Carey.

To rephrase this, it means you can go in any direction you want to go, you just have to choose.

But you must choose a path.

unsuccessful people don’t choose. Instead, they meander through life.

If you want to make a living making music, the path is there. Always. But you must choose.

The experience you’ll require for success is on every journey but only after you’ve chosen. Realize that you won’t have all the track laid down before the train leaves the station.

You must have faith. Rely on your intelligence and accept the failures.

Because there will be failures. Lots of them! If you want to double your successes you have to double your failures.

Forget about what other people say. Trust me, when you start learning more than them they’ll hate you for it.

You must transform into a marketer. You need to create your own audience before the industry will stand up and take notice.

The problem for most artists is that they don’t know where to begin with the marketing thing.

On one hand, marketing leaves a sour taste in your mouth; you think used car salesman.

On the other hand, not many of life’s little moments can beat out the feeling when someone responds to your music positively. If you’ve done it once, you can do it twice.

Do it 1,000 times and you’ll have a solid audience with a solid cash flow.

Take social media, for instance. We often feel like we don’t want to begin until we can master all the platforms. Of course, we don’t focus and work on any platforms while we’re thinking about mastering all of them, so we wait.

Then we get distracted on the mission critical marketing piece by telling ourselves that we need to focus elsewhere first. Like the music.

We think, “I’ll wait until I get this CD finished and then I’ll focus on the marketing.”

But that doesn’t ever work.

Not anymore.

That’s a delay tactic you’re using on yourself.

Whether you believe it or not, in today’s music market, the artist comes first, then the music.

Which means you need to be marketing RIGHT NOW.

No excuses! There is literally no good reason whatsoever for you to delay the marketing of YOU.

We’ve begun marketing some of our artists (growing their audience) as much as 18 months before the music was released.

We began marketing one artist and we hadn’t even defined the artistic lane on her project yet!

The most powerful story is the story you tell yourself.

What story do you choose to tell yourself?

You won’t put out 1 killer music video that will go viral and change your life forever.

That will require consistent work on cover songs. You’ll need to put out 1 cover video per week without fail for at least a year. I promise you’ll look back in amazement.

Let me save you the suspense, the first couple videos will take way too long to execute. But if you commit to 8 videos in 8 weeks you’ll find that the last 2 videos will take 10% of the time that the first 2 videos took.

You probably won’t get on a big TV talent show, but even if you do you’ll be barely famous for 15 minutes and then they’ll forget about you because you weren’t prepared to harvest all that heat.

You won’t know who they were.

You’ll need to set up infrastructure to capture contact information. Once you’re on the show massive amounts of people will begin to hashtag the show, judge’s names, and contestant names. All these people just raised their hands to identify themselves as fans of the show and fans of you.

Reach out to them. Oh, it’s super easy to hop on the phone and call every freakin’ radio station in the country to set up an interview when you’re on TV. Just a thought.

You probably won’t get your song on the radio, but if you do it’s not going to change your life. Again, you’ll have no idea who heard it. You won’t know who liked it.

I mean it. I have 3 artists in the top 50 on the Music Row charts at the moment. That means they’re getting spins. Their highest chart position + $2.51 will get them a venti drip at Starbucks.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not hurting their brand, but the return on investment isn’t worth the price this early in the game.

Radio is for later.

You need data right now.

You need measurable results.

You need to see a definite ROI (Return On Investment) for every dollar you spend. I’m not saying you’re going to get your money back this early on, but you need SOMETHING to measure the return; like an email address.

Permission Marketing is the key to growing your audience.

Growing your audience starts with social media and YouTube. They’re free. Oops, I didn’t mean to blow your best excuse for not making it…Money.

Then you must harvest the contact data and know what to do with it after you do. If you own the contact information you’ll always be able to reach them for free.

Every other industry on this planet has radically transformed because of the internet. The makeover has been the same all around; the creators of the product or service get directly in touch with the end user.

Distribution is out.

Eventually.

Think about the travel industry. Once people could book their own flights online, travel agents vanished. The service providers like airlines, rental car companies, and cruises could interact directly with you, the end user. Travel agents instantly became irrelevant for unsophisticated travel.

Think about Dell Computer company. They don’t sell through distribution. They control every aspect of the way you feel about their product and service from the advertising to the purchase, to the tech support.

They control the customer journey.

The music industry will go the same way because EVERYONE ELSE HAS.

Do you see the writing on the wall?

The wounds to the formerly successful pipeline for developing the art, creating the demand, and distributing the product are relatively fresh in the music industry.

Predictably, the industry is going to be slow to adapt.

But the artist who adapts now is the artist who will win.

The artist who chooses to market RIGHT NOW will be victorious.

You cannot afford to wait if you’re serious about making a living in the music industry.

You must move now.

The learning curve is stout but it’s not rocket science, therefore, completely achievable.

Hell, there are artists who have MASTERED it.

Pursue excellence in marketing like you hopefully chase the mastery of your craft.

Excellence requires regular work.

The kind of work one can only do once they’ve chosen a path.

In 1519 AD, during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Hernán Cortés, the Spanish commander, scuttled his ships so that his men would have to conquer or die.

He chose a path and didn’t waiver.

What will you choose?

Stay

In

Tune

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I hear artists say this every day. “I suck at networking”.

It’s true.

You do suck at networking.

But it’s because of these 2 reasons so it’s totally fixable.

1. You think you suck at networking
2. Therefore, you don’t network.

It’s a muscle that you must develop. You’re afraid to develop it because you think you need to be the “life of the party” to make it happen.

False.

What is absolutely required for effective networking is

1. Effort
2. Perspective
3. Humility
4. Authenticity

Effort:

Show up. If you’re not there you can’t network. You can’t win if you don’t play. Oh, and you must KEEP ON showing up.

Are you needing band members? Show up. Go out to all the clubs as much as you can to see the bands and pick your players. If you’re good they’ll consider it. This is how the best musicians from all the local bands gravitate to one another. If they’re not giving you the time of day, it’s because you’re approaching them in an obnoxious way or you need to work on your artistry more.

Presentation matters. These new band mates and business associates are going to need to see something tangible. They are not going to see your potential so plan to put at least one decent recording together to use as a calling card.

I just had a reunion of sorts with a guitar player friend of mine who played with me in a solo project I did for a hot second in LA. I met him at a restaurant bar. The bartender was an artist I was doing a little producing for. We talked and I mentioned I was looking for a guitar player. I left him a CD of some tracks. He called me on my way home and was like, “I’m IN!”

Had I not had that recording demonstrating my songs, professionalism, and attitude, he wouldn’t have called, I guarantee it.

One of my favorite hit songwriters is a guy I met out at Loser’s which is a common industry hang out here in Nashville. We became friends and he was regularly emailing me to say hello and stay in touch. I presented him with an artist for a co-write. He began a long-standing relationship with that artist, resulting in multiple cuts, and they’re now on their second single. It’s charting on the Music Row chart.

I see him out all the time. The other evening I wanted him to meet a writer friend of mine that was in town from Miami. I texted him. He came right over. I introduced him to the songwriter and he introduced me to this incredible new artist he’s been writing with and maybe we’ll do some business. Who knows?

But he was there. Get it?

Perspective:

Every relationship you make may not have any value but just about all of them won’t have immediate value. That’s where most people fall off.

They lose interest if there is no immediate satisfaction. They also get sour about it sometimes. Like if you meet someone you’re attracted to, immediately ask them for sex, and then decide to hate them because they said “NO”.  (that’s called Cognitive Dissonance…but I digress)

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Realize that you’re laying down railroad track as opposed to putting the actual train on the tracks. I have many lifelong relationships that were started in odd ways with no expectations whatsoever.

When my band initially signed with a huge regional booking agency out of Minneapolis, the first thing I needed to know was what the competition looked like.

Who was the best?

I reached out to the receptionist and asked. She told me it was a band called “Mannekin” and they would be in Milwaukee on tour in 2 weeks. I said I wanted to go, but I was only 19 years old. Michelle told me that she would set it all up with their manager Mark O’Toole.

That evening I got my ass KICKED artistically.

That band was freaking amazing. I couldn’t believe I saw them in a club. The bar had just moved up and I needed to know more so I simply asked Mark if I could take him out to eat after the show. He happily agreed. I bought breakfast at 3 am and started asking as many questions as I could get away with.

Here’s the deal. That was the start of a lifelong friendship, literally. We lost Mark a couple years ago, but he always had my back. When we needed a photo shoot for our poster, he offered to “piggyback” us on his photo shoot for Mannekin with Prince’s photographer, Al Beaulieu. That cost us $600 including hair and makeup.  He constantly helped me with negotiating strategies with club owners when we were touring. All because he was a good friend.

My point is I couldn’t have predicted all that, I just wanted to learn and he was willing to teach. I expected nothing more than that first meal, but he liked me. He saw something. I was so lucky.

I think that artists tend to subconsciously avoid networking because they don’t see an immediate return on the time investment of creating the relationship. That’s a mistake because you never know what could happen.

Every semester I am blessed to have a bunch of interns. One of the value-adds I offer the interns is access to certain industry functions (when possible) and the ability to hang with me at certain showcases and artist shows. I’ll introduce them to everyone I speak with. I tell the interns, they’re not required to attend when they get the text invite, but they’re encouraged to attend. The relationships they will make probably won’t amount to much if anything at all, but imagine them interviewing with a record label for job a couple years in the future and sitting across from someone they already met. “Hey Ms. So-And-So, you probably don’t remember me, but we hung out one night with Johnny D from Daredevil Production watching this artist at this club.”  Already, subconsciously, the intern has moved their application to a different mental pile because they’ve already met.

Does that make sense?

Humility:

Without humility, you’re not going to create many relationships.

Especially in the music business.

When I met Mark, I was young and very green and he knew it. I wasn’t trying to pretend I was some big shot and he appreciated that. I was a sponge.

I paid for that dinner at Denny’s because I had so many questions, you know?  He loved that. I was asking the right questions about the business as opposed to “How can you help me get famous?”

Every week I get hit up on email, Twitter, and Instagram with artists who shoot me messages like, “Yo, let’s do business. How do we get started?”.

WTF?

What’s your name? What’s your story? Have we ever met? This is not only a complete turn-off, but it’s a dead giveaway to a rookie with poor communication skills.

Something humbler like, “Hey Johnny, this is so-and-so from this band and I like what you’re doing, can we possibly set up a time to talk about working together?” would be a better way to spin that approach.

Always be humble and kind.

Music industry people are generally really good people and like to help other people as long as they believe that person isn’t a schmuck.  You’d be amazed at what a little humility and an honest, “I need some help” will get you.

I remember when I first came to Nashville in 1995. My friend John Prestia told me that he was good friends with a hit songwriter named Kim Tribble. He told me to go and meet with Kim.

I did.

Kim was the kindest and most gracious soul. We spoke for about an hour in his office. The whole time I was worried I was taking up too much of his time. Kim could sense that. After an hour, I couldn’t help myself, I told Kim, “Hey I know you’re super busy and I’m so thankful for this time, Kim! I’ll see myself out.”

I didn’t want to impose.

To which Kim replied, “It’s cool, man. I like you. I have to run some errands and you’re welcome to join me if you want. Do you have time to hang?”

See how humility worked there?

I had NOTHING else to do. I spent the whole day with Kim. He listened to all my songs and that led me to 2 other writer/producer relationships that I still currently have.

And finally, Authenticity.

This is a biggie. I think most artists feel terribly uncomfortable networking because they feel like they have to be something they’re not. I think they feel like they have to be this huge gregarious personality that everybody loves in order to an effective networker, but that just isn’t the case.

Just be yourself.

Just be real.

THAT is what makes you amazing, and THAT is what people will respond to. When you meet people be your authentic self and they’ll respond authentically.

Personally, I can tell you that I’m not for everybody. I do have a big personality and it’s a turn-off sometimes. That’s ok. When I feel someone responding in a negative manner towards my personality I realize that we’re probably not going to do business together or I’m needing to provide more value in this relationship to make it “worth it” for the other person.

I also realize it’s probably time to shut up, but I digress…

Don’t worry if everyone doesn’t like you or love you. You can’t be all things to all people. You’re going to get this. Don’t take it personally.

The ones who DO respond to your authentic-self are going to create deep relationships with you because they know who you really are.

That kind of relationship is one of the best gifts you’ll ever receive.

Have confidence in yourself in that regard. Just go meet people and get to know them. Ask them about themselves. The more you get them talking (and people LOVE to talk about themselves) the more you’ll learn.

FYI, I can’t tell you how many times I met someone, got them talking, and through listening realized that this is NOT someone I want to do business with. All without opening my mouth after saying hello.

The truth is unless you’re a hermit with zero friends, you’re a great networker. You’re just thinking about it the wrong way. You know how to make friends and influence people, but when you put in the context of being intentional about it, it seems daunting. It’s also scary with strangers.

I get it.

But Networking is a mission critical part of your career, my friend. It’s a muscle you MUST develop.

So, what are you waiting for?

Stay

In

Tune.

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