If I had a penny for every time someone said ‘community’ or ‘direct to fan,’ I’d be insanely rich. As repetitive as these buzzwords have become, you can’t argue—there is incredible merit in focusing marketing efforts on smaller segments vs. trying to appeal to everyone. And, as the internet has expanded, the more difficult it has become for your music to find an audience. What independent artists need is a radical and somewhat counterintuitive mind set to reach fewer fans, but reach the right fans, to prioritise slow and sustained growth rather than planning for ‘that one big moment’. Don’t get me wrong, that ‘one big moment’ may come, but that moment or song will be the one that propels you to your next phase as an artist, not one that makes or breaks your career. Developing a sustainable career starts with marketing to the right fans, at the right time, through the most effective marketing channels.
Marketing strategy starts with ‘who’, not ‘what’
Who are you making music for? Well, yes, yourself. You really should be doing what you do because it gives you joy. But, it’s important to take a minute to figure out who are the fans who naturally gravitate towards your sound. A great framework I can’t recommend enough is the ‘must/should/could/won’t have’ method. Suppose you make lofi hip-hop and most of your music is in the Hindi language. It is tempting to think that the whole universe of hindi listeners are potential fans. When you apply this framework, you may quickly realise you ‘could have’ them as fans, but that doesn’t mean you will. You ‘must have’ people who already know you—friends, family, alumni network. The running joke at all music conferences this year references the Luminate data that 45.6 million songs have 0 plays. Why are artists not listening to their own music? Don’t be that person, your marketing starts with the people in your network. Where you focus your efforts then are the ‘should have’. In the same example, Spotify’s biggest lofi Hindi playlist ‘Lofi vibe hindi’ has 268k saves, that’s a pretty good proxy for the unique count of listeners you should have. The largest playlist in your unique sub genre across DSPs is the best proxy for a realistic look at how big your fan base can be.
This brings me to the second thing, where are these fans? Maybe in the example of lofi hindi, that particular spotify playlist had the most number of listeners, but say you play electronic music, you really want to think of Beatport as a focus streaming service. Apple Music has largely been seen as a niche in India by virtue of being available only by paid subscription, and was often a lower focus for artists as a result, but now that is changing—especially for Punjabi and Hip-hop artists. Once you know who your fan base is, you can match your marketing channels to where they are. Rather than trying to make your mark on every platform, spend your time, effort and resources on the platforms where you are most likely to find your people.
Less is more
There is a stark difference in what you do when you optimise for success vs. when you optimise for reach. For artists in early stages of development, you are more likely to secure placements in hyper genre/mood specific playlists rather than the biggest playlist on the platform. You also can’t overlook the impact of user generated playlists. Getting your friends and family to add your song to their playlists goes a long way, especially to increase your chances to be featured from algorithmic recommendations. You also have the option to take advantage of programs like TuneCore Accelerator that increase your chances of finding your future fans.
Lastly, an aspect that is often overlooked is music remarketing. Our natural disposition as humans is to move forward, so it’s no surprise that we tend to put all our energy on the latest release. But for independent artists who are looking to establish longevity in the music industry, your catalogue is your biggest strength. We’ve all seen the incredible valuations of catalogues of artists like Bruce Springsteen ($550 Million), Justin Bieber ($200 Million), Michael Jackson ($1.2 Billion). These artists didn’t reach that high level of success and value by simply putting their music out into the world and moving on. They have a team that monitors their catalogue to find the right time and opportunities to remarket the music. Independent artists who adopt this approach will have an edge over those who are only frontline focused. If you see a spike in streams of a song you released a while back, investigate where and why the spike happened. Was it on a short format platform like Reels? You should think about investing in influencer marketing to add to the momentum. Once it picks up, leverage platforms like Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists to repitch to mood/trend-based playlists. Sustainable success in music is all about the little steps that compound in the long run.
No better way to sum it up (pun intended): 1365= 1. 1.01365= 37.8.