Reality Check
I run across a ton of independent artist on a weekly basis. The strange thing is the faces change but the problem remains the same. I know that you feel that your album is the best thing since sliced bread, and that you should get top dollar for it. Who am I to judge… Maybe you should get paid for your album. All of that sounds good in a make believe fair tail land, but out here in this big place the rest of us call reality nobody knows who you are. Thus they are not going to buy your CD.

The first thing you want to do as a new artist is to…. Dare I say it??? “Giveaway Your CD”. The bottom line is you will have to give your music away at the beginning of your career. You can do this by adding a free download section to your website. If you are tech savvy you can add a listening section to your website.

Most people will not purchase your CD if they do not have an idea of what to expect from you. If your music is free people will download it and listen to it if they can relate to your style. These are the people that will eventually become customers.

The bottom line is do not be afraid to give your music away. This is the best way to build loyal followers.

Tag It
I write music reviews for several music magazines, which means that I receive a ton of demos. I have my assistant load all of the demos on to my iPod and I listen and review the demos throughout the day. The unfortunate thing is the majority of the artists do not take the time to take their music files. If you do not know what I am talking about then chances are you are one of those people that I am talking about.

While creating your music files you want to make sure to embed your artist information. It is also a good idea to put your website address on the same line as your album title. Depending on the length of your web address you may want to include it in your song title. Whatever you do tag your music. You have to think when your send your album to someone it usually sits around for weeks if not months. Then it is either listen to on some type of mp3 device, home stereo, or car CD player. As your track is playing the your information is displayed across the screen.

If I receive an album that isn’t tagged I throw it out!

Being Unique Sucks
While interviewing artist I always ask, “how would you categorize your sound?” Without a doubt the artist will say without hesitation, “I feel that I have a unique sound.” The truth is most people do not like change. When it comes to music people want something that they can relate to. If you do not believe that, listen to your radio and track how many remakes you hear in one hour. Better yet listen to how many new artist sound like someone else. This isn’t a coincidence my friend – the powers that be know what they are doing.

You Must Have Your Own Website
If you have one of those social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, ect… that is fine and well. However if you are even the slightest bit serious about your music career it is crucial that you own your own domain name.  That is the only way that you will have 100% control over building your fan base. Those other social sites do not allow you to have complete control over your fan base. A good real life example of why you should have your own domain name is MP3.com. Artist from around the world were making a living based on this companies structure. Overnight the company changed hands and thousands of independent artists careers were over.

If you own your own website you control your fan base. You control the emails that go out to your fan base. You control the advertisement on your website. No matter what form of promotion you do you should always be driving people back to your website.

Find An Angle
Have you ever noticed that every successful artist has this sad story to tell. Don’t take my word for it, go to Billboard.com look up the top artist in any genre then go look up their biography. You will be amazed at the heart-wrenching story that they tell. It isn’t a coincidence that every successful person has a said story to tell. This is done by design – it’s good marketing my friend.

A good story will also give your target audience a way to connect with you. Keep in mind that people like people who are like themselves. If they like you they will do business with you.

Get Testimonials
Always ask your customers for testimonials. The more reviews that you get on your album the more credibility you will have as an artist. You can also use your testimonials to improve your craft. Encourage your users to post reviews of your album on various community sites.

Add A Forum To Your Site
A forum is a way for you to build a solid community and a great way to stay in touch with your fan base. People will keep coming back to your site if they can meet like-minded people there and talk to them. A forum will help you to grow your fan base by leaps and bounds.

Be Professional
You have made a decision to make the music business your career. Notice that I put special emphasis on the word ‘business’. That is because this is a business and you need to conduct yourself as such at all times. It is important that you remember by wanting people to purchase your music you are providing a service. When providing a service it is important to provide top-notch customer service. When you receive inquiries make sure to attend to them promptly and maintain a good relationship with your customers at all times.  Remember it is easier to sell to someone who has purchased from you once than it is to find a new customer.

Don’t be afraid to be creative. Come up with new ways to keep your customers happy. For example when they fill out their information you could collect their birthday data. You can setup your database to automatically send them a free MP3 as a gift. Little things like that mean a lot to your customers and it will assure that you keep them around for a long time.

Be The Master Of Your Destiny
Growing up my mother had all kind of crazy sayings. I never thought that I would be able to use them, but now is my chance.

Famous Sayings by “Mary Beachum”

“The squeaky wheel is the first to be greased.”

“A closed mouth doesn’t get fed.”

“You should always strive to make your good your better and your better your best, never let it rest until your good is your better and your better is your best.”

“It is always best to be the number one you, than the number two somebody else.”

I shared those saying with you to say this. If you aren’t willing to believe in you why should someone else. The music business is a very competitive business and unfortunately the best individual doesn’t always win. You can have all of the talent in the world it doesn’t matter if know one knows about you. You job is to build an audience, a fan base or in the marketing world it is called an opt-in list.

Take a look at the big picture. If you have taken the initiative to build your own following and you are selling your own album. Trust me… Record labels will stand up and take notice. Record labels are like sharks and your music career is like blood in the water. The more blood in the water the more they will swarm.

The bottom line for you as an independent artist is you should become independently successful first. The big money will soon follow!

Booking Information
If you are doing shows (and you should be) it is important that you include your booking information on your website. You will be surprised at how many new bookings you will acquire.

K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple Stupid! For some reason those artist that have the foresight to own their own website they usually make it to complicated. Remember your visitor is at your website to interact with you. They want to read about you, listen to your work, and see your photos. Although it may be cute to you nobody wants to watch a 5 minute animation before they are about to actually enter your website. The more user friendly your website is the more the chances are you will make sales. It’s just that simple.

Ask For The Money
If you are doing a live performance make sure that you have a table set up in the back of the room that sale your merchandise. I can’t tell you how many times I have asked a band after the performance if they have any CD’s for sale and the answer is no. I visit the website and I have to dig deep just to the buy now button.

If the end user is at your website it is because they are interested in you. Every visitor to your website is a potential sale.

Look at it this way… Your website is the beginning of the sales process. View it as a sliding board. Once the customer gets on the sliding board it is your job to make sure that they have a smooth ride all the way down to the order button.

Example Sales Process:

1. Offer something for free – this gets the user to come to your website.
2. In order to get the free gift they must enter their information – send them out a thank you letter.
3. Once you have the users contact information follow up with the user by asking them how did they like their free gift. While you are at it throw in a special exclusive offer just for joining your list (this is an opportunity for another sale).
4. Keep in touch with your followers to make them aware of all of your updates. This will keep them coming back to your website over and over again.

Follow that sales process and you are sure to generate sales hand over fist.
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