Developing As a Brand

It’s 2014. The music industry is no longer the same as 10 or 15 years ago. Artists now have to understand that relying on being discovered and signed to a dream of a deal should no longer be their ultimate goal. One must see oneself as a brand, just like Coca Cola or Microsoft. The idea is to get the masses emotionally invested in you. Not just your singing, rapping and beats, but you. Your brand must become important to them so that they care about whatever the next thing is you tell them you’re doing.

I came across a very interesting article by Mattew Myers at Music Think Tank, which outlines the process of artist development from the label/indie artist perspective. It is an excellent article which gives the risks and potential return of various strategies of music marketing. In my opinion, much of the things the writer earmarks as responsibilities of the publisher/investor/label can be handled by the savvy artist who understands the value of building a sizeable and loyal movement behind him/her. This involves getting music videos done, using social media as a promotional tool, booking and funding studio time and sourcing and funding music production among other things. This latter area happens to be a specialty of mine and I can tell you for a fact that artists who buy beats online have a head start because that can seriously cut the costs of getting a mixtape, EP or album completed.

Take some time and check this article out here. It is very informative and can help you focus your energies in the right direction