5 Ways To Embrace The Business Side of Your Music
Author: Zach Spruill, Guest Contributor
Learn to Market and Sell Yourself - Some of the best players in the world are unknown because they don’t know how to market and sell themselves.
These days, there are three critical components to marketing and selling yourself as a musician. Whether your goal is to play gigs, be on studio recordings, be a writer/arranger, teach lessons, or all of the above and beyond, first impressions are critical. In order to make a great first impression you need a website, active social media profiles, and business cards, each with attractive look and feel.
With the advent of easy to create and maintain website services such as Squarespace, Wix, HostGator, and more, it is now easier and more affordable than ever to create an attractive website with accompanying custom email address. The first thing a potential client is going to do after discovering your name is to look you up online. If they got your name from someone else, your web presence is your first impression. Your website needs to be clean, attractive, and well organized content with clear direction. The home page should quickly tell them, who you are, what you do, how you do it, and call them to action. When they reach out to contact you, your email address says a lot as well. If you are an individual, sending an email to David@DaveSmithMusic.com is going to have a much more professional appeal than daveplaysthesax@gmail.com. A custom website and domain with accompanying email is easier and more affordable to attain than you think, and it will automatically make you stand out.
Additionally, your social media profiles should match the look and feel of your website. If a potential client goes back and forth between the two, you want to make sure they feel a sense of continuity. A lot of musicians don’t maintain a professional social media presence well because they are discouraged by having few followers. However, the number of followers is not near as important as the content or the consistency. People will go to Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for more information about your brand, and they’ll expect to see recent content when they get there. It won’t look good if your last post was from the middle of last year. They’ll wonder how often you’re still doing business.
Lastly, your business cards should make as much of an impression as your handshake. They should look good, match your branding, be legible, and be thick enough to feel substantial in the potential client’s hand. A thin, flimsy business card that waves in the wind is almost as bad as one of those “dead fish”, limp handshakes. Your business card should be an extension of how you want to be remembered once the conversation is over.
Connect, Connect, Connect - It’s all about who you know. The music business is as much about networking and making new connections as it is about the music you are creating. Your portfolio of amazing works won’t be enough. You need to connect with people that can help it be heard. The more people you know, the more connections you make, the more likely you are to be successful. Fill your address book with industry contacts, potential venues, other musicians, etc. Reach out and follow up with them regularly to maintain and strengthen those relationships. The more people you know and the better you know them, the better off you will be.
Be Accessible - Make contacting you and finding/sharing your content easy. Pick up the phone. Return phone calls. Answer texts and emails as quickly as possible. These things sound like common sense, but the one that responds the fastest and most professionally will get the business. There are a ton of musicians out there. You won’t be the only one that the client will be reaching out to. Differentiate yourself by being the most responsive, informative, and reliable professional of the bunch.
Humble Yourself - Your original music probably won’t pay the bills; at least not in the beginning.
Many musicians are also writers. It’s the most honest form of their creativity. Everyone would love to just write music and make it big playing all your own stuff. It’s important to recognize that, in the beginning, that won’t be the case for most musicians. Your clients and the people that follow your music want to be entertained. Performing/recording covers of popular tunes can have an enormous impact on how well you resonate with your following. That doesn’t mean you have to “sell out”, as it’s often said in the industry. Just because you play someone else’s song does not meant that you can’t perform it your own way. It also does not mean that you can’t also include original music when you perform. Just keep in mind that in many cases, for original music to get a foothold, it needs to have the assist of something more familiar; something potential clients and followers can relate to.
Mind Your Money - Know your numbers. The point of all this is to not only enjoy what you do, but also make money doing it…right? To do that you need to not only be aware of how much money is coming in, but also how much money is going out both professionally and personally. There are many apps and programs available to assist you in tracking your income, expenses, and vehicle mileage. You’ll also want to be aware of your tax deductible expenses, how to manage them, and understand what tax benefits your financial situation might provide you. Keep every receipt (whether physically or digitally), and log every penny in and out. Reaching out to a trusted financial advisor comes highly recommended. They can help you ensure nothing slips through the cracks and that you come out ahead when tax season arrives. In addition to these, there are many more ways to embrace the business side of your music.
About The Author
As a Music Business graduate of the University of Houston's Moores School of Music Zach was fortunate to be able to study with saxophone performance and recording artist Woody Witt, and be a member of the University's Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Noe Marmolejo. Prior to arriving at U of H, Zach studied under popular Houston jazz saxophonist Martin Langford and Doug Skinner of Texas State University in San Marcos. Zach has extensive experience performing as a solo artist as well as part of jam bands, big bands, jazz combos, wind ensembles, and smaller chamber ensembles at venues large and small. ach has been fortunate to work with some of the finest talents the music industry has to offer from Texas to the New England states and Los Angeles. He's shared studios with producers, engineers and musicians responsible for the success of Jason Mraz, Lifehouse, Prince, Usher, and more. Performing in a variety of different groups has placed him on stage with some of the greatest of today's musicians including jazz greats Bill Evans, Vincent Herring, Conrad Herwig, and Jon Faddis as well as popular artists Edwin McCain, Green River Ordinance, Lucinda Williams, and more. Zach has performed on large stages like House of Blues and Hard Rock Cafe as well as smaller jazz clubs, major television networks like FOX, ABC, and CBS, and radio stations in South Texas and surrounding areas.
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