Mike McCready And Indie Music Talk

What Does It Take To Break An Artist? A Solid Team & Cold Hard Cash

I’ve been singing this song for a while and I’m starting to get some validation from other bloggers and people in this business. Those who tout all the DIY strategies are seeing the tide turn on them simply due to the lack of success cases. It’s been years now that artists can have their music cheaply distributed to fans and even to all the digital retailers. Promotion widgets and tools have been spreading like wildfire across the web. But where are all the artists who have broken doing it on their own?

Don’t get me wrong. I think the entrepreneurs who are making music and acts easier to promote, distribute and find are doing a HUGE and much needed service. I recommend using them and really like many of the people behind these companies. The thing is, artists aren’t directly benefiting – at least not much. Do you know who is? Other entrepreneurs and the business people who are interested in getting behind acts to give them a big push. These new services have made it possible for smaller teams with fewer resources to compete against the big boys and get real results. But don’t let anyone fool you into believing it can be done by the artist themselves and for no money at all.

If you’ve been following what I’ve been saying lately you’ll remember I discussed a little experiment we did a few weeks ago where we tracked how effective artists are at promoting their own music to fans and strangers on the web. For the most part we reached the conclusion that firstly, artists aren’t very good at promotion and secondly that the audience is a bit burned out by all the requests to listen to new music that bombard them ever more frequently.

What does this mean? Mostly it means that if as an artist you want to stand out (and in addition to great music) you need a team. You need differentiating factors that will help you rise above the noise of every other artist out there trying to gain traction. It’s not unlike the challenges that are faced by a new company trying to enter a crowded market. You have to have marketing know-how, smart people who can execute a well-thought-out plan and you have to have the resources (read “money”) to make it happen.

Don’t shoot the messenger. You’re better off knowing this stuff than living in denial. 
 

Mike McCready
CEO
Music Xray http://musicxray.com
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By Mike McCready, Executive in the digital music & social media space