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Guerilla Marketing for Independent Artists and Why It Matters

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Guerilla Marketing

“Independence” implies a sense of autonomy, and for an artist, it can mean creative freedom: to find themselves express their inner thoughts in the most uninhibited fashion. Something to think about is why be inhibited about getting your music heard? While it can get competitive for emerging artists who want to get their music out,  guerilla marketing for independent artists can stand out. It’s an approach that you can align your values with whilst being just as quirky as your vivid imagination.

The central objective behind carrying out a guerilla marketing activity is to obtain a sense of visibility for you as an artist, but what’s unique about it is that it’s cost-effective and highly impactful. While a strong online presence is essential, what’s also equally important is how you shape your presence offline, and that’s where your DIY ethos will come into play. As consumers, we have an eye for things that look and feel different, so the curiosity and sense of mysticism that comes with guerilla marketing stands out.  To top it over, it is also a sign of effort made on your part that agents and promoters will most definitely notice.

Guerilla marketing has its traditional footings in doing things in the most unperturbed fashion, where the simplest of music promotion chores can have a quirky spin to them: imagine, for example, giving out your band stickers with a limited download code for your music online. These marketing collaterals act as great talking points within your community where you are instrumental in encouraging people to create a buzz around your music. One of the many advantages of this is that all the activities you carry in a fully offline space will lead to will make their way online through word of mouth. The next time you are dropping a new song or an album, go the guerilla way, make that personal connection with your fans. Those types of kinships that you establish early on for you and your music go a long way!

youbloom is a platform that helps you as an artist to grow, sign up here and find out more: https://www.youbloom.com/artist-apply/

Fan Devotion: 4 Ways To Campaign For Your Favourite Local Artists

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Fan devotion is a rather inherent trait we possess as individuals who are absorbed into the music of our choice, which is a by-product of our incalculable ‘love’ for a particular band or an artist. As fans, we have the power to exercise our fan – devotion in numerous ways that will help build the cultural fabric of something that we call our own: our local music scene!

Showcase your band of the week on social media

Your social media account is a hotspot of individuals engaging with one another; which is a great representation of how we exchange information in this day and age. Talking about your local bands on social media platforms is one such a piece of  “information” that finds itself being exposed directly to a plethora of individuals: the process of doing so is enabling your local musicians to leverage from your reach. So go right ahead, and use your Instagram stories to share your local music! 

Volunteer at local shows 

Volunteering at local shows can go a million miles: not only does volunteering give you a sense of identity, but it also puts you and your scene in a position of unanimity. To top it over, providing a helping hand to your local bands is lifting a colossal amount of weight off their shoulders. Giving something back to your local music community is a great sign of fan devotion. 

Buy their merchandise

Buying local merch is a common practice among fans lately, and why shouldn’t it be! Much like sharing music on social media, the act of sporting your favorite band merchandise is the most subtle way of  “advertising” your love for a band. The “visual aesthetic” creates a sense of familiarity within your social circle which helps generate a great deal of visibility for local talent. 

Give your local artists a pat on the back 

Last but not least, your local heroes always love to hear from you: a word of appreciation gives them a boost of confidence. The next time you are at a show that you have thoroughly enjoyed, be sure to let the band know what you think!

 

Sign up as a Fan today: https://www.youbloom.com/request/

Independent Artists: Internet Helps Bypass Gatekeepers

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The internet is a sea of opportunities if used optimally, and more so for emerging and independent artists. If you want to scale up and expand your reach, the internet is a great place to help you as an artist to bypass gatekeepers. An emerging culture of music streaming, as opposed to physical sales, has steered this ship in a direction where independent artists can freely carry out their artistic expression on social media platforms to attract an audience. Never before has it been this viable for alternative cultures such as underground music and art to surface and grow without necessarily having to budge for bodies of authority.  This blog post will discuss how you as an independent artist can bypass those gatekeepers. 

Use Facebook and LinkedIn to find Journalists to Write about your Music 

As a matter of interest, magazines and tabloids are in an unrelenting search for new content all the time. All it requires from you is that you make yourself visible to them on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. To top it over, owing to the culture of a close-knit community, music journalists and music promoters will often work in conjunction. Not only would journalists write about you, but chances are that they might add you to their recommendation list to promoters. Though you’re busy writing the best music you can, it may be worth finding the time to make yourself heard on these social media platforms.

Follow Promoters on Twitter and Instagram

Promoters spend a lot of time on the internet, start following them TODAY. Start interacting with them, comment on their posts, establish a personal connection. Smart usage of the internet can help you secure gigs. 

Send Newsletters to your Fans and Promoters

Newsletterring is a very effective approach to maintain fan exclusivity and retention. The idea behind this exercise is to establish a very personal rapport with all parties involved, where you as an artist show how much you care for your fans. Imagine the sense of suspense and exclusivity that comes with being part of a secret gig around the corner. This sentiment can be created by advertising your show through newsletters to a selected list of your fans.

Use Online Communities to Spread your Music

Online communities are certainly a very crucial part of building online visibility. One of the ways to spread your music on digital platforms is to share your music with fellow musicians, which always creates a room for opportunity. Collaborating with similar artists is a great way to build your repertoire and Facebook’s communities feature makes this much more lucrative. Here’s a full blog post on building an online community of fans. 

youbloom is a platform that helps you as an artist to grow, sign up here and find out more: https://www.youbloom.com/artist-apply/

Indie Artists: Be Your Own Booking Agent

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Time to Drop the Booking Agent, Here’s How to Book Your Own Shows

No one knows better than an indie artist how frustrating and stressful it can be to book shows, tour, and perform. The struggle, when it comes to getting in touch with venues, managers and bookers, is quite real. Hiring a booking agent may seem like the easy answer, but if the royalties aren’t exactly flowing in yet, you might not be in the financial position to do this. What to do, then? Let’s not forget that we are the DIY generation, we do it ourselves. Here’s how to book your own shows.

Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes
Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes

Perhaps you’ve made a list of all the venues that would fit your music, sound, and style, and yet it’s nearly impossible to get them to give you a decent time slot. You will most likely get an 11pm weeknight spot or a 3pm Sunday afternoon one, and we all know that no one is going to miss brunch to catch your new band at what promises to be an empty, desolated venue.

When you ask for a better, higher profile slot, the booking agent usually says: “Well, how many people can you draw?”. If the answer is more than 20, then you’ve got yourself a Friday night show. However, if your response is anything less, you’ll have to wait patiently in line until your following is bigger.

Which brings us to our next point.

 

Book Others, to Book Yourself.

How is a band supposed to grow a fan base if the only shows they can play occur when people are watching Netflix or in a yoga class? Good question indeed. Those who manage to bring a good crowd are those who are either already established or have a lot of friends in town. Venues are not going to bet on a new indie artist nor are they looking for the next big act to feature before they blow up. Venues want to break even. They want to see the money they spend on a typical Friday night come back in full, and if possible make a little profit.

Be your own booking agent. Look for an equally unknown band that shares your ambitions, ethos, and sound and put a show together. Perhaps, pick a less reputable venue in your town; smaller and more intimate is ideal. Make sure you market the show as a party; a night to have some fun and enjoy some live music. Startups like Sofar Sounds have built a brand around this exact experience and platforms like youbloomConnect match local indie artists with one another, making it easy for bands to come together and book. 

Each band will bring their friends, and if you advertised the event properly, their friends will bring other friends looking for a fun night.

Play the show, distribute some t-shirts, have a beer and repeat.

One of two things will happen. You will either get a call from the bigger venues looking to book your band or you won’t need them anymore because your fan base has been growing without their help.

You should hope for the latter.

Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes
Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes

About the Blogger

Luca a freelance writer, blogger, musician and songwriter. Born and
raised in Italy, his passion for Rock n Roll made him move to London where he
lived for one year and gained a certificate in Songwriting from ICMP.
Luca relocated in NYC in 2014 to pursue jazz music and liberal arts at the
The New School from which he graduated in December 2017. Luca currently
resides in Nashville, TN

Best Options For Marketing Your Band To A Wider Audience

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If you’re in a band and you want to be popular in the music scene, you have to face countless
others who want to be just as famous as their stars. Your best bet is to have a good marketing
strategy.

Marketing for any type of product continues to evolve with the market, which makes services
step up their game every so often and make marketing a daunting term to those new in the field.
Here are some tips that can get you started on a full-blown marketing campaign for your band:

1. Awareness: Who Is Aware of Your
Music?
Music isn’t your only tool to be known by
your fans. You can also invite people to
attend your gigs and review you as a band, so
they can spread the word.

● You can reach out to local bloggers
and influencers with free tickets to
your gig, or a free EP to give access
to your music. This lets them know
that you really want to engage your fans.
● Snapchat is also a growing tool you could use to post live updates of your gigs to your
fans. It’s becoming a widely used service even by popular news sites, which means a lot
of users are going to look for you here as well if they are your fans.
● Facebook is your friend, but you shouldn’t stick to groups and pages. You can use the
power of live streaming, sharing commentary, and creating the atmosphere of being
engaging by always staying up to date with Facebook’s latest trends and using them to
engage your fans.

2. Responsiveness: Are You Communicating With Fans?
Of course, you can’t exactly form a fan base if you’re not appealing to your prospective fans. It’s
not always about your music, but how you convey it. You should be a group that people want to
follow and check out. You should convey a personality of sorts when you interact with your
fans, even in social media.

● Artists and bands may want to consider how large is their fan base first before releasing
their tracks. If you want to make a partnership with labels, your social media numbers
may be your version of cred for partners and sponsors.
● One way to do this is by making design contests. You can challenge artists to create
posters or shirt designs for your band, and print the winner.

3. Exposure: Where Do You Bring Your Music?
So you have a band, and you want to be known. You have tracks ready, and you may have been
doing gigs of your own as well. However, this shouldn’t count as your overall exposure, as you
may need to do something more to fully expose your fans to your music.

● For instance, you can do unique song covers such as acoustic versions of your favorite
non-acoustic songs, or slow versions of fast music.
● Spotify is growing to be the best alternative option to the radio, and it’s popular on a global
level. It is a good option to share stream links to your fans inside and outside Spotify to
constantly engage with your fans.
● You can team up with popular podcasters to have your music featured in their episodes,
or you and your band can make a podcast as well. This is a handy way to have something
to engage your audiences with that is not always your music.

4. Online Is Not Always the Best
This may seem counterintuitive, but this
is something everyone should always
remember, your offline presence should
be just as strong as your online presence.
Help your fans know that you are
available in the real world to be interacted
with.

● You should try establishing a
home base where you’re always
expected to appear, so fans can go and see you.
● Discmaker suggests you can go to local fests, events, venues, and bars to do gigs so
people can discover your music. This is of course in venues outside your “home base.”
● You can also try out geo-targeting your audience in emails, newsletters, and Facebook
events. This means, with the right guidance, you can attract and focus on potential fans in
areas closer to the place you will have events in. This boosts the chances of people going
to see your events.

Conclusion

You may come up with the best marketing strategy that is fit for your band, but the most
important thing is to come up with something you can do consistently. All efforts you’ve done
for your marketing campaign will fail if you don’t follow through with your plans.
As Undercover.net.au says, always remember to put love and effort to your marketing campaign,
and your love for your band and the craft will come to life. Do you have other tips for marketing
strategies for bands? Comment down below and share it with us!

 

About the writer

SARA HARRISON
Sara is a music enthusiast who loves to play guitar and the piano. She has a
large selection of music CDs with Rock and Blues being her favourite. In her
spare time, she’s studying to be a music teacher and enjoys visiting music
festivals. She currently writes for Undercover.net.au and enjoys life.

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