How to Make It In the Music Industry Faster

The music industry is not immune to the basic economic principles that affect any other commercial enterprise. When you first form a band, an identifying name is chosen. Brand building for bands works much the same as it does for typical small businesses; it is important to help the public become familiar with your band’s name.

The online world, however, also allows you to associate your band’s name with specific pieces of content and a wide variety of related keywords. Through these types of technological associations, you can place your band name in more places and thus reach new people faster. Let’s take a look at some specific technological tools and tips that can help your band gain fans.

Social Media, Content Distribution, and iPhone Apps for Bands

Before the internet, the only way to get songs to the end-consumer was to either hand-press pieces of physical media, make a music video, or promote singles to radio stations. Getting on these formats can be expensive. Now, many social media sites offer a simple content management system for bands that can be used to upload new songs, pics, music videos, bios, and other forms of content instantly. Fans can then consume and share this content with their friends. This ease of distribution has dramatically reduced the costs associated with promoting a musical project.

Through social media services, you can add friends during your spare time and use those efforts to gain additional name awareness. More content distribution tools can help outside of the online world. For example, if you were to get a custom iPhone app for your band, you would be able to encourage anyone to check out your music when you are out at shows promoting in traditional ways like handing out flyers. If you offered a free mobile phone app for the iPhone 4, most users of the popular cell phone would be able to give your band a listen instantly on a device they already own.

Feel free to have someone develop a custom Android app as well, as other smart phones like the Droid X are also very popular. In fact, band iPhone apps can be ported over to the Android Market fairly easily.

For Musicians, an Artist Website Is Not Enough

You can’t just select a dot-com name and feel as though the job is done. When you are promoting hot new music, it is important to be available on every possible service. Let the end-user decide where to engage your music.

Whether you are looking to become better known in your local scene or to gain a following on a global scale, there are technological tools that can be used to reach new fans faster. It is advisable to make some of your music available for free so that people can try it out without having to risk their money on a full CD. Mobile apps for bands allow musicians to post free songs and album downloads. Fans will appreciate the available content. Even if you don’t want to offer free downloads of new songs, you could always provide free streaming content on an iPhone app, mobile webpage, or social media website. This would allow new listeners to get a taste without letting them download the content onto other devices.

However, that said, the availability of free downloads has not been proven to discourage people from paying for albums. The consumers who buy albums are typically collectors. They buy records largely out of principle and will probably continue to do so even if you make songs available for free download.

There are so many ways to get a band’s name out on the internet. Please consider these tips when you sit down at the computer to promote your new album.