From Subways To Blogs: How To Get Your Music Heard

Yesterday we discussed how musicians using social media marketing can be compared to subway musicians by pushing their music on the public. To combat this problem, musicians need to stop focusing on marketing at listeners, and start networking with music bloggers who have become a trusted source of good music recommendations. It is when these respected bloggers themselves start speaking about you that you will become your own trusted source of music. 

Here are some important considerations that must be made when making the shift from marketing to networking that will help you maximize the potential of embracing this new ethos:

Networking Isn’t A One Night Stand

Think of the whole networking process as dating. You don't want to make the relationship all about you, because it gives no value to the other person. If you were on your first date and asked this person to not only listen to your music, but to share it with all of their close friends, they would probably feel uncomfortable and weird right? The same thing happens here. The relationship needs to be nurtured and developed long enough that there is mutual respect and admiration before any favors or requests, in this case to feature your music, can be asked of the other person, in this case a blogger.

If The Blog Don’t Fit, You Must Acquit

There are so many blogs in the blogosphere that many look nice and may have good content but have no community of readers behind it. As great as a blog may seem, you need to make sure that you choose which blogs to get involved with wisely.

I strongly recommend that you read How To REALLY Get Your Music On Blogs, a free e-book from Tight Mix Blog founder Chris Bracco. This ebook takes you through all of the necessary steps to picking the right blogs and what you need in order to get their attention. 

Forget About Your Own Music (for the moment)

Once you have found which blogs you want to get involved with, it's time to start putting yourself to work, establishing new relationships with bloggers and their readers. However, these relationship needs to be truly genuine - not 'fake genuine' where you are making it SEEM like you are interested, but all you really care about is getting something out of it.

Transparency plays a large part in both blogging and social networking, so it is crucial that whatever actions you take are true to who you are and do not have hidden motives as they WILL be sniffed out…

This is always the hardest part, especially for musicians who lives are surrounded by the music they write, record and play on a daily basis. Your first step in creating a connection with a blogger should never be about what you can offer them- this comes off as very sales pitch-y.

Take an interest in their blog, whether it is their articles or the music they feature and then get involved.

 

Get Engaged: Show Just How Committed You Are

There is quite a lot of debate surrounding just how beneficial it is for you to comment on blogs, and honestly, this debate is justified. The success of blog commenting truly comes down to how valuable and insightful your comments are. Leave a comment that is considered spam, or add no value to the article or existing conversation and it will most certainly lead to failure, hence the debate…

There is a right way and a wrong way of getting involved with bloggers. Spending time commenting on blogs will only have its benefits if you do it thoughtfully, genuinely and consistently.

If you are going to comment, do it relating to an article that you actually find an interest in - ask a question, leave a suggestion or contribute to the existing conversation. NEVER leave this comment without a follow up:

'Great Post!' 

This is just as much a space-waster as blog spamming an article with a link to your profile or fan page.

Tip: If you really want to make blog commenting work you for – remember to follow up on comments that you have left. This is especially if you are attempting to contribute to a multi-thread conversation. You may leave an incredibly insightful comment, but if someone replies and you don’t follow up, you won’t get much out of it. 

Start A Blog: Why Follow When You Could Lead?

Don't get me wrong, blogging can be a very time consuming venture- especially if expect to see any benefits produced from it. But starting your own blog can give you a much stronger value proposition when networking with other bloggers. Instead of just reaching out and following along, creating your own blog gives you the tools to network on a higher level.

A great example of this is Brian Hazard of Color Theory, who has established a blog called Passive Promotion. I recently became acquainted with Brian and was amazed at how strong the reader engagement is on his blog. I came to find out that he is also an artist, and although his articles do maintain the perspective as one, he does not use his blog as just another promotional outlet for getting people to listen or purchase his music.

Brian has created real value for people with his writing about online promotion and spotlighting important online services for musicians, which in turn has created a stronger demand in who he is, as an artist.

Embrace Social Media For What It Is, Not What It Can Give

As you shift from marketing to networking, your social networking accounts will be free from the shackles of your link spam. This is a great opportunity for you to become comfortable with using sites like Facebook and Twitter in the way they were intended: to strike up conversations, interact and engage with others and to ‘network’ in a ‘social’ way.

As you continue to network with bloggers and find yourself being featured on multiple blogs, you will begin to see an increase in interest in not only your music, but an interest in you as a person. People may reach out to you just to say they like your music or something you have written, or maybe they have a suggestion or a gripe about something you said. Whatever the case may be, embracing the true values of social media allow you to become more transparent, approachable and identifiable than ever before.

Networking Is Just Like Dating, Don't Only Do It Online

There is absolutely no reason why networking needs to start and stop with the Internet. Music Bloggers are authors, they are trendsetters, and they are journalists, but most importantly they are passionate about music. Music bloggers’ lives are just as consumed by music as a musicians – only they approach music from a different angle. If you are performing or are simply in the area of a blogger whom you have established a relationship with, invite them to your show or maybe just to grab a drink. Taking your relationship offline allows both parties to put a face and a real personality to a name, instantly strengthening the connection. 

Guest Blogging: Give And You Shall Receive

An obvious benefit of having your own blog as well as following the blogs of others, is the ability to invite others to guest blog for you. Ultimately you are looking for someone who shares a similar style or point of view and who has an existing fan base of their own. As you continue to network and become the host to exclusive content from other bloggers, your own reputation and influence will rise.

Eventually, you may even have the opportunity to guest blog for someone else, discussing a topic that you have a passion for and are knowledgeable of, such as musicianship, marketing, distribution, live performance, etc. This is a great opportunity for you to be seen as an expert, or at least someone who the host-blogger respects enough to feature. It may not be your music being featured just yet, but it is still strengthening your personal brand.

REMEMBER: Well-establish music blogs are tastemakers; being featured in any capacity proves to the readers that you are someone to watch.



As your focus shifts away from marketing (at) to networking (with), you will begin to see an increase in not only the opportunities that you will have to be featured by others, but in the overall reputation and influence. Networking is not about immediate results, but rather meaningful relationships- think of it as a lifestyle rather than a job. This isn’t something you do when you release an album, it’s how you, an emerging musician, should be treating every opportunity of every day.