Getting More Fans and Bringing More People To ShowsOr learning how to fail and fail and fail…

…and fail some more.

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

― Hunter S.Thompson

Mike Huberty

Mike Huberty

Mike Huberty

Mike Huberty

What do artists/musicians want?

What do artists want?

An audience to consume their art.

People to come to their events.

FANS

Groups of humans together create electricity and that brand of electricity is as necessary to your musical performance as the kind that you get from the outlet in the wall.

You need to create context.

You want an audience so you need to tell them why they should be there

context

the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed:

ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting the construction of a text): from Latin contextus, from con- ‘together’ + texere ‘to weave.’

Branding is not a dirty word

Branding is just about knowing yourself

It’s a short cut for the audience to figure out who you are

The audience is looking for someone like them, someone that expresses feelings through art that they cannot

Branding helps those people find you.

It is your context. It is your story.

Know who you are.

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.” ― Lao Tzu

“Know thyself and to thine self be true.”― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“To thine own self be true”― Twisted Sister, “Burn In Hell”

The Story of Scott Bakula

The Story of Scott Bakula

Who you are is your context

I am a nerd. I like nerdy things. That’s part of my context.

My sister and I like ghost stories and so we turned it into a business.

When you’re an artist, your art is you. Your product is you.

Marketing YouThe essence of digital marketing (social media) is that you’re a real person selling you.

We have the freedom online to create that real person.

We have the freedom at an event to create that real person.

Your context can be whatever you want it to be. Your context (story) needs to authentically connect with your audience, but it doesn’t need to be authentic.

Bruce Springsteen is worth $300 Million.He still connects to the working man?

Guess what? They’re not really aliens!

Once you know who you are, you find out who your audience is…

Where do they hang out?In the real world

Do they hang out in bars or coffeeshops?

Are they the kind of people who go see live bands?

Why do they go out? The cool factor? Romance? Free beer?

Sometimes it’s not the cool places. Sometimes it’s where you least expect it. There’s plenty of cool bands that play in Madison and Chicago and Minneapolis, how many cool bands play in Beaver Dam or Eau Claire?

That’s where you have your events!

Where do they hang out?

When you’re online, the medium is the message.

YouTube for MusiciansThe second largest search engine in the world

Put all of your music there immediately. All of it.

It is Internet crack. It has the greatest engine in the world for people looking for more content immediately.

Make lots of videos and then you can post them everywhere.

It is a place to create new relationships.

Twitter for Artists

Funny pithy things to say.

Real-time interaction.

Ephemeral. It’s meant to be in the moment.

If you’re gonna tweet, then tweet! Play the game, respond, and interact. Join conversations. It’s Twitter, you don’t have to be invited to say something.

Facebook for Artists and Bands

Events, events, events.

Reach people who are only nominally online.

Great for live pictures and press photos.

It’s mostly a push medium. Stay in people’s news feeds to remind them you’re around.

A place to show success and validate relationships. Photobrag!

Fitzgerald was wrong. There are second acts in American lives!

Social Proof - Validate why your audience should like you. Because other people do!

Show them that you’re real.

Google+Hangouts, hangouts, hangouts!

Longform interaction with your audience

Text

InstagramDeepen relationships with friends by staying in their feed and make new ones through tags

Text

PinterestIt’s worth it, just for the SEO. Just post things that you like, or post to content you’ve already created.

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PodcastsLet people get to know you by spending a lot of time with you.

Other networks, is your crowd there?Snapchat

The place for funny, “in the moment” pictures. Great if you’ve got a young audience or already have a lot of friends on there.

Myspace Not a lot of people there, might be a good opportunity to shine

SoundcloudGreat for EDM artists, easily shareable music

BroadjamGreat for songwriters looking to collaborate and meet other serious artists

Do not neglect your own website and email list

Email is still the best way to connect with your audience, period.

If you don’t have an email list, immediately go home and make one right now. Just start with your friends and ask them if they want to be on it.

The best place to be is in someone’s inbox and once you have their address, it won’t change with the times. The best place for direct marketing.

Be ruthless. And don’t stop.

No one else cares about your career. No one.

If you’re not comfortable marketing your art, find someone who is and get them on your team.

Digital marketing is great, but don’t neglect the real world.

Play your own game.

Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me; Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and shall bless me.” ― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

You’re not competing against anyone but yourself. Do not let other people’s opinions, success, or failure affect yours.

Wanna hang out sometime?

Listen to some music at www.sunspotuniverse.com

Get your songs on Film and TV at www.broadjam.com

Take a haunted history tour of Madison’s Capitol Square at www.madisonghostwalks.com