Beating the Frustrated
Artist Syndrome
How to determine how to market yourself
by Marc Gunn
I've been
chatting with a few frustrated artists recently about their potential
careers. They know what they want, but they don't see the options
available. My study of marketing has kinda given me a unique ability
to see what others can't see in building their careers. So I figured
it's time to share some of that knowledge.
Determining your
marketing direction
When
you look at MP3 websites, you'll usually see two categories to complete:
favorite artists and similar artists. This is great info to have as
an artist. So let's take them one at a time.
Who are your favorite artists?
Choose
one medium, and then ask yourself who are your favorite artists? I
was a big fan of Elvis Presley growing up. "Weird" Al, The
Beatles, Everly Brothers, Enya, Kingston Trio, Billy Joel, U2, The
Dubliners, The Wolfe Tones, etc.
Build
a list. If you're talking art, make a list of your favorite artists
in your style. If you don't know many painters, just pick your favorite
in artists in architect or photography. If ye don't know the names,
search the 'net and find out who did that great picture of Elvis Presley,
James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe in a dinner, or that blurry bridge
in France, but that French impressionist painter. Make a list as long
as you need to. Part of the purpose of this list is to inspire you
for the next question.
Name some artists
that do art similar to yours
Everyone
wants to think they are unique. But your uniqueness extends to your
combination of inspirations of your favorite artists. I grew up loving
the ballads of Elvis Presley. In high school I became a huge fan of
"Weird" Al. Later, I started playing Celtic folk music listening
to The Dubliners pub songs and The Wolfe Tones rebel songs, but also
adore the Celtic New Age stylings of Enya.
All of
these influences have helped me to make the music that I play today.
It's undeniable. I play the autoharp fairly uniquely, but considering
I'm playing mostly Celtic folk music, it makes sense to go ahead and
label all my music that way, even if it's not entirely true. You'll
see why later...
So go
out there and find art that's like yours. It may be abstract art.
So who does abstract art. Any of them seem similar? Ask some friends.
Who knows, they may know something you don't. I had someone say I
sounded like Ewan MacColl when I sing some songs. I know a band that
plays Celtic music and has a vocalist that sounds like a U2 wannabe,
but they still have a great, unique sound. It might suck a wee bit
to hear your music be called "U2 wannabes", but at least
you know what kinda of people could enjoy your music.
Research your
artists
Now that
you have some direction, start researching the artists you listed.
Get online and do a search for each. Find forums, newsgroups, websites,
fans, articles, whatever you can find about each of those artists
and where they appear. Take that information and look for commonalities.
I've
found that people who like our music typically like some of the artists
we enjoy listening to as well. This means if you promote your paintings
as inspired in part by Van Gogh, then people who enjoy Van Gogh, may
love your work. It doesn't matter if you are a realist and he's not.
The important thing is to get potential fans to check out your work.
I remember
a Scottish artist on MP3.com went through this dilemna. In the U.K.,
"Celtic" refers to traditional Irish music... reels and
jigs. In the U.S., Enya is Celtic.
He listed
his music as folk music and didn't get the attention his music deserved
until he said, "that sounds 'Celtic'."
When
you market, focus on one audience to promote to, but don't be limited
by it.
Determine your
target audience
Once
you've done some research, you should have a decent idea as to what
your art is similar to. And ye know what, it changes over time. So
if you have current art, start with that. Take your research and determine
who your target audience is. Where do they visit online? What are
there interests? What do they do for a living?
You can
get a general idea of your target audience for now or do more research
to find out more about them. Use that information to determine where
you should promote yourself. There are websites dedicated to whatever
you are interested in. If they aren't, there's very likely a demand.
So create your own.
You can
find out how many people are searching for your keywords through Overture.
That's a great wee tool to learn the potential interest in your media.
Now start marketing
to your target audience
The info
listed here is fairly universal. It doesn't matter if your a musician,
a painter, a photographer, an actor, director or what.
If you're
trying to build a reputation for greatness in your target audiences
eyes you need to focus on that target. Yes, we could promote our music
to Celtic, folk, classical, New Age, Indie rock because we have music
in all those styles. But marketing yourself in a dozen directions
is useless. Focus your efforts.
We picked
Celtic with Renaissance festivals being a wee subcategory for us.
Once I was established there, we spread out a wee bit. But those are
our bread and butter. Determine YOUR bread and butter and smear it
around.
I mentioned
earlier that I have a LOT of influences, but market to only one or
two. Think about it a second. When someone listens to the Brobdingnagian
Bards, they'll probably hear "Tolkien", our Celtic New Age
aire that's had the greatest success online. Then they visit our music
and find "Do Virgins Taste Better" and a lot of our more
traditional "Celtic" songs. We're no longer labeled as *just*
another Celtic band in their eyes. They're eyes will have changed.
Celtic
music has much more depth than even we play. I like to think of us
as a fringe Celtic act. When people discover us, they get a taste
of Celtic folk music and then experience the magic of more traditional
Celtic music.
We started
off our music with the Celtic & Renaissance community. Now those
communities know who we are. I have folks in both communities come
up to me and say, "We see you ALL over the internet."
That
kind of reputation helps us to sell a decent number of CDs every month,
but it takes focus. Find your focus and have at it. Good luck!
Bard
Marc Gunn is a Celtic & Folk musician singer/songwriter
for the Brobdingnagian Bards.
Marc has helped hundreds of Celtic music groups due to the popularity
of his weekly publication, the Celtic
MP3s Music Magazine, and he is dedicated to helping increase public
awareness of Celtic music and culture. Subscribe to one of his newsletters
for free gifts, including: MP3s, CDs, eBooks, and more.
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