A lot of musicians do not realise the hard work and amount of time it requires to build a long relationship with your audience. It takes a strict process and should be done properly otherwise all your efforts will just be wasted. Let's look at the guide below. 

The process must start with detailed research. This involves market research about the market as a whole. How saturated is it/ What is the average price for a song, is there enough demand for my music in a certain location/ For example, Tecno music is not that popular in Nigeria. As an artist you would need to know this and think about this. Who are the main players in the industry/ Is there any way I can collaborate with them? 

After you have done your research and decided that this is still something you can do, the next step is to come up with your material. Your music, your band name, all your marketing material that you will put out there. It's important to think about why you are different to others, what is it about your music that really stands out? Is it your genre, your style? It's hard to find another band like The Rolling Stones, their type of music is unique, how can you stand out?  

You will need to identify any musicians to work with, producers, singers and songwriters, all this is part of the material you need. 
Once you've come up with all your material that's the easy bit. Now you need to promote it. This is the hard bit, where a lot of financial resources and time is needed to gain exposure for your music. Treat yourself like a brand. A brand takes time to build and nurture. It's not something that can happen over 1, 2 or even 3 years, but you must think 4 or 5 years down the line. This is where working with others really helps, maybe you can get some sponsorship deals, or record label deals. 

Once you have spent the time promoting your work, you can slowly expect to start to see the results come in. It's important to measure your results. Song and ticket sales is obviously one key metric, but so are other things like social media engagement, search engine optimization results and more. Keep measuring and keep testing and learning. 

Drop me an email at dilowar@tunesick.app for any questions and help with getting your music out there. 

Article by Dilowar Hosen