Indie Artist-Stop Asking People.

What people think doesn’t matter. The only questions that matter are – is there an audience for your music? Are there people out there who want to buy your music and support your projects? Instead of asking your friends what they think, do this- ask them to give to your next crowdfunding campaign and get some cool rewards. Ask them to share your music with their friends, come to a concert or buy your CD. Every friend who gives you a “vote of confidence” with their wallet will boost your motivation, increase your resolve and get you one step closer to living your dream.

In this series of articles, I am writing about the most common mistakes that indie artists make in their career, that keep them away from success. And the next mistake that I am going to discuss is – using the right strategies but in the wrong order.

When you are starting out, the most important thing is to know what to do and when to do it. It’s typical to read a blog post, listen to a podcast or watch a free class and then get really excited about the strategies you hear and jump in and try to do them. It’s great to have that initiative, but it can cripple you. Defining what success means to you is the first requirement for being successful. This is one of the biggest challenges that indie musicians face today. What needs to be understood, however, is that there is no standard procedure to follow in order to be successful. As discussed in my blog Indie Artist-Defining Success, the pathway to a career in indie music isn’t as clear and sure-shot as it is in going to college, for example, where there is a defined set of measurable parameters that you follow to earn your degree. You attend classes, you write papers, you pass exams, and after completing the requisite steps, you succeed in earning your degree. That’s an ideal scenario where you can demonstrate that you are making progress and, therefore retain the ever so important support of your friends and family.

There is a specific order to do things to grow your audience. Using advanced strategies when you’re a beginner won’t work. It will lead you to feeling dejected and eventually quit, because you’ll get bogged down in the details of things that you haven’t even reached to the point of learning yet.

For example, Facebook ads are a great way to grow your email list and audience. But if you use Facebook ads when you’re just getting started, your chances of success are very low. And your chances of losing a lot of money are very high. Setting up Facebook ads, managing ads and scaling ads is hard and it’s time consuming. It also involves a marketing budget. It isn’t a strategy you should use in the beginning. In fact, not just an indie artist, but anyone who is looking at using social media to grow their business and is just getting started, I tell them they are not ready for Facebook ads yet.

This brings me to my next step- I’m going to share with you the order in which you should do things. This is just what, I believe, works for everyone:

• You don’t need to do Facebook ads when you first start.
• You don’t need to be advertising when you don’t yet have a website.
• You shouldn’t try to get email subscribers until you have something to offer them, to draw them in; like a freebie
• If you use the right strategies in the right order, the speed at which your audience grows increases greatly.

Make sure you approach life in an independent manner, just like the indie musicians and movie directors you admire. With thousands of forms and genres of music available around the world, remember that music fans are not waiting for your music. Most commercial ventures get swallowed up by major players with strong market presence. This makes it imperative for you to make your presence known, if you do not plan to join a major. While joining a major takes away the hassle of marketing, because they are well-known and have considerable power and finances, it also increases the chances of success. However, working independently offers more freedom of thought and action. Keeping this in mind, strategizing your association with major labels or listing out marketing procedures to be followed is as important as creating good music. Do what makes you happy and don’t be afraid to deviate from what’s considered normal. Wear clothes that don’t match because you like the clashing patterns. Colour your hair weird colours because you like the colour. Take up a weird hobby because you don’t think it should be weird.

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