In this episode I chat with Mike Sarge about social media for music artists, branding for music artists, why music blogs are still important, and other music marketing tactics. Mike Sarge is an artist, but he also has an awesome YouTube channel sharing his knowledge of music marketing – if you like my channel you’ll love his!
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Important Points:
Mike is sharing why building genuine relationships and connections with people by supporting them first instead of just promoting yourself is so important. This creates a community where people naturally want to support you back.
Andrew and Mike talk about knowing your sound, genre, and target audience. This allows you to market your music effectively and avoid wasting time and money pitching to the wrong people.
Andrew discusses why you should be prepared for opportunities by consistently working on your craft and presentation. Because when a chance comes along, you’ll be ready to fully capitalize on it.
Andrew and Mike share how awards and accolades, even small ones, can open doors by providing “social proof” that you’re a legitimate artist. Use them in your marketing even if you don’t put much stock in them personally.
Podcast Outline:
[00:03:09]: Being active on social media is key. Spend time commenting on and sharing content that you actually like. This exposes your profile organically to new potential supporters. – Mike
[00:04:27] Building genuine relationships and connections with people helps grow your audience organically. Support them and they’ll likely support you. – Mike
[00:05:30] Engage online like you would in person by commenting thoughtfully and avoid spamming promotions. – Andrew
[00:08:21] When networking, introduce yourself politely, show you’ve checked out their work, share your music humbly, and ask for feedback. – Mike
[00:13:55] Facebook ads are extremely effective marketing for independent artists on a budget. You can start small and scale up slowly. – Mike
[00:19:43] Share the motivation and story behind your music with supporters. Infuse your personality into releases. Fans care about more than just the songs. – Mike
[00:22:16] To build your artist story, answer key questions about your background, influences, preferred genre, when you started, and what motivates you. – Mike
[00:31:49] Spotify tip: Check your Spotify related artists section to see what listeners associate your music with. Also ask artist groups and peers for unbiased input on your genre and comparable artists. – Mike
[00:36:43] As an artist, just focus on making great music and effective marketing. Don’t worry about comparisons. Let supporters determine your lane. – Mike
[00:41:05] Pitching smaller blogs builds social proof and connections, even if they don’t have a big following themselves. Use this to showcase momentum to fans. – Mike
[00:45:11] When pitching blogs, follow submission guidelines closely. Be very patient with responses or lack thereof. Do it far in advance of releasing. – Mike
[00:52:05] “Create Greatness” builds community helping artists develop the right mindset and skills to achieve success. – Mike
[00:54:34] Join online artist communities to trade value. Ask questions and help others. It builds connections and reduces isolation. – Andrew
[00:56:48] Carry yourself professionally online because you never know who is paying attention and could create opportunities. – Mike
[01:00:20] Prepare yourself for opportunities through hard work. When luck comes your way, you’ll be ready to capitalize. – Andrew
[01:02:00] Build an email list over time. When you finally ask supporters for a favor like voting in a contest, they’re more willing to quickly help. – Mike
Wise Words:
[00:14:19] “The cool thing about Facebook ads is, you don’t have to go over your budget. You can go like this is how much I can only spend per month on ads and you can stick to that and slowly grow your following. – Mike
[00:06:24] “In building relationships (with other artists), you have to put forward like a little bit of effort, like: “Hey, you know, my name is so and so, and I checked out a couple of your videos they’re dope, or I checked out your posts. I like your content. here’s a link to one of my songs. If you have the time, you know, that’s a completely different conversation than just saying, “yo.””– Mike
[00:55:00] “Being a music artist is kind of a lonely experience at times, especially nowadays. And this whole networking thing at the very least is a way to not feel like you’re the only person in your social circle circle that does music.” – Andrew
[01:04:16] “Make sure you’re prepared, because you don’t want to jump into opportunities before you’re ready. because then that just leaves you to either get sad if you can’t fully take advantage of it or get taken advantage of like trying to get a label deal before you have the social clout to actually negotiate.” – Andrew
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If you enjoyed this interview you might also like this one I did with Temima Shames from Next Step Projects about how music artists go viral on social media.
