Today, we welcome Daniel Fortune who is going to do a number of posts, especially about how to fan fund your next music release. This will be through organic music marketing strategies. Therefore, Danny is going to show us how to fan fund your next project without wasting time or money on an audience you can’t find. These organic music marketing strategies apply to all musicpreneurs.
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How to Fund Your Next Music Release
Effects of the Pandemic
When the live music scene shut down in 2020, as a marketer (who raps/sings myself) I watched with equal parts empathy, confusion, and (at times) anger. I was seeing musicians lose their ability to engage and entertain their fans. It sucked… and it hit REALLY close to home for me!
My brothers in law, who have a country band that lives off of the income they produce doing live shows, were hit EXTREMELY hard by the pandemic.
At the same time, my friends/mentors and I in traditional high-ticket marketing circles were, not only unaffected monetarily, but for many of us, we were doing better than ever!
How to Fan Fund Your Next Music Release With FanBass
Out of moral “obligation” and my personal passion for music and musicians, I started a humble side “hustle” called FanBass Friday. This involved going live every Friday at 3PM PST. At this time, I would help independent artists and musicians learn the universal principles of marketing. These would allow them to engage and entertain their fans throughout the pandemic.
As I suspected, there was a HUGE demand for this type of content. Furthermore, within just a few short weeks, the FanBass Secrets Facebook (Meta) Group was formed.
FanBassers were excited, and in some cases, SHOCKED to learn simple marketing principles that were common knowledge in the traditional marketing circles I had been swimming in for years. My marketing circles that applied to their music and artistry. These would help them FINALLY crack the “code”. Therefore, they could start making a noble living off of their art – doing what they love!
Looking Back
Looking back, no wonder there was such a high demand for what I was sharing…
In essence, I was teaching independent artists and musicians how they could “Covid proof” their creativity and start (many, the first time) monetizing their dreams WITHOUT having to sell their creative “soul” to the many marketing opportunists, guru’s, or fat cat record execs, in the process.
All they needed to do was understand that, “Your talent makes music. But your talent doesn’t make money. Marketing makes money! Therefore, we have to learn to be just as creative with the way we market our music, as we are with the way we make our music.” – Daniel Fortune
“Your talent makes music. But your talent doesn’t make money. Marketing makes money! Therefore, we have to learn to be just as creative with the way we market our music, as we are with the way we make our music.” – Daniel Fortune
The #1 Reason Why Artists and Musicians Struggle
The #1 Reason Why Artists and Musicians Struggle to get adequate eyes and ears on them and their music is that they fail to realize that their musical talent is GREAT at making music. However, it isn’t great at developing the core competencies and skills that help them make money off of their music.
If this will EVER change, we have to start thinking less like “starving artists” and more like “musicpreneurs” who are just as creative about the way they market their music, as they are about how they make their music.
Musicpreneurship 101: Smart Musicpreneurs “Sell First, Build Second”
If you want to fan fund your next music release, from a marketing standpoint, it makes little to NO sense for an artist, musician, or band to spend years developing a project and THEN try to BEG people to stream it. This is while making a fraction of pennies on the dollar and expect to EVER make a living doing music.
In the marketing circles me and my friends are accustomed to, when we help entrepreneurs or business owners start their business, or work towards turning things around when they’re struggling, nine times out of ten, they’re struggling for the same reason some of you are…
They’re focused on BUILDING a product that they’re hoping other people will like without getting (EARLY) “buy-in” from the people who will ACTUALLY buy it.
How to Fan Fund Your Next Music Release and Where You May Be Going Wrong
In business terms, they’re making the mistake of building first and selling (more like PRAYING) second.
This is NOT what successful business people and entrepreneurs do. And just because a creative media is involved doesn’t mean selling our music/merch is ANY different than ANY other product.
In this regard, as independent artists and musicians, we are DEFINITELY unique, but we AREN’T special. All of the same dynamics and principles of business and entrepreneurship apply.
“Sounds great Danny, but how does this “Sell first, Build Second” process REALLY work”???
How to Fan Fund Your Next Music Release
STEP ONE (Answering the 1 WHY & 2 Who’s)
The first step in this process is to stop making the mistake of focusing on all the HOW to… and get VERY clear about WHY you make music in the first place. Because as Simon Sinek says in his book, “Start With Why”. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek, Start With Why
Far too many of us are stuck telling the people HOW they can consume our music. This is with little to NO benefit for them provided. It is also when we haven’t established (for ourselves and others) WHY our music matters.
WHO #1:
If we will ever effectively tell a clear, consistent, and compelling story that our fans will resonate with around our music, as musicpreneurs we have to know EXACTLY “WHO” we are as an artist, musician, or band. This is for two reasons:
1) Brand Identity Drives Personality, and Personality Precedes Strategy
As musicpreneurs, our WHY feeds your WHO, and your WHO precedes your
HOW. 2) Community and Culture “Eat” Strategy.
As a musicpreneur, mastering the social dynamics that allow you to connect with your fanbase over culture, values, and build a movement around your music is MORE important than all the various “how to’s.”
WHO #2
The second “who” in our process of how to fan fund your next music release involves getting VERY clear about WHO our target audience is. In my FanBass Secrets Group I go into great detail on this by having participants answer this question:
“If you had to spend ALL your time on the road with a specific group of people attending EVERY show… WHO would you want to spend your time with?”
Think about it. For some of you, you will spend more time on the road with fans than you will with your families. Why haven’t we put enough thought into WHO it is that we would like to spend this time with?
Many of us are stuck “starving” because we’re focused on HOW to make our music and get more people to buy it WITHOUT connecting with the RIGHT people (OUR people!) over culture and values (community). We are happy to throw money at it, but organic music marketing strategies can be implemented for free.
Our problem isn’t getting more people to HEAR our music. Our problem is NOT knowing WHY our music matters, in the first place. It is not knowing WHO stands to benefit the most by LISTENING to our music. In Part Two of this blog series, we will talk about Step 2 in our process for learning How to Harness Progressive Music Release Strategies to Fan-Fund Our Projects. Where I will explain How to Perform Synergistic Artist Research to Find Your 1,000 True Fans.
How to Fan Fund Your Next Music Release – Conclusion
Thank you for reading Daniel’s post about organic music marketing strategies If you want to learn more about strategies for musicpreneurs, please check back every Wednesday for new blog posts. Daniel will be giving you a second instalment of how to fan fund your next music release very soon.
If you would like to contribute to Krannaken.com and write something for musicpreneurs, please email admin@krannaken.com I am always happy to consider your posts.
