Making the Path of a Successful Artist

7/30/2019 Making the Path of a Successful Artist

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Nhien Le

Miss Bright

English 1102

8 November 2012

Making the Path of a Successful Artist

Music is a powerful entity that influences many people. There are many people that

create music: bands, singers, artists and producers are just a few of them. Sometimes famous

musicians are treated as idols and role models. However, copious amounts of musicians do not

see their music reach as broad an audience, but why? Success brings popularity and a surplus of

fans that can be touched; in order to be successful a band/artist has to be skilled at marketing.

Ultimately I am examining the facets of music marketing. Explicitly, how bands and singers

market themselves and their music, what they do to influence their target audiences or reach

them, music and marketing as a whole and record labels work in the process. There are many

reasons for bands triumphs and failures, but the aforementioned themes above are a massive part

of it.

Marketing is the process of identifying needs and satisfying these needs with suitable

goods or services, through product design, distribution, and promotion (Ogden and Long 120).

Most successful bands start off locally; this movement is called grassroots, word-of-mouth or

interpersonal marketing (Ogden and Long 120). There are many ways to begin interpersonal

marketing such as posting flyers, booking local performances, promoting music through social

media and many other ways. Interpersonal marketing eventually leads to a connection or bond


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between the audience and musicians; this is what audiences mean when proclaiming connection

to a song. They sense the aura or emotion that the music is supposed to make them experience.

The more a band or singer can make their audience feel a fierce and loyal interpersonal

relationship with them, the faster the success. There are ways to strengthen the connection such

as performing live where the audience can truly visualize actions and the emotions that are

displayed by the band or singer as well as reaching out via social networks such as Twitter,

Facebook, MySpace, Ustream, YouTube, etc. (Breuner). Interpersonal marketing is far from the

solitary method to be successful in music, but it is the starting point.

There are multiple mediums that can enhance musicians stardom: radio, film, television,

internet, etc. The combining of these mediums to further recognition is done with the help of

shrewd marketing. All of the aforementioned mediums are used to reach broader audiences; they

exist in everyday life and are essential in communicating with others. The fact that musicians and

their record labels took advantage of those mediums to broadcast their product is brilliant and

shows that it is constantly evolving; initially it was radio, then film, television followed and

currently the internet. All these mediums reach almost every part of the world; it helps bands

touch the people they cant physically travel to. Radio, film and television are only reached after

a certain amount of success and are reserved for artists signed to a record label that backs their

funding and product, or artists that devotedly push themselves independently on their own funds

and time.

Every artist and band start off promoting themselves independently, they use their own

funds and time to reach out to fans, book shows and studio time. Most bands and artists sign to

record labels to further their platform and ability to spread their music. There are two types of

record labels, major and independent. There are differences between the two such as independent


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labels allow artists to keep the rights to their music while major labels do not, and major labels

own their own distributing channel. They both however benefit artists, some more than others. In

a Billboard Business article Brett Gurewitz of Epitaph Records states, "Our role is as artist

advocate... nobody achieves great success alone. We are the team behind them" (Rys,

Billboard.biz). This is however is not always the case as times have changed in the music

industry and record labels are no longer the only way for an artist or band to become a prominent

figure in todays mainstream. As the playbook for labels has changed, so has the role of the artist

in the industry.

"Artists today are more powerful than ever," said Grinberg, noting how Mac Miller'sBlue

Slide Parkdebuted at No. 1 with very little traditional radio or other marketing. "They are

business people, marketers... They know how to relate to their audience and know how to

connect properly" (Rys, Billboard.biz).

Marketing a sound and personality to an audience is a tall order. But what about the

audience, what makes them feel a particular way and which audiences should you target? The

answer is much more complicated than it seems. In an artist or bands career they sell more than

just their music, they sell themselves or their image. Their image can make a huge impact on

how their audience views them, their personality in interviews, music videos, their appearance,

etc. All of these factors affect a bands status and adjusting to their audience makes them more

appealing. Everyone changes and the ones who evolve with their audience are the ones that have

longevity.

Carrie Underwood in an interview with Billboard makes this point extremely clear If

you look at the people who have had a long career they kind of have dabbled in


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everything. Just kind of be open to other things, just kind of take a few little leaps of faith

andjust trust your gut (Stars Talk Musical Longevity, Billboard.com).

Music is subjective and people have their nominal favorites, usually fans celebrate the

more prevalent bands. In a world where many people question why an artist or band became

popular it is not always clear, but marketing, their image, their music, touring and promotion are

some of the main factors that influence success.


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Bibliography

Breuner, Kevin. "Music Promotion for Independent Musicians."

DIY Musician Blog. N.p., 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.

Ogden, James R., Denise T. Ogden, and Karl Long. "Music Marketing: A History and

Landscape."Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 18.2 (2011): 120-25.

Print.

Rys, Dan. "Industry News."Label Execs Talk 'Decline of Record Business, Rise of

Music Business' at New Music Seminar. N.p., 18 June 2012. Web. 13 Nov.

2012. .

"Stars Talk Musical Longevity." Interview.Billboard.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec.

2012. .

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Making the Path of a Successful Artist