16 Tips For Artists To Be Taken Seriously

I’ve been running Music Talks now coming up to two years, and I have now seen and noticed a lot of difference between artists and how they communicate, how they promote themselves and how easy and difficult it has been to find, with just the smallest details.

The one thing I am extremely surprised about, is the large number of artists who do not seem to place a great deal of effort in their overall, look, branding and contact details. 

These are a few tips which can make a huge difference to both online magazines, blogs, music sites, media and your fans!

1. Have your branding the same across all your social media channels, so it is clear to everyone, who you are, as this eliminates confusion and creates a sense of professionalism and familiarity.

2. Make sure all of your links to your social media channels are available on every social media channel. i.e. SoundCloud, Google

3. On your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles, be sure your main site is the first point, making your website or main media page is well and truly available at just one click away.

4. On your main website, be sure your main social media platforms are easy to see and are working with no broken links. Keep these up to date and check regularly.

5. Be sure there is at least a small piece of information about you, where you are from, the style etc. placed in your about section on your Facebook page, and a small piece on your Instagram and Twitter profiles too.

6. Assume, no one really knows you. Remember, there are thousands and thousands of independent artists.

7. If you have a new release, pin it to the top of your Facebook and Twitter pages for a while. Let the world know.

8. Please, do not expect online media blogs, magazines etc. to respond to you via social media messaging. Remember, they deal with hundreds of messages a day, and this can become overwhelming and quite often not even read.

9. Contact blogs and media through the correct channels as they request. Quite often, emails and these particular channels are their regular checking points for what’s coming up and coming in and would have a better chance of you being seen and noticed.

10. If no-one gets back to you immediately, don’t take it personally....they are extremely busy.

11. When you plan to release a new track or video....PLAN! Just because you have recorded a song, doesn’t mean your work has finished. In fact, it hasn’t really started. It is very exciting when you hear that final mastered track, and quite often artists are in such a hurry to release. But, don’t you want people to hear it?

12. What’s your strategy? What’s your Plan? Do you have a list together of blogs, radio, press release, photography ready? This takes time to put together, but be sure to have more than ONE plan in place. If plan A fails, what’s your plan b?

13. If people tag you in posts, take time out to acknowledge them. They appreciate it. It also shows you are serious, and opens great communication and makes you more approachable and quite often, you gain more fans.

14. DO NOT try and compare and think you can do what the major labels are doing with their artists. Remember, they are large entities, who have teams and money doing a large proportion of the work. You need to find your fans by communicating and keeping up with them too. Sometimes it’s nice for a fan to know you have liked and commented on one of their posts...wow, can you image what that would feel like as a fan. Knowing that you have liked their post and communicated with them too!!

15. When you’re communicating with potential blogs, music mags etc. Be sure to read their emails and what is required. Do not send 4 pages of awards you have received. They seriously don’t have the time to read everything, unless of course they have asked specifically for that. Remember, each promotional avenue may require something specific, so don’t be lazy. This doesn’t leave a great impression.

16. Do your homework! If you want to be on someone’s blog or music magazine or even radio, go to their site and see exactly what they do. They should have explainer video’s or quite often say in their own bio’s what they do.

Hope these help in some way. 

Cheers

Tracey Arbon