Part Five

This the fifth of ten tips and chips I plan to impart for any interested listeners, starting out on his/her journey to work in the music industry. There are a lot of people providing access to joints that help to build your skills, and most do a great job. My goal there is not to try and compete them. I will stay in my lane. From time to time, I might suggest and recommend others, these tips and chips are aimed at your mindset, and behaviors that will either make you or break you. Whether you aspire to be a songwriter, an artist, a musician, and or producer, these tips and chips apply:

Some Chips To Dip Into:

1. You got to put in the time.
2. You can only do two or three things very well, so focus.
3. Once you are focused, decide on what value you offer to others.
4. Determine how you fit in.
5. Determine how you can market what you offer. (See Below)
6. Develop a marketing strategy.
7. Provide quality service or products.
8. Follow up and communicate with your customers.
9. Always try to anticipate what your customers, followers, or clients need.
10. Keep trying, you can always do it better.

DETERMINE HOW YOU CAN MARKET WHAT YOU OFFER

If you have accomplished the first four tips, you should be well on your way to realize our career goals. However, now that you have, what do you do next, and how do you market what you offer? Again, there are caveats to this tip which is related to what your career goals are, what role you decide to pursue in the music industry, and your overall skillset. So again, let’s hypothetically choose the role of a songwriter, but let’s also assume you are a singer.

There are a plethora of options at your disposal to use to market what your offer. Here is a short list:

1) First and foremost seek copyright protection for your intellectual property by registering your songs with the Library of Congress. There are varying opinions about when to register a song with the Library of Congress. On one hand, it is better to protect than to regret. On the other hand, a song should be registered only after it has been published and has the potential to be used commercially. There are many ways the intellectual property of beginning songwriters can be taken through contractual loops, infringement, etc., so early protection is your best strategy to ensure you hold on to your rights.

2) In today’s new music industry, a songwriter has to be one’s own record company and market one’s intellectual property. Ways to market your intellectual property are:

a. Registering with a property rights organization (PRO), such as Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC), etc. These entities also serve as a means of protection, networking, and promulgation of your intellectual property.

b. For video content, register your intellectual property with Sound Exchange which is responsible for tracking when, where and how the intellectual property is consumed and played around the world, as musical content is with the PROs.

c. Once you have covered the issue of protecting your intellectual property, you can now think about other ways to market it. In this digital world, several options are available such as streaming, film/tv, commercials, other singers and musicians, producers, music libraries, music licensing companies, etc. Some of the names in this space are Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Taxi, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Tidal, Tunecore, Warner-Chappell Music, Warner Special Products, EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets, Polygram Film and TV licensing, Soundstripe, Music Vine, and Musicbed, just to name a few.

3) Another way to market what you offer is through the use of a website. This offers a way to build a following through the provision of engaging content, services, resources, a blog, an e-commerce platform, and other intellectual property that keeps your visitors engaged and coming back time after time. This can lead to monetization opportunities after an audience has been established, causing advertisers to post ads on your website and generate passive income.

4) All of these ideas are viable and offer many opportunities for marketing. Lastly, there are several songwriting competitions that may lead to placements with other singers, artists, and music entities which require a small entry fee for consideration. Some of these contests are held on a yearly basis, while others offer monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly competitions, such as the Great American Song Contest, American Songwriter, Broadjam, Red Lodge Song Festival, The John Lennon Songwriting Contest, The International Songwriting Competition, and The Cape May Singer-Songwriter Contest, just to name a few.

While I am sure there are other ways, I don’t want to omit the value of promotion and marketing through the use of social networking, and the establishment of music publishing and music production companies. However, I will defer this discussion to maybe a later blog. Ok. I have provided several ways to market and protect what you offer. What is next? In Tip/Chip 6: Develop a marketing strategy, we will delve a little further into how a singer/songwriter, lyricist, or musicians can determine ways to utilize some of the forementioned opportunities, I have suggested. So keep reading and stay tuned.