IndieMusicMarketer.com - Music Business Promotion & Marketing Blog

How To Grow Your Fan Base

Written by Josiah Redding
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Many bands and artists get to a point where they seem to be doing everything right — they're playing shows frequently, they're selling CDs and using their website and mailing list to market their art — but they feel like they're not accomplishing their goals fast enough or to the degree to which they want to. This article offers some advice on what I've found helps to really kick-start your fan base building process. IT'S PRETTY SIMPLE Honestly, building a fan base is a pretty simple process. You create good art, introduce it to people, and a certain percentage of those people will be interested in what you're doing. The complicated part comes in trying to narrow down the people you perform in front of to the ones who will actually result in a new fan. Being a small up-and-coming act, you have limited resources and limited time and energy, so it's especially important for you to find the specific types of places that are beneficial for you to promote your music. The more universal your music and genre, the more potential fans you have, and the easier it is to find places to play and exhibit your music. But the more niched your music is, the easier it is to actually target those listeners who are MOST likely to become a fan, and thereby avoid wasting time, energy and money. Also, niche artists have much more dedicated fans than those in more mainstream genres. How do you narrow it down? You find out what type of music you make and what kind of people are already listening to that type of music, coming to that kind of musician's concerts, etc. Despite what a lot of musicians say, they're not altogether unique and they're not doing something that has never been done before. There ARE other similar artists and bands out there who are similar to your genre. Pinning one's music down to a specific genre is hard for a lot of musicians to do, I understand that. But you need to have a reality check and find out who out there is already buying CDs and tickets for musicians with similar music to yours. Once you do that, you can also look at that particular musician's marketing approach and find any good points there as well. Once you determine a demographic, or range of demographics, that seem to like your type of music, then you need to find out what those people are doing, where they go during the week, where they go on the weekends, where they eat at lunch, what they do for fun, etc. For example, the average working-class American can be found at the local 7-11 store buying a Pepsi or a coffee at some point in the day. That's why a movie like Shrek The Third, which appeals to average American families with kids, advertise on the banners above 7-11's front door, and put advertisements on the 7-11 fountain drink cups. Think like a marketer: where does your demographic hang out? Where can you find your average listener during the day or on a weekend? Is your target market male college English students? Maybe you should hang a funky, attention-getting coupon or leaflet on the bulletin boards in the English department. Maybe you should search Myspace for your local college's English majors, and send them all a personalized email. These are just ideas — you get the point. Find out where your target market hangs out, and then go hang out there yourself, or at least find a way to reach them while they're there. SOME EXAMPLES In my own project, THE REDDING BROTHERS, we have done a lot of trial and error style promotion to help us determine what marketing techniques and what venues are beneficial for us. We're an acoustic-based rock & roll band, and our music is pretty widely received among Elementary Schoolers through College students, and middle-aged people from 40-55 who seem to see a more classic sound tucked away in our music somewhere. So we've found that playing in schools and colleges, coffeeshops, and more upscale restaurants (where the more senior crowd hangs out) turns out well for us. Our acoustic set does pretty well in quieter places, so that has given us some flexibility in that we can go into venues where traditionally only singer-songwriters would fit. We also have had good success doing our own self-promoted shows by renting a medium-sized venue, such as a 150 or 300 seat neighborhood movie theater, and throwing a professionally-ticketed concert with 1 or 2 short opening acts. Our fans tend to like cleaner, easy-to-access, all-age, non-smoking venues, so we very rarely play in any kind of bar. That said, most bands couldn't survive without the bar scene — that's where their friends go, and that's where they can bring friends. So it can be totally different with different genres of music. For some genres, festivals are the prime market. For others, high schools are the only way to go. The point is, stop banging your head against the wall for venues and promotion methods that don't work! Ask this question: In which venues can you exert the least effort and reach the most people who are most prone to liking your music? Spend time there, perform there, sleep there, eat there, drink there, live there, take time to breath it all in. The more you know about what your target market is doing, the more effectively you can reach them. CONCLUSION In conclusion, I want to encourage you to think outside the box on this one. I've personally found that, yes, there are established markets and venues for our music, but that every now and then we run into a completely untapped goldmine of fans somewhere where our music really takes off. Some methods for growing a fanbase may work for hardcore bands, but don't work at all for singer songwriters. So follow the directions above about narrowing down your target and finding out where those people are, and meeting them there. If you do this, you'll find yourself building your fanbase much, much faster. POINTS TO REMEMBER: Not everyone is going to be your fan. A certain percentage of the general population is much more likely to enjoy your music than the rest. Find out who those people are. Find out what they do, where they go, everything about them. Meet them where they are and introduce them your music. Get mailing list signups! Once you have enough targeted sign ups in a given area, you can begin the process of putting on concerts and bringing those people to them. Repeat in the next city down the road.