How To Market Yourself As An Independent Music Producer

Ike Barnes from the beatcreators.com asked me a great question. This is such a good question I’m going to answer it here online. Here’s Ike’s question “If Sam Walton was a music producer what things would he do to advertise build a brand as a producer?” Here’s My answer:

To create a brand, Sam Walton would tell music producers to put a face with the music. This explains why Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Kanye West, and the Neptunes, have jumped on the mic and in front of the camera.

Every Brand Name Has A Logo
For music producers their face and personality is their logo. When you think of Timbaland, you think of a guy that can beat your _ _ _ with his fists and his kick drums! Timbaland turned himself into a logo. The New York Times confirmed my theory on Timbaland in an article they published about titled ‘Can He Make Himself A Star’. The article discusses how Timbaland made hismself a brand name. Here’s an excerpt:

‘Timbaland has never seemed very comfortable in front of the camera, and collaborators have occasionally complained about his gruff mixing-board-side manner. Nonetheless over the last year or two he has redoubled his efforts to achieve pop stardom, even if he’s not well suited for it. He has been writing himself into the hit songs he produces, turning his clients into duet partners. He spars with Justin Timberlake on “SexyBack” and “My Love” and flirts awkwardly with Nelly Furtado on “Promiscuous” and with the Pussycat Dolls on “Wait a Minute.”’
New York Times read the article here

Timbaland is now a household brand name and he has made himself a logo. He is trusted by millions. Every producer has a brand name. Their brand name is simply whatever they call themselves. For example, mine is Jamille Luney. Missy’s is Missy Misdemeanor Elliot. Making a brand name is easy, but creating the logo takes work.

Developing Your Logo (You)
I’ll let you in on a personal note. I used to live in Florida and while living there I put on a lot of weight. This did not work with my brand name. So I moved from Florida and all that was negative and lost the weight. Timbaland realized the same thing years ago. Remember when he was heavy? Yeah. Your stage name is your brand name and your body is a living logo. The music is your product.

Market Your Logo, Not Just The Music
To an artists what I stated above sounds tasteless and corporate. However, Sam Walton’s response would be, ‘I’m a business man, I know how to make money.’ Sam did and he sold a lot of music in his stores. Why do you think Timbaland makes so many appearances in music videos and spits his tracks? Some argue their music can speak for itself. They are correct it can. However, there are millions of other indie producers saying the exact same thing. Walton would tell you before Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club could speak for themselves as stores, he spoke for them. You will have to do the same.

How To Put a Face With Your Music
With today’s technology it is much easier for producers to put their face with their music. You may not be able to afford a video shoot like Timbaland and Missy, but computers can manipulate video environments. Soulja Boy first made the ‘Crank That’ dance in his basement with a video camera and broadcasted it on YouTube. The whole world started doing it and you know the rest.

FRAPS is a computer program that allows you to record yourself playing video games. With FRAPS you can record yourself playing a video game. Add music to it later and bam you have a real video! Get creative with it.***FRAPS runs on Windows***

Wondershare DemoCreator is a screen recorder. A screen recorder is a computer program that allows you to record what is on your computer screen. After you record it converts it into a video. You can record yourself making a beat, a Powerpoint presentation, surfing the web, etc…. It also allows you to add sound, music, narration, images, animations and more. You can make a very realistic 3d music video!

Quality Video Camera: If you can afford a quality video camera, then invest in one. Make your own reality TV show be creative and think outside of the box.

Webcam: Most laptops and computers come with webcams. Some are better than others so be careful. If you cannot afford a good video camera, the webcam can be of some help. FRAPS and DemoCreator is extremely cost effective and affordable. It is our first recommendation. Use the Webcam for live footage.

Where To Market Your Logo
The answer is on your own web page, not your MySpace but YOUR OWN WEB PAGE! Most music producers do not have one. They rely solely on their MySpace or Facebook pages. They are correct, they do need a MySpace and Facebook pages to market. However, they must have their own as well. Mine is jamilleluney.com, Timbaland’s is Timbalandmusic.com, yours is yourstagename.com.

Both Timbaland and I have MySpace pages, as does everyone else. However, we also have our brand name pages (i.e. jamilleluney.com and Timbalandmusic.com). Remember your name is a brand so you better own that domain name!

How To Market Your Logo
The first step to marketing your Logo is buying the brand name domain. This puts your name on the web and on Search Engines. Next, create your brand name web page. Upload pictures of you (your logo) on your web page along with your product (music) and music videos (FRAPS,YouTube). Link your brand name page back to your MySpace, FaceBook, SoundClick, YouTube, WeMix, and other pages.

After this market the same way you would as if your were an independent recording artists. I covered that earlier in another post. Click on the tab ‘For Independent Recording Artists’.

 

By Jamille Luney
Music Analyst