Don’t Try To Buy Your Way In

This is not what it takes to be successful

As promised, today’s post is about trying to “buy your way in.”  There are several ways that musicians try to do this… they think that if only they could buy advertising, or if they could hire an indie publicist, or a radio promoter, or buy their way onto a tour, then people would hear their music and fall in love with it, becoming lifelong fans in the process.  There have been bands who were born from very rich stock, who have paid for everything I mentioned above, and more, and it still hasn’t gotten them anywhere.  I’ve seen bands spend thousands of dollars on everything from pyro, to a tour bus, to radio advertising, to all sorts of crazy things.  And even more heartbreaking are the bands who scrape and scrimp and save, to be just able to afford to spend their hard-earned cash on something like this… the problem is that while all those things are valid and useful things to have, they are also all a part of a strategic marketing mix that needs to be properly timed and well executed by trustworthy business partners.  Engaging these things too soon, in efforts to jumpstart a career is an extremely high-risk proposition, and not something I recommend, until the time is right.  They’re most certainly not the first things you should be thinking of doing, in efforts to begin growing your fanbase.   Sure, money can buy your way into a door that may have been shut before, but it’s not going to keep that door open for long.  It’ll be up to your talent to keep that door open.  And never underestimate the public, because they are too smart to be fooled with flash and cash…

Instead, why not make sure you’ve exhausted everything you can do on your own first?  The major superstar artists can’t develop strong relationships with their fans because there’s too many of them, but your fanbase is probably a size that’s manageable enough that you can.  You can personally respond to your fans messages, wish them happy birthday on Facebook, ask them questions, listen to what they have to say, and form strong bonds with them.  Personally invite fans to your shows, throw fan appreciation barbecues, do things that show your fans you care about them, and that you think they are special.  Evoking that feeling in your existing fans is going to spur them on to share your music with their friends, and that’s how it will grow.  Be creative with your fan interaction, and do things that make sense for your band, that will resonate with your type of fans.  All that is going to go a lot further than throwing some cash around in efforts to shout to a large number of people really quickly.  For an indie band, that’s just a band-aid solution at best, and a colossal waste of money at the worst.

If ever you catch yourself thinking something that starts with “if only…” always remember, there are no shortcuts to being successful.   It takes hard work, talent, and dedication.  Being a great musician is going to get you much farther than spending a ton of cash on shouting at people if you’re not.