Lets face it… if you’re a musician, you like the music you make.  You know it, you live with it, it swims around in your head all day long.  Other people don’t know your music at all.  I’m going to assume your goal is to try and change that fact.

The problem is, people (your target fans) are so inundated with things thrust at them, in hopes they’ll buy it, they have their guard up, and getting them to let down their guard is what you need to do in order to get them to pay attention to your music.  And make no mistake, the odds are against you.  I mean, can you pinpoint why you like any one particular artist’s music?  There might be some reasons, like a certain genre is more to your taste, or whatever, but for the most part, it’s a very instinctual thing.  You either like it, or you don’t.  Once you’ve found where the people who are most likely pre-disposed to liking the type of music you make, you need to go there, and try to sell them on yours.

Now, there’s three forms of currency that you want from people, in exchange for your music.  The first, is attention.  You need to get their attention, before you can get anything else.  The second currency, is conversation.  You want them to have conversations about your music, with their friends.  And thirdly, the last and final currency, is… well… currency.  Money.  Ultimately, the idea of supporting your lifestyle through music, is going to involve selling it (or ancillary products based around your music) for financial gain.

Now that we know what we want from our fans, attention, conversation, and money, and we know what we’re offering up in exchange for those things, our music, and our ancillary products, we can formulate a transaction.  The trick is, to ask for the right currency, at the right time, in exchange for the right item.  You’re not going to be very successful selling your products for money, if the customer has never even paid you attention yet.  So first, try to get people to pay you with attention.  What if you devise products specifically to sell in exchange for attention?  ”Free” samplers, “free” downloads, busking, rooftop concerts… these are all previous ways that musicians have tried to get people to pay attention.  Can you think of something else?  If you’re the first person to try something, you’ll get even more attention paid to you for it.

Even though people are inundated with marketing messages blasted at them all day, they still do want to give their attention to things that interest them, so make sure you’re offering is interesting.  And the people are still more willing to pay for something with their attention than they are with their money.  It might even be easier to get someone to have a conversation with their friends about you, than to get them to cross that hugest of hurdles and reach into their wallet to give you their money.

So keep in mind that when you’re trying to peddle your wares, put some products out there that people can buy with just their attention… if those products are interesting, you might get paid extra with conversations…. and finally, after they’ve bought everything they can get with those two currencies… then and only then will you be able to sell them what you’ve got up your sleeve that costs money.  But by then, they’ll be ready and willing to pay you for it.

So what’s the secret fourth currency?  Not so secret really… if you manage to get someone to cross that chasm to give you money for your wares, make sure you don’t let them get away without leaving you a way to stay in touch with them.  Contact information, and permission for you to communicate with them on an ongoing basis… that’s the fourth currency.  And quite possibly it’s the most valuable of all.  Get it whenever you can, treat it with the value and respect of diamonds or gold, and don’t ever misuse or abuse it.