Drew's Music Marketing Strategy (help needed!)

The Lounge General Discussion
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I have a lot of music that I would like to release. As some of you know, I work in various genres and that is its own branding problem. I’m currently working on a solution to explain that to new listeners in a clear way. The other thing to know is that Orange Drink is sometimes a trio, and sometimes just me solo. The plan is that the trio will play locally, and then I will travel further outside our region and play solo when it does not accommodate the other members’ travel schedules. That aside…

My Goals:

  1. Create some accountability in delivering new releases
  2. Earn some money
  3. Build a new audience
  4. Create closer relationship with existing audience
  5. Tour locally with the band, further away solo

Here’s a rough outline of my ideas; I’d love to get some feedback! :sunglasses:

Subscription

Using Bandcamp Subscription and Patreon to have a place for people subscribe and get all the music I release. Special offers/private streams/merch discounts. Is it confusing to use both at the same time?

Music Releases
Two kinds of releases, the “Mainline Albums” and then the “Bonus Releases”

  • Mainline albums are the releases that get physical products, these are the songs that the band plays live. These are more “a little bit of everything”
  • Bonus releases are more singular focus/experimental, maybe EPs, maybe only performed at solo shows. Maybe only subscribers get the Bonus Releases?

Soundcloud
Post every new track here. Maybe pay for membership?

YouTube
Post videos, livestream shows, tutorials, all new tracks. Maybe also stream on Twitch? (maybe not because I have a larger audience on YouTube?)

Bandcamp
Main music and merch store - maybe have the subscription here.

Streaming
Planning on removing everything from Spotify, will still use other DistroKid stores, I guess :woman_shrugging:

So I think my idea is to focus on Soundcloud and Youtube and Bandcamp - and do a subscription either with Bandcamp or Patreon or both. Is it more confusing to have two subscription locations, or does it make it easier for people who prefer one to the other?

Love to hear what you like or don’t like or if you have cool other ideas. If you have any personal experience with these services (esp paid Soundcloud account & promotion) let me know. I hate worrying about all this stuff :face_vomiting: Thanks for reading :v:

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Only thing I can say is: there’s no need to pay for Distrokid if you’re gonna pay for SoundCloud as the sc sub includes distribution to (probably) the exact same places as Distrokid.

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I was going to say the same thing about SoundCloud plus with the pro account you can monetize your tracks on SC as well as distribute them to the streaming platforms.

I would just try and focus on one platform and learn it and when you are ready introduce the others so you don’t spread yourself too thin.

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Can’t comment on much of this but I think if you bounce around genres a lot you can always market yourself as eclectic or genre bending. There’s a lot of bands I listen to that change their style often, I don’t think it’s a big barrier.

I’ve seen your band name on fliers around Milwaukee but I don’t think I’ve ever met you or caught a set. I wanted to make it out to that MELT showcase a few weeks ago but my wife needed me to stay home with the kid.

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Re identity, I can see that could be a real problem. Why not have different band names/identities/brands for different genres? Works well for Ripley Johnson with his Rose City Band/Wooden Shjips/ Moon Duo. Everyone knows it’s him, and he’s the draw. But there is a lot of clarity as to what to expect in terms of records and shows depending on what the label he is using that day/year/tour/whatever.

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Is your band name a Bill Hicks reference? The combo of the band name and thread name made me chuckle.

I have no advice to give because I’m terrible at marketing. Please don’t take Bill’s advice on marketing and advertising, funny as it was.

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