If you are reading this article, it’s because you are a musician looking to build a fan base that one day will enable you to make a decent living off of your talents. You may also have a relationship with me and my marketing company, and at this point understand the importance of connecting with your fans.

Obviously the most important way you’ll connect with them is through your music. However, you’re going to have to do more than just get them listening – you want them to talk to everyone they know in the hopes of creating new fans, who will talk to their friends, etc.

So how do you find these fans? First, you get them into your music. Then, you have to make them feel like they are part of something special.

Ever notice that punk rock fans wear their hearts on their sleeves? How punk rock music has such a big impact on their fashion, their purchases, hell even their politics?

It’s because they belong to a special club – the club of punk rock.

YOU need to create that special club, and you’ll recruit new members by interacting with them.

Here’s a math equation for you:

Quality, Interactive Content + Digital Marketing = Fans

Let’s break this down a little more. You are responsible for creating the quality, interactive content. So what’s interactive content? Many think that “interactive” means “flashy graphics and sounds”. While that can play a role, good interaction is more about getting a response out of the viewer/listener. Their are 3 major forms of interactive content that we will have to produce to get people’s attention:

Audio – obviously the main focus is your music. Create good music, and LET PEOPLE HEAR IT – you’ve got to give something away to build the foundation. Enabling the listener to share the music with others, comment on the music, even remixing the tracks, etc. – that’s the interaction. Also note that podcasts also play a role in the audio content department. Podcasts could consist of material just like a blog post could, and we’ll be covering ideas for content in a little bit.

Video – video content is HUGE – live performances especially. We haven’t spent a whole lot of time talking about video at this point because for many, video is expensive to set up, record, edit, etc. However, if the opportunity to get video in there arises, DO IT! Again, you could even do little videos of practice, being in the studio, interviews – see below for the plethora of ideas you could use to create good video content.

Photos – a given. People love looking at you in every kind of situation, whether it be performing live, in the studio, or eating a pizza. People develop an emotional bond via pictures.

Type – you should by now have the ability to get the typed word in front of your visitors. I stress the blogging stuff so much because it’s SO EASY to do, and it costs really nothing other than the initial set-up fees and hosting. Your time is the only factor, and I know that a lot of that is spent creating the music.

That’s what we have to understand the most though – being a successful musician is so much more than just creating the music – you’ve got to create an emotional bond with your fans.

You can start doing that today by writing consistent blog posts on your website that give people a peak into your world, your mind. The more you give people, the more they’ll pay attention to you and gossip.

Think about the media’s obsession with Britney Spears. They NEED constant updates of her life. They NEED gossip. Millions of fans tune into E! everyday or pick up People magazine for the latest news. Why should they get the attention? Get it yourself by personally blogging about what’s going on.

Now, let’s make one thing clear – DON’T GIVE IT ALL AWAY – give just enough to keep people interested. If you want to talk about personal stuff, go ahead, but be a little vague maybe so that people can ask questions or gossip or want to hear more – if you give too much away, you might turn people off a bit. Keep ‘em hanging and wanting more.

If you’re asking yourself “Who the hell gives a shit about me?”, just turn on the TV. It’s full of silly reality shows about ordinary people and their ordinary lives. And we all love it. Trust me, if you start creating interesting content, people will pay attention.

So enough blabbering all ready. Here are the things your fans want to hear, watch, and read about:

1. The meaning of your music – inspirations, lyrics, personal things, etc. Give us a peak into the creative inspiration behind things.

2. The creation of this music – you could blog for months on end about the process of writing, performing, recording, etc.

3. The performing of this music – again, there is so much to talk about here. Imagine writing a post about every gig you play, the things that happened at the show, the food you ate, the crazy drugs you did afterwards; whatever happens, write about the experience. The bigger and longer the tour is, the more interesting insights you’ll have to share.

4. The business of this music – my blog, for example, only discusses ONE ASPECT of the business and I’m not even trying to promote an album yet. There’s a million different aspects to the business that you could share with the world.

5. Your personal development – how things in your past have affected you and the music you create. Did you have a parent who was a musician? Who was the first band you saw live and did they have an impact on you?

These are the five main things that you should use as inspiration for a blog post. If you started off doing one category each week, then you’d have a nice mix of content for your fans to consume. However, don’t feel constrained either by these ideas – if you something creative pops in your mind, then go with it.

There are a million resources online which discuss content development, “linkbaiting”, blogging, and other concepts that will help improve your writing. The more time you spend learning how to engage your audience, the more powerful the bond you create will be.

And that friends, at the end of the day, is what it’s all about.

Article Source:
http://www.evolvor.com

For more education on careers in the music industry, check out: www.Music-Career-Guide.com

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A great tune never gives you good enough warning as to when its going to hit you, and if your not prepared it could walk out of your head forever, as quickly as it strolled on in. I’m putting down a few techniques I’ve developed over the years on capturing these precious notes.

So we’ve probably all done the same thing, we’ve made a bit of time for ourselves, and we say “Now, I will write a song”. After about 15 minutes of trying to find the most obscure chords and progressions, you realise that you are going nowhere. Then maybe about a week or so later, this moment hits you like a scene from a movie. Its like your in slow motion as you walk down the street and you turn your head and see that person, a total stranger, who for that moment in time is your soulmate. As you take a closer look at that person, and your heart starts to pound… enter the score, you hear the sounds of a song that you’ve never heard before, a melody starts to play with key reference words already falling into place.

BLAM, your caught in the middle of the street, a killer song has hit you and you have no way to get that melody down in time. You find yourself running around in panic mode as if your busting for the loo and you don’t know where it is.

OK, so I’m getting a bit melodramatic here, but if you’re still reading this article, you most likely can at least relate to what I’m talking about here.

When inspiration hits, capturing the moment capturing the melody

Be prepared. Today technology has blessed us with little gifts that we do not even realise are in our pockets. Most mobile phones have an audio recording, if not a video/audio recording facility. Most of our waking times, we are helplessly strapped to these micro devices that are supposed to make are lives easier. So in short, when that moment hits and the melody arrives, get that phone out and sing to it. I know I’ve recorded drum patterns, bass lines as well as melody and words. If your phone does not have an audio recording device, you may have an answering machine at home. Give it a call and sing to the machine (Just hope that no one is home or gets to the machine before you!).

The other piece of equipment that does come in handy is a dicta phone. I believe you can still get the tape based ones, though there is a large range of digital recorders now available.

Another piece of equipment, is that trusty laptop. Loaded with audio recording software, your laptop is a good friend with you and your guitar (or chosen instrument) in that songwriting exercise.

Inspiring inspiration

There are a few techniques I use when creating or encouraging that special moment to write songs.

I’ve often found that when I’m working out the chords and lyrics for cover songs, I’m hit by a shot of inspiration. The song naturally develops in the same style of the song that you are covering. As long as your melody is not similar to the song you are working out, chords are available for you to adopt as you compose your new song.

Another way to coerce that bit of inspiration out is a good cup of coffee. I really don’t condone the use of any illegal stimulant, but coffee is one that is legal and not too harmful.

That writing spot

Find a place (usually in your home), where you feel comfortable with your chose musical instrument handy. For piano players, this spot may already be chose for you. Make sure that it’s in an orderly state, and I know that this is a challenge for many with the creative mind.

Ambiance is important, so make sure that lighting and noise is at a the right levels. Try and keep it a phone free zone, as in turn that mobile off and make sure the landine is also a healthy distance away.

Tools at hand

I’ve mentioned earlier the recording devices such as the mobile phone, dictaphone and laptop. There is another trusty device that is reliable more so than the previous mentioned, and that is a note pad and pen. There’s something about the hand to pen to paper feel that technology will never replace.

Keep it simple

The best songs (in my opinion), often are the simplest. At our core, we are simple creatures and the “less is more” cliché is more “gospel” when it comes to creating great songs. The simpler the song, the more it can relate to, the more genres it can be transposed to.

Here’s how I break down a great catchy song to some basic components, the chords, the hook, the chorus, the bridge/change.

1. The chords can be as simple as the 3 chord structure. Often the chords of the verse, are exactly the same as the chords in the chorus, as the chorus preceded by a bridge and is reddefined by a new melody line. I’ve often feel like I’ve been fooled when I’ve made this discovery when working out cover songs.
2. The hook is what I think is one of the magic ingredients to a magic song. Take for example, “More than words” by Extreme. The song’s opening line of “Sayin’ I love you…”, has a melodic hook that grabs the listener the moment they hear it. (I still remember where I was when I first heard this song, and it grabbed me by the….).
3. The chorus is like the trademark of the song. It does need to stand out and tell you the what the thrust of the song is.

Finding the words

A sticky point for me is the words. I’m a victim of wanting the words to have deeper levels of meaning, which often means that sometimes songs get abandoned. The songs that have survived to completion, are songs that were written when I really had one major point to make.

One key tip here is to record yourself doing an adlib scat over the recorded music track. Sometimes I find words appear through my subconscious rather naturally.

There are a few more techniques, that I’ll follow up in partII of Basic Songwriting Techniques. These are things like collaboration and using a “test audience”. I’ll also use a case study of the creation of a song.

Article Source:
http://musicproducersforum.wordpress.com

For more education on careers in the music industry, check out: www.Music-Career-Guide.com

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