Why Your Current Self-Promotion Strategy Isn’t Working (Part 1)
Written by Michael Eastwood Founder & CEO of Mastermind Promotion

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Why Your Current Self-Promotion Strategy Isn’t Working (Part 1)

Michael Eastwood & Dead Prez at BBC Radio 1Xtra

2) You’re too focused on social media
As already mentioned, it’s relatively common for those looking to go down the self-promotion avenue to make a beeline for social media. Just to set the record straight, social media has incredible value, unrivalled power and can have the most significant effect on your successes in the music industry. However, it is most certainly not the be all and end all, nor should it be viewed as anything of the sort.
Investing a good amount of time in social media is important, but it’s just as important to remember that not everyone you’d like to reach out to bothers with it. The social media landscape these days is so incredibly vast that simply disappearing in the background is far too easy for you to throw all of your eggs into this particular basket. Social media represents an important element of the promotion process, but nevertheless is only one element of it.
3) You’re automating things
While the appeal and value of automated marketing robots appear relatively obvious, it’s usually in your best interests to stay away from them altogether. Take for example Musicsubmit – all you need to do is pay them a small amount of money to have them send your music and a message to X number of industry professionals, radio hosts and journalists. Such services are very cheap and promise to accomplish in any instance what would otherwise take you a fair while to do yourself.
So what’s the downside? Well, quite simply the fact that the overwhelming majority of those working in the industry can spot these kinds of automated promos and messages a mile away. And when they do, it tends to stink of taking the easy way out and not having bothered to do the important work your band deserves. How many of these emails can you expect replies from? Or even to be opened? The answer…few to none.

4) You’re not giving enough away
Just as soon as a new artist decides they’re going to start using their music to pay the bills, they start working out how much they can charge for it. Perhaps a nominal fee to begin with, before going on to hike things up when they hit the big time. Of course, you need to put food on the table and keep a roof over your head while getting up and running if you intend to go solo. But at the same time, one of the most important rules when it comes to establishing your name in the first place is to give, give and give some more.
Think of it this way – those that are already willing to pay for your music are in the bag. A done deal. So you don’t really need to focus too much on these guys right now. Instead, you should be focusing on those who either don’t know who you are or aren’t quite yet willing to pay for what you do. You might not feel great about giving away your hard work for free, but trying to turn a profit before you’ve even made your first steps is only ever going to cause you problems.
Stay tuned for the second part of our guide, coming soon…