Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023.
Hey, it’s TJ Miller, “you want some game?” Let's #tipundathehat!
For the best indie music from indie artists, click, and follow Indie Artist Of The Week Unda The Hat. This week, Eric & Josh Willis, Be sure to hit the like button and follow this amazing group of indie artists. They will be big time soon.
What are we posting today?? - Let’s go -
Ok so let’s start by stating the obvious, Musicians need a marketing plan. There are a few moving parts of the holistic plan, like Branding, Advertising, PR, Distribution, Sales, possibly Radio, and of course social media. Outside of arguably Radio, Social media is the most important rubric of the marketing plan. All of you out there under 35 know this, accept this and run with it. Ahhh but there’s some of you out there trying to either fight it or ignore it, and neither one is going to get you where you want to go. Again stating the obvious, social media boosts your following, creates hype, and if done right helps you to sell product on your website. Before you start figuring out what to post there are a few preliminaries you must do first that will help to optimize your social media and build a strong brand. Remember a few blog posts ago, I said that people don’t just buy your music, they buy your brand and the brand sells the music. Here is yet another obvious statement but hey you never know, create your channels. That’s right, create your YouTube, Facebook, IG, Soundcloud, and either TikTok or maybe Twitter. I think every artist should also set up a LinkedIn page. Ultimately this is your business, treat it as such and connect with the business people that are on LinkedIn.
An “older” jazz musician told me the other day, “I have all those pages, I don’t do much on there because I don’t even know what to post on social media.” 
Well, the key is what you post, where, and how to optimize what you posted. It has been said that social media is one of the most important aspects of a musician's career. I think that’s taking it a bit far, but it’s close. You still need to make good music! George Daniels of Georges Music Room in Chicago once told me “It’s hard to market shi*.” That was back in the CD days, and it still holds true. Now more people get to hear you at a much faster clip if you don’t have the muscle of radio promotions behind you. A few boosts here, a few ads there and you’ve got 100,000 people hearing your music and you are telling them what you want them to do. So really what should you post? It will depend on who your music appeals to. Take a look at sprout social’s breakdown of the data. I know, I know, all you wanna do is make good music and live the life of a superstar, and not talk about data and analytics. Well, don’t hate the playa, hate the game. And this is the new music game. 
So if you are wondering what do you post; there are some ideas out there. First and foremost ask yourself what is your primary goal, and who is your audience. Once you figure that out, that gives you what and to who. A few things that you might consider posting on various platforms are your writing/production process, actually writing your hit single, and working through lyrics or music parts. A perspective conversation with a camera about you as an artist helps your followers get to know you more. Playing in the studio and or singing in your car. If you still have a 9 - 5 job, pictures of you doing your job. One that always works is listening to the finished product for the first time in the studio where ever you hear it. Another great one is eating some new food for the first time, like crawfish, sushi, or something you consider exotic. The one thing to remember is that you are a creative, and this will be like any other creative endeavor. Once you start doing a few of these, other ideas will automatically come to you. These are the posts that you will ultimately boost and purchase ads for. Again, where your audience spends their time on social media is where you want to be. Be real with yourself about it, don’t be afraid to google it, and better yet hire a professional.
This week's #IAOTW - Independent Artists Of The Week is - Eric & Josh Willis. This dynamic duo from Dallas Ft. Worth is every bit the quintessential musician's musicians. With Eric on keys and Josh on drums, they are two of the most requested artists in Texas. Click on their name link, scroll down to her picture, then click and support. You won’t believe how talented they are.
For more information on this or to hire Unda The Hat as your brand or label consultant send a message via undathehat.com. See you next week!!