The best job in the world – Video case study

Fantastic,

While traditional outlets, such as a great festival booking or a single that catches the attention of Drowned in Sound are still a surefire way to get noticed, what options are there for bands who aren’t quite there yet but want to spread the word as far as possible?

Just like anywhere else, the power of a friends’ voice online cannot be underestimated.  A recent white paper entitled ‘The Influencer: A Consumer Voice With Legs,’ confirmed the concept that online influencers have an ‘inherent’ desire to participate in word-of-mouth recommendations and although that currently still primarily takes place offline, the digital music environment offers a particularly convenient way for these influencers to share the music they are loving online.  A link on a Facebook page, a quick tweet; the power of these cannot be underestimated and the key is to reach out to those powerful voices, the ‘leader of the gangs’ and get them to love your music and more importantly, share it to others who trust their opinion.

While this may not come as a great surprise, what is surprising is how many of these influencers may be hidden away in your own friends list.  If even a small proportion of the thousands of friends sitting on your MySpace page are the kind of people who like to prove they are in the know (and trust me, there will be many,) it takes little more than a simple but personalised recommend a friend campaign to spread the word further than you imagine. The power of the influencers is sitting in your own contact list; it is simply up to you to learn how to use it.

If you’re a musician and you’d like help with your social media campaigns then visit our dedicated Online Music Promotion website – Indigo Sky Music.

When asked what he would do do if he was starting out in todays industry he replied:

“I would probably build a site, a home for my music, a destination where people could come and see me and what I do and what I’m thinking about.

“And then I’d probably assemble a team of kids that would go and bug the hell out of advertising agencies and marketing companies to use my music.”

(see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8478000.stm for the full story)

It’s an interesting, but yet obviously practical point of view – and one which we here at IndigoSky agree with wholeheartedly. As digital specialists we can help bands build a professional image along with an engaged community of fans, as well as help them to effectively distribute mp3s, video and other media across the web. Between these specialist digital services and the extra avenues for music distribution available through more traditional ad agencies a band can get the proverbial ball rolling without ever going near a record label.

Why is this any different to before though? What has changed?

The answer is simple: both making music and marketing it has become cheaper and simpler than ever before, creating affordable options where before there were none at all.

On the music side the availability of increasingly cheap and accessible recording facilities/equipment, and a more technologically savvy generation of musicians allowing for DIY recording/mixing (its amazing what you can learn to do on the internet these days…) means that the average band can produce high quality recordings on their own.

On the marketing side, Digital Marketing is more cost effective and demonstrates a greater and more immediate return on investment than traditional print media meaning that less money is required and the bands will see immediate results directly attributable to different aspects of their marketing. In short a digital agency (a relatively new concept) opens doors which until recently didn’t exist.

If you’re in a band and you’d like to know more then just drop visit our website dedicated to online promotion of music and bands or drop IndigoSky an email hi@indigoskydigital.co.uk