Raise your hand if you think people don’t buy music anymore. When you bring it up, you’re hit with an excuse and a blank stare, killing any hope people appreciate good music. It’s frustrating enough spending your free time writing, practicing, and recording music – never mind having the patience to convince someone they should buy it.
Well, there’s good news: getting people to buy your stuff doesn’t have to be a pain. With the right system and tools at your disposal, you could easily sell your music – all without the help of a record label or a band manager.
Keep reading and we’ll walk you through how to do it. When we’re done you’ll understand how to sell your music without any music industry connections. Ready?
Let’s dive in.
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Real life example:
Jack and his wife Nataly started selling their music online in the summer of 2008. One year later, their band “Pomplamoose” successfully sold more than 100,000 songs. Today, they earn about $11,326.00 every month selling their music online.
In a nutshell, this is what they do…
1. They produce their own music videos and publish them on YouTube
2. Direct fans across all social media platforms to watch the videos
3. Invite the viewer to purchase something at the end of the video
4. Viewers are directed to iTunes and/or Loudr.fm to make their purchases
Check out the image below for a visual example…
This thing basically works in two parts: Marketing and distribution.
I will explain…
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Marketing
Without getting too “businessy”, the definition of marketing is: The action of promoting or selling products or services. Pomplamoose markets using social media. They have four, main accounts they use…
• YouTube
If you want to understand more about social media marketing, feel free to click here and download a free cheat sheet.
Let’s take a quick look at how this works. I took screen shots of each social media account Pomplamoose uses, doing my best to show you what’s working for them.
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I really enjoy Pomplamooses’ status updates on Facebook. There is a great mix between personal posts, humorous posts, and promotional posts. That post below is an invite to watch their latest video on YouTube.
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When it comes to, Twitter. I have seen people find the most success posting quick and urgent “announcements”. Pomplamoose uses Twitter exclusively to announce “We’re commenting on our latest YouTube video for one hour. Come ask us questions!” Again, directing fans to YouTube.
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I didn’t see any patterns with Instagram that were significant. They have it linked to their FaceBook and Twitter accounts so they update that way. I also noticed some pictures that were on Instagram, but they were not on Facebook or Twitter. They held consistent with “funneling” fans to watch their videos on YouTube, however. Keep that in mind.
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YouTube
This is the big kahuna. The one social media channel they use to direct everything to. It makes sense. The most compelling aspect of a musician is them. “Them” being their personal lives.
There’s always been a kind of “mystique” around musicians. For the first time, ever we can (legally) get to know our favorite musicians and build a relationship with them. YouTube is Perfect for that. It’s more relatable because it is video…
This is is the point that the invitation to support the band is presented. And it works! I love how tactful the invitation is…
“If you enjoyed watching this video, please consider supporting our ability to make more. Oh, if you decide to do that, here is a link. We appreciate it!”
Personally, I feel compelled to support Jack and Nataly after watching their awesome videos (check out the picture below).
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Distribution
Pomplamoose uses two platforms to distribute their music digitally. Those platforms are iTunes and Loudr.fm. I used to think that “distribution” was the massive logistical thing that required paying a company thousands of dollars. I thought I could never pull it off. And I couldn’t have. At least, not 20 years ago…before iTunes, TuneCore, and CDBaby graced us with their presence…
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iTunes
Upon arrival, they can purchase anything from the Pomplamoose discography. They make their selection, pay the .99 cents, or whatever it costs, and immediately gain access to the item they just purchased. Then, after the transaction is complete, Jack and Nataly get paid.
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Loudr.FM
Loudr.fm enables Jack and Nataly to legally sell cover songs by obtaining a mechanical license. Loudr offers licenses that allow them to release digital downloads, interactive streams, ringtones and physical releases.
By the way…All of that happened in the background, automatically.
The entire process was facilitated without any direct effort from the two musicians. Yes. There is a lot of work they have to do up front… however, once that upfront work is complete, people will continue to watch it, share it, and go to iTunes or Loudr.fm to purchase their music. I hope that frosts your onion!
That wraps it up for today. I hope you enjoyed it.
Spend two minutes thinking about how you can start making money with music, and tell me what it is in the comments.
If you are uneasy about getting stuff going online and making money with your music that way, no worries. If you want to focus on your local area, I have a free course that will show you how to make 1k per month with your music.
The first band I managed went from “flat broke” to making more than $1,000 each month in their local area. Attwnd a free webinar on how we did it. Click on the button below to register….
