Online vs. On The Ground - Finding The Right Balance as an Indie Musician
Co-written by Declan Gibson
If you’re an independent artist that feels the urgency to build followers and have the online presence then you’re not alone. And it can suck, to be honest. Although there are obvious benefits for engagement and content, we at HMC caution getting caught in the social media trap.
Regardless of whether your ultimate goal is to be signed to a major label or to manage yourself as an indie artist, online marketing is crucial. Generally, major labels these days will not sign someone who does not have their online game in order.. your socials, a website, an electronic press kit (read more about that here). As a self-managed indie it’s important to build your business and connections with your fans online to enable you to sell merch, create awesome online experiences and to promote your shows, amongst other things. And there are sites like Patreon which exist for you to make money online.
We’re certainly not discounting these as great tools for today’s indie artists ,but ignore the real world at your peril, which means getting out there and being a part of the industry where ever you are located. This really makes a difference and must not be forgotten.
What Constitutes The Real World?
The live performance experience. Performance brings your music to life. Whatever you choose, the best version of you is not not created/discovered overnight! Entertaining is an art form that in our experience takes dozens, if not hundreds, of gigs to perfect. As you start to feel more comfortable on stage your fabulous, unique persona will come out!
You could also go to live shows and look at videos of artists you admire and watch how they perform & communicate with their audience. Sometimes simplicity is more, like Matt Corby’s performance here:
Or a loud, in your face performance is more up your street: like Coldplay’s performance for tiny desk:
Social Media Should Be A Reflection Of Your Real Life.
By being interesting and doing interesting things your social media game will be strong simply by reflecting these things. And, let’s face it, sitting around trying to think of interesting content ideas is not easy. Take the focus off what you can be doing for your social media accounts and start to focus on what you can be doing on the ground with your music and your life! Things like:
getting outdoors and playing, writing. You’ll be surprised the interest you get if you are in a public place!
heading to other indie gigs and telling the world what you thought/supporting the artist
weekends in nature or on the streets with your instrument, writing and practising
busking on the streets, interacting with the passers by
heading to an open mic and explaining your nerves/feelings etc
These are all ways to create interesting content, show interesting parts of you and and create real relationships. Much like Seth Godin’s “super fan”, super fans will buy everything you put out. Will go to every concert.
Do the work for your yourself and that will be interesting to the fans who want to engage in your work. The growth will come, but be patient, it can be tough to get that engagement but consistency will get you there.
What do you want?
We’ve seen an emerging trend of “online artists”. But if you are to be taken seriously in this industry you need to be playing shows. There seems little doubt that the most fulfilling experiences come from being out in the “real” world, and those experiences will only continue to get better and better through the experience you get, the growth, the learning of the performance art and social proofing of your music that can only come by playing it to people live.
Get yourself out of your comfort zone - that’s where the magic really happens and the growth is inevitable.