Reasons why I wrote this article I
know it’s hard for upcoming artists to get support from family, friends, DJ’s,
Bloggers, etc etc. With so many people trying to get in the Nigeria music
industry, most artists get looked at as “just another person who wants to be a
musician”. Very few people take
artists serious when they are coming up,
but most of the time it’s the artists fault. If people don’t feel you are
serious and investing in yourself, then they don’t want to waste their time and
money supporting you. One thing I noticed about a lot of indie and upcoming
artists is you’ll make a lot of the same mistakes over and over. I’m going to
point out a few of them below.
Promoting On Social Media: I noticed
a lot of artists will spend money on studio time, features and beats to record
a mixtape but spend no money or very little money on getting the product
(Mixtape) out to the people. Marketing and promoting a product is just as important
as the product itself. I personally think it’s better to just push one song and
spend money on marketing and promoting it, instead of doing a whole mixtape.
I noticed a lot of artists sit on
Facebook and Twitter and promote their music and shows to the majority of other
artists. It’s true that you can turn another artists into a fan, but your main
focus should be to get regular people (people who don’t make music) to become a
fans.
Unprofessional producers: I noticed
that most Nigerian artists records songs with unprofessional and inexperience
producers. They go to cheap studios to record poor quality songs which makes
their songs sucks. It is high time for upcoming artists to invest in producing
good and quality songs, if your song is standard fans will love to play it over
and over.
Videos: A lot of artists get a video
made and just post it on Facebook and Twitter. It takes more than those two
social networks for your video to get some decent views. You need presence on
media and blog sites too. Also, I notice some artists have no description about
the video or any type of contact info. How do you expect people to get in touch
with you if they run across your video on Youtube.
Performance: A lot of artists
perform at the same venues over and over which is filled with the majority of
other artists. It’s only so far your buzz can grow from performing in the same
areas, at the same venues. You should branch out to other cities and perform,
meet and network with new faces every month.
Radio: I see this way too often.
Artists trying to get their song on the radio and don’t even have the song
registered with BDS or Mediabase. Getting your music played on radio and not
having your music probably registered is pointless. You have no way of proving
to a label that you are getting radio spins.
Graphics: I see a lot of artists put
out low quality mixtape cover designs or flyers for their show performance.
Your mixtape cover or flyer could be the deciding factor in whether or
not someone takes the time to listen to or download your mixtape or show up at
one of your shows.
Misuse of Social Media: This is a
real BIG mistake that artists make. A lot of artists sit on Facebook and
Twitter all day spamming people with your music links. Mentioning or posting
links on random people’s Facebook wall who don’t know you is the quickest way
to get you blocked or ignored. It’s best for artists to hold a short
conversation with a person and ask them to check out your mixtape, video, or
song. Try it. I promise you that you will get more people to listen to your
music and give you feedback.
Contacting DJ’s: A lot of artists
expect a DJ to play their music in the club, on the radio during their mixshow,
or add it to one of their mixtapes when in fact, your music is not industry
quality or your song is not club or radio material. That will mess up a DJ’s
name if he plays your song and bore the crowd or audience. Make sure your song
is professionally mixed and mastered.
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