Successful Target Marketing Strategies For Rappers

Hey every one !

How is the music grind treating you ? Hopefully your having fun, making good music and good money. Maybe you have fans crowding into your shows and your buzz is building. If you aren't, you should subscribe to follow this blog (lol) because I want to help put you into that position ! But seriously, back to business.

It's about time I delve deeper into the effective strategies of target marketing for rappers. As a rap artist, your goal is to connect with as many fans as possible and establish a solid base to build upon. In order to do this successfully, rap artists (or their marketing teams) need to narrow down the focus to the wants and needs of music fans. This requires some attention and effort, but the pay off will be well worth the investment.

Always start with a plan, which should be focused on the perspective of your customers. There are three main perspectives to consider when targeting your marketing campaign. By finding geographic, demographic and psycho graphic information about your fans, you will be able to reach out and make a connection with them. This will help you turn your fan base, into your customer base.

Geographically, where are your customers located ? Think about your local, regional (state/provincial), national and international "fan scape" (fan landscape). Define your fans demographically by gender, age group and an estimate of their income. Last but certainly not least, the most important perspective of all is the psycho graphic relationship that all of these fans share.

Music fans come in all shapes, sizes, characteristics and personalities. Often times, we as artists or musicians forget to find the common qualities that our fans all share. Making real connections with as many of your most loyal fans as possible is a powerful promotional weapon in your music marketing arsenal.

Social Networking Groups

Take advantage of social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and the rest. Make it as easy as possible for your potential fans to find you and your music. Add friends to your networks and interact with people from all over the world. Opportunity presents itself in many forms.

Blog Posts

Keep your music fans up to date with all your current events and projects with a blog. Blogging is easy to do and it's an excellent way of staying in the mind of your fans. Blogger or WordPress are some good choices if you do not have the time to build your own in html.

Artist/Group Website

Having your own website is the best way to create and maintain a fan base. Make sure you provide artists with a newsletter, or something that they can sign up for with their names and e-mails. You want to collect as many e-mails as possible from willing recipients, this is one of the key elements of having your own website.

Artist-Fan Forum

If possible, create a forum for your music fans. Give them somewhere to go and converse or learn more about you as an artist. This strategy is also important for my next point about building a solid base of fans.

Legion of Loyal Fans

A legion of 10 loyal fans is worth more then a 1,000 "friends" on myspace. Loyal fans are the ones who are so passionate about your music and your image as an artist, that they will go to extreme lengths to spread the word and get your music into the hands of as many of their friends as possible. These people are the solid foundation on which you can build a huge fan base worldwide.

Lets quickly recap.

3 Perspectives of Target Marketing

Geographics - where are your fans located ?
Demographics - male or female ? age range ? How much money do they have for spending ?
Psychographics - what are the trends and patterns of your music fans ?

Build Your Fan Base

- Network socially.
- Maintain a blog.
- Create a website.
- Add a forum.

Most important of all is the combination of these three perspectives into a solid music marketing strategy. By studying your customers interests, needs, and spending habits you will be able to connect on the same level as your music fans. Fans that feel connected to their favorite artists are more likely to support them by attending the shows and buying the records.

Use these strategies to maximize the effectiveness of your music marketing campaign. Are you creating a big buzz in your area or online ? If so leave some comments and links to your page and you could be featured in my blog. Contact me for more information !

Rap Music Leaks Continue, Market Demands High

Here we go, again...

New school rapper Asher Roth has been making some noise lately. His featured single "I Love College" is slowly falling from 12th to the 18th spot on the Billboard Hot 100 music charts, but the new album, "Asleep In The Bread Aisle", continues to receive hype and praise. Asher Roth's album has leaked before it's scheduled released on April 21st. *sound the horns* The Internet strikes again.

Earlier this week the new upcoming album "Deeper Then Rap" by artist Rick Ross surfaced and spread across the Internet. Officially this album is supposed to drop on April 21st (same day as the Asher Roth release). Obviously somebody somewhere got there hands on it and decided to share it with the world. To be honest, I don't know how pissed off Rick Ross, or Asher Roth will get over these album leaks.

If music fans are interested enough to download your music before it even comes out, you have to concentrate on the positive effects and impacts that this has on your career as an artist in the music business. The fact that there is a high enough demand for your music before it's release can significantly benefit the marketing efforts of your music brand.

Rap music albums have been leaking for years. Superstar artists were quick to dismiss the effectiveness of an album leak, in the beginning every one was skeptical. Over the more recent years how ever, professional rap stars have received a huge career boost from an album leak.

LiL Wayne is a classic example, The Carter 3 album leaked and had impressive sales numbers that couldn't be denied. Ever since the rapper's career has been in full swing and he has become a huge hit in pop culture. Who can argue with good results from a "bad" break. Roll with it and make it work for ya !

Labels Getting Too Lazy To Promote Artists

Say it ain't so !

Word, are you even surprised ? We all know that for years, the bigger the label in the music industry, the less likely you are as an artist to get their attention and/or support, unless you are already creating a world wide buzz on your own. Let's be honest, for years the big labels have been really lazy and lacking in effort when it comes to maximizing the efforts of their artists campaign.

The fact is "labels" have been falling off for quite some time now, but have they given up altogether ? Nah, I don't think so, but I do believe in this period of "uncertainty" in the music business has made some labels really lazy when it comes to promoting their roster of artists.

Take for example the sad story with TVT records. Even with a roster of successful artists such as LiL Jon & The East Side Boys and Pitbull among others, the label still went under and filing for bankruptcy in 2008. After months of legal battles , LiL Jon managed to escape the record label and started new at The Orchard. So did Pitbull. He also left TVT due to the label's lack of a promotional/marketing effort.

Since their departure, both of these rap artists have taken their career to a whole new level of success. I'm telling you right now, you can't go to any urban club in North America without hearing some Pitbull and LiL Jon a few times throughout the night.

Digital distribution and new media company, The Orchard, caters to the likes of some impressive independent artists. Is this the new model for emerging artists trying to breakthrough ? Should you go indie or major ? So many big stars in the music industry have defected from thier major labels and gone the independent route. Is it a no brainer that big stars remain big stars, whether or not they are signed to a major ? True, but not always (as in the case of fall offs).

The next generation of musicians and artists has been born in the digital realm, which means more opportunity for music to be mobilized by consumers. More importantly this is a chance for music makers to create a direct connection with music fans on a more accessible level. This would cut labels and middlemen out of the picture altogether. Only the necessary members of an artist;'s team would be apart of their business ventures (e.g. a business manager, lawyer, accountant, etc.)

I think we are currently living in the best possible time for new artists to totally take over the music industry. Especially artists who are willing to go deepest dirty depths of the music business to deal with the best of them. You have to put it all on the line and take risks while implementing solid strategies to succeed.

What are some of your independent music successes ? Leave some comments and we'll talk about it. Great success stories could be featured in one of these blog posts. Get at me ya'll.

The Power of the Almighty F Word

FOCUS !!!

Now a days the world is on a high speed productivity binge. We've all been guilty of over-planning, forgetting scheduled events and missing or showing up late to meetings. Eh, it happens to the best of us, especially people in the music business.

I will admit that sometimes I try to do so many things at once, which leads me to getting nothing done in the end. Soon after the work load begins to increase, which becomes overwhelming and its hard for artists to maintain vision while proceeding to live their personal lives throughout.

By keeping your mind in full focus mode, you create the power to accomplish your goals and follow through with your respective vision. I know, it sounds like I'm over exaggerating but I wouldn't bother to make this blog post if I wasn't absolutely certain that FOCUS is a key ingredient to music business success for a rap artist (or any recording artist attempting to succeed in the music industry).

Making the best use of your "time" is an important skill to master. Taking control of your time is a powerful way of being productive. By focusing on the short, mid and long term goals you will constantly be aware of your priorities as a professional rap recording artist. Even as I write this, there are many things on my mind that are distracting me from what I really want to get done or finally cross off my "list".

The first step is to write down your goals. YES ! I said write down, as in grab a sheet of paper and pencil or pen. I know it's old school, but it's a necessary part of the process and it works. When you write something down physically it registers in your consciousness more deeply then simply typing it. However, you can also type up your goals in word pad as well to keep a digital copy fresh in your e-mail for a reminder.

Your goals should be plotted out in a format similar to this example provided below:

SHORT TERM GOALS (A.S.A.P. 1 week -to the next- 6 months ahead)

1. Pay off all of my debts (a common goal for many people)
2. Save $ 3,000 in a "moving out money" account
3. Fund my own demo
4. Graduate from my music arts program
5. Create a press kit for my artist profile
6. Perform a series of music gigs locally
7. Create a "buzz" for the debut album

MID TERM GOALS (6 months -to- 1 year down the road)

1. Earn more income from music, gigs and merchandise (totally possible!)
2. Establish a large and effective music network (connect with connected people)
3. Buy a car
4. Attend a music conference
5. Perform at a regional or national event

LONG TERM GOALS (1 -to-5 year's from now)

1. Own a house
2. Work with a premier producer in the music industry
3. Release a follow up album

What's the point of all this ? This is the best way to track your own progress through your life and your life's work. You want to be successful, this is the price successful people pay. Investing the time in doing little things like planning and establishing personal goals or work related challenges is how successful people "get to where their going" in life. They stayed focused on a clear direction and arrive at their desired destination.

The truth is it's up to our selves personally to make the best of our time according to what we really desire in order to successfully improve our own lives. Half the battle of realizing your vision, is coming up with the vision in the first place.

Every one wants to be successful, everyone can be successful, but only the one's that maintain focus actually get what they want. This whole post applies to life as an up and coming professional in the music business. Whether you are the next big rap star, or a hot hip hop producer trying to make money from your work, focusing on your goals and planning the steps to achieve them are the keys to personal and professional success.

Focus comes from planning and planning makes it hard to fail.

What are your plans, dreams, goals and aspirations ? Leave your comments below and I'll reply a.s.a.p.. Lets work together to help you get there !