The days of physical record sales are dead, done, finito. Selling an album or record is, by today's technological standards, a suckers bet. Congratulations ! If you just digested that little bit of factual information, you are ready to succeed in the music business as a hip hop entrepreneur.
What Up ! RTiculate here and in this post I'm going to explain why any music marketing strategy should include giving away your music for FREE (yes, I said FREE!). Now, I know exactly what you're thinking, "I made my music, so I should earn money from my work". Yes, you are right and I know how it feels to swallow this pill. However, FREE MUSIC is an integral part of your music marketing strategy in order for you to achieve a level of success from which you actually will profit.
Every hip hop entrepreneur needs to work with the idea of offering free music downloads. Mix tapes are primarily a means of keeping rap artists relevant between their album releases. Wait, hold up R.Tic, I thought you just said that banking on album sales are a "suckers bet". Ah ha ! They are, however not creating and marketing an album is like not betting at all. Basically, you can't win if you don't bet - without risk there is little or no reward.
Your best bet as a hip hop artist is to leverage the advantages of promoting free music downloads and using the scenario for an effective marketing campaign. Lets say you are finishing up recording for your album before post production begins. There should be a surplus of tracks that did not make the cut for the album. Those songs can be used for promotion (assuming you own the rights to your own master recordings).
As a hip hop artist/entrepreneur, this will help you attract new potential fans, giving them the chance to download your music for free will make it more likely for them to support your future tracks and music projects. This is an excellent way to build credibility for your artist brand, as well as increase your chance at profiting from your music.
By building a music marketing strategy that includes giving away free music to existing and potential fans, you set your self up for greater chances of success in the rap music business. Peep the strategies used by some of your favorite rap artists, whether signed to a major or running an independent label. The free music strategy is becoming one of the most integral methods of attracting and retaining music fans to an artist brand.
Keep your head up and your eyes, ears and mind open. Good luck fellow hip hop innovators !
Rap music business - Marketing and Promoting the Future of Hip Hop
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