I once got sucked into a friendly (but not so friendly) competition with another artist in my city. This artist first reached out to me under the guise of being friends. I worked with this artist on co-billed shows and various other music related projects. However, there was a subtle aspect to the friendship that I had failed to pick up on until much later. To make a long story short, this artist ended up engaging with me on a very competitive level to the point where it felt like I was being undermined, spied on, and used. I mentioned that I got sucked in, because I caught myself trying to play the game mentally. When I would see this artist put out a video for example, I would think, ‘well my video is much better,’ or ‘I’m going to get more views on my videos than them.’ I would have to constantly remind myself that it’s not a competition and that I shouldn’t indulge these kinds of thoughts. In my nature, I believe that everyone has their own destiny to pursue and that what’s for me is for me. I think that if we as independent artists put more effort working together, we can get a lot more accomplished. Some artists disagree with this thinking. They’d rather try to beat you out and be the last man standing.
But, music is not like other business industries in that we can share fans where other industries can’t. For example, I own CDs, digital music files, and merchandise from multiple different music artists that I like. When I have a need for music, I’ll listen to several different artists one after the other. That’s not the case with other industries, such as consumer goods. Take paper towels, for example. When I have a need for paper towels, I only have one brand at a time in my house. I really love Viva paper towels. When there’s a spill, I go to the pantry and pull out my Viva paper towels. When I go to the grocery store, I look for Viva paper towels and pass by all the other brands because I only need one brand at a time. Music is not like that. Consumers have an insatiable appetite for music. They support and listen to multiple artists and in the same genre even. Artists whose music is similar have an advantage to cross-promote and share fans. Let’s say you have two artists living in the same city who create the same type of music. If a fan likes artist A, they will most likely appreciate artist B as well. Why not share bills and take turns promoting each other and grow together? If they were smart, the two of these artists can put their heads together and take the whole city in that genre.
As independent artists, we are better together. Individually, we don’t have a pool of resources like the big record labels do. We don’t have an endless supply of songwriters lining up at our door hoping for a chance. We don’t have loads of money to throw away on big marketing campaigns. We don’t have promoters lining up to send us on world tours selling out big stadiums. But we do have each other. In our sphere we have songwriters, opportunities to do gig swapping, producers, and co-promoting opportunities. Between all of us, we have all the fans we can possibly imagine. Between all of us, we’ve got plenty of marketing experience and a bunch of guerrilla DIY marketing tactics that would send big marketing gurus back to their Mommas. If we can work together as a group, we can each accomplish our dreams faster.
Being competitive with other artists is an elusive distraction. You end up focusing on the wrong things like the other artists’ careers instead of your own. It covers you in this mental fog to the point where you’re unable to think clearly enough to visualize and focus on your own goals. The kicker is that you’ll never win! There is always someone that is better than you, has more fans than you, gets more gigs than you, and so on. You will never be a winner this way. A true winner is the one who consistently breaks their own records. Twenty people came to your last show? Get 40 people to your next show. You signed up 15 mailing list subscribers last month? Get 30 new subscribers this month. This is how you win. How much faster can you accomplish your goals if you had help from other people doing the same thing you’re doing?
So what does this look like? Well, if you can find another artist in your genre, one idea is to share each others’ videos or new albums in newsletters. If you’re releasing an album at the same time, why not put the two albums together and sell it as a combo? Do online shows together and share fans. You can always ask other artists how they are promoting themselves and experiment with different ideas that way. One guy I know decided to put on a show with 8 of his fellow singer/songwriters. With that many artists sharing a bill, they were able to promote and sell out bigger venues. This is something he couldn’t do on his own. I did something similar where I invited 3 other singer/songwriters and a poet to share the stage with me for an event series I hosted every other month. Collaborating with other artists in this way, helped me to build a strong local following for myself. Start reaching out to other artists on your own and build a tribe.
Join relevant artist groups on Facebook and make it a point to engage. I started a group for this exact purpose and I encourage you to join today. The group is called Indie Artists Better Together. Click here to join the group on Facebook and start engaging right away. We will be doing challenges to help each other gain more fans, establish long lasting rapports with fans, and much more.
Although, it can be tempting, try not to put your energy into surpassing other musicians. What works for them might not work for you. Focus on building a genuine relationship with your true fans. If you establish a rapport with your fans where they know and trust you, the opportunities will be endless for you. That’s your ultimate goal, isn’t it? To connect with true fans?
