Staying Relevant - as an Indie Musician

                                                                 Image courtesy of receptivemusic.com
 


So you've finished your album, you're done touring and promoting. Time to take some time off! 

Not so fast... 

Unless you are done with your career as a musician, you need to become that artist/band where your fans are desperate for new material. 

How do you do that? 

By staying visible. 

Most of the time, musicians only connect with their fan base to promote and sell. Independent artists do not have the luxury of putting music out once a year, promoting and touring for three months, then going back into hibernation. Don't disappear! Stay connected to your fans!

Create a content calender containing all the social media you utilize for your music. Plan out how you will use each channel (ex. Twitter 3x's a day, emailing a newsletter once a month, blogging twice a week). Plan each post, pic, tweet or status.  Most types of social media will let you time these, so you can take a day to set all posts up ahead of time to be published at a later date. Be sure to check insights to see where your views are at the highest so that you have the max outreach. 

Find ways to add to your fan base. It would be to your benefit to do some research on how to use social media to its full potential.

Post and and tweet out photos of you writing or composing music, share demos and ask for feedback. Do a weekly video on Ustream and let them see you test out a new song. Tell them what your up to, how the music is sounding, and keep them engaged. Allow them to help you evolve and make them hungry for the end result.