The DIY musician myth

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The DIY musician? Image courtesy of 'jster91' on Flickr

Can you really make it as a DIY musician?

Is the internet really the great leveller that gives every artist an equal chance that you’ve been told it is?

I’ve spent years finding undiscovered talent and working with them to get a deal and get their music released.

I still do that, but now I also spend time helping musicians do it on their own using ‘Direct to Fan’ techniques – because, yes, these days, it really can be done without the record company machine.

OK, the truth is that not many have done it yet (Corey Smith, Pretty Lights and Jonathan Coulton being my favourite examples of those who have) but the system is now available to all.

But, it’s also a lie that the internet means you can all release your own music and be the creator of your own success.

It’s not that the internet isn’t the massive opportunity to reach potential fans that you’ve been told it is (that bit is true) but, sadly, 99% or more of the people who record their material and try to promote, release and sell it online don’t have material that anyone wants to hear.

It’s just not good enough.

Improve your songwriting

The answer to that is to spend time as a musician learning your craft and learning how to write songs. This is a skill that takes time and application.

Once you’ve managed to get over that hurdle (which most won’t) then every artist thinks that they can do all the things required next – the artwork, the promotion, the marketing and so on. Well, they could, but they usually haven’t learnt those lessons and skills either!

Again, artists like Corey Smith have (or have been wise enough to buy in or co-opt the skills needed that they don’t have), and they show you how to do it just by looking at their sites and seeing what they do.

That said, how do you know your material is worth releasing?

You need to get feedback.

You can’t usually trust friends and relatives to be impartial – they’re too likely to avoid hurting your feelings or, perversely, will be too harsh and critical. So, do this on any forum. Search to find one where your genre is known so that the feedback has real value but also submit to the members at places like the ‘Peer to Peer’ thread in the Taxi forums, where you’ll get a sense of your material’s broad appeal.

There’s also some clever websites that allow you to upload a song and get it critiqued by real people. I’ve generally found this to be worth the expense for the guaranteed impartiality you’ll get (Soundout is one, but there are others).

And, if you aren’t getting told that your material is great, don’t wallow in self pity or denial – get out and learn how to improve. Read some books. Find a class on songwriting or read up online and apply the knowledge. Find collaborators. You can do this online at places like Indaba and SongsInc or search for local songwriting circles and the like.

Practice makes perfect is an overused phrase……because it’s right!

This isn’t to say that all music needs to be generic and bland – something that the feedback you get from a broad range of people might lead you to believe.

One key truth for the DIY music movement is that there is a niche for every type of music and every artist. So being told that your songs are crap because you’re making alt-folk and you asked a metal fan isn’t going to help.

But, ask the right people and focus your material on that niche as you improve. Know what they like and want and tailor your music to that sound. Almost every artist  breaks in a niche first and then expands from there and that should be your focus.

So, what do you do when you have some material that will appeal to everyday folks?

Guess what – you learn how to promote yourself on the internet and you go out and play it live. (Actually, playing it live is one of the ways you will have been bettering your skills all along and getting feedback as to quality that you can trust – if you don’t know someone and they keep paying to come and see you play, you’re doing something right).

At this stage, the promise of the internet is no longer a lie. It IS the way to reach people in the 21st century and you MUST embrace it and spread the word on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and even MySpace (yeah – I know it’s dying but you should still have a basic presence there for a host of reasons….for now at least), but, most importantly on your own site where you control the environment.

I know some of you believe that it’s a waste of time and everyone is pumping out shit and why will anyone care – well, if it’s good enough material they will – but you’ll have to learn how to make them come and see your web presence. See….more learning.

Direct to Fan

And what is the core of the DIY musician / Direct to Fan method?

It’s to make your site the hub of everything you do. Try to point people to your site from your social network profiles and when they are there trade their email address for some free music (an EP please, not a single track). See our posts on Fan lists for more on this.

With your site acting as your hub, do something small every week and something big every month on your site. I stole this from Ian Rogers, the CEO of Topspin, but it’s great advice.

And, this is all before anyone comes along and offers you money or help (a manager or record company or whatever they might be these days).

There are people out there telling artists how to do this (I’m one, Ariel Hyatt is another. Martin Atkins, Greg Rollett, TightMix, Chris Rocket, Mic Control, Musformation, Musician Coaching, Bas Grasmayer and many more are all great). Have a look at my Twitter list to see who I listen to.

BUT, for pity’s sake don’t believe any of us can teach you how to use the internet to spread the word about mediocre material.

The songs and the quality of those songs have to come first.

I’m also a very great believer in playing live to spread the word. It improves your talent as I said before, but it also does create real fans. What most people do wrong is that they don’t do enough!

I remember once being told that a band I was managing weren’t a real band and I didn’t quite understand what the A&R man meant. But he was right – you only really become a band or an artist when it’s what you do, all day, every day. I know many people can’t give up the day job and try to do this full time. But, if you do, things change. You do get better at all of it and it allows you to go and do shows….most days.

I see a lot of bands play a Friday or Saturday in their home town once every few weeks and then they don’t play again until months later – why?

If you’re getting a reaction – you MUST learn how to promote your music and your gigs (the internet again) and then you need to get out and play. Wherever you live in the world, you can (if you don’t have the day job) play endlessly within three hours of where you live. So why not?

Not every gig is packed out! Image by Stephane Moussie on Flickr

I know that people will tell you not to ‘overplay’ your home, or any, market, but that needs to be thought through. Of course you will tire out and bore a small town if you play every week at the same venue (unless you can make that residency an event time and again). But a city can have you play North, South, East and West pretty much constantly to new and different crowds.

And, get in the van and play an hour or two away. If you’re good then overplaying isn’t a problem. You’ll expand the area you play, you’ll be in demand and you’ll learn to balance it.

Plus, the advantages you get from playing a lot will outweigh that concern.

Devise a plan, motivate people to street team for you for added promotion and get out there. Play 5 or 6 nights a week for 3 months. By the end of it, you’ll be a damn site better than you were before and you’ll have learnt so much.

Yes, some nights you’ll play to the bar owner and his dog, but you’ll learn how to avoid that too….or you’ll learn that you just aren’t good enough, or that your singer is crap or that you can’t bear to be in the van with the bass player. Better to work this out than spend years trying and believing that you’ll make it in a band that just isn’t good enough. But you didn’t actually spend enough time trying to find out.

Oh, and make sure that you learn every trick in the book to get as many people as possible who see you at a show to visit your website and build your email list further.

DIY Musician Roadmap

Putting this all together:

1. Learn how to write good material and how to evaluate it’s quality honestly;
2. Learn how to promote your music on the internet;
3. Get out there live and play lots to find out more about what your music means to people and whether the band you have is working. If not, change it.
4. Work to build a local, regional then national fanbase, both offline and online;
5. Do something small weekly, something big monthly (Ian Rogers ^TM!);
6. Give stuff away – the worst that can happen is that more people get to hear your music.

So is the DIY Musician a myth?

Not, if they’ve got the music and the dedication.

The beauty of this approach is that it will get you to DIY success if you can appraise your ability and material so that you can grow and change. And more often than not these days, it’s working towards that DIY success that record companies and managers need to see before they want to get involved and help you to more mainstream success.

So you succeed either way.

Tagged as: direct to fan, DIY Musician

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