If you’re like many jazz artists, it is precisely the part after recording, mixing and mastering your new album that gives you a headache. Selling your music makes many people feel uncomfortable. Why though?
The Truth About Selling
Selling has a negative connotation for many artists. That used to include myself. A favorite subject for my musician-friends and myself was to discuss how a band used to be so much better before their commercial breakthrough. Before the money started flowing in. Credibility and being an underground artist seemed to go hand-in-hand. Did they SELL out?
However, to earn a sustainable living as an artist you need to think about money. And more, you have to do that if you care about your art. Why? Because without money, financial stress will take over your creative bandwidth. The result: less music being made and released. Financial stress kills art, it doesn’t create it.
I think there are three misconceptions about selling many people have.
- Selling is only about yourself. About increasing your own income.
- Selling is solely about informing people about your products with a focus on ‘Always Be Closing’ .
- Selling is something isolated from the rest of your life.
What is selling?
Selling is not hyping your album and yelling about it to everyone. A great read on this subject is Dan Pinks’ book ‘To Sell Is Human’. His definition of selling is:
“To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resources—not to deprive that person, but to leave him better off in the end.”
To leave him better off in the end… That’s for me the most important message here. It is not about you. Nor is it solely about the transaction. It is about creating value for somebody else.
Selling is not limited to only products, or commodities in another word. You can also sell people an idea, a feeling, an experience, a solution or a different way of being. Isn’t that what parents or teachers do? Or you, when you try to convince your boyfriend that this romantic movie is really worth his time? You sell the idea of the experience together, what the movie is about and how it will benefit him (cg. happy girlfriend).
Forget the old sales ABC
The old sales ABC is ‘Always Be Closing’. This adage is what we visualize when we think about the cliché car salesman. Sleezy, untrusthworthy, and only out for his own benefit. It had a focus on the transaction. In the Social Media realm for musicians it translates roughly in Facebook posts like “Buy our new album!”, “Checkout this new videoclip” or “Stream our new EP here!”. All sentences that focus on primarily your needs and on the transaction.
It’s definitely clear what you want but does it work? Is it what the person on the receiving end of this sales pitch needs? In marketing this approach is called push-marketing. You push your art, product or service through your marketing channels to your fan with a focus on sales.
That doesn’t work anymore.
People don’t want more noise. They don’t need more advertisements urging them to buy something. Do you? No. What do you want? Inspiration perhaps? A deeper connection with another human being? A feeling of belonging? More beauty in your life? I do, and would welcome all of those. So, how can you sell me that instead?
Selling is about telling stories
In 2020 you sell by telling stories. Stories about improvement and about how it will make your audience feel when they come to your show or listen to your new album. Personal stories about what inspires you, your experience recording or on-stage. Stories about why playing with your hero was so life-changing. People want to feel they’re dealing with another human being who has their best interest in mind. This way you can sell with authenticity. You can be yourself when selling. In fact, you should be yourself when selling. Because that’s what both makes you and the receiver feel better! Selling is about establishing a relationship. It’s the long-term you’re thinking about. It’s a marathon not a sprint. You sell by providing your fans again and again with valuable and relatable content. You don’t close the sale, they will do that if they value what you have to offer or the relationship with you enough.
Selling is about the other person intrinsically wanting to purchase the service or product from you. To be able to do just that, you as an artist have to be able to describe your music and/or service with an eye for its benefits. The value it provides to others. About what it makes the listeners feel or think. About the nature of experiencing your music.
The benefit of thinking about the value you create for other people is that it takes the focus away from making money. Focussing on creating great value for others is what really propels your career, and yes, as a result, your income forward. That’s what selling is all about. It’s a Win-Win.
People like us do things like this
Of course, your music is not for everyone – taste differs – but it is for people like you. People that share your worldview, values and music taste. Marketing guru Seth Godin’s slogan is, ‘people like us do things like this’. People like ‘insert description of your true fan’ listen to this kind of music.
People that need hope in their lives. People that need happiness, melancholy, want to dance, drift away, people that want to belong to a certain group. Can you pinpoint the need that your music fulfills for them?
Selling is about figuring out who needs your music and, therefore, would buy your album, because it leaves them better off. Is going to a restaurant really only about the food on your plate? No, it is about the whole experience and how it makes you and your guests feel. The same with music. It is so much more than just a commodity.
Do you agree? Then don’t treat it that way. Average stuff for average people is difficult to sell. Luckily, you made something remarkable. Something people can’t wait to talk about with other music lovers. Something people would love to buy from you.
Did you tell them about it?
Pieter Schoonderwoerd
Your Jazz Career
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