One of the most important things I would push on someone figuring out how to market their bands is to look at genres other than their own. This is where I see the vast majority of bands falling down when trying to strengthen their marketing efforts. The bands who are able to see beyond and push their brand are usually the ones who can figure out what their peers in other genres are doing and start to apply those concepts. In fact, one of the main ways that I make money as a consultant with genres outside of punk and metal is by teaching people the ways that punk and metal bands build brand. Then vice versa, when helping punk or metal bands I tap them into some more traditional marketing ideas. Everybody wins. In brief, you want to be looking at other genres because you might be able to get fresh inspiration, evolve pre-existing ideas and differentiate your band. The best part of it all? It’s not just limited to music.
Looking To Other Genres for Inspiration
Looking to other genres for inspiration is fun because it’s interesting to see how other people do things. For instance, a lot of how I learned how to do Instagram was to look at everyone from Taylor Swift to Hip-Hop artists. These are the guys who are doing stuff thoughtfully. Another person who you should really spend time observing if you are trying to understand new media is Lil Nas, who basically leveraged a deep understanding of Tik Tok into the song of the summer. A lot of the tactics people in hip hop or rap are using right now are perfectly valid in metal, they just need to be adapted a little for it to make sense for the audience. This ties into our next point of…
Evolving Pre-existing Ideas
This is where the whole concept of building on the scene around you starts to generate value. After all, if an idea is getting fans of rap to work who’s to say that with a little bit of tweaking it wouldn’t make sense for a DIY metal artist? After all, if you do a little bit of research it is fairly easy to find rappers like Ghostemane who are coming from a similar place as your average metal band. You need to be able to get your fans clicking back on you. The only way to do this is to keep delivering interesting content. It’s sometimes hard to do this when operating in the echo chamber of your own genre because you just end up looking like everyone else.
Differentiating Your Band
The beauty of looking to other genres for inspiration and building on those ideas is that you will end up differentiating your band. This can mean anything from being ‘the band with the great IG stories’ to the band who are putting out some of the most compelling videos. It’s really hard to find ways to look different when you are looking at a bunch of bands drawing from the same set of influences and ideas. However, if you take the time to draw influences from unexpected sources, then you are almost by default going to end up being a band with a unique approach that gets people talking. You often need to look no further than that.
Embracing The World Around You
Now this one gets a little bit tricky, but at the end of the day – there is no reason you can’t take the approach outlined in this article of reaching out to learn from other genres and apply it to the world around you. Personally, I mostly do this still in the context of the entertainment industry. However, if you look at other industries, there is still stuff to learn. As I get more involved in b2b label businesses for instance or learn about warehousing it becomes clear that I should be looking at things that aren’t just in entertainment. In fact, some of the most rewarding conversations I have had in understanding the music business have come by engaging with business people across the whole spectrum of the economy.
In brief – don’t be afraid to embrace those tactics of the world around you. Don’t be afraid to show people what you are working on and how you engage because then you are going to be shown new ways to grow. This whole thing only works if we take care of each other. If you look at how others in the scene are working though then you are putting yourself far ahead of the other bands. There is no ‘secret’ all you need to do is observe. This will give you inspiration, let you build on others’ ideas and cause differentiation. The more you expand your lens, assuming you do so tactically, the more you will win.
MATT BACON
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Matt Bacon is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Having worked with everyone from Glam Rock icon Phil Collen of Def Leppard, to post Black Metal titans Alcest, by way of legendary thrashers Exhorder as well as labels including Prophecy Productions and Ripple Music, he has dedicated his life to helping young bands develop. Having started his own blog at the age of 14 he views his career in artist development as ‘a hobby that got out of hand’. In 2015 he formed Dropout Media in order to better support the artists he loves. We sit here now, years later with countless tours booked, records released and deals signed, and loving every minute of it.
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