Marketing Tips: Music Blogs

Whether you write your own blog or try to get featured on other music blogs, blogging is a key part of your marketing plan. Running your own blog is a great way to connect with your fans. You can show them glimpses into your life and the creation of your music. In essence, it creates a deeper connection with the fans you already have. On the other hand, having your music featured on another blog is a great way to grow your fan base. Bloggers have a strong influence over their reader base. The readers really trust the bloggers thoughts and opinions, so if they say your album is good many will go check you out.

This interview with blogger Tim Board, originally posted on the Cyber PR Blog, has some great insights that you can incorporate into your blog strategy. Tim Board runs the blog Front Range Scribbles where he writes about music in the Colorado area. He also runs Front Range Radio where he plays a lot of the music he highlights on his blog.

Here’s a run-down of some of the key take-aways from this interview:

1. Let your blog evolve over time.

What you start out writing about may not be what you end up writing about in a year or so. For example, you could start a musician blog on your website about your day-to-day life thinking fans want to get to know you as a person and find out that what they really want to see is the music. In the end you could be writing about your experience in the studio and the inspiration behind songs.

2. Find your niche.

If you’re writing your own musician blog, figure out what really makes you unique and incorporate that into your writing. Maybe you love working with vintage gear to get your signature sound. You could write blog posts about what to look for when buying vintage gear. When trying to get your music placed on blogs, you need to keep your niche in mind. You could be the best punk band out there and never get placed on a blog dedicated to reviewing folk music no matter how many nice emails you write.

3. Try to form a relationship with bloggers.

Think about how annoyed you would be if people kept sending you in-your-face marketing emails. Instead, try to start a conversation. Send some music and ask for their opinion. It could read something like this: “We’ve been following your blog for a while and see that you have a great ear for folk music. We’re working on a new album and would really appreciate your opinion on our single.”

Here’s a short round-up of the interview, but you can see the full interview on the Cyber PR Blog.

Is Front Range Scribbles your first foray into digital media? If so, what was the inspiration? If not, give us your history.

Yes it was. The blog really started out as a test for myself to see if I could just maintain it on a regular basis. The blog in the beginning had no direction it was a hodgepodge of writings, or photos. I would write basically whatever was on my mind that particular day. I then started a show on blogtalkradio featuring music and interviews with local independent artists. It was at that time I decided to change the focus of the blog to just writing about music. Writing about independent artist and their music, combining my blog with my radio show was an easy decision for me.

Front Range Scribbles has a focus on Colorado based independent artists. What are the benefits of focusing on the promotion of local artists?

The biggest benefit is being able to see the local artist perform live and talk with them one on one. A live show give me a chance to hear more from the artist then what they have published on the internet or on a CD. Sometimes the artist will perform songs they are working on that is not available anywhere. An artist from another state or country I can’t see them live or talk with face to face. A phone interview is not the same as a face to face interview.

What do you suggest to an independent artist looking for blogs to connect with for the first time?

The internet is full of bloggers writing about music. Look at websites or social media sites of other artist you perform with or know and see if any articles have been written about them and by who. Look at sites such as ‘Indie Bus” once again see who is writing articles about various artists. Once you find some bloggers, get a feel for what the blogger writes about, genre, geographical artists etc. If you do contact a blogger, try starting a relationship first, don’t just email the blogger and say hey write about me or about my single/CD. If a blogger does write an article than watch for comments and respond. The readers will enjoy seeing comments from the artist.

How do you prefer artists approach you who are interested in blog promotion or partnering with you in any way?

The easiest way is to send an email to tim [AT] frontrangeradio DOT net

Where can people find you online?

My website is www.frontrangeradio.net, my blog site is www.frontrangescribbles.com, and my weekly radio show can be heard Sunday nights 9pm Eastern on www.party934.com

What’s your blog strategy?

Has your music ever been featured on a blog?

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