The life of the underground artist is a love-hate relationship between struggling to find success and simply enjoying the art form they initially fell in love with. Sometimes artists become so engrossed in receiving recognition that they tend to forget about what really matters; the quality of music and the people who enjoy the craft. Honestly, what is the point of trying to make a profit from an album sale when the music is practically unsellable and unmarketable? Fans can see through the blind ambition because at the end of the day, what actually matters to fans is if they can truly relate to your music. The mindset here should not be to gain profit but to build a fan base. In all my articles, I stress how important the fan base is. Without listeners, your music and voice ceases to exist in the world of entertainment. Another point to keep in mind is that there is no sense of selling your music on iTunes if nobody knows who you are. This is where the beauty of mixtapes takes place.
Mixtapes have evolved over the years and most have come to be more valuable than albums. They were once used as an affordable way for artists to promote and demo their songs to the masses. Marketing the mixtapes before the popularity of the internet required excessive effort and countless hours. Today, marketing a mixtape is as simple as uploading it to a few music sites and sharing it on different social networks. In a way, mixtapes have somewhat lost their value because of how effortless anyone can upload their music online. It is a beautiful concept for us as artists and producers but at the same time makes the art of mixtapes less than common. What is worse is that most people even record and publish mixtapes that lack proper mixing and mastering. In order for your mixtape to retain uniqueness, it first must have a quality sound. It also requires its own custom production which means you will have to use beats that were especially made for you or acquiring exclusive rights to already made beats. Downloading free beats isn’t recommended as most underground and online artists have access to the same material. Exclusive rights or custom production is the best way to secure originality in your project. The quality of your overall sound is one of the biggest factors that affect your standing among fans.
The mindset of the mixtape is to show people that you offer quality not for profit but for the love of fans and the music culture. Releasing a poorly engineered mixtape proves that the artist did not truly care about how the listener perceives the artist. The listener will assume that the artist put out a mixtape for fun and is not as involved with the music. Remember that you must illustrate authority in order for fans to take you seriously. If you exhibit confidence in the quality of your music, then fans will respect what you represent. This simply means that you must appear as a professional in the eyes of fans. For example, what is most likely to catch your eye: a picture of a guy posing out front of his house with a comic sans font displaying the title of his mixtape or a custom album cover art with stylish font and graphics that cannot be found in stock photos on Google? Fans will only take you as serious as you take yourself. Anything that is appears not fully developed is hazardous to branding your name as an artist.
One thing to embed within your belief system is that the reason for investing into something that you will give away for free is to gather a fan base which in the long run will become highly profitable; or more specifically, have a return on investments. These profits (or return on investments) come in the forms of loyal followers which will recommend your music to others, customers for your merchandise, fans at your shows, and other countless possibilities. Best of all, you want their loyalty and the word of mouth marketing they provide. There are no get rich quick schemes in music unless you either have a very unique idea, gimmick, or a huge budget in marketing. All get rich schemes in music started off with a lot of money invested with the goal to double it. Gimmick artists retain the stigma of their first impression which makes it nearly impossible for them to grow as an artist and shake their positioning. The best thing about creating a mixtape is that it is very affordable and it instantly becomes a valuable asset.
The mixtape is also a form of content that is used to attract fans. Video blogs, written blogs, music videos, podcasts, free trials, and informative posts are forms of different types of content. In marketing, the more you invest into your free content, the more fans and consumers will value your product as well as the person (or persons) behind the product. In terms of music marketing, the product refers to your music. By using mixtapes as quality content, you give fans a chance to understand what you represent through your music which creates a sense of familiarity towards you. This means that they place value in your art and will look forward to your next release. If your next release is a higher quality album with higher quality content and features, then purchase is inevitable.
Though marketing is a big part in music, it isn’t the main function. Creating good music is. Once you are confident in your art and have tested it among listeners, fans, and friends, then the next step would be to invest a small budget towards quality control for your mixtape. A poorly recorded song with generic beats will turn potential fans away after ten seconds into the song. If you’re in the music game strictly to turn a profit, then the music is not for you. That is the only mindset artists must abolish from their philosophy. The money will come if you’ve properly created loyalty among fans. If you’re main focus to sell albums and singles, it will affect your music and limit your creativity as an artist. Fans do not relate to album sales, they relate to the message in your music.
