Three Inexpensive Things You Need To Promote Your Song

inexpensive things you need to promote your song

Today, I will be sharing three inexpensive things you need to promote your song in the 21st Century. I feel it’s logical to share this with you guys since I encouraged us last week to use what we already have.

First of all, it is worthy to note that prior to promotion, you must have produced good music. This is very important, because no matter how much you promote crab, people will not love it, except you have a huge budget for promotion. But my guess is that you are reading this article because you don’t have millions of Naira (or whatever currency you use in your country) kept specifically for promoting your music, so you have to work extra hard to bring out good stuff. I might probably dedicate another article later to write on this. But for now, let’s focus on the inexpensive things you need for promoting your song.

The first thing you need is quality graphic designs.

Let’s face it, the first thing anyone would see before they hit the link to listen to your song is your cover art. It’s your cover art that would determine whether or not they would hit that link. So, you really need to invest in getting a quality and attractive design for your cover art. Don’t just think you can do it yourself, except you’re a graphic designer. Thankfully, getting a professional design is not expensive. It would not even cost up to one-fifth of what you spent to produce the song. Katapult Design is one of the design firms that makes amazing designs and at affordable rates.

The second thing you need is a lyric video.

We live in an era where visuals is everything. Having something visual to accompany your song is very essential for promotion these days. And since my focus in this article is inexpensive things you need for promotion, lyric videos are effective alternatives to the more expensive music videos. In a later article, I will explain what a lyric video is and the advantages of having lyric videos. But for now, know that having a lyric video is essential for promoting your song. Jeplune Music Studios is one place you can get professional lyric videos at affordable rates.

The third thing you need, which in actual sense is not really a ‘thing’, is friends.

Yeah, you cannot effectively promote your song alone. You need your friends to help you. This is especially necessary since you might not have the budget to pay digital marketers/ bloggers. Even if you have the huge budget to pay bloggers/ digital marketers, you still need friends. Get your friends to post about your song, share the link and the (awesome) cover art on their social media outlets at the same time (if possible). This usually has a huge impact on people when they see the same design on three or more people’s story or timeline or status (whatever). You can also plead with them to do short videos with their phones singing along to your song, and make sure you repost as they upload such videos.

Finally, these things I mentioned in this article are not all it takes to promote your song, if you have a moderate or higher budget for promotion, there are a whole lot of things you can still do to get your music to a wider range of audience from across the world. This article was specifically focused on how to promote your song in the 21st century using three inexpensive things/ resources you already have. This is my own way of encouraging you to use what you have.

Am I doing well enough?

am I doing well enough

Am I doing well enough? This is something many creative people struggle with all the time and I would like to talk about it today.

First of all, I would like to mention here that this article is mainly for Creative people who are Christians. It was first written for JOGAMA Magazine’s 3rd edition in July, 2020. It was inspired by the famous ‘Parable Of The Talents’ by Jesus Christ (this can be found in Matt.25:14-30).

Remember when you were little, and you performed excellently in a test or competition that your teacher used you as an example to challenge other students? Or at home, your parents used your good behavior as an example for your siblings to emulate? Remember that feeling? Now think about how much more it would be like for the Creator of everything to affirm you before all creation. Can you imagine that? That’s the kind of affirmation Jesus was talking about in that parable.

The parable

Now back to the parable. A man who was going to be away for a long time, left talents of money for his servants. He gave five to one of them, two to another and one talent to the other servant; he shared the talents to them according to their ability. When he returned from his trip, the servant with five talents had traded with his and got five more as profit. The one with two had also traded with his and got two more as profit. But the one with one talent brought back the same talent he was given, unused. And made some mean statements about his master. Now, for the sake of this article, I would like to liken the talents in the parable to our gifts/ unique abilities as creative people. And, of course, the master is God, who gave us those abilities/ gifts.

For the Master, what’s most important is not quantity

You would notice that the servant with five talents, who produced ten, got the same amount of appraisal/ affirmation as the one who had two talents. This proves that in the Master’s mind, what’s important is not quantity, but faithfulness in service. Also, the Master does not (and would never) expect more from His servants than is commensurate to what He has given them.
Many times, as creatives, we tend to compare our achievements with those of other creatives and then begin to feel bad that we have not achieved as much as they have. We ask ourselves questions like, am I doing well enough?, Do I even measure up to the standard?”  We say, “if only I had ‘this or that’, I would have done ‘this or that’”. There might even be some of us (creatives) who could resort to not using our gifts entirely just because we feel we do not measure up to what others are doing (This is even worse). But God does not expect more from us than He has given us. We just need to be faithful in doing what we are able to do now and do it as best as we can. It is this (faithfulness) that God rewards.

 

In case you missed it: Treat people nicely

The Master’s expectation from His servants is faithfulness with what He has given

We also notice, from the parable, that the Master did not say, “well done good and famous servant” neither did He say, “… good and perfect servant”. Rather He said, “… good and faithful servant”. The Master’s expectation from His servants is faithfulness with what He has given. I would like you to pause, for a second, and ask yourself, “what has God given me?” That skill, those friends, that family, the exposure you have, that money (no matter how small), the education you’ve got, those life experiences, that audience you already have (no matter how little), the smart phone or laptop you already have, etc. He wants you to use them faithfully. That’s all He really expects from you. Forget about the connection you don’t have yet, or the bigger audience/ fans, or the money or the equipment you don’t have yet; just be faithful with the ones you already have. Last year, during the lockdown, I released a beat tape with just my laptop, a $200 DAW, and a pair of headphones. I know I could have done more with better equipment and funds for promo, but why wait endlessly when I can do something with what I already have. Now, one of the beats have been turned into a full song, and some others in the process. So just be faithful with what you already have.

Don’t let what you don’t have yet stop you from using what you already have

I would like to state here that I am not suggesting, in any way, that you should not work at improving or developing your talents to get better or that you should not get better equipment when you can afford them. By all means, try not to remain where you are; learn, improve, upgrade, but do not let what you don’t have yet stop you from using what you already have now.

So, the next time that question, am I doing well enough? pops in your mind, just tell yourself, “I am doing the best I can” and make sure you are actually doing the best you can.

Treat people nicely

treat people nicely

Today, on Musicians’ Corner, I’m going to emphasize something we all know already; treat people nicely, especially those you work with.

Why am I writing this?

Two days ago, I was talking with a very good friend of mine and it was that discussion that inspired me to write this. He talked about his former place of work, the experience he gained, the exposure he got and the lessons he learnt, but he lamented about his former boss’ attitude towards his creative ideas. Well, he left there and established his own company. Today, his former place of work seeks and pays for professional services from him. Towards the end of our discussion, he said to me, “Spirit, treat people nicely. If my former boss had treated me well, I would most likely still be working there, today.”

Case study of Hans Zimmer

Now, I know this is not the first time you have heard that statement or something similar, but I would like you to know that it is true. To succeed in your career (and I dare to say in life generally), you need others. The most successful musicians have always been the most collaborative ones. Recently, I watched a documentary on the great film composer, Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer has composed music for over 150 films, including ‘The Lion King’, ‘The Pirates Of The Caribbean series’, The Dark Knight Trilogy, ‘Mission Impossible 2’, ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and many more. The Daily Telegraph ranks him in the list of Top 100 living Genuises. I could go on about his accomplishments, but that’s not what this article is about (you can google his name to find out more about him). I learnt from the documentary that Hans Zimmer has collaborated with a whole lot of  other musicians and composers in his musical compositions, some of them he met during the early years of his career and had maintained relationships with them for over 40 years.

 

In case you missed it: Invest in your gifts; don’t just live for the moment.

You can’t do everything yourself

Sometimes, we tend to only treat people nicely when we are currently benefitting from them, and we tend to forget people who we think we don’t need anymore. As musicians, especially, upcoming musicians, we are tempted to see other musicians as competition and then try to do everything ourselves rather than collaborate. But this kind of thinking/ attitude would not do anyone good in their career and certainly not in life. We all need other people to succeed in our careers and to work with people for a long time, we need to learn to value them more; treat people nicely.

Learn from Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer’s relationship with his music buddies for over four decades is a popular and contemporary example of the importance of valuing relationships with people around. Working with a variety of musicians (with different skills) over a long period of time and maintaining such relationships is one of his secrets of great success. He knew he could not do everything, so he collaborated with people who could do what he couldn’t in order to get things done. This is exactly what you should be doing as an upcoming musician. Find people who can do what you can’t and work with them. Collaboration is the key to moving forward as a musician in this competitive industry. If you rap, for example, and can’t sing, don’t try to sing the choruses in your songs by yourself, collaborate with a singer.

And while you collaborate with others, treat those people nicely. Don’t treat people as if they are tools to achieve your goals. They are not ‘just people’, you need them as much as they need you, so value them. Treat them with respect and as much as possible, maintain good relationship with them. You might need their help again in the future, so don’t just cut relationships for no reason. Remember, people are not ‘just people’; so treat them nicely.

 

Invest in your gifts; don’t just live for the moment

Invest in your gifts

Today, on Musicians’ Corner, I’m going to tell a story that is aimed at encouraging you to invest in your gifts. This story applies to me (and maybe even some of you reading this now) in many ways.

A man (let’s call him Mr. C) has a piece of land. He inherited the land from his dad, so he didn’t have to work for it.

He had a neighbour (let’s call him Mr. J), who was a lot older than him and well established. Mr. J had mango trees in his compound and since Mr. C loves mangoes a lot, he always visited Mr. J’s compound to pluck mangoes. Thankfully, Mr. J  always allowed him to pluck some mangoes whenever he came.

10 years down the line, Mr. J  died of old age. His children decided to sell his property since they had no intention of staying there. Someone else bought the property and moved in. However, since the new occupant didn’t know Mr. C, he never allowed him in to pluck mangoes as usual.

It was then that Mr. C realized what he should have done 10 years ago; he should have planted mango trees in his own piece of land and nurtured them to maturity while still enjoying the sweet mangoes from Mr. J. But he felt he was okay, as long as he got fresh mangoes from Mr. J, and now he can’t get mangoes anymore.

 

In this story, Mr. C represents people born with creative abilities (like you and I), his inherited piece of land represents the gifts/ talents/ abilities that we were born with, the mangoes represent money, comfort, physical property and other things we desire, finally, Mr. J represents our job or whatever gives us ‘mangoes’ at the moment.

Many of us, Creatives, are like Mr. C. Just because we get fresh mangoes from somewhere, we fail to plan for the future… We are never interested in any investment that would not yield immediate results for us. We just live for the moment. As long as we keep getting food to eat and clothes to wear, we are okay. And so rather than invest in your gifts now in such a way that it would yield results in the future, we prefer to continue living off whatever we are currently receiving. This is not a good way to live. Especially, since we all know that a time will come when we desire something much more than just monetary returns, when fulfillment becomes very important to us as well. And by the way, investing in your gifts does not stop whatever you do at the moment; both can be done concurrently. I wish someone had told me this when I was still in my twenties, but all hope is not lost. My friend, Joe, told me, “the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is right now.”

Please invest in your gifts today. It will not start yielding immediately, but in 10 years’ time (when you need it the most), it would have started yielding fruits for you to enjoy.

You can check out other articles here

SPIRIT 3:6 STARTS MUSICIANS’ CORNER BLOG

Spirit 3:6

On Friday, 9th April, 2021, Spirit 3:6 announced that he would begin a personal blog. He calls it ‘Musicians Corner’. Talking about the blog, Spirit 3:6 said,

“ Part of the objectives of Jeplune Music has always been to mentor young musicians. I have always envisioned having a group of young talented musicians who I meet regularly to hear their challenges, share my experiences with them, encourage and generally serve as a mentor to. This is still in my long term plans for Jeplune. However, lately I’ve felt that I could start now to share my experiences and encourage young musicians without necessary meeting with them. This thought has persisted in my mind for a couple of months and on several occasions, I’ve shared the idea with my wife and my friend Joe and both of them have been supportive. So today, I decided to start the blog. It’s called “Musicians’ Corner” because it’s basically one musician writing to other (younger) musicians. In other words, my target audience are young talented musicians. This doesn’t mean that the articles I write would only benefit musicians. I would be writing on a variety of topics, ranging from my personal struggles, to my experiences, life lessons, encouragements, etc. There might even be times that I would write about my faith or relationship.”

Spirit 3:6 is a music producer, film music composer, singer- rapper and teacher. He is passionate about bombarding the media with enough positive content, as his own way of fighting the negative effects of the media on young people. He is the one of the pioneer artists of Jeplune Music and believes strongly in the vision of the outfit.

Musicians’ Corner blog goes live today. You can read the first article here.