I was actually planning to drop an article on music promotion. I know it is one article that is long overdue and I believe it will inspire someone when it finally drops. However I feel an urgent need to talk about this collosal promotional error. Omo see me, see grammar ooo. Lol.
Over the years I have seen Artistes and few Record labels make this mistake over and over again and for me I think it is safe to say that it is the number 1 promotional error.
What is this error? It is the error of promoting the WRONG SONG. A lot of people promote the wrong songs and this is one big reason they struggle for long in their career. In one of my previous articles “The music law of perceived value”, if you haven’t read that article, click on the link below to read…….
In that article, I mentioned that some Artistes make the mistake of promoting the songs they love. If you approach your music career with this attitude, you will most likely be promoting the wrong songs. As an artiste you must understand this basic truth; Your songs are not for you and they are not about you. You didn’t write and record the songs for yourself. It is for your audience.
Now somebody may be a bit emotional now with this post and want to argue that there’s nothing like wrong or right songs as far as gospel songs are concerned. Well this post is not for you. I am writing to those who wants to gain Influence in their music career and ministry. When I use the word right or wrong song, I am referring to songs that have the ability to create Influence (Blow) or not. So in nut shell, a wrong song has little or no ability to create Influence for the artiste.
In this context, a song can have the best of messages and still be a wrong song to promote. That you received a song while fasting doesn’t mean that’s the right song to promote. God doesn’t give hit songs. After receiving a song, you need to properly work on the song in such a way that it can create Influence and then it becomes a hit. If you don’t use the right sound, ryhthm and words on the song, even though it was received in the place of fasting and prayer, it may not blow. Of course being a Radio Presenter for years with a Gospel Radio Station, i get to interview a lot of gospel Artistes and when you ask them about their songs, most of them tell you it was received while praying or fasting or something spiritual you know. Reality is that the songs never get to blow.
The first place to start from when you want to start promoting your songs is to identify the right song to promote. This is very important. You could spend 10M on the wrong song and still not blow. But you can spend 300k on the right song and blow big time. I know this for a fact. Finding the right song is most important step in promoting your song and there are ways to finding the right song to promote. One of the ways is to have options. Of course if you have to find the right song, it means you have to look for it amongst others. But one of the most unfortunate things I see is gospel artistes write just one song, go to studio record and release.
I once asked gospel Artistes to send me their songs for review before they go to studio. Most of the Artistes that sent me songs, sent one song each and when I enquire further they said that’s the only one they have and they are planning to record and release. Some already have released date in mind self. Lol. It is an error. As a rule, you don’t look for a hit song in one song. Hit songs are not made in the market, they’re created before it hits the market.
You see in music, there’s something called “LISTENING CONFERENCE” this has two basic purposes in music, but for this article, I will share just one with you. Listening conference is a method used by record labels to decide which songs to promote and which songs that will make an album. Now in this context, you should understand that you cannot have a listening conference over just one song. There’s got to be options. You may not be on a record lable yet but even as an individual artiste, you can use this formula to find your hit songs. Listen, this concept is different from listening party oo. Listening party is just a publicity stunt where everyone comes and be shouting dope dope, hailing the artiste. No. A listening conference involves deep level of brain storming and attracts criticism.
If you are serious about Influence, then you must be serious about finding the right song first else your promotion will be of no use. Don’t just record and release songs. Before the secular artiste drop one hit single, they probably have recorded ten songs before they found that hit. There’s always the right way for everything. Consult, pay to get it right. Let’s help you Discover your hit songs before you hit the market.
Amachree Ikijana Alex ( AIA)
Celebrity Music Coach
Music Content and Business Coach.
