Ways to Market and Promote Your Music and Yourself as a Singer

• Becoming a successful singer has as much to do with marketing as it does with talent. counjtry singer image by Earl Robbins from Fotolia.com

  A singer or musician may be talented, but will need promotion to be heard. Promoting yourself can be hard, especially when you'd rather focus on music and singing, but doing so will help you understand how the music industry works. You will be in control of your own destiny to an extent, but you will still need to work at building up a following.

The Internet

• The Internet has opened up avenues for many creative people, but with these opportunities comes a great deal of competition. To make yourself stand out requires not only talent, but knowing how to use the Internet to promote yourself. Social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter will help you to build up useful connections and fans, but you will need to use them regularly because neglecting them for long periods will create the impression you've abandoned your music. You might obtain your own domain name, and create a website; this will often give you more credibility.

Local Media

• Local newspapers, radio and television need local news to function, and you can't afford to be shy about promoting yourself in this way. If you have a CD out, a DVD of you performing, or have your music available for download, promote those to local media. Show that you are committed to your music, but also display humility. Doing so may make people more inclined to check out your music.

Performing

• Perhaps the most challenging way, but still the best, is actually performing in front of an audience. Word of mouth is also still very powerful, and if you can manage to secure spots at several different venues in your area, or even several nights at the same venue, you'll likely begin to build a core following. You can also set up a stall at performances, managed by a friend or relative, to sell any CD or DVD you may have available. Include all your relevant contact information and details of your websites on an info sheet or booklet with the CD or DVD.