This article is about what could very possibly the best business plan ever written to promote a rap artist in today's industry. We're going to look at everything we can starting with the basics of where and how to buy beats online, how to get worldwide distribution as an underground artist and most importantly of all, of course, we're going to cover promotion.
If you read this article all the way through as a newbie who doesn't know a thing about creating and selling music, I think that by the end of this you will be very confident to just jump into the music industry. Everything about the industry has changed in the past couple of years. You need to understand that in today's industry it's more likely for a new up and coming independent record label to do well than it is for an up and coming major record label. The independents are taking over the world it seems like, all the numbers are pointing towards it.
Don't get caught into the hype that cyber pirating has ruined the music industry, either, because that's simply ridiculous. The truth of the matter is, if you've done your research, you're going to find out that 80% of music lovers still buy music. That means that only 20% of sales are seen to be lost by illegal downloading. Doesn't sound like much, right? Also, in 2009 Billboard magazine estimated that 50% of all album and single sales were from independents. Those numbers are ridiculous!
We'll start at phase one... The most important thing for you to do as a hip hop rapper is to simply buy hip hop beats. You need to own the music you create or you're not going to be able to sell your tunes. This is the biggest and most important factor to your success. Don't waste time, money and energy recording over beats you can't use because rap beats are cheap these days.
As for distribution, you can always come up to the local stores and simply ask the store owners for inclusion. This has been done since the beginning of music. Just ask if you can get your CD on their shelves and in exchange they can keep a percent of your sales. I do believe that if you get the bar code placed on your CD it makes it easier for the store owner to say yes. But distribution online is much easier these days.
Instead of needing to go to any offline store, you can simply get yourself on iTunes, Rhapsody and all the other major mp3 retailers. This is easily done using a company called Tunecore that has revolutionized the music industry by making distribution more affordable than you could imagine. It's the kind of thing you or I could easily pay for without necessarily having a budget.
Now that you're distributed and you own your rap beats, the rest is all about promotion. In today's industry the best way to promote yourself is one of two ways: online promotion or PR. When I say online promotion I mean promoting yourself on websites such as Facebook, Soundclick, MySpace, Twitter and others. Websites such as these have made it possible for artists to get some serious promotion done without necessarily paying any money at all for advertising. This is great because it's free promo you can count on, and if you're distributed on the online retailers then it can be very easy to collect sales on iTunes.
Your next option is definitely PR. PR has, and always will be, what is considered to be the most important factor to any artists promotion. To get some great PR done all you have to do is write a really high class article about your rap group, then submit to the chief editors at every magazine you can find. You can do this through a PR company but I would suggest trying it yourself. It's simply, just write some great articles with a unique spin on them and go ahead and submit them one by one to every editor you can find. You can get their contact information by simply contacting the magazine (they're more willing to give away that information than you might think.. just ask). Start with small publications such as your local paper, local college news papers, etc. Start small and move your way up. This is best done if you come up under a pen name, so people don't know you're writing about yourself.
If you read this article all the way through as a newbie who doesn't know a thing about creating and selling music, I think that by the end of this you will be very confident to just jump into the music industry. Everything about the industry has changed in the past couple of years. You need to understand that in today's industry it's more likely for a new up and coming independent record label to do well than it is for an up and coming major record label. The independents are taking over the world it seems like, all the numbers are pointing towards it.
Don't get caught into the hype that cyber pirating has ruined the music industry, either, because that's simply ridiculous. The truth of the matter is, if you've done your research, you're going to find out that 80% of music lovers still buy music. That means that only 20% of sales are seen to be lost by illegal downloading. Doesn't sound like much, right? Also, in 2009 Billboard magazine estimated that 50% of all album and single sales were from independents. Those numbers are ridiculous!
We'll start at phase one... The most important thing for you to do as a hip hop rapper is to simply buy hip hop beats. You need to own the music you create or you're not going to be able to sell your tunes. This is the biggest and most important factor to your success. Don't waste time, money and energy recording over beats you can't use because rap beats are cheap these days.
As for distribution, you can always come up to the local stores and simply ask the store owners for inclusion. This has been done since the beginning of music. Just ask if you can get your CD on their shelves and in exchange they can keep a percent of your sales. I do believe that if you get the bar code placed on your CD it makes it easier for the store owner to say yes. But distribution online is much easier these days.
Instead of needing to go to any offline store, you can simply get yourself on iTunes, Rhapsody and all the other major mp3 retailers. This is easily done using a company called Tunecore that has revolutionized the music industry by making distribution more affordable than you could imagine. It's the kind of thing you or I could easily pay for without necessarily having a budget.
Now that you're distributed and you own your rap beats, the rest is all about promotion. In today's industry the best way to promote yourself is one of two ways: online promotion or PR. When I say online promotion I mean promoting yourself on websites such as Facebook, Soundclick, MySpace, Twitter and others. Websites such as these have made it possible for artists to get some serious promotion done without necessarily paying any money at all for advertising. This is great because it's free promo you can count on, and if you're distributed on the online retailers then it can be very easy to collect sales on iTunes.
Your next option is definitely PR. PR has, and always will be, what is considered to be the most important factor to any artists promotion. To get some great PR done all you have to do is write a really high class article about your rap group, then submit to the chief editors at every magazine you can find. You can do this through a PR company but I would suggest trying it yourself. It's simply, just write some great articles with a unique spin on them and go ahead and submit them one by one to every editor you can find. You can get their contact information by simply contacting the magazine (they're more willing to give away that information than you might think.. just ask). Start with small publications such as your local paper, local college news papers, etc. Start small and move your way up. This is best done if you come up under a pen name, so people don't know you're writing about yourself.
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