Hello, music-lovers!
Today we're going to talk about your music!
Why put your music in a genre? Most budding artists want to insist on 'staying free', complaining that the music should not be labelled. Unfortunately, the statement "I don't conform to a genre; I want to write music for everyone to enjoy" is much more harmful than helpful.
On the first note, terrible as it may sound, when a record company or a professional in the music industry hears you say those few words, they instantly know you're an amateur. Even if your music is fantastic, they still will choose not to work with you because they have deduced your lack of experience from that one simple slip. So, sadly, in a hipster-esque twist, your refusal to commit to a genre still labels you.
Secondly, choosing a genre actually expands your audience. While it seems that avoiding genre would make others more open to hearing you, the reality is that you are keeping your music from cashing in on one of the most effective marketing techniques of this digital era: branding.
See, whatever 'genre' you're choosing isn't that specifically defined. You can do (almost) anything you want with it. Saying your music is funk is much like saying a painting is purple. The whole painting is (likely) not entirely purple. If it's a good painting, it's got a lot of the other colors mixed in. It just overall provides a lot of purple.
What you're choosing, then, is the type of audience you want. The lifestyle that is associated with that particular genre, the kind of crazy fans you want screaming at your concerts or paying $240.00 flat to sit demurely and wait for all the movements to be over before applauding.
Genre helps those fans find you. With search engines, through file-sharing programs, through YouTube recommendations, through word-of-mouth, the genre of music you choose helps you. Trying to stay label-free only makes you nonspecific, which usually results in perusers choosing not to even waste a second listening. If they know they hate country and you know you have a lot of country sound to your music, just say it's country. People like what they know, and you have a lot more of a chance of winning over a fan who knows they like bluegrass to your 'country' song. However, if you haven't chosen a genre, with how much music is available, most people simply won't 'waste' their time listening when they don't know what to expect.
No comments:
Post a Comment