Musicians Know Marketing
In order to remain innovative in marketing, you must recognize the genius in music trends.
Music, like the rest of life, goes through phases. There is a certain type of music that can describe a specific time in history. The point is that music changes with the needs of listeners. Musicians understand that their music can be innovative but that it must have elements that their audience can immediately relate to in order for it to be successful.
As a result, it is easy to see that music understands marketing and knows how it should evolve. Long ago, musicians recognized that they needed an emotional hook, something that reacted with their audience so that they became connected with the musician and stayed engaged. Not only did the artists need to adjust their music to keep up with a particular phase in music, but they needed something more, a connection, something that created an attachment between the audience and the musician.
Music is another form of storytelling. There are many examples in music in which a musician has chosen to tell a story over simply putting phrases on paper. The crooners of the past like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Tony Bennett all understood this, singing songs like “The Way You Look Tonight”, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, and “Rags to Riches”. Songs such as “Jack and Diane” by John Cougar Mellencamp spoke about love while Bryan Adams’ “Summer of 69” talked about fond memories. All of these songs and more have lyrics that immediately connect with the audience emotionally.
Marketers, like musicians, now understand that attracting “fans” rather than just customers is the wave of the future — something musicians long ago realized. The fact is that fans have undying loyalty, are and feel appreciated, and share content (or products) differently than regular customers.
Just like musicians realized that their music need not only fit the musically era but also connect with the audience, they also recognized that selling albums in stores and other traditional methods wasn’t enough. Musicians have been working with digital content — think Arctic Monkeys who released their early albums for free download online — sharing content via social media, and licensing content for some time now.
The reason is that musicians conduct their research differently. They don’t go by data or numbers, they go by how their audience reacts to their music emotionally. Fans are the first to let a musician know whether they’re doing something right, or doing it wrong.
This is why they hop on social media, talk directly to fans, get their opinions, and then react by making their next album more engaging based on audience feedback. Paying attention to music and its trends will lead you to better innovation in marketing.
