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Take a look at those closest to you and your music. I am not talking about your biggest fan on the internet or the twitter profile that retweets your posts. I am talking about the people who you have a real relationship with who also care about and support your music. If you had a show in your basement, who would come? Who are your biggest supporters? If you have a new song, who do you show it to before you upload the song to the Internet? The answer to all of these questions is likely your inner circle of friends and family. If you are in school, these are your classmates. If you also work a 9-5 then these are your coworkers. If you are a more advanced full time musician these people are likely already on your “street team.”

These groups are keys to your success and are likely already supporting and spreading your music. For the part time musician, this first circle of “contacts” is your first set of “satisfied customers.” Your music provided a service to this group and now this group is out there in the community as walking talking testimonials to the quality service your “music business” provided them. These testimonials and communications about your music are the roots and foundation in which you organically grow your fan base. Without a set of initial fans championing your cause and validating the quality of your music, you are left to “spam” potential fans or pay advertisers to deliver your message to relevant listeners.

What motivates your friends and family to become your first set of die hard, stick with you to the end fans? What turns them from passive listeners into the marketers and sales force for your music? Motivations can differ from person to person, but it is likely a combination of several factors which include: your consistent push of quality music, the desire to see/help you succeed, the desire to be part of something bigger than themselves and the value of being “the first to know” of a new music out of their friends.

What did you do to motivate these people or deserve their support? Basically nothing beyond what you are currently doing now: making great music. Your family, friends and fans (in that order) will care about and support your music as long as you keep consistently providing them with great new content. Stay focused on top notch excellent music content and your fans will inherently want to help spread the word.

What does this mean as an independent artist? Consider each new listener as a potential new customer to “satisfy” with your music. If you do your part as a “music business” (notice you are not a marketing business) and provide they will invariably do theirs as your marketers. In order to help your fans help you market your music we have outlined a few broad steps:

1. Focus on recording good songs with high production values
2. Get these songs online so that it can easily be shared
3. Get fans involved with your music and caring about your success
4. Reward them for being a fan

If you would like to learn more about how Audimated can help you turn your fans into your sales force watch this:

If you have a story you would like to see us cover please contact Jared@audimated.com.