Self-positioning
Positioning in marketing refers to the idea of the place a brand (which is your name in terms of this article) occupies in customer’s mind. It’s an important concept and can be studied separately by those of you who would like to go deeper into the applied science of marketing. I would like to shift your attention to self-positioning. When you take a list of promotional steps, how do you personally position yourself rather than your music and feel yourself in each of them? Let’s try and view these from the perspective of self-reflection together.
Target audience
When you think about your target audience, what are the sources which make you think you define it properly? It may be your professor who tells you that you should write for this specific audience. It may be your successful experience. It may be your inner feeling that you should develop this style or technique and deliver it to a specific platform. In each case I recommend stepping aside from time to time, looking at yourself and considering your target audience from the position you are in now and you would like to be in future. Check whether you feel comfortable in both positions. Make the necessary changes (the easiest advice to give ever).
Distinguishing characteristics
In all probability, you wouldn’t want to be considered the jack-of-all-trades. I myself like to write music in all possible genres in order to try new challenges and explore new horizons. However, I realise that I do it mostly for my own development, not for sale. Define the areas which combine your strong sides, whether you write music for video games or operas, music libraries or pop bands, try to find your niche and improve both your positioning and promoting efforts within this niche. Then again, step aside and check whether you feel comfortable with your efforts. Do they give you more than they take from you? Have you explored all of your abilities that make you distinguish from others? With many artists, the process of self-study perpetuates their entire life. Why not join them?
Consumer preferences
This is a very hard topic. The general approach is that ideally consumers look for talents. At the same time mangers look for talents, TV shows look for talents, – everyone looks for a talent which can be then refined and sold. Music business managers calculate consumer preferences day and night in order to hit the bullseye. It is hard indeed to foresee these preferences and define what a perfect product may look like in a month or so. The best advice here is to remain true to yourself and position yourself in the area of music business which is most comfortable for you. As soon as you accept yourself without pretending to be anyone else, your will be able to realise your full potential and speed up your career. When you analyse how true you are to yourself, try to be professional here, too.
Method of consumption
Do you have a unique method of how your product may be consumed? Do you have a website with a unique design and an option to enjoy your paintings while listening to your music? What else can be invented in order to make the consumption unique? In many cases artists combine several talents, be it writing poems or drawing. Think of your second and third talent and how they can be combined with your music. You may come up with an extraordinary idea of how your music can be packed and delivered to consumers. At the same time, do not forget to be precise when you sign a contract and deliver a stem or a track within the agreed timeframe and in a set file format. It will probably be better to keep to the uniqueness of delivery for a better day and follow the brief literally.
Competitor analysis
In your case they are many, the competitors. It is very beneficial for you to analyse their methods, their approaches and their advantages (and, of course, their music). Do they work alone, or do they work in a team, as it often happens with film composers? How far do they let themselves experiment with music material? At what point of their career were they proposed to join an artist agency or signed a contract with a manager? What do you think made their work in-demand to the contemporary market? Would you like to follow the same way, or would you prefer to develop your own method? You never know in this changing world when and at what circumstances your work as a musician may become well-paid. Even if my advice may look obsessive, stay true to yourself and pick up the strategies and methods with which you feel most comfortable. Do not compare yourself to others. You are unique, as is anyone else, so follow your own way and use marketing as an instrument to develop your success.
Solving consumers’ problems
It may look a little off-topic, but it is worth saying that a product needs after-sale support. Suppose that your score is going to be performed by a slightly altered group of instruments. Will you be accessible and apt to sending a part for a new instrument? Will you agree to rearrange the piece? I was once commissioned a piece for a big band where several musicians played two instruments each in rotation. It took me heaps of time to arrange the changes so that the musicians had a big enough of a pause to, for instance, park a soprano sax and pick up a flute without the risk of smashing the music stand. Around half a year after the first night I was asked to rearrange the song. Now, they did not have two alto sax players, but instead they had two soprano sax players. So, all the changes of instruments were to be re-thought and rearranged from scratch. I did it for them, for free. Probably, I would ask them for a small remuneration the next time they reached out to me. It is up to you to decide how much your services may cost. Part of your image is to be approachable and ready for professional response in a situation which may ask your involvement.
Conclusion
The sophisticated contemporary music market requires complex approaches. If you are supported by a professional manager or a company, you will avoid a lot of difficulties. But if by any reason you happen to face the market alone, try to study the rules and find out the possibilities. Positioning yourself from the height of the knowledge you acquired from this article or from any other source will make you feel better prepared for the challenges of today’s music world.
This article is not about putting aside your music interests and studying marketing as the only source of success. Positioning is one of the crafts a contemporary composer should possess along with music theory, software music notation and the knowledge of digital audio workstations. It does not only help you realise the place and the price of your product on the market, it also helps you broaden the range of your vision and be treated in the business world of music as an equal.