How to Stand Out in a Crowded Indie Music Scene
Here's my tips for making your indie music career shine above the rest.
In any crowd, it is always hard to stand out, to be unique. With everyone trying to be unique all over the years we have lost the value of uniqueness. Everything now has a predecessor and everyone has a copycat. The same case applies on the indie music scene.
As a musician, it is getting increasingly hard to be unique since being an industry plant is the easiest way to fame and finding your own sound is becoming scarce since everything already has been tried. However, as the saying goes, nothing is impossible. Even if the idea in itself isn’t completely original, the execution of it can make you stand out.
Take Bruno Mars for example, even if hundreds of people try to copy him, none will reach his level of fame, because his execution is so flawless it seems unique.
To stand out in a crowded indie scene, you should strive to be unique. In this article, I will go over ways on how to stand out in a crowded indie music scene so you can gain popularity as an artist.
Concentrate on the music
As I have said in previous articles, focusing on your music is an essential part of being an indie artist. To find your sound and stand out in that manner, you should focus on your music, the quantity and the quality of your output both matter as they are the ones that make you unique.
For example, we can take Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick barely releases full albums but when he does, it’s always a masterpiece that is praised by the general public, that is because he puts all his time to his music and his art finding his sound, making him in turn, unique.
Marketing is also a very important part of standing out, however, if you market a bad product nobody is going to purchase it. Same with music, if you try to promote a bad album, maybe it will be listened once but then never again.
Which is why I say, focusing on your music and on finding your sound is essential for standing out as an artist.
Collaborate with popular artists
For this, we can take drake as an easy example. As the saying goes, make a song with drake and he’ll make your career. Collaborating with bigger artists can be a good tactic to stand out yourself, it's best to collaborate with an artist who makes similar music or whose musical style aligns closely with yours. In addition, releasing a track with an artist who already has a following gives you an opportunity for more exposure and might help you reach listeners you wouldn't have before. This is one of the main reasons artists collaborate with each other, both parties benefit from it as they expand their horizons.
Concentrate on your image as an artist
People are buying into an image more than they are music. The image of an artist is always growing in importance to where in a lot of the cases, a lot of people don’t really listen to the music as much as they should. As much as this is taking value from the music produced, it is also making it easier for artists to stand out. Artists like Lil Uzi Vert, Kid Cudi, and many more wear dresses and weird looking clothing standing out from the rest for doing what others usually wouldn’t.
Using this to your advantage as an up-and-coming artist you can try to be as different while still staying true to your music. For example, if you make happy music there is no need to wear depressing looking clothes just to look different, do not sacrifice your identity as an artist for your image. However, you can implement new elements in your performances, social media, that accentuate on your image as an artist while still seeming unique.
Focus heavily on your appearance. This bleeds into social media and branding. Music videos and social media posts are great tools for painting a picture of an artist. Your clothes, your behavior on and off stage, your social media and your merchandising are all part of your image, so use them very wisely.
Take every performance opportunity you get
Just like focusing on your music is important, you should also take any and every opportunity to perform in front of an audience so you can spread your wings in front of others and shine like the star you are. Taking every chance to perform helps you make your music better as you get a general reaction of the crowd to your music, as well as it makes you more known in general.
You can also use these opportunities to show how unique you are, standing out from the rest, live performances can also be tickets to fame if you did an outstanding job in performing that you deserved to stand out.
As short as this part is, it is extremely important and should not be overlooked.
Engage with your fanbase
Although it is very sad to see, a lot of artists don’t take time out of their day to interact or to respond to fans that are the ones making their career what it is. Even if you are a superstar, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that you didn’t respond to a fan’s message, at least try to. Which is why, to stand out as an indie artist you should strive to respond to as many fans as you can in a grateful tone. Always remember, without demand, the supply is worthless. Without the fans, a superstar is nothing but a normal human. Keep in mind that the fans you have should be precious to you and you should aim to respond to them as much as possible.
If you do, not only will it make you stand out in a positive sense, but it will probably increase your fanbase’s size since they will start to also like you for your personality and image.
Conclusion
To conclude this article, as many parts as there are, 5 of them are the most important. Concentrate on your music, concentrate on your image, engage with your fanbase, take every opportunity to perform live, and collaborate with popular artists. If you can do all these, it will increase the likelihood that you will stand out as an artist or make you more popular and giving you a more solid connection with your fans
Sources:
https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/5-ways-to-stand-out-from-the-competition-in-the-music-industry/
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