SONGS AND SCRIPTS AND DUNKING BISCUITS

At the moment I am in the process of promoting my new song that came out on July 8^th.

I hate promotion. It’s like admin. It sort of begins when I send a press pack to influential music bloggers in the hope that they will like it, then talk about it in a positive enough way in a blog which I can use to put on my song-writing Facebook or Instagram page to boost interest, and that the blogger places the song on their Spotify popular playlist.

It’s often only on the playlist for 7 to 14 days before being removed for new music to take its place, so you hope enough people listen to it during that time and like it enough to save it to their own playlist. Given the staggering amount of new music that is released on Spotify daily, it’s a tough hope.

And yes, there are other streaming platforms such as Apple, Amazon, Deezer and so on, but when it comes to real influence there is only one show in town and that’s Spotify. Like it or not, and it’s often not, that is the reality.

I’ve had some fantastic blog reviews, one on my last song released in March I found an emotional read (in a good way).

But all this is a hard slog. And it can be demeaning. It’s like please, please, please like my new song. And please keep on listening, that would be ever so lovely. Obviously I don’t actually say that but sometimes that’s just how it feels.

When friends feel like customers

It’s especially demeaning when it comes to friends. Many of them have followed my separate Facebook page for my songs and that’s lovely. But Facebook/Meta is a business and doesn’t love me or care about my music, it cares only about business. So each time I publish a post for a new song it is programmed to only reach a very low amount of my followers.

But then the monolith that is Facebook gives me the option to boost the post. This basically converts the post into an ad which gets sent out to any age or listening dynamic of my choosing, which is a scattergun choice that in many ways relies on guesswork. This costs any amount of money from a few pounds for about a week (a waste of money, frankly) or to be really effective, tens or hundreds of pounds for a longer period to reach considerably more people but at a rate I can’t afford.

And this means many followers don’t see my posts and by the time they do they have often forgotten who I am and why they followed me in the first place.

This can create other dilemmas. Do I post a song link to my normal Facebook page where I know there is a much higher chance my friends will see it, and if I do will this lead to overkill? In short, if I post my song link, then later a favourable post from a music blogger and then a few days later the song video will they get fed-up with my self-promotion?

That said, some friends don’t mind, and are genuinely interested. However I don’t expect a big response, they all have other things going on that doesn’t afford them the time to listen to the track or watch the video or read the blog. And though very well intended, most won’t save to a playlist to still be listening in six months or so.

So at what point does sharing it with friends cross over into using them to get a handful more streams or video plays? This is all comes back to Facebook not distributing my posts to all the people who have chosen to follow my song-writing page because as I said, Meta. Does. Not. Care.

But it is essential, no music blogger is going to take you seriously if you don’t have a dedicated Facebook and Instagram page.

My secret weapon in the promotion battle

A big boost for me comes from a source that has nothing to do with music bloggers or friends, and that’s something called Pick My Postcode, available in the UK. Delivered daily to participants email inbox, it is basically a free daily draw where people can fill in very short surveys or click on links and can win small, but decent amounts of money if your postcode area is picked.

PMP has a video section, where artists like myself can upload to them a video of our song and if it gets chosen will feature for two or three days. People click on the video, a postcode pops up, and if your postcode gets chosen then you win some money. From a promotion point of view, Pick My Postcode has been very significant for me.

As an example  a few years ago the video for my song Your Truest Faith was featured. The video on YouTube had sat on a stubborn 35 views for weeks. After being shown on PMP for three days it had risen to over 700. Each time a video of mine is shown I get a noticeable hike in views, streams, nice comments and new followers. And the best part about it is the people have no axe to grind, and there is no hard sell, or demeaning promotion involved whatsoever.

I have told a couple of other artists I know about PMP but they have ignored me, possibly because my enthusiasm can come off as just that, promotion for Pick My Postcode and I may vested interest, which I don’t. So never mind, all the more room for little ‘ole me. It is my biggest source for genuine, organic followers and you won’t find it in any instructional video or website on how to build a fanbase.

It begins where it begins

Of course all this is a long way from the moment I pick up a guitar, find a chord progression I like, chip away at it until it becomes a song, and the day I take it into the studio. The recording is one of the most exciting and fulfilling creative processes I have been involved in, whether other people end up liking the song or not.

All I then want, is for people to listen, and that’s the hard slog.

Most days I am working on creating songs, writing scripts or short stories and the occasional blog. Each one relies on enough people liking it to listen, read, publish, or produce on stage or screen. So every time that work gets put out there for acceptance a part of your pride or self-respect is up for grabs, and it can go either way, often on small details.

Which is probably when the most essential requirement is formed – a skin like a rhino.

And just to illustrate how much I hate self-promotion, I was worried this blog may be viewed as a trojan horse to promote my new song, so you may notice I haven’t mentioned the title at all!  

Anyone know a good therapist…..?