Music Business: Answered (November Response)

Michael Blanton, President of BE Music & Entertainment, answers your questions about the independent music industry!

Question: “After I record my EP…what is the next step? Friends, family, and church members are excited to buy it…but what if I’d like to go farther? Where do I “shop” it to?”

Step 1: Build your Facebook Page as an artist. Don’t have a Facebook Page? Then create one right now! Post some music there so your friends, family, and church members can start passing it around. Do you have any B-roll songs or bonus tracks from recording your EP? Offer one or two of these as a free download for a limited time as well. You can do this right on Facebook, with applications such as RootMusic-BandPage and ReverbNation. Lastly, make sure your EP or at least a song or two are on iTunes. You want your music to be as accessible as possible.

Step 2: Let the opportunities come to you. Always keep pushing to meet new people in the industry and continually network yourself, because that’s what this business is all about. Play live shows to promote your music and new EP, and make people really notice you. Give them something to talk about. When you can generate that buzz factor, you’d be surprised how far your career can go.