206 – Selling Your Music in 2020: What’s Working & What Isn’t

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Selling your music? Are you doing the right things to sell your music in 2020? Or is your strategy leaving you broke? Does it seem like nothing’s working?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast.

Table of Contents

Podcast Highlights:

00:28 – You CAN sell music even in 2020
00:57 – Tip #1: Create more value
01:49 – Tip #2: Who do you know that’s selling lots of music?
02:39 – Tip #3: Make more offers
03:51 – Tip #4: Increase the number of asks you make this year
05:12 – Selling your music in 2020
05:58 – The Music Entrepreneur Code bundle

Transcription:

Hey, it’s David Andrew Wiebe.

So, I wanted to dispel the notion upfront that you can’t sell your music even in 2020, because that’s just not the case.

And I admit, this was an eye opener for me too when I talked to John Oszajca in episode 147 of the podcast a little over a year ago.

But I started looking around, and sure enough, I quickly found out that there are plenty of artists selling their music, and some are even making a killing. You wouldn’t believe it.

So, here are some tips to help you sell more music this year and beyond.

Tip #1 – Create More Value

If your sales are down, it could be that your offer just isn’t compelling enough.

If your sales are down, it could be that your offer just isn’t compelling enough. Click To Tweet

Maybe you should experiment bundling up your products and offering merch items with your music.

Or maybe there are other bonuses you could include your fans would love – you know your fans better than I do, and you’ve also got access to them through email and social media. So, if you don’t know, ASK.

If the same old thing isn’t working, and it’s starting to grow stale, then maybe freshen up your funnel and double check to make sure it’s insane value. Because that’s what people are going to buy.

Get your friends and family to look at it and get direct feedback from them. And by direct feedback, I mean go and meet them and person, log them into your website, and observe them as they look at your offer.

I know that’s a little harder to do with the lockdown and everything. But think outside the box, you can still make this happen.

Tip #2 – Find Someone Who’s Already Selling a Lot of Music & Ask for Their Advice

Ask yourself who you know that’s already selling lots of music and find out what they’re doing.

Is there someone in your social circle making a killing from their music?

Set aside your pride and go and ask them what they’re doing.

And don’t just go, “oh, that sounds like so much work, I would never do that” once they tell you what they’re up to – that’s just a cop out. Start modeling what they’re doing and track the results intentionally.

If you can’t think of anyone in your scene that’s killing it, don’t let that be an excuse – start looking online and see who’s out there. Reach out and ask questions.

If the first 10 people you email don’t reply, then ask 100 – you’re bound to get an answer or two.

And If that still doesn’t work then tell them you’ll feature their answers on your blog, or podcast, or YouTube channel and link back to them. Really, you can do this.

Tip #3 – Make More Offers

The temptation is to promote the same offers over and over, in hopes that this will somehow lead to more sales. But if it’s not working, just stop the insanity cycle and start over!

Like I said earlier, you should consider refreshing your offers too. But the other thing you might want to consider is making more offers.

Stop trying to boost the same, tired offers you’ve been hawking for months and years and start creating new ones. Go back into the studio and make new music. Put together new T-shirt designs.

And in some cases, you won’t even need to do that. You can even put together a compilation of your best songs and release it, you could put out some instrumental versions, do remixes or acoustic versions or whatever.

If you’ve got good product then you don’t necessarily need to reinvent the wheel. You can take what you’ve got and make something out of it.

But it makes sense that if you just went up to bat more times, you’d have more opportunities to hit that ball, and maybe even get a homerun.

Baseball legend Babe Ruth may have had the most home runs in his time, but he also had the most strikeouts. You’ve got to keep getting back up to bat and keep swinging!

Tip #4 – Be More Intentional About Your Call to Actions

It seems so obvious, but to be honest, artists miss this all the time. Because they don’t naturally think about the purpose of their communication like ever, even when they’re emailing people.

So, when posting to Instagram, it’s for “engagement.”

When posting to Facebook, it’s for “engagement.”

When publishing a new blog post, it’s for “engagement.”

No wonder you’re not getting anywhere with your sales! You’re not communicating in a way that’s engaging anybody let alone selling them on something.

Trust me – I’ve made every mistake in the book, and I’ve made this one too.

Instead, why not increase the number of asks you make this year?

Artists tend to go about this in a very lopsided way anyway. We naturally do that because we’re sensitive. it’s just the way we are.

We give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, and give some more until we’re bleeding gifts. And then when it’s finally time to ask, we hesitate and think people will think less of us because we’re asking.

Do you want to sell more music in 2020? I challenge you to make more asks of your fans. After all, Gary Vee’s formula is Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, or “give, give, give, ask.” Not give to the power of 80 and then sheepishly, “do you want this?”

You reap what you sow, but don’t forget there’s a harvest waiting to be reaped.

You reap what you sow, but don’t forget there’s a harvest waiting to be reaped. Click To Tweet

Selling Your Music in 2020 Summary

So, here’s the summary:

Create more value. Refresh your offers, and make sure the first thing your fans and especially your prospects see are irresistible, insane value offers.
Ask yourself who you know that’s killing it with sales. Listen to their answers. Model and implement what they tell you to do no matter how hard it is.
Make more offers. Don’t sit on yesterday’s laurels. Begin doing more with your music and merch, and experiment with different bundling strategies.
Be more intentional about asking for the sale. Ask more than you’ve ever asked in the past, and your “give to ask ratio” will probably finally been in proper balance.

Hey, don’t forget – right now, you can get The Music Entrepreneur Code and two bonuses for just $5. It’s ridiculous. It’s insane value. But this offer expires September 30. So, go to MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/Code now to get your copy.

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David Andrew Wiebe

Founder & CEO at Music Entrepreneur HQ

Award-winning composer, best-selling author, professional musician coach, and podcaster of over 10 years. Wiebe helps musicians like you unlock your full potential. If you'd like to be notified whenever the blog is updated, click here to subscribe.

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