When I was in my early 20s, I had a chance meeting with some people who were scouting for artists to groom for signing to a popular major label. An impromptu on-the-spot audition led to to development/management deal eventually after another lunch and some time at a studio listening to songs I had been developing on my own. After some song development and some more stuff involving the major label, I decided to back out and it was early enough in the deal (and my career) that they let me out without any issues. I haven’t been in contact with them since and the major label met it’s own demise in 2011 anyway.
The reason I wanted to get out of the deal and move away from the label (and the producers, to an extent, although I hold nothing against them as they were very nice and I was just too young and ignorant to understand the bigger picture) was because I didn’t like the audience they were setting me up to sell and be sold to. I was about 21 and they wanted me to make music for kids around 8-12. Picture early-Justin Bieber music like “Baby”. Back then I only played a little bit of guitar and was writing simple songs, but didn’t really have much production experience or much music business experience for that matter. I didn’t understand why I should be making music for small children when I was a young college-age man.
Skip ahead a decade and it makes sense. I understood and better understand now. My audience could’ve been anyone. I could’ve made music for other college-age kids… however, college kids don’t have as much freed up money, nor are they as open-minded, in general, to the pop type music I was leaning toward. Maybe with a band or a more introspective style or hip hop influence, I would’ve done well in that competitive market, but it would’ve still been riskier than making music for those kids aged 8-12 for several reasons:
- Open-mindedness: Young kids are more open. They are more easily influenced and they don’t “hate everything” like many teenagers and kids around 20 do. There are exceptions, of course, but, in short, younger kids are just more approachable and are an easier sell.
- Multiple Tickets: When an 8 year old wants to see a show, they don’t usually pay for it – their parents do. And when a parent buys a ticket for a show for the kid, the parent is probably going to have to buy one for him- or herself too. And maybe for the kid’s best friend. Maybe two adult tickets and a couple for the kids (maybe a sibling, a group of friends even if the other parents pitch in). The point is that selling the show to one kid means multiple ticket sales.
- Merch Sales: Which leads us to another point: The kid isn’t spending his or her own money, but kids are more likely to want a backpack, a t-shirt, a this, a that. As an adult, even for musicians I like, there is very little chance I’d buy a backpack for $40 with the artist’s face on it, but an 8 year old was the prime target for the Justin Bieber singing toothbrush I got as a joke gift from a friend of mine a few years ago (::checks breath::).
- Growth: Most little kids get the chance to grow up and if an artist is present early in life, then that artist has the opportunity to become a part of the child’s life. This is two-fold. One part is that means the artist can change and influence the child while already being planted in the mind, but the other part is the nostalgia. I know kids who were 5-14 when I was 21 that loved my music who now would listen to those songs as throwbacks to a different and somewhat “better” time since now those kids are in their late teens to late 20s.
I didn’t understand these concepts when I backed out of the big deal and the smaller one I made beforehand at the time. Along with that understanding, I’ve also learned more about audience targeting, marketing, ROI, and more from many different places including running multiple businesses outside of music. In addition to the books on music business and the classrooms where I learned more about songwriting including Harvard, Berklee, and others, I’ve been lucky enough to get mentors that helped me understand that there are many audiences in this music business and that each has it’s own quirks. There’s the jazz crowd, the pop crowd, the hip hop heads, the new rap lovers, the old rockers, the classical audiences, the EDM scene, the folk circles, the noise scene, the LGBTQ scene, the hardcore scene, and even the single-white-female-between-the-ages-of-25=and-34-who-listen-to-new-country-music-and-drive-in-the-morning-to-work-who-may-or-may-not-have-children-and-also-identify-as-Christian-but-who-may-enjoy-drinking-alcohol group,.. It goes on and on. And that’s beautiful.
The aforementioned record label people with whom I was working, knew I didn’t have a large fan base or even an album so they would be investing a lot of money into a relatively unknown artist, even though they thought I was very talented. They loved music and they genuinely wanted to help me do what I loved, but I didn’t understand that then. I didn’t even understand that they were doing it to make money which many amateur musicians often say is bad too. I just thought they were making me look and sound dumb. I wanted to be like Prince. They wanted me to be Justin Bieber (before there was a Justin Bieber). I could’ve made the first album, went through with my contract and made a few million dollars or failed and moved on and probably still have been in a really great place to relaunch before I was 25. I’m not writing this to give a sob story, but to setup the idea of knowing your audience.
You can make music for yourself, all persona, without any regard for anyone else ever hearing it and that’s fine. You can make music only for other people, like cover artists do here in Las Vegas and that’s fine (although I recommend at least playing music you yourself like or else you may have some serious internal conflicts). Or you can do a blend of the two extremes which is where most artists fall into line and this is a real craft.
The late Ralph Murphy (1944-2019, ASCAP Vice-President), taught that women were a great target audience for many types of music for many reasons. I’ve been learning from him for years and I recommend you go watch his two-hour lecture that you can find on YouTube. While your type of music might be better suited for old men or children or people who speak a certain language, the concept that he talks about in his lectures still translate incredibly well. The main gist of it is that if you know who you want to buy your music, then you’ll be able to do a better job at writing it. There’s nothing wrong with just making music and then asking every person on earth to listen to every song, but if you’re in the music business and want to better your chances of making sales or increasing them, then you may want to consider your customer. And it doesn’t have to only be your end consumer in music either that needs to be thought of. You may be wanting to sign a major record deal and in the process you have to sell yourself to some A&R person – knowing what he or she is looking for or being able to explain who you want to sell to can undoubtedly help you to get an investor (or a bigger advance or a better deal). Knowledge is power.
If you want to know more about this, I recommend “Tribes” by Seth Godin, “Writing Better Lyrics” by Pat Pattison, anything by Ralph Murphy (as of today 7-4-2019 his website https://www.murphyslawsofsongwriting.com is still up), or contact me and I’ll be happy to setup some time for us to discuss any aspect of your audience (or lack thereof).
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