 Using
Cover Tunes to
Promote Your
Music Online
Article by David Nevue - Jan. 2004
Back to Internet Music Promotion 101
Can a singer or band find a 'niche' marketing
their music on the Internet
using old tunes and cover songs?
That was a question put
to me recently by a visitor
to the Music
Biz Academy.
"I am told over and over again that
I have a great voice. I'd
love to sell my own
brand of CD's. I can write music, but prefer to
start by simply singing classic ballads (standards, big band, etc.). Here's my question: Can a solo singer make any kind of
"niche" recording old standards, or do you really
have to have new original, music? Everyone who hears me sing
asks 'Why aren't you singing professionally?', so I guess I'd like to start by
promoting my music on
the Internet for exposure. Is the Internet a good place to begin?"
-
Bruce
Actually, starting out promoting a
'known' work makes you more instantly
marketable, as far as the Internet is concerned,
than a band with just original
works. Why?
Because you can use the pre-existing popularity of
a known band or song as a launching
point to promote your own
music to fans of the original cover
song in question.
One of the biggest online
music 'success stories' I know is
of a band called Rondellus,
who plays Black Sabbath songs done
in a medieval style. Their producer,
Mihkel
Raud, informed me that
after reading and putting into
practice ideas from my
book, they were able to
sell over 3000
CDs from their web site in just nine
months. Amazing, huh? But it
makes sense, if you think about
it. The nature of the music that
Rondellus has to offer allows
them to use the Internet
to target fans of both medieval
style music and the band Black Sabbath.
They have a pre-made audience
to target for themselves.
Another good
example is the CD 'Prozak for Lovers.' This
album, which has been a best-selling CD at CDBaby.com
for as long as I can remember,
is nothing more than classic rock songs
put to cheesy music. It's hokey, but it sells.
So,
if you have a recording of a
KNOWN song by a KNOWN artist
(and have paid the mechanical
royalties for permission to
use that song), you can actually
make use of that song to help
you target a pre-existing fan
base, and introduce them to
your particular take on the
cover song.
-----
David Nevue
is the founder of The
Music Biz Academy. He is also a professional pianist,
recording artist, full-time Internet musician, and author of the book, "How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet."
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