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Lauren Mayer lives in the San Francisco bay area, and she writes political satire & topical comedy songs, as well as musical theater and children’s music, and performs as a cabaret duo with her vocalist husband. She has never held a “real job,” other than working as a musician (pianist, music director, vocal coach, custom songwriter), and something must have rubbed off on her now-adult sons, because her 23-year-old is a musical theater performer and her 20-year-old is a percussionist & composer.
I’ve supported myself as a musician for 37 years (and if you’re doing the math, let’s just say I started really, really young!), and I’ve always believed in my talent as a songwriter, but I just figured I wasn’t any good at marketing. I’ve written & recorded over 20 albums of comedy songs, children’s educational music, and children’s musicals, but with each one, after the first few sales, the CDs collected dust in my garage. For the past 4 years, I’ve been doing weekly topical songs on my YouTube channel, but I didn’t really expect much from it – as my now 20-year-old son liked to remind me, “Anything over 100 views is viral for old people.” I knew I needed help, but I wasn’t sure where to look, and I found the whole idea overwhelming.
Leah’s course was the first one I’d heard about that approached it from the point of view of a musician who was letting us learn from her mistakes, and that really appealed to me. So I signed up this past October, and I was impressed with how much I learned right off the bat. I figured I had a lot to learn about social media, and those tips & resources were fantastic, but it turns out I also got great insights about things like time management, budgeting and planning an album, and building a fanbase.
However, the biggest breakthrough for me has been how this class has completely transformed my approach to marketing. I’ve always been uncomfortable with self-promotion – it felt needy, like I was begging for people to notice me, to please buy my CD, and I’d been raised to believe that trumpeting my own accomplishments was wrong because it might bother people or make them feel bad. I think that’s pretty typical for women, especially my generation. But as soon as I started, the exercises in the first couple of modules (about micro-niche and brand) gave me a whole different approach.
True confession here: I really, REALLY didn’t want to do one of the branding exercises (where we asked our Facebook community for what words came to mind when they thought of our music). But the only way to qualify for the money-back guarantee, just in case, was to prove that I did all the homework. So I swallowed my immense discomfort and posted it – and I still get choked up when I think about the result. I got over 100 responses, all incredibly supportive and encouraging, and people told me how much they value my music, with comments like “you’re informed and hilarious,” “your music is brilliantly thought-provoking,” or “your song made me laugh for the first time since the election.”
It made me realize that I am creating something people will want to buy and support, and marketing is simply making it available to them, not “asking” them for anything. And now I look forward to finding new ways to find and engage with fans, marketing feels like a fun way to share my sense of humor, rather than a burden. (And the course was way faster and cheaper than the comparable amount of therapy it would’ve taken me to get to this point!)
Of course, I’ve also had some practical, tangible benefits:
– Did a successful crowdfunding campaign (reached my goal – with 9 minutes to spare!)
– Produced my best album yet, which I just completed this month, and the whole process was way easier and more efficient
– Updated my artist Facebook page, learned how & what to post, and set up regular automated posting. My page has gone from inactive to getting tens of thousands of views for every video I post, and from zero to several hundred likes in just a few weeks
– Every day I’m adding to my superfan base.
– Streamlined my YouTube posting process
– Great time-management tips (in the Bootcamp)
What’s ahead for me: developing and implementing a focused marketing plan for this CD, then starting the whole course over again for my kids’ music. In fact, I feel like I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of all the ways I can market my music, and I’m excited about all of this, as opposed to dreading having to do marketing work. That alone was worth the price of the course, several times over.
Thank you!!!!!
Connect with Lauren to see what she’s up to:
Website:
http://www.laurenmayer.com/
Youtube:
youtube.com/psychosupermom
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/LaurenMayerComedySongs/
Twitter:
@laurenscomedy
New album:
“Guess I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit Sniffing Glue” http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/laurenmayer17
NOTE: Grow your fanbase & make a living with your music like myself and thousands of my students. You can join my free introductory training by clicking the link >>> https://theonlinemusician.com/fanbasev1
~ LEAH
