Jonathan Miller is an American Electropop Artist with a unique EDM, East Asian, and R&B twist!
The Online Musician has truly turned my world upside down and made my music business incredible.
Thanks to Leah’s class, I now get a paycheck from my music EVERY WEEK!
Not only that, but Leah’s INVALUABLE tools have given me an incredible way to communicate with my fans and showcase my music.
Being a small fish in the pop industry ocean, it’s been so hard to define and find my micro-niche until Leah’s class.
The research she teaches you to do and how to find answers is just incredible.
I’m so thankful my mom stumbled across her ad and sent it my way.
It was nice to finally meet someone who understood what I was trying to do and could push me further!
I am eternally grateful and over-the-moon with my results.
I went from 800+ LIKES on my Facebook to over 5,000 genuine LIKES!
I’m starting to get sweet fan messages and grow my mailing list and I’m confident that my next release will be my most lucrative and successful and it’s ENTIRELY thanks to The Online Musician!
To anyone who is just thinking about taking The Online Musician, just DO IT.
It’s worth every freaking penny of your investment. I am so happy!
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
Hello, my name is Kandice Bell from Atlanta Georgia.
I’m an independent artist and, as you know, funds are limited for us. I always look for creative ways to be able to market myself and do this on a budget.
So, I was kind of in a stand still because I didn’t know how to market myself properly. We don’t have big budget and I don’t have a big staff!
I had to get creative!
That is when I came across Leah.
I was scrolling through my Facebook feed one day, like I am sure we all do pretty often, and I saw Leah come up in my news feed.
The post was about how she was a stay-at-home mom of 5 children (and I have 2 boys), so that really kind of stuck with me.
It was inspiring to see that she can be a stay at home mom with 5 children, which I cannot imagine, and still make a living out of her music full time!
You know, I checked out her page and I went to her free webinar, which was awesome because I really felt like she spoke to me. I felt a connection.
It was talking about the difference between the 98% and the 2% musician and “What you really need to do to make yourself stand out!”
The 98% musician comes across the same information the 2% musicians do, they think it’s cool, but they don’t do anything about it. The 2% musician, on the other hand, takes action and does something with the information and puts it to use.
So, I decided to take action after I had listened to that and I was like, “I really got some great information out of this. Imagine what I could get out of the whole course?”
You have to invest in yourself, and you know… this is honestly the first time I spent money on education for my music business. I am very glad I did and it was a money well spent!
The biggest thing I have learned so far and how it changed my life was the Facebook Ads training. I wasn’t too lost on my micro-niche, but I have had a breakthrough with Facebook.
I was doing Facebook totally wrong!
I was doing everything she said not to do!
Learning that is what really changed my life, and just all of the other tips and resources.
The worksheets that she gives are awesome and it really helped me plan out my project clearly and with ease so I do not have to be rushed doing my thing.
I was way more organized and put things into perspective, and I like Leah because she keeps it real.
She tells you things you want to hear, things you don’t want to hear, but she’s gonna tell you and I am gonna listen to her because it is obviously working!
When I first started this program at the end of January, I only had 571 likes. I decided to start the course with the goal-setting training and determined what I wanted to focus on first.
This course has done wonders for me! In just 3 weeks I went from 571 to almost 1200 SUPER FANS!
Building my fan base was my 90-day goal and my goal was to have 700 fans (wanted to be realistic).
Well, I have surpassed that by a long shot.
People are regularly engaging with and sharing my content, but what makes me most happy is that they actually want to.
If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you already realize things have drastically changed in the music industry.
Younger millennials might not know any different, but most people sense that we are living in the Wild West era of the music business and everything is topsy-turvy.
We’re all thinking… what the heck do I do now?
How do I get fans?
I don’t know where to begin. Where should I start?
How do I utilize social media to build a buzz?
How do I market my music?
And so on…
With that comes many voices, many opinions, and clashing ideas, especially when it comes to the perception that the music industry is dead due to file sharing.
Some people want more government control over the internet to try and “regulate” what’s happening.
Others see the beauty of a genuinely free market for the first time in a LONG time.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a landscape where talented musicians can “make it” without the help of a major record label.
I believe this has only happened because of the freedom of the internet and, quite frankly, the lack of regulation.
If it weren’t for this exact Wild West landscape, I would still be completely unknown in my genre and my music would still be undiscovered in my basement.
That’s a fact.
And it’s why I’ve become so passionate about sharing my knowledge with others.
After all, if a mother with five children who doesn’t tour & rarely plays live can make a full-time living as a recording artist, strictly by promoting her music online……. then no one has any excuse!
……….WHAT?!?
I still have that pinch-me feeling every day.
How did I do it?
I’m glad you asked.
The biggest struggle for musicians is “I don’t know how to build a fanbase.”
I understand this one!
And it’s a good thing you’re thinking about this because it’s an obvious and critical piece of the puzzle to becoming successful and making a living.
The key is building a fanbase – you are right.
But not just any fans…
Right now, I want to address a common myth so many people have:
that you need as many fans as humanly possible to follow you, and then you’ll be successful and become famous, and you’ll go viral, and finally make some money.
FALSE!
You DO NOT need millions of fans. You DO NOT need hundreds of thousands of followers, or YouTube views, or viral videos in order to become successful and make a living.
We need to get this idea out of your head right now!
In fact, we cannot go any further if you don’t consciously make an effort to red-flag this thought and idea in your mind, immediately.
Everything else I say from here on out will do you no good if you can’t get past this idea.
You don’t need millions of fans; you don’t need hundreds of thousands; you don’t even need tens of thousands.
You don’t want high numbers of irrelevant fans!
Or high numbers of fans who might have heard your name, but don’t care that much.
Why?
Because fans who may have heard your name but don’t care that much don’t BUY music.
We must not confuse ourselves with the big corporate labels and big corporate advertising agencies whose sole purpose is to spend millions of dollars on making millions of people familiar with a song, until hopefully the masses become so saturated with this familiar song that they buy it.
That might translate into a tiny percentage of people who actually buy, and the record label hopes to make their millions invested back.
Do you have millions lying around for this type of approach?
Didn’t think so. 🙂
Neither do I.
So what can we do then? How are we supposed to gain fans AND make a living if we can’t spend millions on exposure to the masses?
I’ll tell you.
It’s relationship with a very select few superfans.
What do I mean?
Well first, you need to ask yourself, what makes you buy an album from another independent or underground artist?
This is actually a deeper question than you might realize.
For me, if I buy music from someone who is NOT mainstream, and is not well-known, it’s for a few reasons:
1. I like their music.
2. I know them (or feel like I do) and I want to support them.
3. I like their story, background, or whatever it is they stand for.
4. The way they make me feel with their music.
5. The way they make me feel as a fan. The way they interact with me or their fanbase.
Some of those reasons overlap, but you see what I mean.
They are probably the same reasons you buy and support other bands/artists you know and love that are less well-known.
So, you can see that the reason you and I spend money with these bands is because of the artist/fan relationship, versus mass exposure and familiarity.
Even if you are an artist in a very big genre, like pop, you still need to take this approach.
Do not make the mistake of trying to approach your music career like a big label or big advertising agency.
You need to think like the small mom-and-pop coffee shop in the small village, where everyone stops by and hangs out, and everyone knows each other’s names, and they’re there to live and commune, and occasionally buy.
If you can tweak this one idea in your mind as an artist… you are WAY AHEAD of everyone else.
Changing this mindset is the absolute gold mine to the rest of your music career.
What if I told you you’re probably not “doing” social media right?
That everything you thought you were supposed to do… you should NOT do?
….And the very thing you SHOULD do – feels completely counter-intuitive?
Let’s see here…. have you been doing any of THESE?
Inviting all your personal friends & family to ‘like’ your page?
Inviting all the people you went to high-school with & people you barely know to ‘like’ and “follow” your page?
Begging people to “PLEASE LIKE & SHARE!!!!” every time you post your song?
Not getting much traction building your fanbase online?
Been using your personal profile for music (a BIG no-no!)?
Wondering why you’re getting no engagement and people don’t see your posts? (it’s not because Facebook is evil or trying to scam you)
Wondering how you can get more fans on your Facebook page and turn that into income?
Here’s the thing.
Social media is here to stay and the world is never going back to the way it was.
Either you are the kind of musician who decides to understand HOW to make social media work for your music, how to actually build a fanbase and a legitimate income with your music using this incredible tool…
…..or you won’t and you’ll be left behind in your knowledge and your skill, and your music will be buried with the rest of the talented artists who aren’t willing to step it up and learn this.
Those are the musicians I call the 98%.
They are genuinely talented, but don’t have the guts, the grit, or the tenacity to learn new stuff that will get them somewhere.
They want it all done for them (lazy).
Guess what, in the New Music Industry, you need to make your own bed.
You need to do it yourself.
The ball is in your court.
It’s called liberty.
You either view this as the greatest opportunity in the world, or you view it as a burden because it means more work for you.
I choose to view it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And it’s brought me success in my own music.
Another thing: If you make music, you’re actually in business for yourself.
If you were to launch your own Subway franchise tomorrow, you would need to invest in some tools, some skills, and knowledge so that on launch day your sandwich shop could actually stay open, make people happy, and so you could stay in business.
Most musicians are silly:
They won’t bat an eyelash at dropping $10,000 in the studio, but completely RESIST spending a tiny fraction of that to learn how to actually market their music.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…
If you have no fanbase to market your music TO, your time and money spent in the studio was completely in vain.
Unless you want to be a basement artist, then go for it. 🙂
If music is nothing but a hobby and you have no interest in selling CDs, no interest in gaining a worldwide audience who recognizes you and gives your music the appreciation it deserves… then you definitely DON’T want to learn any marketing skills.
If you’re totally happy and content being a BROKE musician who is unknown in your genre, then you definitely DON’T want to increase your skill and knowledge of social media, Facebook particularly!
If, however, you know that music is part of your calling in life (even if it’s only part-time)…. then you need to increase your knowledge in how to promote your music online – the SMART way.
This is where the rubber meets the road.
Hundreds of social media platforms come and go, but Facebook is here to stay and it’s the one place you need to be to truly skyrocket your success.
Why? It’s where your fans are. This is where they mostly hang out.
I’ve been testing and experimenting with all kinds of strategies on my own music page and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt…..
……the $80,000 I made just in digital royalties last year happened because I figured out how to strategically use FACEBOOK to turn complete strangers into my die-hard SUPERFANS.
That’s how I did it.
If you want to do what I’m doing and learn what I’m learning… then you definitely want this mini-course will show you exactly WHAT TO DO and WHAT NOT TO DO on Facebook to
build a super-targeted audience that goes bonkers for your music
build your own tribe and music-evangelists who promote you to everyone they know
like, follow, and share your music organically (without you sounding like a desperate beggar)
actually translate casual visitors into new fans who buy your music on day 1
Decide now, which kind of musician are you?
The kind that says, “I’m just going to do what I’ve always done,” and 12 months later wonders why they STILL don’t have a following, why they STILL aren’t making any CD sales, and getting no engagement…?
…..Or are you the kind of musician who decides to get ahead of the game and rides this wave of phenomenal social media exposure?
Yes!!! That is what I thought. (Usually the people who read my articles that I talk to are highly intelligent, talented, and hard-working. They just need to be pointed in the right direction.)
Now is the time to gain the skill and knowledge you need to take advantage of the best music tool on planet earth.
Because this ultra-short course is brand new, we’re offering it at a 50% discount. Take advantage of this while you can!
You will learn everything to know about running your Facebook page for music in less than 1 day.
I challenge you to stop procrastinating on your dreams and get off your assets and DO something about your music this year. Right now. Today.
Do it!
Success is on the other side of action.
Learn this simple skill. You’ll thank me later.
I’ll see you on the inside.
XOX,
Leah
P.S. Don’t forget to use the special discount code “FB4M” to get the 50% off while this is brand new! This promo is ending soon so get in now. Start today and I’ll see you in there!
I just finished reading several articles on how parents “do music” when they have a kids and a family life.
Most of the musicians I read about were touring musicians. And I gotta hand it to them: several, if not all, just cart their kids along.
The kids learn to adapt and have their own adventures on the road.
I think that’s cool. I think it’s brave. At some point I would like to try that myself.
I do foresee an enormous amount of effort and planning on a whole new level – beyond the strain and efforts of a normal tour.
This might all be worth it, of course, just to have the adventure itself and to have your whole family see and experience the world through the lens of music and music lovers.
Now, what about other parents that can’t or don’t want to bring the whole family on the road?
Many musicians with children have day jobs and bills and mortgages and school routines that don’t allow for touring at all.
Is there a solution to this?
And how does a parent find the TIME to create music, record, and do the other music marketing and promotion activities required to validate their calling (even if it’s a side calling)?
If you’ve never heard of me before, for the record, I’m Leah, I have five children under the ages of ten and I do not tour.
But I make a living with my music.
I also homeschool. Life is crazy busy. So I understand, truly.
#1 Realize that touring is no longer necessary to build a fanbase
Touring is fun. Touring is fulfilling. Touring is part of musical TRADITION.
But….. I dare say, touring is not NECESSARY to building a fanbase or making a sustainable income now.
There are folks who will disagree with me vehemently.
But they are wrong (LOL).
I know this because I and many others have built a fanbase around the world strictly by promoting our music online.
People need to open their eyes and see how drastically the music industry has changed.
We’re in a new (online) economy now, which has opened the doors for virtually every talented musician and band.
I can write a song, record it, and then upload it to any platform.
Then someone in another country discovers it while I’m SLEEPING.
They love what they hear, listen to all my discography, buy a CD, buy some merch, and share my music with their social media networks.
Then this process repeats with my new fan’s friends ten more times, and all before I’m awake at 7 a.m.
I open my inbox to discover $100 worth of direct downloads and merch sales while I was snoozing away, and several emails from new fans who just discovered my music and are ECSTATIC.
They want to know if I have anything else.
I head downstairs with my smartphone in hand, making a mad dash for the coffee machine.
I look at my digital sales report from the past 2 months and see a ripple effect happening across all the streaming and music sales platforms.
My royalty payment for the week (on this one platform) is over $1800.
Yay me!!
Many people can and do live off of this income!
It then occurs to me as I drink my first coffee and transfer my royalties to Paypal that I’ve just accomplished this without performing a single TOUR, or gigging at all.
I accomplished this while being a full-time, stay-at-home mom, homeschooling my FIVE children, and running my music business strictly on the Internet.
Now, this is not me patting myself on the back.
No, this is me giving you HOPE.
Most people have more time on their hands than I do. You could do better than I. You could go further, longer, and really do amazing things.
What you must realize: none of this would have happened for me without the Internet, without file sharing, and even piracy.
Shocking, I know!
But I’ve reached tens of thousands of fans around the globe just because of the Internet. It’s allowed me to make a NAME for myself instead of keep my music completely undiscovered in my basement.
If it weren’t for the Internet I wouldn’t be making a dime as a recording artist. No one would know who I am. My large fanbase in Europe would not have my CDs sitting on their shelf.
#2 How do you “do it all”? ….. You don’t.
PRINCIPLE: You can’t do everything.
You can’t be doing five-hundred things, plus a Kickstarter campaign, plus writing your album, plus working full-time, plus driving your kids to karate, plus shooting music videos, and skydiving all at the same time.
That’s insane!
PRINCIPLE: Whenever you add something onto your plate, you need to take something off.
If you already have a very busy life with work, kids, other pursuits, obligations, etc. and then you add recording a new album on top of that, you will either: a) never finish your recording project; or b) burn out.
There are probably other negative things that could happen, but generally this is what happens.
The project gets put on the back-burner because “life got in the way.”
Or you push through and are miserable, stressed out, and burn out afterwards, almost taking the joy out of the music itself.
That’s not a good place to be, for you or anyone around you.
Whatever your situation is, you can’t multi-task your entire life. At least, not sustainably.
TAKE AWAY: Recognize what season of life you are in and what season of life you want to be in.
Be realistic about what you can accomplish and then schedule that time in advance.
It’s not romantic, but you need to schedule your practice time, writing time, recording time, and any other activity into your calendar.
If you can’t do it in large blocks of time (usually we need this to get into the “zone”), then do it in smaller 30-minute to 1-hour chunks on a more regular or daily basis.
ACTION: Consider getting up an hour earlier than you normally do. Drink your coffee and play your instrument.
Don’t even put pressure on yourself to write anything brilliant; just play.
By the end of day 5, something new will be brewing. Guaranteed.
This is really a discipline or habit.
In every other sector and industry, this is what successful people do.
They get up early, and they do the most IMPORTANT thing first. They get it done. Then everything else in the day can come at you, and your music will still have come first.
You did it!
#3 Define the Season You’re In
This follows on the heels of the previous point, but, more specifically, recognize what season of life you’re in.
Are you in a season of just increasing your playing skills?
When you’re busy with babies, kids, or important but time-consuming life stuff, perhaps the only time you can afford is a quick 15-minute session of vocal warmups and practice.
That’s OK!
It doesn’t mean you’ll never get anywhere with your music.
Just know that’s where you’re at right now.
Are you in a season of writing?
If so, then writing becomes your priority.
It means you turn off the TV at night.
As soon as the kids are asleep, instead of watching shows, you head straight to your instrument.
Know your season.
Be deliberate and purposeful about your season.
There is a time and season for everything.
As a parent, the most important key is to learn how to work SMART instead of HARD in your music business to maximize your TIME and leverage your talent.
There’s nothing worse than living a life of regret. When you’re born to be a musician, nothing can stop that draw that you have to music. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to leave no stone unturned in pursuit of your music career. The good news, as I’ve shared in my own personal story, is that you can now enjoy a profitable music career and family life. It does not have to be one or the other.
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.
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
Katherine C.H.E. is a Nashville raised Folk, Pop, Country, Jazz, Gospel Singer/Songwriter
I’m a little older (won’t say how old) than the average “just starting out” musician. So, I’ve lived a lot of life and have a lot of experience to bring to the table.
I loved music and wanted to be a singer/songwriter when I was young. I listened to and fell in love with every form of North American music from indigenous music to jazz and folk and country and pop and gospel and dixieland…
When I had my son, he was really colicky. The ONLY thing that would soothe him was if I’d sing, so, I started singing to him, and as I was singing 24/7 for about six weeks, I was reminded of how much I love to sing. It planted a seed.
Then, about five years ago, I finally got the courage to head to some open mics, and I quickly started having my own shows.
Three years ago, I dropped everything to dedicate my life to music, and it has been a challenge to juggle being a good mom and trying to do music AND make a living from it.
Touring is out right now, scheduling live performances is a real challenge, and I was not making the progress I wanted to make in my music career.
Then, I found Leah’s program, and it gave me hope. She’s a mom, too!
Like I do with most things, I dove right in.
I got The Online Musician program at the beginning of this summer and after going through it decided the best first step for me would be to have a real CD; so, I spent much of the summer recording and mixing it while I continued to study the course.
I released the CD on September 15, and everything is sort of coming together – exploding, really.
Two days after its release, on September 17, my CD, “Campfire Sessions,” hit #1 on the Amazon Folk Album chart. #1! I’m still in awe of that.
Following Leah’s program helped me get clarity around my offering and my goals. In July I set some financial goals. First goal was “by September 1” and my next goal is “by February 1.”
I hit my September goal in mid-August, and my music income continues to increase.
Leah speaks about the power of clarity, and she is so right. I used to teach that myself. Getting clarity has an almost magical quality. When you get clear, it is as if miracles start appearing.
Meanwhile, I have been working on building my FB page.
My FB page reach has exploded following Leah’s FB advice. Even at 400 Likes, I had a reach of over 2000 and great engagement for the size of the tribe.
Before doing Leah’s program, posting on FB was like posting into a VOID. Now, I get likes and loves on each post. I get shares, and I even get replies.
As an example, I posted a simple, static video of one of my songs on FB just two days ago. It already has a reach of 180 and has had 82 views (really listens because there’s nothing to view). That is so great, and I definitely expect the numbers to grow as my Likes increase.
Following Leah’s instructions I have already created the entire pipeline to attract Super Fans!
I’m also using Leah’s techniques on my Twitter page and have increased my engagement there massively. @KatherineCHE
I’m starting to get press for my new CD.
“Her Campfire Sessions CD… takes the listener to a simpler time and place… a magic world of light and music.”
And here’s another layer of what has been going on for me: about the time I started this program, I had a MASSIVE flare-up of a life-long skin problem. I don’t talk about this much, but I want to share here because it is a part of why this program is so powerful to me… It is VERY painful when this happens. It feels like I have blow-torches burning my skin 24/7.
Being in so much pain is EXHAUSTING. Truly draining. So, I’ve been sleeping odd and many hours. And it is very unsightly.
Meanwhile, because I have been following Leah’s program, I was able to push forward with all of this on my own time. I did not have to try to cover it with makeup and summon the energy for live performances. I could look like a monster and record and mix and interact with fans in my home.
This course has been and will continue to be a True Blessing and Just the Miracle I needed.
I am moving forward and have great confidence in the success I’m having and will have with my music ON MY OWN TERMS and when/as I am able.
I have hope, a plan, and the tools to implement it – thanks to The Online Musician program.
Thanks, Leah and Team Online Musician. ♥
Connect with Katherine C.H.E. to see what she is up to:
If you want to grow your fanbase & make a living with your music like myself and thousands of my students, join us on September 22nd for my free online mini-series.
Click below to save your seat now >>>
I’m going to be brutally honest and tell you what I was doing wrong — primarily on Facebook — that resulted in less people following me and some people even un-liking my page!
These mistakes really made it harder for me to reach my goals.
Luckily I’ve learned and now I’m sharing my blunders with you so you don’t need to make the same mistakes!
YIPEE 🙂
Here’s where I messed up — really quickly:
I somehow thought my personal Facebook page would be a good way to get more followers. I ended up shooting myself in the foot! (I’ll explain later)
I “invited” all my personal friends, family, relatives, kids I went to high-school with, acquaintances I barely know, etc to “follow” me
I only posted 1-2x per week, and it was always my music or what I was trying to sell
I constantly begged people to like, follow, comment or share my music
I had no idea who would actually like my music, so I just blasted my music out there, hoping I might go viral and get discovered
Now let me explain why all this was really bad, and how I lost followers this way.
#1. I thought my personal page would be a good way to get more followers.
Why this was bad: You have a limit of 5000 friends on a personal profile. Eventually you’ll reach your max and have to either
1) create more personal profiles and confuse the HECK out of everyone, or…
2) reach your limit and then new fans can only follow you, but they can’t interact with any non-public posts… or
3) you’ll need to “transfer” over to a professional business page anyway.
At that point you’ll have to ASK all your followers on your personal page to migrate over to your professional page.
I see this at least 1x per day.
Problem?
Not everyone will see your post, most people are too lazy to migrate over to your now professional page, and you might not remember who is who and now you just have a mixed-up page full of people you don’t know, and you’ll have to spend hours “purging” your friends list.
The result? You’ve just lost contact with all those people you worked hard to connect with.
I’ve done this! LESSON LEARNED!
#2. I invited all my personal friends & relatives & acquaintances to like and follow me.
Why this was bad: In reality, our closest family support us but we don’t make them pay for our music, of course!
And our music is NOT going to be everyone’s cup of tea.
And that’s great!
But if we know this, why do we invite every single living person we know to follow us?
Most likely our neighbour from 10 years ago is not our superfan.
That kids you went to high school with are probably not going to buy your music.
So we need to stop inviting “irrelevant” people to our page. We only want fans who truly WANT our music and want to get to know us as artists.
#3. I only posted 1-2x per week, and it was always about my music or what I was trying to sell
Why this was bad: I realized after a while… this method was not working!
People do not log on to Facebook to be inundated with ads and people shouting, “BUY MY MUSIC PRETTY PLEEEEEASE!”
It just gets obnoxious after a while.
People unsubscribe.
People unfollow.
They don’t want to be pressured like that.
Maybe people follow us because they want to be supportive but they aren’t actually huge fans of our music.
That’s why I’ve learned it’s FAR more valuable to create a community of fans who are like-minded.
I mean, fans who are just like you, who like the same stuff as you.
THOSE fans will be highly likely to buy your music and support what you do.
#4. I constantly begged people to like, follow, comment or share my music
Why this was bad: Um, well, it looks really desperate.
It’s like when someone has a crush on you and they won’t leave you alone…. it’s a big turnoff.
The fact that they want you SOOO bad makes you like them even less.
Let’s not do the equivalent on social media, please!
I’m not saying never ask for people to share.
But when it’s every single post it really gives the wrong message…
…that we’re thinking all about US and not about THEM.
And in marketing that’s the #1 mistake.
#5. I had no idea who would actually like my music, so I just blasted my music out there, hoping I might go viral and get discovered
This was one of my biggest music blunders: I had no idea who my ideal fan was.
I thought if I made music, I should just throw it up on the interwebz and someone, somewhere over the rainbow would “discover” me and I’d go viral.
Yeah… right.
Here’s the truth: it’s not going to happen!
If we want real success — I’m talking pay-the-bills-with-our-music success — then we have to make a big mental shift: the ball is in our court.
–> Don’t wait for anyone to discover you.
–> Don’t wait for someone to hook you up.
–> Don’t rely on agents, managers, scouts, booking agents, or Santa Clause.
YOU and you alone are in charge of your music destiny!
The best recommendation I can give you in order to build a REAL fanbase — one that actually buys your music, shares your music with their networks without you begging, and will follow everything you do for LIFE — is to start with your music community and culture.
In less than 1 day you’ll learn everything you need to know to successfully launch a professional Facebook page that creates and engages COMMUNITY which will equal real superfans for life.
Contrary to popular belief, you DO NOT need thousands or millions of followers.
You only need a very small “tribe” of loyal followers to really make a living as a musician.
Once I made these shifts, I made back ALL the followers I had lost and gained thousands of REAL fans all over the world (over 76,000 and growing every day!)
Because you’re still reading this, you’re clearly the real deal!
I congratulate you for actually being serious enough about yourself and your music career to learn everything you can to go to the next level!
Here’s your reward:
Get 50% off coupon code for the “Facebook for Musicians” mini-course that is normally $97 for only $48.50!
What I ask from you: that you’ll give me feedback about your results within the community on the inside.
This is a small but SIGNIFICANT step toward massive success in your music!
I know you’ll learn a lot, but if you only grasp 1 or 2 golden nuggets… it might be all you need to change everything you’re doing and go to the next level.
I was literally changing my youngest kid’s diaper….
He was on the change table, and I was off in space, deep in thought.
(These things become second nature after you have a bunch of kids…)
Times had gotten hard in our family. I was a stay-at-home mom of now 5 kids. They needed me. I poured myself into them the best I could with the energy I could muster up via the coffee machine.
My husband was a good worker and wanted nothing more than to provide for his family and give us a safe and secure life. But the construction company was not doing well. Work was slow.
The jobs were becoming scarce, while the cost of living kept going HIGHER.
We were stressed out.
Then the cherry on top: the rental house we were living in went up for sale, and we would be forced to move soon. Not only that, but we couldn’t even afford the rent anymore, because work had slowed down so much.
What were we going to do?!
The initial anxiety and fear and stress we felt… well… only those who have been in that position can know how that feels.
It’s the sheer panic of being helpless.
But it was later on… when I was at the changing table with my baby, doing the mom thing, that I realized that not only would we SURVIVE this situation, but we would actually be OK… and there was even hope for a brighter future for our entire family.
How did I know that?
Because of the royalty paycheck I had just received that morning.
Just that week, I was praying, asking God to direct our family out of this unstable construction business and into something else.
… But all this time I thought it would be a new business idea or a career change my husband would take.
I had NO idea what would happen next!!
I had no idea my side music hobby would turn into something! I called it a hobby for so long that I didn’t really take it seriously until that morning…
I received over 💰 $2175💰 in digital royalties.
And that number was beginning to become a regular weekly occurrence.
It occurred to me in that moment that this independent music thing I’m doing is actually going somewhere. That the skills and knowledge I’d acquired was actually paying off
… and we were literally LIVING off my royalties!!
When our “reliable” job failed… it was my stupid MUSIC that was paying the bills, buying groceries and diapers, and keeping us afloat!
And that’s when I knew… I needed to kick it up a notch.
…or TEN.
So I asked my husband Steve to join me in my music career and help me take it to the next level… And we did.
After taking a whole crap-load of business courses, marketing seminars, and reading bazillions of books… I put my knowledge into action.
Using the “1000 fan model,” I took my music sales from approx. $5000 per year to over 6-figures last year!!! 🎉🎉🎉
And in an age where people say the music industry is dead!!
Can you believe that!
I’m here to tell you it’s FAR from dead…. and don’t believe anyone who tells you that!
>>>>> FAIR WARNING: you do need to know what you’re doing and have a plan of action. In order to succeed, you need to be very strategic. <<<<<
I did NOT wing it.
I reinvested a large portion of my music royalties into EDUCATING myself and INCREASING my skill level because I knew it would come back to me 10-fold.
And it did! That’s why I succeeded. Since then, my friends and music colleagues have been bugging me to share my secrets.
“How the heck have you accomplished this when apparently musicians aren’t getting paid anything from Spotify?” they asked me…
Not everyone has the time, money, or patience to go through the hassle of investing in bazillions of courses, seminars, and books that aren’t even related to music. I understand.
Well, instead of making my friends go through the same process I did (it took a couple years worth of INTENSE studying, and THOUSANDS of $$$)…
… I boiled down everything I learned from the marketing masters and came up with a very methodical, strategic approach which took me to my 6-figure music business now.
I’ll show you exactly how to do what I did and build a 6-figure music business with only 1000 superfans.
It’s really not that hard to do.
Even if you’ve never created an album or recorded anything before.
Even if you’ve never done a tour (I still haven’t done a tour!)
Even if you’re starting from GROUND ZERO.
This is a very simple, but stealthy approach to launching a successful music career online. The internet has changed absolutely everything we do now!
If you get nothing else out of reading all this way… you need to know what is possible for YOU if you’re a talented & determined musician… right at this very moment in time.
I hope you will feel encouraged!
We’re in a special place in history. We might never have this opportunity again… not like this.
Now’s your turn to change your music destiny.
I hope you’ll decide to change your musical fate today like I did, not that long ago.
This week has been exciting! My creativity is starting to flow, and I’m feeling that forward momentum with my songs, which is really motivating me to keep moving.
Today’s report is a shorter one and very digestible with just three main takeaways. It’s definitely worth the 2 minutes it will take you to read this!
Takeaway #1: You must slow down in order to speed up.
My producer suggested I learn how to program drums since I always send him what sounds like ballads: keyboards and vocals. Sometimes it’s built up quite a bit, but it’s hard for him to picture what I’m wanting it to sound like without the beats there.
I have no idea why I never learned how to do this. I guess I feel like I know nothing about drums.
SO… I downloaded a drumming program that some of my favorite songwriters use – EZdrummer. It’s great for the songwriting process.
Then I had to do my LEAST favorite thing of ALL TIME: read a manual. I absolutely hate manuals – they couldn’t be more boring, and sometimes they’re overwhelming too. I just want the specific info I need right now and I don’t want to waste my time with the other peripheral stuff.
But I read the manual (mostly) and then was much more efficient with EZdrummer because I knew how to navigate and control the software without wasting time with trial and error, figuring it out myself.
This took me several hours to learn the software, which at the time felt like it was really setting me back in my process. I felt like I needed to be further along. But once I had a cool beat in my song, I realized that I was MUCH FURTHER AHEAD with that song than I would have been if I didn’t learn the software.
So I had to literally slow down to learn the software, but I really sped up in the bigger picture because my song is now way more complete than it would have have been.
Now I’ll be much more efficient with this in the future and it will have a compounding effect on the time that I’ll save writing the beats and drums for my future songs.
Learn More…
Takeaway #2: Try something new and challenging, like learning a new instrument, or virtual instrument.
Learning the virtual drums has made me use my brain slightly differently than I have before during my creative process.
At the same time, I’m having awesome new ideas for songs that I’ve never had before because my brain has more creative power now. Think of it like an artist adding new colors to their pad.
When we try new things and have new experiences, it expands our creative boundaries and allows us to see things that were perhaps hidden previously.
I’m so excited about this! Lots of good songs are about to be written.
So I recommend that you challenge yourself to explore that new instrument that interests you.
Takeaway #3: For more creative ideas, do LESS, rest MORE. Allow, don’t force. And the ideas will come.
I’ve found that more ideas are coming to me when I REST more. As in, try to take a nap. I don’t rest with the intention of coming up with an idea; there’s no pressure.
I just lie down with the intention to fall asleep, or not – just rest. Allow freedom for my brain to explore or turn off if needed.
Normally at night I have a window open, a fan on, and a sermon playing so I have something focused to think on, and not let my mind wander endlessly for hours.
But the times I have had song ideas pop up that have actually turned into real songs, I have zero noise. No fan, no podcasts – nothing. This total quiet gives my creative brain freedom to create.
This requires that I plan ahead to meet my daily responsibilities and tasks so I can actually carve out time to REALLY rest without feeling pressure to get up and do something else.
When you get into this state of mind, you’ll notice that your brain is allowing creativity to take place, rather than forcing it. And that, my friend, it a beautiful thing.
That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed it and learned something that you can apply to your own process.
As always, drop me a line in the comments below with any questions or observations you have about this week’s report. Let me know how you plan to apply these takeaways.
