I'm tired of playing the rat race of social media. It's like being the content provider for a site... I'm just filling in the data for these people. I want to bring my posts here on my website.
Yes, I realize that the accessibility will be a challenge but with so many other artists that are just posting for likes and paying fake people for likes... I figure I'm not really missing out on much. I've decided to go forward with my partners like soundcloud and youtube. I think these are the most profitable and they give me the most pleasure updating. It's sometimes good to say NO to social media and in this case... I've deleted the apps while moving forward with my life. I feel incredibly free from technology and driven to accomplish my goals. I'm planning more music to be released and I feel like a stress is being lifted from me.
Focusing on what is more important is the key to success. I doubt that I'll be done with these other apps forever, but I have taken the steps to go past fake likes and false people. Looking forward to meeting real people and making more meaningful connections with those around me. I'll be making more music with less distractions and more drive to bring my vision into reality. I'm thankful for the time that I've had to reflect on what is important and I'm hopeful for what is in the future for me as an artist.
If you want to get to know what I'm doing in the studio be sure to follow me on Youtube.
Thanks,
ionmatika
Yesterday... I was watching Mr. Beast and he was sending a hard drive to the moon!!... Really excited to post my photo for all those aliens out there. If you want to get your photo on the moon... there is still time. https://shopmrbeast.com/collections/moon
]]>In any case I really want to build something. I've been playing with the ideas of a film or a video game. Possibly both... I think the first steps are to start writing a script. Once that's done... I can start collecting all the music for it. I have quite a few recordings that will fit nicely into a full length film. I'll work on what I can and when I'm ready I'll find the people that can help me accomplish this.
Till that day though I'm still in the studio figuring out how to make my music. I've been working on this whole production for 6 years. It's been really fun but it's been a struggle. Hopefully with my VIP page I will be able to fund my projects in the future. The past few weeks I've been working to complete my studio. Videos are coming soon and I've probably redone the studio 5 times... I just want it perfect for production. I feel like I'm building a machine! Here are some photos of the current studio:
Only a few more weeks and it will be complete!
]]>Launching for the first time In The Studio Series on SoundCloud.
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I've also started an Electronic Music Journal where I talk about random things that I feel like talking about because frankly that's what I do. Enjoy my random ramblings and feel the cringe like I feel the cringe. You'll enjoy it! Trust me.
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With this new album coming out I've been focusing on marketing. For people not used to doing marketing like a musician... it can be a challenge.
There are two key questions you need to ask yourself before you get started.
1. Where do I want to grow my audience?
2. What's most important for my growth?
When answering those questions myself I thought social media would be a good way to start... I think for the most part that's a wrong way of thinking. I believe you should start everything with the music. If you can introduce more people to your music the social media will come. An example was a person I met who had 100k fans on social media but hardly posted. He focused more on plays on platforms such as soundcloud, spotify and others. Here's the thing... focusing on plays also brings in some small revenue but it gets the people that are truly interested in your sound to follow your progress. Also, everyone knows you can buy followers now and you can spot someone faking it. Finding listeners is more of a challenge thus brings more value to your brand. Social media followers don't stick as much and they don't transition into purchases mostly. They will normally unfollow you in a day or so.
Don't chase the followers, chase the listeners.
Now there are a few applications I would like to highlight. Trying to help you understand why they are important and why they might fit your goals. I'll be focusing on paid marketing because as a new artist this is probably the best way to get started in an industry mainly saturated by mediocre artists.
Publications
Let's start with publications such as magazines with email lists. The thing you have to remember is prices here always change based on various reasons but they have the most pull of any marketing tool. You'll be spending more but the results should be better. You might want to save up and have a following before contacting some of these outlets.
RA:Resident Advisor • This is a great resource to market. They have a huge reach 30 million readers... with plenty of avenues to promote through. You can post your shows, music, and more. It's also more reasonable when it comes to pricing for marketing. Probably one of the largest email lists out there, with newsletters regularly.
Magnetic Magazine • I'm a fan of this alternative magazine outlet because it actually doesn't do in your face typical advertising. Usually they will want an article or something a little more. This is something you should want in a publication. If you want to reach a bunch of people looking for new music and industry news... this is your place.
Dancing Astronaut • This is one of the most popular industry news outlets. If you don't know about it... I'd be surprised. Great marketing through this publication with some of the largest fan base reach.
Attack Magazine • Last but not least is Attack Magazine. Not only is this a great resource for news but you can also send them mixes because they do mixes of the week. I would approach this publication differently than just an album release. They are looking for deep stories to write about but there are ways to get your stories featured.
Forums
The forums I've listed are more for me but I found that they are the most responsive to what I create. Most forums and messaging boards are a joke. Mostly musicians advertising to other musicians... these sites are similar but at least they are responsive and people care about what you are doing. I'm always looking to add more to this list. It's important to have a community behind what you are doing and these are the ones that I found had the most engagement.
Elektronauts • This forum is mostly for people who own Elektron synths but it's also for people who have a passion for music gear. I found being active in this forum not only gave me more knowledge on products but also gave me a strong community to share my new work.
DJ TechTools • I've been a member of this forum for a while and I've always enjoyed most of the articles. I'm not really a DJ but I do like finding DJs to play my music. It's a great resource for new stuff going on in the industry.
Submit Sites and Blogs
A great aggregator for music is a blog that writes about your music. These sites offer services to send music to their partner blogs or post through their own sites.
SubmitHub • This site allows you to send songs to blogs and record labels. You can filter the ones you think will fit your music genre. It's a great way to get exposure but some of the blogs don't have high acceptance rate. They will however give you a review of your song.
HomeCooking Share • This site takes submissions for new music. They don't accept everything but I think it's the only free site I have mentioned on here.
Club Restricted • Most sites don't include you in on their email campaign but this one does. They have 150k emails that target music fans. I should know... I've been getting emails from them for a while. They seem to do a decent job of marketing with posts on their sites and though email.
Midnite Blaster • This site costs money to market to soundcloud with postings to other accounts. They have permissions for hundreds of artists, labels, and influencers on SoundCloud to repost tracks for 24 hours. Prices change here so check with them but expect great results.
New Retro Wave • Honestly I just put this in for myself. You can pass it up unless you are into synthwave like me.
Redirect Marketing/Download Gates
These sites create portal pages to direct fans to download music and various other things for emails. Some have other features too like targeted marketing for specific audiences. Seems like they are great for people who already have an audience.
Toneden.io • This is actually the industry leading marketing tool for building marketing campaigns and maintaining an audience. It connects all of your social networks and has playbooks that you select to build marketing campaigns. It's a little pricey but it claims to automate things with little adjustments. I've heard a bunch of great things from others.
Hypeddit • This site actually belongs in a few other categories because it has similar features to SubmitHub. You can build marketing campaigns with facebook and send songs to blogs. You also get a nifty portal to direct traffic with.
Feature.fm • I'm fascinated with this site currently because it injects your songs into a playlist. It also has the portal pages to direct traffic. The songs injected are mostly at the end of a playlist. It's great because it only charges you if the song is played for a certain time limit. It also gives your songs a boost at the beginning of the launch. It's guaranteed plays with your soundcloud embedded increasing your plays on that network. You can pay as little for $10 for 600+ plays and that's a strong start. I've heard a ton of great feedback from this app. You can read more about it here: About Feature.fm
So what's the most important goals for you?
My top goals are to reach as many people as possible, to get listeners to my music, and find those that engage with my music. I've presented some of the tools I'm using to grow my brand larger. Those goals have helped me direct my marketing and I'm just getting started. Things change quickly in the marketing world so I'll be updating this post with new tools as frequently as possible.
Build email lists and get plays... it's that simple!
If you have any information to add... feel free to comment below. If any of these worked great for you... let me know! Also, remember this is what worked for me and it's different with everyone. It's important to put together your own network and make a marketing plan.
If you enjoyed this article think about joining my VIP or grabbing a track from my bandcamp. If you're really bold check out my merch.
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This Album has been a labor of love and hard work.
]]>These tracks are inspired by techno, house and are re-releases for 2018.
]]>Some of us can remember a time when we stared at a green screen with a command line in front of us to access data. Maybe you code currently and love it so much you find yourself creating code in your free time. If so, than I have a website for you. cmd.to is a command line music player that uses its services to search and find new music. Whilst using a custom command line. If you are not aware of this... You've been informed. Fuck the Spotify's of this world. Apple doesn't need another app and Google can go fuck itself. Microsoft I don't even need to guess to know you're up to no good and frankly our government is watching our every move for some odd reason?!?!?! That aside... This is the single most epic website I have stumbled across in years and I've had my fun.
Start by typing in fm and a myriad of genres are at your finger tips. Choose one and let it rip! Play something you want to hear and... savor this...
Long gone is the day when we were disconnected... when there was no online... with these funny things called floppy disks that ran programs. Before wifi, fiber optics, 56k, 28.8k, and 3800. Typing in every string of code. We are no longer the DMOS's of the world with our Gui 2.0 bullshit. I've got a secret... We are now living in the future of this monstrosity that has become integrated into our daily activities that we hardly notice it's in our very psyche. Though I digress... If you crave that familiar stench of retro...you must visit cmd.to. Only the greatest music player known to mankind. Enjoy it's lack of a GUI and maybe you can have a retro day like I've had. ;P
For fuck sakes we played square games that looked like lightbright™ with flashing pixels!
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How I got into this interesting passion was though EDC 2010. It was my first rave, It was more of a concert and now I know this but it was a launching point for me to find something that really ignited what I do today. I would have never become a producer if it hadn't been for this concert. I can remember it like it was the other day. Sitting in the stands when EDC basically had 1 stage and multiple stages outside the dome. Of course this was also in LA at the time and I remember it fondly. I'd like to thank and show all my friends at that time how much I've grown in the past 6 years. I think of them often and those times were some of the best of my life. When I saw people like Wolfgang Gartner, Dada Life, Armin van Buuren, Benny Benassi, Above & Beyond and even Deadmau5 that year! It changed my life... I hope that I can make some of my fans feel the excitement that I felt when I was first introduced to HOUSE MUSIC. Things will never be the same.
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I've launched the store with little to no thought but to hold onto my suspenders and yell "HERE I COME!". If you've found this web space... welcome and have a look around.
More on this blog & site coming shortly.
∇⚆ IONMATIKA