28 Sep Why Money Can Literally Buy You Fame
They say money can’t buy you love…fame is a different story entirely.
Truth is, money can buy you fame these days in several different ways. The trick though is to invest, rather than spend. By doing this, you will achieve fame established through your talent – meaning you will be recognised for your music and ultimately see financial returns.
This is the most sensible course of action, but there are many other distractions and enterprises outside the world of PR that promise fame, hounding you into spending rather than investing.
Below, we’ll go over a few services to avoid along with those that make much better investment opportunities:
Avoid Buying Followers!
The growth of social media and streaming websites have given rise to many companies that promise followers in return for your money. These companies offer quick-fix solutions, to provide the illusion of popularity. While the new followers vastly inflate apparent public interest in your profile, it is vital to remember that they are artificial accounts – bots – that behave exactly as you would expect. They are not real and will yield no ultimate financial return for you, despite your so called ‘investment’.
According to Wired magazine, it is possible to buy 20,000 Facebook likes for $699, 1 Million Twitter followers for $1,750, 1 Million YouTube views for $3,100 and 5,000 Instagram followers for $75.
Whilst this might, at a glance, seem like an appealing prospect, it is crucial to consider the implications – these followers are fake! Should you adopt this approach, you might gain some real followers as a result of the ‘Bandwagon Effect’. That is, people noticing that a video or profile has a significant amount of attention from the public, thus following under the false assumption that they might find something of actual merit. The problem is, the majority of these accounts quickly fade into obscurity after their 15 minutes of fame. They are as hollow as they sound.
It is best to avoid these companies entirely as whilst they may seem lucrative in the short-term, you will not see any financial return long-term. The followers are fake and as a result have no money to spend on your music, live performances or merchandise. It might attract a small number of real followers, but these people will recognise the hollowness of such a vast yet inactive ‘fan-base’. This will act as a deterrent for potential listeners, shattering the illusion. Ultimately, the goal is to attract real people who will spend real money on your music and invest emotionally in you and your product. This method is unsustainable in the long run and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Avoid Doing PR Yourself!
There are very few prolific artists today, who have successfully balanced their music production with managing their own promotion. It is important to remember that these artists are a resolute minority, and will remain in that bracket as long as the music industry exists as it does now.
To adopt this tactic is exceptionally risky – artists that succeed using this method are as lucky as they are innovative. For every artist that succeeds this way, a vastly higher proportion will have faded into nothingness.
The predominant reasons why this method is so risky are fairly obvious. Whilst it may seem appealing to craft your own marketing strategy, design your own brand and work with the media yourself, as an artist this will divide your most valuable resource – time. If you split your efforts between promotion and making music, it’s inevitable that the latter will be detrimentally affected. The less time you spend making your music, the more likely its quality will suffer.
When the quality of your music falls, your audiences stop listening. They become disinterested and disengaged with your brand, preferring other options. It is important to remember that your audiences are on a budget as well. If your music isn’t as good as someone else’s, they’re not going to part with their cash for yours – especially given the rise of free streaming services in YouTube and Spotify.
This advice comes as much from common sense as from our 160 collective years of industry experience. The artists that make this choice must be aware of the risks involved; the margin for error is slim to none.
As a result, it is advisable to avoid this approach. The quality of your music will be negatively affected and audiences will be deterred from listening. It is most likely that you’ll end up wasting your time and your money, ultimately not generating the revenue or stability you’re looking for.
Do Invest In a Good PR Company!
PR companies handle your promotion as an artist. Whilst they cost money, it is better to regard it as investment rather than an expenditure. The success of PR companies relies on the success of artists they advocate, so it’s in their interests to ensure that you succeed. Their links within the music industry and vast press networks mean that you get the exposure you want, whilst allowing you to devote most of your time to your music.
They are usually founded by people who have worked in the industry themselves as artists or engineers and producers. Having made mistakes in their own professional careers, they have the wisdom and experience to stop you from making them yourself. It’s all about results and getting you the exposure you need.
PR companies dedicate their time to ensuring that their clients receive the services they need to get them on the radio, into newspapers and magazines, booked at festivals and out into the public domain, as well as offering a range of other services such as branding and mastering. They strive to secure optimal results for you. Your success is as much in their interests as yours.
Mastermind and other lead PR companies have extensively proven their abilities to secure outstanding results for their clients. Extensive experience and exclusive ties within the industry combine to produce powerful promotional packages that work. Quality music PR is all about sustainable and workable strategies – quite the opposite of quick-fix follower-buying schemes that will only ever harm your pocket and your reputation.
If you want to become the best, you need to work with the best along the way.
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