What I Have Learn in Promoting Independent Gospel Artists
By Pastor Debra Tate
In order for a Gospel Independent
Recording Artist to make it in the gospel music business, the Gospel Indie must
realize the power that is in their music.
The four biggest struggles that the Gospel Indie has are Pay, Play,
Promotion and Publicity. That is where Royal Diadem Ministries is strong at, my
ministry focus on being good at creating a social media strategy with the end
results of the Indie obtaining play time, pay, promotion and publicity. I call them the 4 P’s Play, Pay, Promotion
and Publicity.
I have learn that if the Gospel Indie does not
see the value of their music no one else will either. How do you let people
know the value of your music? You do this by telling people about your work,
and not doing it in a way that is egotistical. This type of personality characteristic
of having an inflated idea of their own importance is a big turn off and will
cost them the help that is needed to get the music to the masses.
I have often had to remove some Indies off of Live365.com/Thecrowngem, because they had
distribution problems; for some reason their artwork would not show up during
the playing of their MP3. No one knew
what they look like or their artwork. I
could not link them to the store that was selling their music. For people who listen to my station on
Live365.com/Thecrowngem, I try to have a one click policy, so the inexperience
computer user can be able to get to the Indies
store with just one click in and buy their music. Therefore, if your music is
not being heard, another reason can be poor distribution. This also can be a
hindrance to your music being successful and this too is what I have learn in
my first year.
You see if your fans are having a
bad experience getting to your music to buy it, and they have to hunt all over
the internet, they will not be fans long, and if your distribution situation is
not settle, you will not get new fans and radio stations like mine, who need
you to have a mp3 id tag and which is a digital imprint so they can sell music
will drop you. If you are giving music away, I don’t want it. I want to sell
your music; I want a radio station that can make money, so sponsor will want
me.
Most Gospel Indies are bad Stewards will not learn entrepreneurial skills. They are like the men with the
talents. They do not take pride in how
they market their music. They do not see
them selves as business owners. Most
will not take responsibility for their “brand,” they want everyone else to do
it for them. This type of thinking bring
failure and does not glorified God..
The Parable of the Talents
(Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28)
Key Verses.
13 “Therefore stay alert, because
you do not know the day or the hour. 14 For it is like a man going on a
journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one
he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his
ability. Then he went on his journey
Half of the time the Gospel Indie
is the one who is on a journey! He or she is far way from taking care of their
business. In addition, most of the time the Gospel Indie does not even have a
target audience and are not meeting the needs of the target audience that they
do have, with their music; they must meet the need of their listeners. The Indie is to busy meeting their own
emotional needs instead of meeting the needs of others with their music. This
is what make Gospel music so powerful and this is what will make you a Minister
of Music of the Gospel of Jesus Christ meeting the needs of the listener right
where they are at.
So what’s up?
It is not so much what is up as it is what is down in the modern day gospel music industry. The industry has lowered the grade and
standards of what good Gospel music is all about. Just the
term “Indies” in the music industry says you and your music has been reduce;
therefore the Indie become prey to the vultures that claims they are trying to help you succeed in
Christ Jesus. It appears that the
Industry does not seem to have placed Indies Gospel Music in a category of not being of much worth in value as they do with music that comes from the label companies.
This means that you have to place that value in your work and in your self and
know who you are in Christ Jesus.
Gospel music no longer ministers to the lost
or the hurting, and there appears to me, from what I have seen, most Indies do not have a target audience, why is that? You
may be asking? Because Gospel music has been reduced to the
value of music that entertainment Christians, and only needs to have a catchy
beat or hook, and a half way decent web-site for the packaging.
I will stop here for now: I just
wanted you to know what I have learned in one year of dealing with Gospel
Indies and their music, on Live365.com/Thecrowngem.
Pastor Debra Tate
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