Staying Current Is Currency
By Avalon Stone
If there is anything we can count on, it’s change.
If you have tried to have any kind of social media presence over the last few years, you know how quickly things move. A lot of what you see seems entirely unrelated and unhelpful to your music career. By the time you decide to give in and film a video, the latest trend is no longer popular. Then most of your videos seem to end up in a place where hopes and dreams go to die.
What we know today will undoubtedly be different from how the music industry operates in years, months, weeks, or even tomorrow. Algorithms change, trends cycle, platforms increase or decrease in popularity, technology evolves, and as these things change, your strategy as an artist must follow suit.
The truth is, your career is what you make it and you don’t have to go viral in order to be successful.
Following trends that fit with your message, and creating original, authentic content will boost engagement, strengthen your brand, and create fans.
There is a way to not lose yourself or take the meaning away from your music in the pursuit of conquering the algorithm. Trends are made to attract attention. If you would like to build a fanbase on social media without succumbing to the latest dance trend, think about how you would like to engage with your fans. Stay up to date on who your target market is, what they’re paying attention to, and look at what kind of videos are making artists blow up right now.
As technology advances, it gives creatives more opportunities to explore and express themselves in new ways while still fully having the freedom to do things in a long-established or habitual way.
These new methods can be more cost effective and may yield surprising results. I have seen people use AI programs to create short videos to show the mood and even illustrate scenes of the music video they are filming. AI can also give you content ideas if you are struggling to come up with ways to promote your music on social media.
Thankfully, in the last few years, information has been more accessible than ever before for independent artists, their team members, and others looking to stay in the loop.
Podcasts like Music Business Worldwide hosted by Tim Ingam, The New Music Business hosted by Ari Herstand, and The Music Industry Blueprint hosted by Taylor Swift's former manager Rick Barker are great free resources on navigating the ever-evolving music industry. You can find a tutorial for (almost) anything on YouTube, and the rest of the internet is basically falling over itself to tell you what you want to know.
Learn from as many reputable and current sources as you can. Take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to you as time moves on, and don’t get too caught up in what you know that you neglect the value of learning and evolution in a world that is built on change. This knowledge will make it easier to create successful growth strategies and plan ahead, meaning you and your music will get the recognition it deserves.
Avalon Stone is a grunge-inspired rock artist based out of Kitchener, ON
Website: www.avalonstonemusic.com/