Being an independent artist is one of the most fulfilling things you can do for yourself. You get to create your own music, be artistic, and share what you create with others. You also get to make a huge positive impact on your fans, your friends, your networking circle, and anyone who ever listens to your music. The sheer rush you get every time you hit the stage is a plus too! Having a huge base of support among your fans and even your family and friends can help propel your career exponentially. Unfortunately, having a large support system doesn’t just happen automatically. You have to build your way up to it. The question is where do you start, and if and when you do start to get some traction, how do you maximize it?
Find a Confidant
A confidant is someone who you trust who will support you no matter what. For some, this may be a significant other. For others, this could be a parent, a cousin, or a BFF! We all need at least one person in our corner who loves us. As an independent artist, you need someone you trust who you can bounce around ideas with and who will give you that anchor you need. Look for someone in your life with who you can share your hopes and dreams and fears. This will be a phenomenal foundation for you moving forward because being a musician is hard work and it’s often a lonely road. You’re going to need at least one person in your corner!
Start with your friends and family
Each of us has an automatic support system in our friends and family. It may not be as much as we would like, but it’s a great place to start when building a music fanbase from scratch. Firstly, telling your friends and family about your artistic endeavors is a great way to ease into the business of making music. They will either throw their support your way or ignore and dismiss your dreams. Either way, experiencing that response will help you build stamina.
Good responses are always best and appreciated.
But it’s also good to get negative feedback and outright dismissiveness because, believe it or not, this will help you build inner strength and confidence. Take it from me, who’s been there before. When I first started out, there were people in my close circle of family and friends who did not take me seriously and were very standoffish when it came to supporting my music.
My advice is to not put your focus on these people. Let them be negative and let them observe from a distance. They don’t realize it, they are actually helping you get used to rejection, which will inevitably come. Put your focus on those who are enthusiastic about your endeavors. Keep sharing with them about your accomplishments and ask them to share your music with their network.
Here’s how I did it…
I sent out an email to about 30 of my close friends and family. I started out with just the ones who were in my local vicinity. I told them my story, that I had gotten laid off from my job and that I always wanted to be a performing artist and this was my chance. I told them that I was planning on doing an intimate invitation-only concert to showcase some of my first musical pieces and asked them if they wanted an invite. (Pro Tip, if you want to build up excitement around something, make them feel special by offering exclusivity.) Most of them said yes. So for my very first show, I had about 20 people in attendance. The show lasted for about 30 minutes. I did a small reception before-hand, I performed 3 cover tunes and 4 of my original songs. At the end of the show, I invited them to join my mailing list and told them what to expect from me in the near future. I passed around a clipboard and asked them to sign up. To my surprise, everyone there signed up and that’s how I got my first 20 “fans” on my mailing list.
I put fans in quotation marks because you will get to a point where your fans will not be friends and family. In fact, I encourage you to only look at your friends and family as a starting point. There’s an old adage that says a prophet is without honor in his hometown. Meaning, the people who know you intimately, who saw you grow up, who know your family will not truly respect your gifts and skills or honor your accomplishments. They will never see themselves as a supporter because they’re your family member, relative, or friend first.
I can attest to this from my experience. Although those 20 people who came to my show were supportive, it wasn’t long-lived. They were there for the hype, but when that died down and I continued to pursue music, they fizzled out. So get them in while you’re first starting out and have them help you grow, but don’t depend on them for the duration.
Ask them to do house concerts and invite their friends to see you perform. Ask them to let you perform for 30 minutes at their next event and pass out your business cards. Ask them if they know of anyone who needs live entertainment and have them refer you. Give them free download cards to hand out as gifts to their friends. Start building your true base of fans from their network.
If you want to go this route, start out by putting together a list of 50 people. Include people from the following list…
- Family
- Friends
- Professional network (coworkers, business associates)
- Church/School network (people who go to your church or school)
- Community (neighbors, volunteer organizations, yoga classmates, your fave barista)
But what if you don’t have friends or family?
Try Professional Organizations and Networking
If you don’t have friends and family, that’s OK. There are plenty of other ways you can build a support system. The first thing you should do in that case is expand your professional creative network. As a matter of fact, even if you do have friends and family, we recommend doing this too! Are there any local, regional, or virtual associations you can join? They can be professional organizations or grassroots groups that attract like-minded creatives that you can gel with. Heck, you could even join local open mics to find your crew! Also, there are plenty of songwriter associations, folk associations, organizations for musicians, and songwriting meetups all over the world. Find some in your local area, join some virtually, attend and start networking. This is a sure way to put yourself in a space of like-minded creative thinkers who are serious about their work. Just sitting in a room with these individuals can inspire you, motivate you, and help you feel empowered. Networking in these spaces can help you build long-lasting relationships and mentorships that will enrich your creative life. Here is a list of ideas to start…
- Online forums or groups (Try Facebook groups! Psst, by the way, we have one here that you can join.)
- Local Meetup groups
- Local Open Mics
- Local Jam Sessions
- Professional Organizations and Societies (be sure to look at local chapters and national chapters)
Do yourself a favor, join some of these groups and boost your networking game. We’re confident that putting effort into this area will open up some great opportunities for building key supportive relationships.
Build an Online Platform and Attract Your Tribe from Scratch
Another thing you can do is start building your platform online. As a matter of fact, you can do this even if you don’t have any material. Building an online presence will help you get the word out about what you’re doing, give you a hub where you can funnel people to your mailing list, and most of all it will help you build relationships with people you don’t know.
Having content and material is a plus, but you can start building an online presence even if you don’t! For example, you can develop a plan to curate content from other sources like articles, other musicians, playlists you like, etc. You can also share your honest responses and reactions to other people’s work. You can also generate authentic content by writing a few lines of poetry, sharing a few cover tunes, singing acapella, reciting your poems, or simply talking about your philosophy as an upcoming artist.
At the very minimum here’s what you can do to build your online presence…
Start a Professional Social Media Page for your Artist Persona
Any social media platforms would be good for this! Post your material i.e. lyrics, poetry, branded content, music, etc. Use some of the tips shared above or check out this 3-Month Content Calendar for more ideas to round out your content. Ask questions about your work and encourage people to share their feedback. Don’t forget to respond to comments! Also, when you start getting positive responses, send those commenters DMs and ask them to join your mailing list. This approach is great because they have already engaged with you on your posts and following up with them via DM is a natural way to convert them into a mailing list subscriber.
Related: See How I Get Subscribers on My Mailing List
Create a Website
I also think you should create an official website at some point. This is nice because it creates more credibility for you as an artist and gives you a hub where you can control your branding and message without having to follow so many rules like you would on a social media platform. There are paid options to create your website like this option, which allows you to create a website for less than $4 per month.
Or you can start out with a free website using platforms like Weebly if you’re on a shoestring budget. Be sure to write up a good bio, add some good-looking promo pictures, talk about any upcoming projects, share any artistic content you’ve already created such as songs, videos, albums, etc. and add a call-to-action so you can build your mailing list.
Related: 10 Must-Haves for Your Artist Website
Create a Mailing List
Your artist mailing list is your ticket to building your empire. People on your mailing list are the ones that support you the most! They are your MVPs and you should treat them well. There is no other marketing and promotions tool at your disposal as effective as your mailing list! Your mailing list will help you advance as an independent artist. You’ll be able to sell tickets to shows, generate house concert leads, crowdfund, get referrals and most of all garner the support that you need as an independent artist.
I recommend starting out by adding a form to your website to capture emails. I love MailerLite for this. They have plug and play form templates that you can easily customize and add to your website. They also have other features like automated messaging, beautifully HTML coded email templates, and list segmentation.
However, MailerLite and other third-party email platforms prefer it if you have a dedicated domain with a website. If you’re not quite there yet, you can start off with sending out emails from your Gmail or free email account. If you decide to go this route, I suggest creating a separate email account for your artist persona. Be sure to bcc everyone you’re emailing though if you plan on sending out mass emails. Very important! You don’t want to inadvertently give out your entire list of emails!
Having an email list and email strategy will help you get personal messages out to your fans/supporters, engage with them on more personal levels, and get them excited and used to hearing from you through this medium.
Related: Get the Free One Year Email Content Writing Guide
Find Your True Fans
So far we’ve talked about having a confidant, building a system of support from your friends and family network, looking into professional networks and organizations, and building platforms to attract fans. But there’s still something else you can do to build that coveted support system for your music – and that’s finding your fans proactively.
Download the How to Identify Your
Ideal Fans Worksheet
When you go out looking for fans, you’re not waiting for them to find you. No, you are actively looking to recruit loyal fans. When you recruit fans, you’re looking to point them to your social media platforms and your website and ultimately, your mailing list. There are lots of ways to find your ideal fans. Such as engaging with them in forums and online communities, printing out postcards and posting them throughout your city, connecting and collaborating with other musicians and organizations that attract your ideal fans, doing shows, and strategically promoting your music where your fans are. This is no easy task because #1) it’s sometimes difficult to pinpoint who your fans are and #2) it’s even harder to find where they are.
But I may have a resource that can help with that. My Ideal Fand Finding Worksheet guides you through a process to learn about your fans or set up parameters for who your ideal fans are. It will also help you come up with ideas on how to find them. Get my free Find Your Ideal Fans Worksheet here.
Whatever you decide to do, the key is to never try to do it alone. Know that you’re not alone, and be proactive. If you don’t have a support system, change your situation by expanding your networking circle, starting with what you have, and develop a strategy to build your loyal fanbase. You can do it!
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