Trying to Find Another Beiber? Create a Music Marketing Plan

With over 100 million videos uploaded and around 200 million viewed each day, the Internet has spawned a monster in the form of YouTube. Naturally, with the infinite number of videos, there's a lot of trash in there. But sheer number offers a great chance of finding a nugget amid the muck. It's mathematically impossible not to.

In fact, Justin Beiber, one of the biggest teen pop sensations now, started on YouTube with at least 55 million hits for his rendition of Aretha Franklin's Respect before a label even gave a second glance. There's also Dondria whose single You're the one is topping the charts. Of course, there's also Lady Gaga who first broke out on YouTube and MySpace Music.

Songs By Justin

Their success stories are not a dime-a-dozen variety. Talent in the cutthroat music industry, strangely enough, is a very disposable commodity. It's not enough that you a friend with a world-class talent on your hands, you must also have a solid music marketing plan.

If you're starting from scratch, remember that the idea is to get your talent noticed. That means promotions, that means networking, that means cajoling and begging, as well as endless negotiations and bargaining.

After identifying your artist, create your own music marketing plan and below are several guides that can serve as your jump-off point:

Develop a career path - What do you want your artist to be known and what is his/her target market? Set a viable period that will track the career progression of your artist. Know also when to pull the plug.

Marketing tools - There are a number of music marketing tools that you can utilize to get the word about about your artist. You can use brochures, press releases, tarpaulins, leaflets, and with the advent of the Internet, you can also use websites or social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.

Networking - This is probably the difficult part in the music marketing plan because it entails savvy interpersonal skills as you try to convince record labels into signing your artist. You can also work with other press relations companies to try to drum interest for your artist. This part of the process, however, means you may have to cough up money for the promotion. And hiring these firms doesn't come cheap.

Roadshow - Get your act on the road. It's unlike the traveling circus of the old where you don't skip even the smallest towns for appearances, autograph signing, radio guestings and quick performances. The objective if two-fold: to sell some CDs and to allow people to know the artist personally.

Sales plan - After creating the album and designing the cover (which you oversee yourself), you can now move to the sales plan. You go back to your target audience and how you want your artist packaged. Knowing you can't cover all your bases, prioritize your plan according to the needs of your artist and the music.

Post-assessment - Monitor the sales so you can adjust your music marketing plan and also re-package your artist, if necessary.

Trying to Find Another Beiber? Create a Music Marketing Plan

Eugene Sturdivant is the CEO of www.StreetDreamerZ.com, an online project oriented entrepreneurship program that gives everyone a chance in training and real-world experience in the music industry. This site offers a project-based curriculum that teaches you on starting up your own music business and making it big in the long run. Rest assured this company will definitely have a solid music marketing plan, for you and your business.