How to get the most out of digital downloads

Their objective is merely to obtain your music, not to worry about the legality. 

 

Make sure your music is available legally

 

In order to make sure that your music is not pirated a lot online and that you can also benefit from the digital footprint you are establishing, you absolutely have to make sure that your music is available legally in as many places as possible. Your own website and social networking pages are the best place to start. Here you will most likely put a couple of sample songs that you give away for free, as you would with your video on YouTube. It is advisable to use those same few songs as free giveaways on the other sites as well.

 

In this way you can get as much mileage as possible out of free downloads without giving away too much music. Keep the rest of your material for sites that will help you sell your material online. It is therefore an excellent idea to investigate as many digital online music retailers as possible and find out how many will take your music without an intermediary like a record label. Digital deals are generally non-exclusive, which means you can sell your music on more than one website. If anyone tries to tie you into an exclusive deal to sell your music online, refuse!

 

Why are downloads important?

 

Downloads are very important to the modern musician in a number of ways. Firstly, they help establish your name and reputation both locally and internationally. The files are easy to share and word tends to spread virally from one downloader to the next. If it so happens that your music fits in with the trend of a group of downloaders, they will be recommending your sound to each other very quickly. In other words, they are a great marketing tool. Secondly, once you are able to sell downloads, they become another stream of income for your group. Yes you do have to maintain the information flow to keep your online presence alive, but you can fairly passively earn from the music you have recorded once you establish the demand for it online. Thirdly, it is important because it provides a measurable and trackable record of your progress as an entity. Each download made, each song purchased online is recorded. You must make sure that you have access to the stats of every place where your songs are. This will give you an accurate idea of how your popularity is rising, or not! The statistics that you can pull from these sites will show you, as well as any other observer, whether your reputation is increasing, as demonstrated by downloads and page impressions, or whether you are treading water or even losing ground. This information can be used in many ways.

 

Online stats

 

By sharing your online stats, you can convince media and the public that you are worth looking into, even if they don’t know you. You can use it to persuade investors to assist you financially, record companies to think about picking up your album. Basically, by starting to do well, you can use your statistical online reporting to help yourself do even better. So keep a sharp eye on your online statistics.They will tell you when what you are doing is working and they can also be used to tell others of your success in your publicity and press releases, thus fuelling the fires.

 

 

Maintain online relationships

 

In short, the online environment requires constant attention, and strategic forethought and planning. But these sites are designed to be very user-friendly and accessible to maximise their impact, so anyone can learn to interact with them. As with everything you undertake as a band, make sure that you first have a clear understanding of what it is that you hope to achieve and pursue your goal thoroughly. Keep your presence fresh and up to date, and do not neglect the friends you make online. Keeping relationships going with international sites, people and organisations is known as digitally calling ahead. If you intend to one day physically head out into the world, you must make sure that you have created and cemented relationships that you can rely on. This also means that you must make sure that your digital activity has resulted in a solid reputation and a voice that people know and react to. Don’t be shy with your online stats.They could mean the difference between support from unexpected sources and not being able to leave home.

 

Originally published in David Chislett's One, Two, One, Two: A Step By Step Guide To The South African Music Industry. Download a free copy of the book at www.davidchislett.co.za.