I was at the Medialeaders event last night in London and met the Creative Director from Mavo Studio who is also a musician. Inevitably it comes up in the conversation – what does it take for a band to make it in today’s world? Digital has forever changed the landscape, music is free or shared in a way never before possible. What happens now?

Virtually the first thing I read today, from respected author Seth Godin and founder of the Domino Project, answered that question very eloquently through the post Bookstrapping:

“Traditional publishing: “Be famous, build a platform, organize a tribe, then we’ll publish your non-fiction book.”

Self publishing, particularly long-tail digital self-publishing: “Write a book, codify a manifesto, put it into the world and use it attract, organize and build a platform.””

I believe this is now the same for bands: write music, put it into the world and use it to attract, organize and build a fan base.  Then play live as often as you can.  By building a strong fan base, you have many commercial opportunities.   If recorded music is now more of a promotional tool and not the main revenue channel as it was in the past, then attracting sponsors and venues through the fan base will create those opportunities.

At Pleimo, we are developing a marketing bootcamp for bands, a CRM programme for building a fan base.  We hope that these new tools will give artists everywhere the opportunity to thrive and continue to do what they do best:  make music for us to enjoy.