How Important Is Marketing?

I was at a show recently and started thinking about this concept. How important is marketing? In the music business, it's pretty darn important. But many artists tend to think that just because they're good or they have a great group of fans, they're bound for greatness. Is this really how it is?


I'd venture to say no. Bands like Coldplay and Muse didn't make it to playing arenas and theaters by just being good at what they do. They had to promote themselves. They had to tour, they had to post flyers, they had to tell people about their band. Even the recent explosion of YouTube stars like Birdy wasn't started by the fifteen year old being good. It was partly due to that. But primarily it was her posting videos of her performing that got the attention of others.

Now of course it's not necessarily that easy for most of the artists I know. It's not often people discover you and you're in the right place at the right time to make the right pitch. You have to work at it. Social media helps you discover and cultivate your fans. Marketing yourself is the only way you'll find out who your customer is and what they want from you.