Artist Coaching

An important thing that you have to do as an artist is branding yourself.

This is something a lot of artists are struggling with…

What if I told you that there’s is just one thing that you should do to have a unique branding?

Let’s get started by taking a few minutes to think about who you are.

Create two columns.

In the left column, you write down all your personal strong points and in the right one your weaknesses.

You will probably notice that it’s pretty hard to write down weaknesses of your own.

The left column will probably be bigger than the right one.

That’s oke, but take an extra few minutes to think about your weaknesses.

Things that you do on a daily base that didn’t come to you by nature.

You have to force yourself each and every time to do it and to do it at your best.

Now it’s easy…

Do more of what you’re good at and do less of what your bad at.

Find ways to outsource your weak spots.

For example, if your bad in social media and it sucks up a lot of your energy on a daily base. It might be a good idea to find someone who is really good at it and who is open to help you with this.

By doing this, you are able to focus more on the things that come naturally to you, for example, producing.

Here’s a personal thing that I found out when I quit DJing and dived deeper into myself as a person.

My career started with DJing.

I started playing music at people’s homes, weddings and graduation parties which led me to my first gigs in local bars and clubs.

After a few years, I decided to start making music as well because something attracted me to do it and I could start playing my own songs during my gigs.

The thing that I never thought of but what I did found out later on when I quit, was that I actually wasn’t the best producer out there.

I was always struggling to create a new original because I wasn’t the most musical guy.

Starting from scratch was the hardest thing for me and that’s why creating bootlegs and remixes always worked better for me.

I didn’t have to worry about creating a melody from scratch or creating a breakdown from scratch.

I already got a starting point which influenced me to new discoveries and new melodies.

I found out that I wasn’t the best producer. I was a DJ who had to make music to build my career.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have radically changed my approach.

I would have searched for a co-producer or even a partner to help me with producing so I could focus on the things that I was better at and he could focus on the thing has was best in.

It’s just impossible to do everything by yourself on the highest level possible.

Now that you know who you are as a person and what your strong points are we can continue with the rest.

Think about this:

What kind of music do YOU like to play or produce?

What kind of content could YOU make that fits you as a person?

What would YOU like to be known for?

You see, the thing that you’re ‘known for’ is your reputation and your reputation is your brand.

Are you the nice guy who always replies and shows his whole life in a vlog?

Or are you the asshole who ignores his fans and doesn’t do anything for his fans?

What would YOU like to be known for?

Take a few minutes to think about this.

You are now starting to focus on your personal brand.

Another thing that is common when it comes down to creating your brand is that you can’t make everyone happy.

You have to pick a genre or sound that you like and go all-in on that.

Your goal as an artist is to become someone’s favorite artist.

And the best way to become someone’s favorite is by being yourself.

People will fall in love with you for who you are.

People will fall in love with you because of the content that you’ve created.

People will fall in love with you for the music you produce.

Be you. Being different is more important than being better.

Now if you don’t know where to start your career because there are so many things to do.

Always keep in the back of your head that nothing will happen if you don’t start at all.

There are a thousand reasons to NOT do something but you only need one to actually DO it.

Because YOU want it. That’s the only reason you need.

And no one is gonna hold you back.

I can already hear you thinking of a thousand reasons to still not do it but let me give you a small motivational boost.

Artists like Hardwell, Martin Garrix and Tiesto started somewhere as well.

They have also been at the point where you are right now and believe it or not, even though they are the leading DJ’s at this moment, the world is always ready for something new.

Even with the millions of fans they’ve gathered in the last few years, there are still millions of people that you could attract with your music because you are you and there is no second version of you or your music.

Be different, stand out and the right people will come your way.

Do you know that situation? You’ve worked on a track for 30–40+ hours, maybe even more..

You are so hyped to share it with the world, but what now?

Of course, you want your release to be as perfect as you possibly can.

So you’re looking for someone to get that last 10% out of your mixdown and mastering.

You are happy with the sound of the track, now you need to cover art and a little promo video to really grab people’s attention. So you’re also hiring someone for this.

Everything is set and ready to go, but what you didn’t think about was how do people get on all these fancy playlists?!

Through a friend you’ve heard that you can actually pay to get some Spotify promotion to grow your plays and trigger the algorithms.

So the next step, you also hire some promotion.

Now you look at your bank account and realize that you are freaking broke from all of the costs for just one release..

What can you actually do about it?

First of all the solution will not be easy and secondly need a LOT of hard work but in the long run it is absolutely worth it and there’s absolutely no budget necessary.

The key to success is networking.

NETWORKING. NETWORKING. NETWORKING.

But how do you get in touch with the right people or the companies that deliver the services you need?

This is where our topic of the week comes in handy – working for free!

First, you should do some research on who you want to contact and what the person exactly does. Then you need to think about how you can bring value to that person and just message them directly.

Maybe you think their homepage could use some improvements..

maybe you have some visual or design skills you can offer..

The possibilities are endless!

Even if you don’t figure out anything you might have to offer, you can still offer your manpower at promoting their stuff in your producer network and comment / like / share their social media.

People will definitely recognize it.

And I’m not talking about doing it once or twice, you have to be very consistent and patient.

As I pointed out in the beginning, it’s a long term plan.

Spread your wings as far as you can.

So let’s say you’ve worked for them a few times now.

Now you’re actually in contact with them and they trust you because you’re basically one of the good dudes out there.

But you kept your own artist stuff silently so far.

As you are friends with them on Facebook / Instagram /.. whatever now.

They actually find out about yourself on their own and you will be surprised how many opportunities this will create.

People will return a favor of 100%.

You put out that new track of yours, suddenly they’re putting it on their big playlists on their own or finally someone actually listens to your demo as you don’t need to email their overloaded demo mailbox, or they connect you to another key-person that will have great value for your own career.

I could go on forever! You’re now part of their inner circle, which is exactly where you want to be.

It’s simple, share the love and you will receive love.

The more you do it, the bigger and better the opportunities and your network gets.

One last tip, don’t ever judge people on their following / likes or other stupid numbers.

Don’t be that person.

First of all, it’s just stupid, we all started with 0 and you never know what is about to happen with that relationship or who they know.

It has happened a ton of times to me already.

Always be nice and gentle to everyone and you’ll be successful sooner or later and it’s actually way more fun to live that way.

Try it out yourself and kick it this week!

Let me know your experiences in the comments. I would love to hear your personal stories and experiences.

So you are on your way to becoming an artist? Awesome.

Did you know that there’s a lot more to being an artist than just making music?

No? Let’s find out.

1 – It’s a Business

Let’s be honest. It’s awesome to be an artist but most of you forget that you’re running a business here. Running a business requires paperwork, paying taxes and other things you probably don’t want to spend your time on. The fact is that it’s something you need to start thinking about because you could end up in deep sh*t if you don’t. Here’s a couple of tips to get you going:

Register your company names a.s.a.p. and get a tax number as well so that you’re able to send invoices. Most of the venues will need an invoice from your side when you play there.

Hire an accountant to do your taxes. This will be an investment but will be worth your while in the long term. Unless you’re a genius with numbers yourself of course…

In most countries, you’re able to withdraw the taxes from everything that you invest in. To explain this in an easier way, in the Netherlands everything get’s a 21% discount. (depending on your tax rate)

2 – Surround Yourself With Positive People

This one is underrated. It’s ridiculous to see how enormous the damage might be when you have negative people around you. You need people that support you in your choices and people that help you wherever needed. Do you have someone in your closest friends or family that projecting all of his negativity on you? Get rid of them and find a positive friend! You’ll be amazed at the difference.

3 – Stay Healthy

I feel like a fifty-year-old dad telling you this but, we can’t deny the fact that this industry has any drugs, alcohol or fast food in it. There are multiple examples of artists that collapse because of the maximum use of it. You are not gonna change the world, so fighting this fact is gonna be worthless but you can keep yourself clean. It’s a cliche but take good care of your body. Being an artist is a full-time job and has a big impact on your mind and body. To process all of this in a proper way you need to be 100% healthy.

Eat healthily, don’t drink too much alcohol and stay away from drugs.

4 – Listen To Yourself

Everyone on this world has an opinion. That’s a beautiful and a bad thing at the same time. Sometimes it’s great to get someone’s opinion on something but most of the time you’re just looking for approval to do or to not do something. Be smart enough and listen to yourself! You are the only one who knows what’s best for you. Recognize the moment when something feels off… Don’t ask other people what to do but with it but make this decision yourself.

When you stay close to yourself, you will never regret any choice you’ve made.

5 – Cry Now, Laugh Later

When you’re getting into becoming an artist at a young age (16 years and younger) you should know one thing. Spending all of your time in the studio and working on your career is the best investment you can do at this point in your life. You are so young! Think about it… Even when you put in two years of hard work and it doesn’t pay off, you’re still only gonna be 18 years old!! You will still be able to go to school etc but at least you gave your dream a real chance.

It’s better to regret something that you have done than something that you haven’t done.

6 – Start Building Your Network

You really can’t get started with this early enough. As you may have read in my previous articles or have heard in one of my podcast episodes: “Network is key in this industry”. Without a network, it’s really really really hard to make any steps forward in your career. So spent a lot of time connecting to people from the industry, online and offline. Make sure they know you and vice versa. Every person may come out very useful to you, somewhere in your life.

7 – Toughen Up

This industry isn’t built for people who are too emotional. It’s a rough world! You will get feedback that you don’t like or don’t agree with. People will tell you that you suck and are never gonna make it. Don’t let all those things break you down. Let this be the fuel for your engine! Use this feedback and negativity to show them that you ARE capable of pulling something like this off.

8 – Collaborate

One of the best ways to gain a bigger musical output, expand your network and get a bigger audience is by doing collaborations. I can highly recommend you to start doing collaborations from the beginning. It’s amazing how much you learn from being in the studio with someone else. They might have different perspectives on how you should use several plugins etc. which will help you in your creative process. Besides learning in the studio it’s also great to get to know to another person better and your name will be dropped on that person’s social media pages as well.

9 – Do Stuff For FREE

People might have already asked you to play for free or to do a remix for free. That’s actually something that is quite common in this industry. Whenever you still need to build your brand it’s a great idea to do as many things as possible, especially whenever it’s a great opportunity but when there’s no fee involved. Take every opportunity and get the most out of it! This industry. requires you to first prove yourself and then start talking about fees. There’s just one downside to this, some people are trying to make use of this too much, so stay alert for that.

10 – Set Goals

When you’re building your career it’s really hard to recognize the goals that you’ve already achieved because of all the things that you’re doing at the same time. Myself for instance never could enjoy the achieved goals because I didn’t know I already achieved them. I was already working on my next goal.

Setting up goals before you start will help you recognize the growth that you’re going through as an artist. Checking boxes at the end of the month always gives you an ego boost. That’s something that gives you positive energy and positive energy is something that you’ll need to get over the finish line.

After writing a couple of tips and tricks I was wondering which subject the audience (you guys) wanted to know more about. That’s why I did a poll in the Arist Coaching Facebook Community and the result of that poll was that people wanted to know more about how you can market your music. So, thanks for voting and being active in the group. This one is for you!

Let’s start off with the basics. The word “marketing” actually exists from two word

Market: as in the marketplace

Getting: how can you get the people to your shop?

So what is marketing exactly?

Marketing is all the things a company does to promote their product.

If we rephrase this to the music industry, the so called ‘product’ is your music and all the ‘things’ are video’s, photo’s, written content and livestreams.

Back in the days, people had to print posters, visit record shops or make appointments with every possible man or woman who could buy their music. That’s a lot of work and takes up a lot of time doesn’t it?

We live in a beautiful time people. We have the internet! We can speak to a person on the other side of the earth just by clicking our mouse. We can reach out to our fanbase by targeting them on Facebook. We can promote our music to people that are actually interested in our music. The ROI (Return Of Investment) is bigger than ever! It’s amazing what you can do by spending small amounts of money nowadays. It’s just all about using it in the right way.

So how do you market your music in 2017? By using the following platforms in the right way.

Facebook – Instagram – Snapchat – YouTube – Musically – Twitter

I’m not gonna talk about all of them but I’m gonna take a deep dive into a few of the most important platforms.

How to market your music on Facebook

Facebook is the biggest social media platform out there on this moment. All your friends are there, your family and guess what… So are your future fans! The biggest plus side of Facebook is that they own a LOT of data from every user. They know exactly what you eat, drink, laugh about, cry about and what you like to do in your spare time. They know all of this because they know what you click on. They know which movies you watch and how long you watch them, they know which pictures you like, share or reply on and they know who you are connected with (and much more).

All this data gives you a lot of power when it comes down to selling stuff. The only thing you should know before you start using this data is:

WHAT am I gonna sell?

HOW am I gonna sell it?

WHERE am I gonna sell it?

I’ll give you the answer to that:

Your music

By creating likeable,shareable and loveable content that represents your brand

Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Musically, Youtube etc.)

So now you have the answer, you can start filling in the blanks for your own brand.

Facebook is a platform where you can share a lot of different content. You can post video’s, photo’s, written word, animated GIF’s.. It’s up to you to decide which one you are gonna use for your marketing strategy.

Not everyone feels comfortable doing video and not everyone looks good on a photo.. So try to think of content that works best for you. Are you a great photographer? Great, post photos. Are you a great video editor? Awesome, use videos! Do you prefer to speak without visuals? Do podcasts. The most important thing here is that you pick a way of communicating that feels natural to you. If it doesn’t feel natural doing it, you’re not able to maintain it and so, you’re quality and quantity will go downhill after a few weeks/months.

Here’s a few ways to market your music on Facebook

Customize your content so people will instantly recognize it (see picture 1)

Be creative Try to make creative content that is easy to engage with (see picture 1)

Promote your post invest a small amount of money and create your custom audience to have the best ROI

Get involved respond to your audience when they leave you a message, I know you’re behind a computer but it’s still people who are typing those replies. People have feelings so be kind and show them your appreciation

Live video’s are a great opportunity to engage with your fans and give value to them

Quality over Quantity

Every platform has new content 24/7 so how are you gonna stand out from the crowd? It’s really important to know that we are at the time where quality is more important than ever! Because of the noise, it’s important that when you post something, it’s quality.

Are you posting a video? Cool, give me a reason why I should spent 2:30 minutes of my life watching your video.

Are you posting a livestream? Cool, why should I watch this?

Time is key nowadays. Everyone is busy so if they are gonna spent time it should be worth their while… Give them value in your content. Don’t only think about yourself, but think about what’s in it for your fanbase? What could they be interested in?

Is it a funny video of you falling off stage?

Is it a free give away of your latest bootleg?

Are you gonna pick a winner of the merchandise package?

That’s value.

Posting a photo and adding a text: “My new track is out now, buy it here” isn’t.

Quality over Quantity -> Right mouseclick -> Save as -> IMPORTANT

How to market your music on Snapchat and Instagram Stories?

A new way of communicating is the way people like to call creating stories. Snapchat was the first who started this (the first big and famous one actually) and it just was a matter of time before other platforms started adopting this feature. Nowadays we can’t think of Instagram without the stories functionality but only until a few months ago Instagram was only about posting normal content. This is one of those examples when I talk about shifting platforms. Snapchat started something that worked really well and other big platforms start copying it to keep their audience on their platform. When platforms start doing this you can see a shift from audience from platform to platform. That’s also why I should never go all in on one platform but always spread your chances and be active on multiple platforms.

Let’s say you’ve build yourself an audience of 100.000 people on Twitter and all of a sudden Twitter isn’t hot anymore because everyone is using Snapchat. That means you’re in deep shit! So try to cross-communicate online. Get your fans from Snapchat to go to your Facebook page as well and vise versa. Never rely on just one platform.

So why is marketing my music on Snapchat and Instagram Stories so different from using Facebook?

Well for starters.. Your content will disappear in 24 hours (or even quicker) so it’s not that important that all of your content should be picture perfect. It’s OK to post a crappy low quality photo of your coffee with a timestamp on it because it disappears in a few hours.

The reason why they call it “stories” is because it’s perfect to tell people your story of the day. Show them what you did today, what did you drink? What did you eat? Who did you meet up with? Where did you go?

Instagram Stories and Snapchat are all about the NOW. Not about what you did yesterday, not about what you are gonna do tomorrow. Nope, what are you doing RIGHT NOW. That’s what matters on these platforms.

So when you want to market your music through those channels. Don’t create perfect content, just show people who you are and what you do in a normal day! How much time do you spent in the studio? How much do you travel? What’s your favorite drink? What’s the name of your dog? That’s content that should be posted here.

If you really want to take things to the next level on these platforms, you can start to think about a strategy that gives people a real story. Think about the things that you are gonna show people before you go on your next tour. Take them on a trip and create a small movie that consists out of short 10 second video clips or show them backstage footage of your videoclip recording day, show them the crew and bloopers before you show them the final video. It makes them feel like they were there! It makes them feel special.

Like I said at the beginning, i’m not gonna talk about all the platforms.. I think that Facebook, Instagram, Instagram Stories and Snapchat are the most important platforms as we speak to market your music and all the things I told you today are also applicable on the other unmentioned platforms. Be creative with your content, be consistent and get involved with your fanbase.

And remember: ‘only ten views’ today, is already ten views more than you had yesterday!

Good luck!

So many people are talking about Spotify right now and I totally get it. I’m a big fan!

It’s a great service, it’s user-friendly and it has great music discovery modes

But don’t let all that shine distract you from what your focus should be

Every artist has its own genre of music and its own market where everything is happening

If you want to promote your music on the right spot, it’s important for you to find out where your hotspot is

It’s a bad idea for a baker to sell bread in a club, it doesn’t make sense…

Where are all your fans listening to your music and what is the best platform for you to grow?

If that genre is house music you might consider focussing on Beatport or Traxsource

If that is pop music, Spotify could be the one to go for

At this moment, everyone is aiming for Spotify which makes it really hard to stand out from the crowd

There’s more competition…

So having another strategy could pay off quickly since there are other platforms emerging with millions of ears to entertain

One of those platforms is Apple Music, we all know it.

Apple’s music streaming platform is quickly growing in the footsteps of Spotify but they both have their pros and cons

Nonetheless, Apple Music also has playlists and curators who are looking for the latest music and chances are bigger that they will listen to your music their since there are fewer people asking for their attention there

Besides focussing on playlists and career growth options it’s also smart to keep an eye on other emerging platforms

What a lot of people tend to forget is that YouTube still is number 1 when it comes down to music streaming

And, *drum fill* YouTube will start it’s own streaming service this year tentatively called “Remix”

Imagine a giant like YouTube starting its own streaming service and taking a lot of Spotify’s customers

How important will Spotify remain to be if that happens?

You need to keep your eyes open and stay active on all platforms

You never know which one will pop and be the next big thing

Another service that has become a ‘one to watch’ is Amazon Music

Amazon is becoming a monster on multiple platforms at the moment. but we’re focussing on music right now

They’ve launched Amazon Alexa a few years ago and since then the whole game has changed

Imagine this:

You’re walking through your living room and suddenly feel like listening to music

Instead of walking towards the radio or grabbing your phone you just say: “Alexa play music”

Suddenly there’s music playing in your living room

Now let’s try to say: “Alexa play music from JoeySuki”

Suddenly my music is playing in your living room.

now first… That’s awesome since I’m getting royalties

Second… It has become so easy to listen to music and it has become so easy to discover music

Think about apps like Shazam or Siri who helps you find your favorite music

There are no boundaries anymore which make it really easy for people to discover you and your music

To make things even closer to reality: This isn’t a future thing, this is already happening.

I already own an Alexa in my home and I already play music by yelling at that device

A lot of people in the world are already talking to there phone, asking which track it is that they are hearing at a festival, at a club, at a bar…

What if the landscape changes? Because it can and it will, somewhere in the future

Would Spotify still be so important?

The essence of this story is:

Focus on the platform that matters to your genre and your audience

Be aware of other platforms and be active on there as well

Be aware of technical developments that are able to change the game