How to find and explain your musical identity
You can’t sell your art until you know how to discuss it. We can help you define your identity and purpose with five simple questions.
by James Shotwell of Haulix
The most common problem we encounter when working with musicians relates to their identity. Like you and I, musicians have difficulty understanding who they are and what motivates them to create. Taking time to find the answers to these questions is important, but most don’t know where to begin.
The answers you seek are closer than you think! With five questions, we can help anyone understand who they are, what they do, why they do it, who they hope to reach, and what their audience gets from their music. It’s a deceptively simple questionnaire, but one that can be used to alter the course of your career radically.
- Who are you?
- What do you do?
- Why do you do it?
- What do your listeners want?
- How does your music change people?
In this Music Biz update, James Shotwell breaks down the five things every artist needs to know to understand their career. That includes their identity, their purpose, and their target market. These items make up the foundation of any successful marketing campaign and can be used in many other ways.
The key to maximizing your responses’ value lies in your answers’ specificity. The more details you can write down, the more information you have to build future campaigns. These answers tell you who you are, what you do, why you do it, why people care, and what they get from consuming your music. You now have a target market, a value proposition, and a firm understanding of the product (your music). Get out there and promote!
James Shotwell is the Director of Customer Engagement at Haulix and host of the company’s podcast, Inside Music. He is also a public speaker known for promoting careers in the entertainment industry, as well as an entertainment journalist with over a decade of experience. His bylines include Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Substream Magazine, Nu Sound, and Under The Gun Review, among other popular outlets.
