LinkedIn for Musicians and Labels

LINKEDIN FOR MUSICIANS AND LABELS

When musicians or labels are looking to grow their brand the most common place they start to spread their music are social networks. The most common social networks for this are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Most people have an account at minimum on one of those sites, but how about LinkedIn? Can a musician or record label benefit from using LinkedIn for musicians and labels to grow their brand? The short answer is yes. However, it isn’t in the conventional sense of sharing your music with new listeners.

LinkedIn is a website for professionals to network. It is a great resource for connecting with other musicians or professionals to work with to grow your brand or gain business contacts. The music business is highly saturated with hopefuls trying to get their big break, so you should be skeptical of people wanting to take advantage of that. However, with that said, there are a lot of genuine people out there that can truly help you grow your brand and put you in a position to win.

INDUSTRY CONNECTS

LinkedIn has tons of users from all positions within the music industry, ranging from executives, A&R’s, all the way to interns. It’s important to emphasize the saturation and number of hopefuls that reach out to music industry connects daily.

So how can you stand out from the crowd? First off, don’t just spam your link to any and everybody. This is an unprofessional approach and a lot of the time it can be annoying. Secondly, make sure your presentation, image, and overall quality of your body of work is up to par with industry standard. If you are unsure, perhaps you should apply for a consultation and get industry feedback.

Besides the major label connections, it would be wise to network with like-minded individuals. Whether they specialize in graphic design, lyric video production, mixing and mastering, or whatever help you can use to be the best representation of yourself possible.

INDUSTRY GROUPS

LinkedIn allows you to search for and join groups that are relevant to your needs. Finding the right group can be beneficial and put you in touch with people who can boost your career.

It’s tempting to just join any group that might be relevant but keep saturation in mind. Spend some time to find the right group for you. Perhaps you’d like to get on music blogs or find a music publicist. LinkedIn will certainly have a group for that.

BE PROFESSIONAL

Once you are setup and connecting with others, it’s crucial that you maintain professional relationships with your new connections. This is a business after all, you should treat it as one. Don’t be shy about investing in yourself. If you offer services of your own with your connections, you can even use free music contracts to legitimize the image of a professional.

At the end of the day LinkedIn is just another tool a musician or label should keep in their toolbox. Ultimately, how you choose to use LinkedIn will determine the outcome but with the right approach you can find success.