Congratulations, indie recording artist. Your new song is out in the world and people can now hear what you have created. All the time you spent writing, recording, maybe re-writing and/or re-recording, and then getting it mixed, mastered, and distributed was worth it. It’s okay to take a step back and admire your work. Think of all the people who say they should put out original music but never do.
Of course, as much as you might like it to be, it’s not just one continuous celebration once the song is out in the world.
Now it’s time to measure the success of this new song of yours and whether people are responding to it (favorably). But what are some methods other than just sales numbers that you can track it to see how it’s doing? Even though I say in this weekly blog and especially on many episodes of my “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast that we all have different definitions of success, that’s a little more macro.
So, let’s get micro and look at eight methods you can use for determining how your new song is doing.
(in no particular order)
Sales
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. This is the one that’s going to help you pay back your recording costs and hopefully help you pay your rent, car payment, cell phone bill, utilities, buy food, and so on. And remember that all the others below help feed back into this one. But while I encourage you to look at the reports to see how the money is coming in, don’t obsess. Checking several times a day is not healthy and staring at the numbers won't make them magically increase.
Audience reaction
When you perform the song live, pay close attention to the crowd. Is the applause greater than for your other songs? About the same? Less? Are people really looking at you intently and listening? Especially if you mix this in with cover songs, did the audience ‘lean’ more into this song or away from it? Depending on your answers to these questions you either need to keep doing what you’re doing or talk it up more both before and after you perform it.
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Conversations
During your break and/or after your show, listen intently to what people are saying to you. This is a general rule of thumb, period, but, have your radar up to gauge if audience members are talking to you about your new original song. If they’re not, put yourself out there and ask them how they liked it. Be confident in your product and solicit their feedback. It’s the old, ‘Ya’ never know until you ask.’
Video views
It feels these days like YouTube might almost be at its peak in terms of popularity. So, how are the numbers looking on there in terms of video views? For that matter, what are people saying in the comments down below? I think people tend to forget one other form of measurement on that particular platform, which is the thumbs up and thumbs down. Keep an eye on how those go for your new song.
Radio play
I used to work with someone at an NHL team who used to say, “We can sell one ticket at one million dollars, or we can sell a million tickets at a dollar each.” In your case, rather than solely focusing on that one major radio station in your home market, expand your view to others like it in numerous other markets. Don’t forget online radio stations too. The world’s population is 7.79 billion and you have to believe that the overwhelming majority of them have access to the Internet. It’s easy to see why online radio stations are worthwhile targets, not to mention the prevalence of people working from home now.
Peer groups
Are you part of a songwriters collective? Do you perform at songwriters festivals? Have you sat in on a guitar pull? What do your peers say about your new song? Of all the originals you perform, is that the one they really respond favorably to?
Spotify
Although this isn’t where you’re going to make your money, unless you’re an A-lister, seeing how many streams your song is getting on Spotify is still a way to measure how the song is being received out there. They don’t display the number publicly until it hits one thousand streams, but since so many people flock to that platform, you want to keep up with how it’s doing there.
Social media
Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. I know you’re promoting your new song all over the place. What is the feedback like on those different platforms? The number of Likes is one thing, but meaningful comments is another. What are people saying – above and beyond just a clapping hands emoji or a fire emoji? Remember those conversations after a live performance that I referred to above? In social media comments, really dive into the posts where someone is giving you a hearty response.
You put a lot of time and money into your art. Take the above steps to make sure that your audience is hearing and enjoying your new song.
I have been managing, promoting, and booking indie artists across the U.S. for more than 15 years. What challenges are you having that I can help with? Book a private, one-on-one, online video consultation with me to get you moving forward.
Have feedback about this blog? Are there other methods that I left out? Share your thoughts with me on Twitter via @NHT_tweets. Or, let me know what you think in a Facebook post or on LinkedIn. You can also just send me an email instead.