Average- 5 Min Read
For centuries, people have enjoyed listening to music, starting with classical compositions and jazz, and now embracing a wide variety of genres.
However, becoming a famous musician has become more challenging due to the rise of the internet, which allows individuals to easily promote their work.
Some artists, such as Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber, become global superstars from being unknown.
How did they change their lives?
The answer is “marketing.”
We’ve already covered the basic functions of marketing in our previous posts, so today, we’ll cover the concept of “music marketing” using Ed Sheeran as an example.
Before we dive into that, let’s first understand why music marketing is essential and how the new technologies have shifted the landscape.
Why is marketing important in the music industry?
Marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services and it plays a critical role in generating huge profits. Famous companies like Apple and Starbacks rely on it. While their strategies may differ, the foundation of them is marketing.
In the music industry, musicians themselves are the products. They must sell themselves to the market.
But if a musician has an incredible talent and writes great songs, will they be a star?
No. Talent is certainly an essential factor in determining success, but without a fanbase, they won’t make money.
Without marketing, they may end up as “just a good player,” not a popular one.
They may even never be noticed by a large audience, let alone achieve their dreams.
But with marketing?
Marketing allows musicians to spread their music to the world. As the number of people who listen to your music grows, the number of fans is likely to increase as well.
To understand how marketing is utilized in the music industry, let’s take a look at the trends in music marketing.
How did music marketing change over decades?
A few decades ago, musicians had limited options to promote their music—primarily TV, radio, and magazines. These platforms were expensive, and individual musicians couldn’t afford them.
“Typically, the cost of a 30-second ad on a major national network during prime-time programming can range from $200,000 to $1 million or more.“ (Source: Simulmedia)
However, musicians still needed to get noticed by the public in order to sell records. So, how did they promote their music?
They signed contracts with record companies and agencies that had the financial resources to fund their promotion. These companies would handle the marketing and distribution, while the musicians focused on creating the music.
But there was a major disadvantage for the artists: the record companies took a significant share of the profits. In fact, musicians often earned just 1% of the sales. This meant that, to become wealthy, they had to sell millions of records.
Additionally, living their dreams wasn’t easy in the past because label companies didn’t easily offer contracts. Their primary goal was making money, so they would only sign musicians if they believed those artists could generate substantial profits with their talent.
However, things changed with the development of technology.
The internet now allows individuals to promote themselves easily without large amounts of money.
This is because millions of people use the internet, it’s a hotspot for creating buzz, and it is accessible to everyone.
In fact, the internet’s reach far exceeds TV and radio. As a result, anyone has an opportunity to be an artist.
An additional advantage is that people tend to engage with content that is recommended to them. But what does that mean?
For example, YouTube uses AI systems to identify what users are interested in, recommending relevant content to enhance their experience. This has a positive effect on marketing. People who are exposed to such targeted content are already seen as having an interest, which makes them more likely to become fans.
Through the internet, marketing strategies can be directly delivered to a targeted audience.
Furthermore, musicians can keep all the profits they earn. By handling the business side by themselves, they can make more money than in the past.
That said, it’s still beneficial for exceptionally talented musicians, who are capable of producing top-chart hits, to work with major record labels.
These companies allow artists to focus on performance and composition, while they provide expertise in legal matters, negotiation, and advertising. In this way, collaborating with such companies can make it easier to become a star (but only if the company recognizes you as a talented artist).
Now, let’s look at the example of music marketing. Today, we will discuss Ed Sheeran, who effectively utilizes marketing in his career.
Ed Sheeran: A Great Marketer in the Digital Age
(Source: flicker)
I will introduce three methods he uses on the internet.
Clear Communication
Ed Sheeran’s use of social media is exceptional. His posts are clear and straightforward, often using simple, everyday language. This approach works because his fans primarily focus on his music. By keeping his communication simple, Sheeran is able to directly deliver his message without unnecessary complexity.
Let’s take a look at a post announcing his tour as an example.
(Source: Ed Sheeran’s X )
In this post, he emphasized the music tour. The picture includes only the tour’s name and his artist name, which are enough for fans. The essential information is easy to understand at a glance.
“We heard you wanted a live album
This one is for everyone who sang along with Ed at the Mathematics Tour and rewatched the videos of Ed singing their favourite song when they got home.
Pre-order now. Out December 27th.”
This is just the text information included in the post, but it clearly tells you when the order starts and what the tour will be like.
He keeps his communication simple and easy to understand for everyone, regardless of age. This approach creates a strong impression, making it easier to remember the event. Clarity is key when conveying information.
Clip Strategy
From the beginning of his career, Ed Sheeran releases his music for free, despite concerns from some musicians that it might hurt sales.
However, today, he is one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify. Also, his album “÷(Divide)” has been viewed over a billion times on YouTube. HIs early strategy played a key role for his remarkable success.
(Source: Con2Bemoles Radio )
Sheeran also excels at promoting his music through social media.
For his hit single “Thinking Out Loud,” he posted a teaser video on Twitter, a platform with billions of active users. The teaser got hundreds of thousands of shares, building anticipation for record-breaking sales.
Released in August, 2014, the song stayed in the UK’s top 40 for 19 weeks before reaching number one in early November of that year.
For his album, “=(Equals),“ Sheeran used a similar approach.
(Source: Wikipedia)
He promoted it on YouTube with “The Shorter side =,” a series of short clips featuring parts of all 14 songs on the album. These clips were only available on Youtube, generating excitement among fans.
Additionally, Sheeran encouraged fans to use these new clips to create YouTube Shorts with the hashtags “#SheeranShorts.” This innovative strategy not only boosted the album’s sales but also aligned perfectly with the launch of YouTube Shorts, with his popularity helping to increase engagement on the platform.
As a result, the album reached number one in multiple countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
This marketing technique was used by other artists, including BTS, and is set to become a major strategy in the music industry.
In a time when attention spans are getting shorter, Mastering the ability to capture people’s interest in seconds will be crucial for future success.
Sheeran’s collaborative Reach
Ed Sheeran frequently collaborates with other musicians, including Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, and more.
The purpose of those collaborations is to expand his fanbase by reaching audiences from different genres.
Working with artists from various backgrounds offers an opportunity to attract new fans with different interests. To become a global star, it’s essential to appeal to people from lots of diverse backgrounds and interests.
Let’s look at his collaboration with Beyoncé as an example.
(Source: US Weekly)
In the song, “Perfect Duet”, Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé performed together, and the collaboration was successful, as reflected in the sales. The song sold over 181,000 downloads in its first week.
Additionally, less than two weeks after the release of “Perfect Duet,” the song reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (Source: REVOLT)
The sales were obviously successful, but from a marketing perspective, the collaboration was also a win.
Looking at the target audience of Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé, there is a clear difference.
Sheeran’s audience consists of a mixture of male and mostly young females aged 15-25.
In contrast, Beyoncé’s audience is made up of 71% females, aged 20-34, with a stronger concentration of 25-29-year-olds.
Because their target audiences are different, both artists benefit from the collaboration.
This type of partnership should be encouraged more to help grow the overall music market, as it stimulates interactions between different genres.
Ed Sheeran went from being a no-name to a world-class musician. However, his success didn’t come without his enormous efforts.
“I think to be successful at anything you have to put in a hell of a lot of effort. Pick your battles. I picked music, put ina lot of effort, and it’s worked.” – Ed Sheeran
Effort, combined with effective marketing, maximizes the chances of success. The internet has made the playing field more equal, giving everyone a chance.
Now is the time for you to start learning about marketing!
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