The New Music Business: Music Marketing Lessons from Nic D.

They Need To See You & You Need To Make Them Care

Before I start, the thoughts contained in this post are more aimed at those who want to build a career and earn a living from music. If you just enjoy making great music for fun, keep doing that and don’t get too hung up on marketing your music. 

If you want people to know about your music and increase your audience but not necessarily build a career, hopefully you’ll also find the thoughts below helpful.

You Haven’t Done Nearly Enough …

“People get where they are because of their actions, not because of their talents. Music is no different. I’m here because of my actions. I’m not here because I’m talented. I’m not here because I have good ideas. I’m not here because I’m the best singer. I’m not here because I’m a good songwriter. I’m here because of my actions. My actions got me here. What I DID got me here. What I CHOSE to do with my time got me here. I acted on my ideas. I worked to get better everyday. You need to be willing to do the same.“

Nic D – You Don’t Want It Bad Enough

I didn’t know who Nic D was until recently. He, like myself, married his high school sweetheart and has been with her since he was 16. He is a dad to two kids. He also makes around $74K per month in streaming revenue at the time of writing (around $800K per year). He’s released over 100 songs and he only really started to pursue music in 2019 at the age of 27. 

He’s cracked the code of making it in the new music business. Why? Because he approaches it as a business whilst making music that fulfils him.

Short But Sweet Advice

Nic has been talking a lot about his approach to music marketing for the last 12 months. He’s even put down some of the key principles in a book he wrote. Here are some study notes:

1. Treating Music as a Business: Nic emphasises the importance of approaching music with a business mindset while still maintaining artistic integrity. This involves understanding your target audience, developing a marketing strategy, and consistently creating and releasing music as well as creating content to support it.

2. The Importance of Hard Work and Perseverance: Nic’s own story highlights the value of dedication and consistent effort. He encourages musicians to “do the reps” (the right kind) and put in the work required to build a successful career.

3. Finding and Refining Your Process: Nic advocates for developing a streamlined creative process and sticking to it. This can involve finding efficient ways to produce music, manage social media, and engage with fans.

4. Building Relationships: Nic stresses the significance of fostering relationships with collaborators, fans, and industry professionals. These connections can lead to opportunities and support along your musical journey.

5. Balancing Art and Commerce: While prioritising commercial success, Nic doesn’t dismiss the importance of artistic expression. He encourages musicians to find a balance between creating music they love and music that resonates with a wider audience.

It’s a short but interesting read and although it doesn’t give you the manual to replicate his success point by point, it definitely highlights a helpful mindset and approach that an artist/band could take to replicate similar results.

He’s actually helped a bunch of other artists out with his advice and they have seen similar success so it’s not just a fortunate break. If you can replicate it, that’s proof something is working.

You Don’t Want It Bad Enough

This is the title of Nic D’s book and given his own story I think he’s probably not too far off the mark. 

He was a father and husband running a business when he decided to pursue music. Not your typical artist back story. He recorded vocals for 50 songs in the back of his minivan so he didn’t wake his wife and kids up whilst he worked on his career after they went to bed.

I’ve quoted this in another post but this principle stays with me whenever I’m feeling like something I’m doing “feels” like a waste of time. 

“In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23

Don’t get me wrong, I dislike “grind” culture. The concept of 10,000 hours is usually expressed as “grind away and you’ll get there”. It can become a mindless exercise in the moronic where you’re doing busy work instead of the things that count.

BUT toiling smart, doing your reps with the right technique, doing your 10,000 hours of deliberate practice instead of phone-it-in practice, will move you forward. You have to do the work and it doesn’t have to be perfect BUT it has to be the right type of work.

Find The Process, Refine It & Keep It Simple

“The moment I made the decision to make music my career, I became a small business and I had to think like a business owner. If you’re an independent artist and you want to make money from your music, you have to think of yourself as a business owner and you have to move like a business would.“

Nic D – You Don’t Want It Bad Enough

Nic D still produces his own music and the content which made him “blow up”. He does it with a small group of people who are also now friends. He doesn’t have industry backing and if he engages the industry it’s an experiment to see what sort of return he gets. 

Nic D was a businessman first. He already knew how to run a successful business. When it came to pursuing a career in music he approached it in the same way. He worked on doing reps with the right technique until he found his process and he’s carefully guarded what works so it doesn’t become unnecessarily complicated.

What About “The Art”, Man?

That’s a good question. I believe Nic D is an artist. He creates art with a very specific goal, to make something he likes but ultimately something a LOT of people like.

I don’t see any issue with this. People create art for all different reasons and in a myriad of ways. Often those who criticise others for the way they create art do so because they themselves feel insecure or jealous in some way. Sometimes it’s because they are just bored and having a bad day. Take a look at comments on a YouTube channel for a prime example.

What I respect about Nic is that he wanted to make a career in music that was sustainable. This was so he could take care of his family as a first priority. He acknowledges something other “artists” don’t, the importance of relationships, especially familial.

The Takeaway

If you’re making a career in music or just trying to get some ears on your music. You need to do the work to get the attention of people and you need to do it in a way they will care about it. So how do you do this?

That’s for the next post.