Get More Music Sales With One Simple Strategy (Book Review)
I was reading the book "The Power of Little Ideas, " and there is a great concept that the author mentions that I think can apply to us as musicians. The concept is that a business should develop complementary products to support one single core product that is the cornerstone of the company's income, mission, and identity. For Apple computers, their core product was the iMac computer, but what made Apple the huge industry giant it is today was the products that developed around the iMac: the iPod, then the iPhone, and apple watch being a few of these complementary products. Products such as these make the iMac even more powerful, and together, create a suite of devices that consume our lives by bringing entertainment, convenience, and dependence.
As musicians, what is our core product? If Steve Jobs played guitar, what would his musical iMac be? For many, our musical core product is the full-length album that we invest months of our lives and thousands of our hard earned dollars creating. It is what we dream about, and when the album is complete, we take a step back and admire the masterpiece we have created. But unfortunately, music is not a case of "if you build it they will come." Even Apple (before the iPod) was projected to incur massive losses from dwindling iMac sales—and Macs are great computers! (Cue the torches and pitchforks from Windows users.) Making music is more like "if you build it, then you need to market it." I believe that creating complementary musical products is an excellent way to make sure that your album doesn't fall flat.