How musicians can escape "starving artist" stereotypes via sales funnels

Musicians generally embody the “starving artist” stereotype. But it doesn’t have to be universally true.

(Side note: although the following is written for the perspective of a musician, you may get ideas even as a non-musician. Some concepts and modes of thought are true across multiple niches.)

Building funnels and flywheels can easily boost profits and help build a brand. Not just a band.

“What’s a sales funnel,” you might ask? Here’s a quick overview:

A sales funnel is the journey a potential customer takes to become a customer. First you catch their attention and persuade them to evaluate your offer(s). Then you offer a variety of upsells, cross-sells, and downsells, so both sides get as much value as possible from the transaction. This includes options both before and after they click buy. 

Once you have someone’s contact information (email and/or phone number) you can bring them into your long-term ecosystem. (For example, having “opt in to special offers” as a checkbox during checkout, which signs the customer up to a mailing list.) Send occasional messages with offers or updates (you may want to take an email Marketing course for this step) and satisfied customers will continue to buy from you. Purchases aren’t one-and-done. 

Even failed transactions present an opportunity via “abandoned cart” emails. If a customer goes through the checkout process but doesn’t reach the final step of paying (for whatever reason) you may be able to entice them to continue.

There are lots of monetization options in the music sphere. 

When a fan discovers a band, there's:

- Streaming

- Digital albums

- Physical albums

- Merch (shirts, stickers, posters, etc)

- Live performances

- Etc.

Many bands now focus solely on streaming for digital outreach. This is a HUGE mistake.

• Streaming payouts are dogshit (fractions of pennies)

• You don’t control streaming services, so you don’t have direct access to your fans

• Streaming is often low quality audio (128 kbps) which doesn’t give your audience the best experience

• Streaming is ephemeral, and your band can be forgotten without permanent reminders of its existence

• Everyone is doing streaming, so you’re harder to find organically, lost in the noise and/or algorithmic bias

Let’s go over more potential options within their appropriate context.