Hello again, everyone. We are thrilled to have you joining us this afternoon. The world of EDM is one we have spent very little time exploring on this blog, but there is no denying it has become a big source of business for the industry at large in recent years. Today, in an attempt to be slightly more ‘with it,’ we’re excited to be joining forces with our friends in We Are Nexus to offer a little insight on how they built their following. You might not listen to EDM, but that doesn’t mean you are unable to learn from those making a living working in that genre.
This blog exists to promote the future of the music industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your music-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Hey everyone, my name is Nick Gunn and I make up half of the EDM duo (We Are) Nexus. My music partner, Carmen Rainier, and I have enjoyed success over the last year with our singles “It Feels So Good”, “World Around Me” and “Shamelessly”. We are about to embark on a new release, “Better Off Without You”, which comes out in just a few weeks! We are definitely grateful for all the success we have experienced in our first year and like every emerging artist our story is filled with tons of hard work and passion!
I was asked to write a piece today about my history in the music biz and how it has helped us in our mission for success with (We Are) Nexus. The one thing I have been asked over and over again is “how did you guys gain so much traction, so quickly”? I will do my best to shed some light on that here.
There’s always a good story behind every successful music act. It’s rare to find an artist that doesn’t have a winding path to success. The path is usually littered with tears, letdowns, triumphs and victories. Our’s is certainly no different and it’s a work in progress that still has a long way to go!
I came from a successful career as a World music artist that self produced and composed 14 albums under the name Nicholas Gunn and was fortunate enough to have sold a few million units at a time when you could actually sell music! I also owned a label distributed by Warner / ADA representing over 75 artists and a few hundred titles. Those days of owning a label were hell but the knowledge I gained from riding both sides of the fence was priceless! Just like when I first started in music, the backbone of the industry remains about the fans. Without them, there would be no industry! While the method of reaching the mega fan has shifted from the retail stores and streets to the internet, the idea behind why a fan exist and why they become so passionate about their favorite artist, has not.
For me, as a producer and composer, I trust my productions enough to know that the end result of our music plays well against the rest of commercial music. Therefore, the one thing we had going for us in the first year is we didn’t over-think the creation of our tracks, there was enough experience to trust our instincts. Enough said, right? Actually, not even close! I have often said, that as a new artist, music development is only 30-40 percent of the initial battle, the rest falls under the category of WTF do I do next?
Understanding and identifying our fans has helped me develop (We Are) Nexus and minimize the trauma involved with crossing the barrier to entry in today’s EDM music market. Identifying your fan base first starts with honesty and transparency in your desire to be a successful music artist. To be overly purist, having an overstated need for musical integrity, or shunning commercial music are all potential signs of a failure to embrace your musical success. There is no glory in shutting yourself away in a dark bedroom producing music all day long. Get out there, study and network with other successful artists and their music, the genres they exist within, and research the demographic that follow these successful artists…..Therein lies your potential fan!
Most young developing artists today are flying solo without label support and the responsibility of development lies solely with them. They also, rightfully, believe that everyone “is listening” and that by simply making their music available, everyone will talk about it, buy it, and show up at their shows. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s this kind of thinking that inhibits the success of most budding artists.
The painful truth is the agony of realizing that, at first, it’s not so much about your music as it is about your overall brand, how fans perceive your brand, and how you integrate your brand into the community where the fans live and breathe. It’s understanding the psychology of the music fan you are trying to reach. Trust me, embracing this is absolute liberation! Understanding how to take control of this aspect of your career, coupled with talent and perseverance, will ultimately give you one hell of an advantage over the competition. I hate to use the word competition but, at the end of the day, we are all vying for the ears of the same set of listeners. Today’s fan does not want to be bombarded by your music. They want to experience an artist that shares and cares about the community they are involved in and talks about everything. Today’s fan consciously chooses to engage on their own terms and there is little to persuade them otherwise.
When I first started as a World musician there was little to no internet presence and the major music model of funneling everyone into a retail store and having them put in a pair of headphones was alive and well. Those fans were driven into the stores by word of mouth, hearing the music on radio (FM) and attending concerts. There was only one way to take that music home with them, buy a CD! It was called an “impulsive point of purchase sale” and the majors consumed that model for years!
When in Rome, do what the Romans do, so I did. The way I reached my fans back in those days was by establishing relationships with the retail stores that supported my music and sold to the fans. It meant tailoring my music towards a specific retail store that had reach. It was the path of least resistance and a way for my music to be heard. It was common sense.
Those avenues don’t exist anymore! Sales are only one of many ways to enjoy music and there is nothing impulsive whatsoever about todays music fan. They are able to research, review, digest and then throw the track away without feeling any real consequence on their pocket book. The power has shifted from retail…..to the fan! However, the passion that drives them and the connection they feel to the artist and the music, that simply has not changed! Understanding they way our fans were connecting, socializing and sharing in todays marketplace was the foundation to our existence with (We Are) Nexus and we were about to use the giant social media tool of the Internet to reach them.
When we set about to launch (We Are) Nexus we did it with an understanding of this psychology in mind. We placed ourselves in the minds of our potential fans and asked the question: “What would fans want to follow and see from a new EDM act”? We weren’t DJ’s, so we made sure that we clearly defined our existence first and answered the question: who are we. We decided we were an “EDM artist” comprised of a producer and vocalist and we made sure that idea was conveyed clearly through everything we did. We developed a killer logo consistent with the market place, set up all our social media platforms and started talking about the EDM community! We posted about EDM news and topics, not just about us, but about everything EDM and we did this long before we posted anything about our music and….we still do!
Technically, we were crowd sourcing and creating a community that we could eventually market our music to. One that we knew and who knew us and one that we could safely operate within without unnecessary scrutiny from the fans we were still learning about. We also realized that massive sectors of the population followed a key influencer in their social groups; someone highly social, in the know, and on top of their game! Understanding this was extremely important to our success. Once we had crossed that impenetrable barrier and had a sufficient crowd sourced, we knew we were on our way! We knew the music would speak for itself, but we needed someone to be listening first!
It’s difficult to not make it about you at first, it really is! But fans today want an experience that goes beyond just the music… they actually always have! They want to feel apart of a community that understands their emotions and then use that music as a foundation to express themselves. Think about it, when you recall a song that reminds you of your first love, it becomes about you, the music becomes yours, it’s the soundtrack to your life. Music is a profound facilitator of this personal and intimate experience.
But it’s not ALL esoteric in nature and sure, we spent money on advertising and hiring promoters to get the word out. I could go into all the unnecessary details of who to hire and how much to spend but every serious artist eventually figures that out. The most obvious but seemingly elusive thing to figure out is standing right in front of your nose and on your computer: its the fans!
