Here’s a songwriting success story for you…
I first learned of it in my FaceBook feed… Kevin Doucet, a personal friend and an epicsongwriting reader, was thanking the people who had shared and watched his music video… 1.3k listens at the time (two days after he first posted it).
Of course, I messaged Kevin and was on the phone with him the next day…. here’s what I found out:
River Water – the Song
Kevin wrote “River Water” about great memories growing up on the Kennebecasis River, in New Brunswick, Canada. He recorded it in his home studio, made a picture video and posted it on his FaceBook page.
2 days later, Kevin started hearing from high school friends he hadn’t seen or heard from in more than a decade. They were telling him stories about the personal significance of the places referenced in the song, stories of memories triggered by the song and, stories about old friends.
How Did He Over 1000 Listens? (Because We Want To Do It Too!)
Here’s the FaceBook post, and his social media introduction:
“New tune I wrote recently: “River Water (A Song for the Kennebecasis)”, that I recorded this summer at my home studio. I’ve got alot of great memories growing up close to this river in New Brunswick, which is a tributary of the Saint John River. Hope you enjoy listening to it. Special thanks to Martina Tomaníková and Jeremy W Thorne for doing an amazing job on harmonies on this one. I made a picture video to go along with it, with a few photos of the river and the countryside, because well… its fun to watch while you listen. A shout out also to Michael Bastarad for the pic of me he took thats in the video. I’ll be adding this to my first album “Little Lunch” along with two others I’ll be recording soon . Find all of them at weylannash.bandcamp.com“
Let’s Break Down How it Happened…
New tune I wrote recently is a good lead… could be a song lyric, it has rhythm… the songwriter might be honest or interesting, “My NEW Song” would have lost half of its shares because most people have stopped reading, skimmed past your post and already forgotten about you.
Kennebecasis River, a very specific place and people that know about it know that other people don’t know about it
great memories growing up – so it should be a happy song!
A summer song, with an ideal release time, August is as hot as it gets in the Maritime Provinces.
Kevin tagged people that helped him with the song (he’s thanking people, so he must be an honest guy) and most importantly:
Always end social media posts & publicity communication with:
- Your best contact information, and
- Your audience’s next step… what do you want them to do (in marketing this is called a “call to action”).
The post is a brilliantly successful example. It screams “Listen to Me” to anyone that lives in or knows the Kennebecasis river valley.
With more than 1300 listens when I first published this article, more people heard River Water, in two days, than the total combined listens of his last three songs, …
I love that!
Read Get More Social Love For Your Songs, for more ideas you can use for your songs.
Kevin Used…
Kevin did this with a song and picture video posted on FaceBook.
- beautiful image,
- effective description that told people to click here
- and a link to his BandCamp page
And he did it with just a FaceBook post with no…
- FaceBook boost, no $ spent
- Promotion, no $ spent
- YouTube channel
In Kevin’s own words:
“I’ve been posting songs on FaceBook to test them… to see what sticks.”
Let’s call this a successful test, let’s repeat it but bigger!
Kevin is rerecording River Water for his upcoming CD, and is working on a couple of new songs about small town Nova Scotia.
Show him some social love: listen to River Water and share if you like it… Kevin would do it for you ????
Action Steps to Get More Interest in Your Songs
Make Them Feel
People want to watch, listen & share your music
If they listen… and they like… If they FEEL!
Write songs that evoke emotions in your audience.
Plan the emotional journey in your songs, use two or more emotions to create more contrast and emotional tension.
Release Your Song
Don’t wait for a perfect recording!
If it resonates with people, a song can take on it’s own life… honesty and emotional impact are more important than a perfect or professional recording. The quest for a “perfect song” or a “perfect recording” is a fast trip to “My songwriting is blocked” and will prevent you from releasing anything!
Be Ready in Case it Goes Viral
It’s hard to guess what songs or videos will go viral. Create a way for a listener to find you again… don’t lose the momentum, have a way to do it again!
Build an email list, your YouTube subscribers, Instagram followers…
For your email list, this is the first step in a sales funnel (yes, musicians / songwriters need to think in marketing terms) and should be simple and easy for someone to follow. It should be:
- Free
- Simple, <10 seconds if possible, max 60 seconds
- No Hassle – I’ve not joined many email lists because there were too many steps
- Something they remember signing up for, otherwise they won’t engage with you later
- Be something they’re interested in
The more steps to sign up or subscribe, the fewer you will get.
For EpicSongWriting, the main incentive is a How to Write a Song Chorus, learn to write the lyrics and music for a song chorus, you could be writing 20 minutes from now…
You enter your first name and email address and an email with a link is automatically sent to you, easy!
Make It Easy for Everyone
For live situations like a show, a QR code for people to scan is crazy efficient, especially if you have a free incentive and you tell your audience about it. Musicians / bands most commonly send a link to free songs, I know it sounds “old school” but it still works.
Someone can scan the code with their phone faster than they can type in your website address, and no misspellings… 10 seconds later they’re on your website!
You can put a QR code on posters or on your merch table so your audience can connect with you.
Google: QR code generator and try it out
I created these two for EpicSongWriting for free in about 30 seconds…
