Genre and Style
Pivot Point 1: Use known genres to sound current and appeal to a preexisting fan base and distribution channel.
The single most important success factor for a song from a new or unknown artist is the genre it falls into. Unfortunately, people love to generalize and categorize. It’s how we quickly identify whether or not we might be interested in hearing your song in the first place. People make snap judgments and when it comes to your music this is the first judgment made.
Some people will tell you that the song itself is the most important factor in determining its success. This isn’t true. The relative quality and merit of a song is extremely important but it’s not the primary success factor in today’s music climate.
When someone discovers new music, it’s usually based on choices they’re making. They’ve decided to watch a specific music channel, listen to a specific satellite radio station, watch a specific DVD, or TiVo a specific show. They’ve made choices based on their preferences – things they already know they like.
Different genres of music will be heard based on these decisions. You won’t hear much Hip Hop in PBS programming and you won’t hear much Bluegrass on MTV2. If I like Hip Hop, I would have been watching MTV2 while your Bluegrass song aired on PBS. The genre dictated what music I was exposed to. In this scenario, it doesn’t matter that your Bluegrass song is great. I didn’t hear it because I’m making choices to expose myself to media that features Hip Hop.
The genre will literally define who will hear your music, what radio stations will play it, where it will end up in alternative media types, what additional broadcast avenues are available and whether or not it’s marketable in the first place.
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