#1.5 Music Industry Secret to Success – Listen

I have developed a set of music industry “secrets.” These “secrets” are designed to develop positive behavior, so do not expect a ton of tactical talk. Strategy will be the ultimate takeaway. In each shared “secret, ” we are going to give ideas that should help you make the right changes toward a substantial music career. Be sure you check out the previous “secrets” of “Be Yourself” and “Reach Out” before reading this.

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Today, we wanted to share a small “secret” as we are preparing for major coverage on Movement – the annual electronic music festival in Detroit. In the middle of writing parts one and two for the music industry secrets, we realized there was a prevailing message that needed to be addressed to bridge the two. LISTENING is paramount. If more of us took time to listen more before running off at the mouth or at the keys, there would be less spam. We would not have as many people making tools like Twitter seem pointless to casual onlookers, if they understood that people do not really care that “[you] just ate” as if that is compelling information.

While we already told you the key to collaborating with others was to listen first, we want to reiterate that again. If you are not sure how you should engage, take some time to find some successful activity and study how they seem to be making it work. Better yet, try asking them and then listen some more.

It has been said that we were made with two ears and one mouth, so it kind of shows where the focus should be based by that design. Most of us type like we only have one hand, so you can look at the internet very much the same way. Listening will provide you with greater chance of finding opportunities. It could be a music lover looking for new music in your genre or a brand running a competition that might broaden your exposure if you participate. There is one thing that is certain, you cannot do both at the same time. Something is going to suffer, so make the resolve today to make listening a priority.

Not sure what to use to listen? Here are a few free tools that will help you listen better.

  • Twitter Search – Want to find folks that are talking about you? How about finding people that are looking to guitar lessons? With Twitter Search, you can search for this in real-time. You can leverage Twitter search in many of the Twitter apps like TweetDeck and Hootsuite, giving you the ability to stay up on the trends you actually want to read. Not to mention, this is a powerful that is FREE to use.
  • Google Alerts – Another free tool that bands can use to keep up with what folks are saying about them. It can be used to find bloggers that write about your kind of music. Do you sound like Marvin Gaye? Use Google Alerts to seek websites that are talking about the late singer. Then follow up and see if it is opportunity to introduce yourself and your music.
  • Google Reader – Once you have found relevant websites that are of interest to you, this free tool will aggregate all their material through their RSS feeds. Most blogs have RSS feeds, so if you are looking to keep up with your favorite blogs and you do not want to need to visit the site every day – try Google Reader. It will let you know which posts you have not read. Be careful of Google Reader Overload. Make sure you keep relevant feeds in it, so you do not bog yourself down with content.

This week, we want to know, what are some of your success stories in listening? What opportunities fell into your lap because you were openly listening? Share them with us in the comments!