Speaking of building connections and reaching out to industry specialists, LinkedIn has proven to be an excellent platform over the years. There are a lot of insights, statistics and data freely available on LinkedIn. Presumably, the corporate world has benefitted from LinkedIn, but the question is how well does it support artists and the creative world? Or precisely, what are the features available that can serve the creative field? The social media platform has been around since 2003 and continues to expand as it creates economic opportunities for users. As of 2022, more than 830 million people are using LinkedIn for its professional environment and profile building.
Most people can join LinkedIn and stay with a free account without any upgrade. This holds true for every industry and it has made networking easier. For the music industry, we can have access to contact information of booking agents, managers and strategically connect with people. While it may not be the place to grow your audience, but if you are looking for making influential connections the place has a lot to offer. The potential over here is underutilized and here are few ways in which independent artists can benefit from LinkedIn.
1. Making professional relationships
It’s important to be in the radar of few creative professionals and getting to know them. As for the way, there is no creative way its subjective to artist’s experience. But LinkedIn does provide accomplishments and work experiences that can give a general sense of how others made it in the industry. The app is a safe space for reaching out to people to seek advice or to promote your work through booking agents, A&R reps, managers and distributors. Also LinkedIn makes a great place to find sound engineers and mixing and mastering professionals. While this is not just limited to industry professionals, you can make connections with graphic designers, web developers, photographers and media who can help you establish your own identity in the industry.
2. Stay updated with the music industry through discussion groups
LinkedIn promotes community building and has an inbuilt forum where members can lay their opinions. The groups also have call for artists and gig alerts. These groups constantly share interesting articles and actively support each other with suggestions. The groups are open to artists and one can immediately start posting. Few groups are solely purpose oriented and you might need approval before joining in. Being an active member on these groups increases your profile’s visibility and adds credibility to your posts. Here are few popular music industry groups artists can consider being a part of.
3. Showcase your milestones
When it comes to profile building, LinkedIn has few of the best features. Independent artists can add posts related to their songs and EPs on their page. Alternatively, they can create a project section that will list down all the songs they have worked on, right from EPs to music videos and tours. Linking the project with its members will also increase the impressions and give boost to your campaign. You can also add the project URL along with a short description to give an insight into your music. The motive is to appear business savvy and promote yourself as a brand.
4. Finding potential sponsorship and endorsements
Once you are an established musician with a good social media engagement, the platform can be utilized to find sponsors for your music. Acquiring brand endorsements has become an essential part of an artist’s business model. For people on LinkedIn, the profile does most of their work. With new brands coming up everyday, the platform has made the process convenient. It is a two way street, brands and artists both can find each other through LinkedIn and work a deal.
