The Quickest Route to Effective Music Marketing: Lessons from The Onion

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February 8, 2013{ 7 Comments }

onion logo 03 L 300x300 The Quickest Route to Effective Music Marketing: Lessons from The Onion[This post was written by guest contributor Bob Baker from www.TheBuzzFactor.com.]

The power of a great headline

Marketing your music can be confusing. And overwhelming. Wouldn’t you love it if there was a quick way to “get it”? Wouldn’t it be great if you could instantly understand what you needed to know … now?

Well, that’s the same position your fans are in when they come across you and your music for the first time. They’re interested, but they know very little about you yet. And the quicker you can intrigue them, the longer they’ll stick around.

The challenge for a self-promoting musician is this: How can you communicate something of value in a clear and concise manner?

Here’s a helpful way of looking at music marketing from an unlikely source …

A couple of years ago I caught an NPR interview with some of the editors from The Onion. In case you don’t know, The Onion is a popular and funny “fake news” publication that features hilarious tongue-in-cheek news stories.

In the interview, the editors talked about the writing process and how they choose which fake news stories to run. The answer: It all boils down to the headline.

At editorial meetings, each writer comes to the table with a list of possible story ideas. To introduce each idea, all they do is read the headline they’ve written for the story. If everyone laughs, they know they have a winning concept that may be worthy of a full story.

To demonstrate, here are some Onion headlines:

•    * Open-Minded Music Lover Likes All Kinds Of Metal
•    * Acid Trip Better Planned Than Vacation
•    * GEICO Saves 15 Percent or More by Discontinuing Advertising
•    * Singer Cites Girlfriend as Reason He Lives, Dies, Breaks Down, Cries
•    * New Miss America In Danger Of Losing Crown After Officials Uncover Details From Her Sordid Future
•    * Single Bee Sends Gathering of Humans Into Helpless Panic

To The Onion staff, a good headline delivers the whole story, complete with the punchline. The rest of the news story simply takes the core idea and expands on the joke.

So where’s the music marketing lesson?

Well, what’s your headline? How do you describe your band or your new album or your next gig so that people immediately “get it”? Because, once they get it, then — and only then — can you expand on the premise and feed them more.

Consider these descriptions from a couple of CD Baby artists:

“Johnny Cash meets Van Morrison at Graceland!” – Erston Pearcy
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ErstonPearcy

“The Sesame Street Band meets the E Street Band at a KISS concert” – Mr Billy
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MrBilly

When you read those descriptions, do you know immediately what you’re dealing with? Of course! Compare those to vague statements such as:

“Music that defies definition”

“Songs that make you think”

“Introspective lyrics and virtuoso playing”

Do you immediately “get” any of the previous three descriptions? Probably not. If music fans have to take too long to figure you out, you’ll lose them.

If an Onion writer has to take even one minute to explain a funny premise, the idea is dead in the water. The Onion’s editors believe their readers shouldn’t have to work hard to comprehend and enjoy entertainment. Treat your fans and potential fans with the same respect.

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Bob Baker is the author of three books in the “Guerrilla Music Marketing” series, along with many other books and promotion resources for DIY artists, managers and music biz pros. You’ll find Bob’s free ezine, blog, podcast, video clips and articles atwww.TheBuzzFactor.com and www.MusicPromotionBlog.com.

PR Guide 2 The Quickest Route to Effective Music Marketing: Lessons from The Onion

Guest's Author Bio

  • http://www.sheepdressedlikewolves.com/ Andy Mort

    Thanks for this, Bob! I love the use of The Onion here – it’s really interesting to look at those headlines. It’s similar to what I’ve done in the past with blog posts. I write a whole list of headlines and then come back to it a little while later. Then I read the list as if it’s in my RSS feed reader. Which headline to I want to expand? When I know the answer, I write that post.

    In terms of artist description I think we’ve got to be careful. I know it’s really important to make it sound interesting, alluring and imaginative but I really struggle with reading descriptions that say ‘Artist meets artist via place/artist’. It can box both the listener and the artist themselves into an expectation. I find that abstract descriptions that can capture the audience imagination and draw them into wondering what that would be like, are much more effective and positive than using musical influences or similarities to say ‘we sound like A mixed with B’. People might have really bad memories of Sesame Street, but might absolutely love what you do – but they’ll probably never know because they’ll never click any further.

    I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this. Have you come across any really alluring, abstract descriptions that mean you just can’t help but click on the play button?

    • RadioSalamandra

      Totally agree with Andy

  • http://twitter.com/SheenaWilbow Sheena Wilbow

    This is perfect advice Bob! The Onion comparison was excellent!

    I’ve recently released my new single, “Way Too Serious” would love for u guys to check it out!!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSWLfPcsKLA

  • http://www.odysen.com/ Matt

    Yeah, the Onion definitely has the headline concept down, they always have something funny going on. Never thought of the process behind it, thanks for sharing.

    • http://twitter.com/PTheWyse Praverb.net

      Bob serves up a great article.

      Headlines are definitely powerful and great when they are used appropriately.

      I think that some people try to hard to make witty headlines and they end up failing miserably.

      Write headlines that are informative and influence your fans, audience, recipients to check the body.

      The Onion is awesome by the way!

      @PtheWyse

  • stevejbailey

    Bullshit Baffles Brains!
    Lets get truthful here folks, Music Marketing or any other form of marketing come to that is not as simple as a great headline. The internet is saturated beyond any ones wildest imagination and that means your ploy is just another drop in a vast ocean. Even the big boys are at a loss to find a break-through into the vast social techno network – and they are failing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating “give up” or anything, I merely want to throw some reality into the mix.
    I used to work for a newspaper, so I know about headlines and used the ploy to help sell our Guitar Trouble-shooter DVD series. One of the headlines I used was “Monkeybrains Murders Slash”. On YouTube we got 29 views, and on Google we didn’t even get a hit. I am in the process of trying loads of other marketing ploys, but the truth is nothing works the way it used to. There is nothing wrong with the product, but marketing in the techno space is a nightmare.
    The same can be said for music marketing too. The truth is without a big PR company behind you, or a hell of a lot of luck, the chances are you will not get the recognition for any Music Video or song that you produce. For all the success stories you get to know about there are far more that never make it.
    Check this out:-
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX1IrleL6Ws
    Listen to the applause at the end. He is a superb guitarist and yet had only 1,012 hits in 3 years and even fewer hits on the other clips put up. Phil Caisley lives in the same area where Mark Knopler grew up, yet he never became famous, whilst Mark Knopler did.

  • ChristianBandHelp.com

    Like it or not, we are in the entertainment business. Rule #1 is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be boring. If your headline is boring no one will listen to the music. It is sad but true that you can have the most incredible music ever and remain unknown due to poor marketing.