Five reasons why LinkedIn is for the serious musician

A Guest Post by Juanita Appleby

I know what you’re thinking…”oh no not another social networking site”, right? But just bear with me.

LinkedIn’s appeal has widened beyond pocket-protected IT geeks to boasting over 39 million members across varying industries globally.

So how can you use this more upmarket social tool to advance your music career?

Simple.

Display a professional profile

Because LinkedIn works on a different platform of a CV-based profile you don’t have to be embarrassed to forward the link on to an industry exec.

It also allows you to display up to three links on your profile so it can be a portal to your other websites.

LinkedIn is well ranked within search engine results, which means that you will get the free organic traffic to your profile page and referrals to your other websites with minimal effort.

Network with others in the industry

This is the key benefit to getting up close and personal with LinkedIn. Once you are set up with a profile, then do a group search for “music”. Then sit back in amazement at the 25+ pages of networking groups with members from all walks of life in the music industry – management, media, publicity, marketers and other fellow musicians.

Mark Carras (in his post ‘If LinkedIn isn’t fun, why should my band care?’) touched on this subject and this is the feature on LinkedIn that will help get you out of that garage you’re practising in and closer to a money-making journey in music.

The important thing to know about LinkedIn is that you must demonstrate that you know the contact you are adding to your network in some way be it through a common group membership or say an ex-colleague.

So you may want to start with using LinkedIn’s contact import tool from your existing email address book to lay a foundation of connections.

Second to that, you can use the question and answer features of groups to enhance your reputation and raise people’s interest in connecting with you.  I touch on how the question feature can help later but don’t be afraid to answer people’s questions too. 

Networking may be uncharted territory for you so be patient, ooze intellect, swap “virtual” business cards and always keep in mind that in business a one-sided pitch will almost always fail.  Be prepared to forge relationships on LinkedIn that are beneficial for both parties.

Promote your news

You can post your own news in groups and even link those news items back to any other websites you might have. Many members have weekly or even daily updates of group activity so your news will get delivered straight into their inboxes. Can’t get better than that.

Get advice from those that know

Trying to find a recording studio in your area? Need some tips on publicity? Request for reviews of your latest demo?

Yeah, LinkedIn can help. Once you’ve joined some groups and been accepted as a member, then you can start discussions in that group and other members can comment back or contact you directly via the website’s internal mail system.

Remember, don’t spam! That’s the quickest way for you to get your account banned. Stay topical and humble and you’ll find the help you need.

Find opportunities for your music

You’ll find that people will post job listings on LinkedIn and in music industry terms those are requests for songs for licensing deals, films, TV, you name it.

So while other social networking sites may be the platform to building a fanbase and getting your music heard by a wider indie audience, LinkedIn helps you focus on gaining visibility with the business contacts and advice to actually make it in music.

Good luck and keep rocking.

Juanita Appleby
Juanita Appleby, born and bred in America, has over a decade of experience in marketing and promotions.  She is currently studying music and arts writing with the London School of Journalism.