Start With the End In Mind: Know Your Target Market!

When arrranging and producting a song (as opposed to simply "writing" it) here's one simple rule which should help focus you: Start with the end in mind, or in other words KNOW who your target audience is! But don't just "follow fashion" either.

So how does this work? Well, let's try to use an example. If you're writing a song for a prticular kind of a heavy metal crowd, it's clear that they will be the best judges of your music. If you know what makes that crowd tick, what they're looking for in music, what sounds they consider "hip" and so on, then you'll know how your song needs to be arranged and produced to make them totally "dig it."
If you know your market REALLY well (i.e. mostly likely you actually BELONG in that market), you'll know not only what works "now" but also what should work tomorrow! And you'll know this instinctively, simply because YOU are that market.

But what about "hybrid" arrangements, "experimental" stuff and such? What if you're not really rooted in any particular market and you just want to create music which will appeal to audiences right across the board? This is an increasingly common situation these days where a growing number of writers and woud-be producers don't really have a strong "base."

Well, at this point you have a challenge. If you don't belong to any specific demographic group (although you really DO, if you think about it...!), you need to identify with one (at least for the time during which you're writing your song).

But let me say this: more often than not this sort of effort will come out contrived and unconvincing. As a result, there's a lot of music around these days which sounds "unfocused." It's like it "doesn't belong" anywhere...!

And I'm pretty familiar with most arguments in defence of "broad" (i.e. "un-targeted") approach to songwriting. For years I was one of those displaced writers/producers who wouldn't "aim" his music at any particular demographic. I thought that by aiming at "everybody" I would appeal to everybody. But it doesn't work that way.

In order to increase your chances of not just succeeding in a particular niche but ALSO of crossing over to "everybody," lol, get to know your target audience REALLY well, and get to know the music they listen to REALLY well.

Sounds like a no-brainer of a tip? Well, it is, really. But you'd be surprised how many potentially great songwriters (and many novice producers) have NO CLUE that this is in fact the IDEA that drives all successful music. Once your song is going SOMEWHERE, so are you!

So, one final point: how do you get a sample of your target audience to listen to your music and give you meaningful feedback? Here is one way: play it to them without revealing it's you. Observe and listen, and NEVER argue. Just clock how they react, what they say (or don't say), whether they ask you to turn it up or beg you to switch to something else...! And NEVER EVER ask your close friends or family to judge it. Even if they're critical they're BIASED, and very few among them will therefore be able to give you the kind of feedback you can actually build on. So... start working on that thick skin...! ;)

LISTEN TO: 226-Q/Monday Jun 08, 2009