Creating a Remix Contest to expand your fanbase
One of the most difficult things for an artist is to step out of their comfort zone, to be vulnerable in their creation process and attempt to make music they are not necessarily familiar with. I have suggested this many times over the years to various artists and always encountered resistance. What no one seemed to understand was the possibility that it may allow them to be exposed to an entirely new demographic. A demographic that may be more supportive financially than their current targeted market, that is if they even have a clear target market, which most artists do not.
Rey Sparta, however, is the epitome of being a risk taker. He has never shied away from living creatively outside the box. This openness to challenging himself musically allows us a much broader range of marketing strategies. An obvious objective, and honestly one that any new artist has, is to expose their music to as many consumers as possible, engage with these individuals, and eventually turn them into paying customers.
One idea we had was to create a remix contest for Rey’s first album. We selected a few songs and posted them on the website to stream and listen to. Any DJ/Producer that wanted to attempt to remix one of the selected records, we would send them the acapella and stems to the track. We then ran ads promoting the contest in markets catering to genres outside our immediate reach such as London, Spain, Belgium, etc. The overall results were mixed.
Remix Contest Pros.
1. Exposure to a wider audience.
2. Promotion was interactive rather than just “Listen to my music”
3. Showcased directions musically we may not have thought of.
Remix Contest Cons.
1. The quality of submissions were not up to standard. Although some really creative ideas were submitted, the overall quality was just not there.
2. Our campaign was time sensitive. Unfortunately, when collaborating via the internet, participants are on their own time schedule which makes execution difficult.
All in all, I love trying “out of the box” ideas. This particular idea did not result in the outcome we were hoping for, but we will definitely try this one again with the correct adjustments.
A positive from the remix contest was hearing Reys’ vocals over different genres of music, especially within the EDM world. This led us to explore other options. Instead of having others remix his music, we would remix theirs.
We ended up with two different remixes that we used as promotional tools.
The first was from an amazing DJ/Producer DJ Msquared. I told him our idea, so he sent over a few beats of his. Rey picked one and this was the result.
Listen to Rey Sparta over DJ Msquared production
The second was from producer/DJ ZOMBOY. We do not have a relationship with him, we just heard a particular track that we felt matched Reys overall sound. This was the result.
Rey Sparta over a Dj Zomboy production
In conclusion, the overall message here is, I believe any new artist should be open to exploring different genres musically. This does not mean they have to completely change their artistic direction, but it can open you up to new audiences and markets you may have never thought about prior. With any new fan base and geographical market, there is a direct increase in revenue generating opportunities.