Have you ever attended a marketing workshop that you were super excited about...
and then left after investing several hours, feeling like it was a huge waste of time?
Why?
Because marketing our music is a whole different animal from traditional marketing of a product or a service.
“Find a problem. Offer a solution.”
“Highlight the benefits of your product.”
And you’re sitting there thinking, But my music isn’t a product—it’s a piece of my soul.
And it doesn't solve a problem in the traditional sense - at least not a problem they know they have.
Musicians need to throw out the traditional marketing playbook and take a completely different approach.
Business 101 tells us that successful products solve a problem. A meal delivery service saves time. A productivity app helps you get more done.
But music? It doesn’t fix a problem in the same way… or does it?
Think about it. Music is emotional infrastructure. It’s the soundtrack to heartbreak, the fuel for a revolution, the anthem that lifts someone out of despair. Your songs aren’t just entertainment, they help people process emotions, feel seen, and make sense of their world.
Last week we ran our popular "Music With A Conscience" series on The Women of Substance Music Podcast.
After listening to 5 days of amazing songs, it is crystal clear that music does solve problems - deeply human problems:
🎵 Emotional healing – Your ballad helps someone through a breakup.
🎵 Mental health support – Your song lifts someone from the weight of anxiety.
🎵 Perspective shifting – Your lyrics open someone’s eyes to a new way of thinking.
🎵 Community building – Your music brings people together, creating connection.
🎵 Cultural expression – Your sound represents something bigger than yourself.
Yes, music solves problems. But not the way those gurus say it does.
The key? Stop thinking of your music as a product and start seeing it as an experience that people need, even if they don’t realize it yet.
The experience of actively listening to your music can be a salve that heals.
But you can't just use a problem-solution framework in your marketing that says that. I'll get to what you CAN use in a minute.
The Desire Dilemma: How to Market What Listeners Don’t Know They Need
Here’s the challenge: Listeners don’t wake up thinking, I need to find a new favorite artist today.
They don’t crave what they haven’t experienced yet. That’s why traditional marketing falls flat. Your music isn’t something they can see or touch like a physical product.
So how do you make people want your music?
💡 You don’t market the song. You market the feeling the song gives them.
Picture this: A potential fan is scrolling through their feed, feeling lost, uninspired. Instead of just saying, “Hey, check out my new song!”, you speak directly to their experience.
You say:
"Ever feel like no one understands what you’re going through? I wrote this song for you."
Now, suddenly, they’re curious. They’re emotionally invested before they’ve even heard a single note.
Your New Marketing Mantra: Connection Over Promotion
Your music is a living, breathing expression of human experience. Market the person behind the music, the story behind the song, the emotion behind the melody.
Because in the end, people don’t just want to hear your music.
They want to feel it. They want to belong to it. They want to be part of the world you’re creating.
And when you show up as your real, authentic self?
That’s when fans don’t just listen. They stay. 🎶✨
I recorded a new podcast all about how to do this. It's a system built specifically for musicians and not some "one-size-fits-all guru approach" that doesn't apply to musicians.
Always in your corner,
<3 Bree
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