REGINA – Saskatchewan music artist, Jess Moskaluke knows how to market herself with YouTube – strangely enough, it includes recording other artists’ songs.
“The cover songs lead people to go and watch her original music, so she’s gearing up to release a new album right away and she has an enormous fan base,” said Lorena Kelly with Sask Music.
Moskaluke’s cover of Pink’s Try has more than 650, 000 views. It’s something she hopes other local artists and composers will take note of.
“She’s getting the same views that major label artists are getting, with basically no cash outlay, which is awesome,” said Kelly.
Sask Music hosted a free workshop in Saskatoon on Sunday and Regina on Wednesday called “Tools, Tips and Tricks for musicians and YouTube” with guest speakers Matt Voyno and Roshan Hoover, authors of The New Rock Star Philosophy.
So how do you stand out in a web saturated with new talent? Creativity plays a part. “For example, with Walk off the Earth’s video, it was a unique presentation,” Kelly said referring to their single, Somebody I Used to Know, one of the most watched videos of last year.
Regina-based singer songwriter, Jeffery Straker said it’s all about introducing yourself to fans and forming a connection.
“With each consecutive record I’ve released, I’ve always done some official music video, but then I’ve also made sure I’ve done quirky ‘on the road” videos too,” he said.
“It’s one of the most used search engines online now, so to not have a YouTube presence is a big mistake,” he added.
Straker’s online presence is only part of his overall marketing strategy. His real love, of course, is touring – 100 shows this year across North America, something YouTube also helped with.
“The booking for Maui actually came from someone seeing some live performance videos,” he said. “So while I was there, I was like, ‘wow, mental note – put up some more YouTube videos.”
Comments