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One of the things that I value in people I meet, work with, do business with and perform with is authenticity. I have been hearing and reading about this in the comments section of some of the blog posts from other musicians too.

In this new age of social media and using tools like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and others to grow a following, the value of being authentic in your communication with your fans over simply promoting yourself is paramount. It is the difference between being a success in using online communities and being a failure.

It is first useful to understand what authenticity is. As I understand it, authenticity is being real and genuine in the way you communicate. It is about your underlying principles – are you first looking to make and share great music and art, or is money your motivating principle? Usually, the way you communicate is a reflection of that. Authenticity in your communication is like the natural flow of conversation you may have when talking with a best friend.

I believe that my success with Inner Rhythm is down to the authentic communication via my blog, newsletter, products, speaking and even sales messages. It is the same with my use of social media sites Facebook and Twitter. It is how pianist Grace Nikae has been successfully using online communities for her music.

Being authentic in your communication can be challenging if it hasn’t been your normal way of looking at music strategy and promotion. It can bring out our fears in not having enough money or not getting the results we want. Especially the fear of rejection.

What is most important is a compelling clarity in what you’re setting out to achieve. That’s what we look at in the Musicians Mastermind program too. A serious clarity and vision of how you want to design your music career and music business is vital for being confident in authentically creating financial success and personal fulfillment.

Seth Godin recently wrote a post about The Dead Zone of Slick in which he writes about a live duo he heard and because he was inspired by their authenticity and music, he went on to buy their CD. He hated the CD. In his own words, here’s how he describes it:

Faced with the excitement of making a CD and all the knobs and dials, they overproduced the record. They went from being two real guys playing authentic music, live and for free, and became a multi-tracked quartet in search of a professional sound. And they ended up in the dead zone. Not enough gloss to be slick, too much to be real. 

Here are a few points to being more authentic in your music conversations, both online and offline:

1. Write and speak personally. Use I/me rather than we/us. Authentic communication to your e-mail list or Twitter following is about speaking specifically, rather than abstractly. Be aware, however, that life is not about me, me, me.

2. Listen carefully, and respect what is being said. Listen actively. Don’t disrupt others and don’t formulate a response whilst listening.

3. Look and listen for the heart of a person behind his or her words.

4. Laugh – both at your words and other’s words. 

5. Be transparent. There is nothing to hide. When you’re open and transparent, people will come to you more. If you don’t know something, just accept it and let them know. Transparency is key.

Please share your own tips to being more authentic in your communication…

 

About the Author

Kavit Haria

adminKavit Haria is the founder of InsiderMusicBusiness.com. He writes and speaks on the topics of music promotion, music business strategy and music entrepreneurship. He's also a Tabla player.

4 Responses to “Authenticity: A new currency in the artist-fan relationship”

  1. Thank you for this wonderful post. Everything you’ve written speaks to me. One additional tip – which is just a personal thing – would be to consider addressing different groups of people appropriately in written communication. Sometimes when I get a “Dear Friends” newsletter from someone I don’t know very well, I experience two things. . . first I feel – “oh how nice that this person feels close enough to me to include me as one of their friends” and I’m kind of drawn in. . . .

    Then, unless this person is a little off the rocker and really does think of me, a stranger, as a true blue friend, I wake up and realize that 1. s/he are just one of those folks who befriends all their fans or subscribers with good intent but without realizing that false or feigned closeness can potentially be a turn off for some folks or 2. they are in a transitional phase and don’t quite realize yet that their fanbase has grown beyond their friends. My husband doesn’t even go through these stages of emotions – he just ignores the “dear friends” message coming from a non-friend.

    One thing I have done when on some occasions I want to convey more than a quick “hello everyone” is that I address my whole list by addressing its parts as in “dear family, friends, and fans”. Or if you don’t like to use the word “fans”, then something like this phrase that I personally prefer could also work: “greetings family, friends, and fellow music lovers”. If you work some place and a large part of your list is in association with that organization, then address them in some way like “co-workers” or “colleagues”, “fellow volunteers” etc. Come up with your own variation on this based on your personality and the members of your list and nothing beats funny, creative groupings (so long as they are not insulting). Though this is less my forte, I’ll try something here at the risk of embarrassing and/or dating myself: “Greetings to all who remember life before and after the microwave oven: Today while I was writing a song about cooking….”

    The other extreme of “Hi everyone” is to address each subscriber individually. Thus far, I have not experimented with email merge to “personalize” letters, but I personally think that if used at all, it should be used carefully, perhaps limiting it to a subset of your list or people with whom you are not otherwise communicating regularly, because it risks coming off as a mass mail with a “Hi Joe” attached to it. My two cents.

  2. I’m just processing Morning Tune Up 61. A while ago I started to record videos of improvised, uncensored music, that I play to greet the new day.
    I just sit down on the studio floor in front of my little photo camera. (Lofi, lo tech)
    It is the first thing I do in the morning after my first cup of tea.
    In the beginning it was a bit strange to do it. But now it has become my morning meditation.
    But more is happening: I get fans. Not through promotion.
    It is because of my BEING there in front of the camera. Facing the uncertain. Maybe with a headache from last nights party. Sunny days, rainy days. I’m there. And my fans love it.
    It is completely different from our albums with Blue Star although there is a strong connection musically and personally. People who discover me on utube or via my blog check out the Blue Star homepage. And of course they want more music and love our albums. You can find all of my Morning Tune Ups at http://sexyguitar.blogspot.com
    Would love to meet you there;

    Peter

  3. i dig!

  4. Peter, I’m definitely going to check out your blog. I did something similar at June end just on a whim, out of desire to touch base with my peeps out there to whom I had not written in a while . . . no frills, no make up, just presented a work in progress and was equally nervous about putting it “out there” just like that. I did add some text to it to set it up, because I’m into video production, but overall it was lo-fi and simple – just using my laptop. I did tell my list about it. – it was fun and such a release and, like you, I also received some encouraging feedback about the connection it offered.

    This is where it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azGyLqextu8

    I’m off to check out your sexy guitar blog.
    -Manisha

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