 Baw, what's up everybody, once again, it's Brandon Shawn on a Friday, and then you already know it, it's a Friday video, I'm going over some kind of music, resource, tool, tactic, or strategy. Today, I got a strategy for you guys. Now, a lot of people ask me things like, what do I start with my brand? How do I build a following? What do I do? Where should I go in terms of marketing myself? There's one thing, especially at a beginner level that I think can be very useful to a lot of people. It's this simple. One, find artists that are similar to you. Now, I know this isn't it, by the way, for those of y'all who want to cut it off right there. Yeah, I know that already, but I gotta say that because it's gonna help the rest of the strategy. When it comes to finding artists that are similar to you, a lot of people are like, yo, I don't know, I don't sound like anybody, I'm so different. Well, I'm gonna do a video on why that could be a horrible thing, and why it probably is a horrible thing. If you truly, truly are extremely different, like nobody's like you, but nine times out of 10, nine point nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine times out of 10, you aren't as different as you think you are. Maybe you just don't have the self-awareness to ask people around you who would they compare you to most closely. It doesn't mean you're exactly like them, but who would they compare you to most closely at the time. Now, once you have some artists that you can do that with, it's gonna tell you two things. When it comes to marketing and what outlets you should be on, it's going to help you know that if this artist is in this outlet, then that means there's fans there who appreciate that type of music. Now, the biggest problem might come if you're looking at somebody like Drake or Kendrick Lamar, they're at such a level of celebrity where they're on outlets for just their celebrity alone, just because they're there doesn't mean that there's fans. So, if someone says you are like one of these people who are very big, future Drake, Jay-Z, I don't know, Kanye, you need to then, now that you have this outside perspective of what you sound like, dilute that into an artist who's not as big, but you feel like are in that same pocket. Look at those artists that might be at the medium level or I don't know, whatever level below, and then look at the media outlets that they're on, especially if the outlets post a lot of artists that are similar to that artist, then you know that the fan base that's following the outlet probably would like your music as well if you're good at it. Now, if that outlet only covered that type of artist once, then they probably don't have a fan base that really, really speaks to that type of music. You can try to get on that outlet, but it's not the same as a publication or YouTube channel or Instagram page that covers a whole bunch of one type of artist. So, those are two huge things to really keep in mind. Where are these artists being placed and what is the fan base who follow those artists? Then the second thing is the hardcore, straight, practical, laborious process of reaching out to these artist fans. If you go to an artist, and this person has 50,000 subscribers or 50,000 followers, let's do it followers because we can do that on Instagram. I have 50,000 followers and I'm super lyrical and you are a hyper lyrical artist. I only have 50,000 artists since I only have 50,000 fans, if I have legitimate followers, those followers are probably into the niche of the hyper lyrical. So, you wanna go look at my followers on Instagram and start hitting up the followers. It takes time, there's some other ways that you can kind of expedite it, not gonna do that on this video, but reach out to those followers, man. And when you hit these people up, ask these people to look at your videos or listen to your music or I don't know, just start some kind of conversation. The point is, these are the people that you should be looking at to begin that building of your fan base. Really use other artists to guide you to the proper audience and then engage that audience, the people who are following those people, the people who are following those outlets. A lot of people waste time doing things like follow for follow randomly and even asking certain people for opinions on their music who would not even like their music in the first place. Know who you're talking to. Getting in front of the right audience is gonna save you a lot of time. Anyway, if you liked this video, go ahead and hit that like button if you like it, like it, as well as share it and if you're not subscribed. You know what to do, hit that subscribe button.