GENRE CONFUSION pg. 2
Inherently there are several problems with doing the research yourself. First, it takes a lot of time. Second, unless you are well schooled in various languages you'll find you can't read much on foreign sites. And third, you'll still make mistakes and run into people who don't agree with your decided genre classification.
Another way to tackle this problem is to flood the market under every conceivable genre listing you can find. If you're working at one site (like musicdownloads.com) you'll realize very quickly you'll need multiple email addresses in order to keep signing your music up under different genres. Then you'll need to upload your music many times over. And finally, you'll need to monitor your results on a regular basis in order to figure out which genre classifications are getting you the most plays and downloads. This is a nasty, time consuming job and it's not a big surprise that most independent artists just don't have the time to do this. However, in the changing world of digital downloads it's almost necessary to do it.
My best advice to all independent artists is to stop trying to be so different in your genre classification. Calling your music some new, slick type of genre doesn't help your audience find you. Stick to the broadest category your music could possibly fit under. You may not end up with a hot new genre being born out of your songs, but you'll get more fans. And as we all hope, more fans of the music will bring more sales of our releases, which means we can all go on doing what we want to do - making more music.
Cut through the genre confusion. Stop trying to be unique. If your music is truly unique, it'll stand out and get noticed. You shouldn't have to shout about it, or tell people to add you to their playlists. If you're doing that you're grasping at straws...if you had the fan base to start with you shouldn't need to tell them to listen to your tracks or add your songs to their playlists. It would already be happening. There are fans of all styles of music out in the world today. You've just not reached the people who like your kind of music yet. Regroup, rethink, reclassify your music, and try again.
Kristi Ameringer, former-President and Producer, Dark World International
