How to market original piano music?

[alybaracat]

I have been playing the piano for 10 years, however, 3 years ago, I started composing music. I wanted to ask you all how do you market your songs , how to make more people listen to your original pieces?

I started a youtube channel but I am struggling to get views and feedback.

This is one of my original pieces illustrating the ups and downs of any relationship - Frozen Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iix3V2kRWIE

[Colin Nicholson]

Welcome to the forum....
This post may be in the wrong category, and perhaps may best be suited on a Classical piano forum such as ABRSM.. but here may be a goods start to help you further.

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to "Music Production" or "how to become famous" ...... but I have a few general comments you may wish to take on-board as the joe public listener. This sometimes results in never hearing from the new member again, and they take their 'tools' elsewhere for a better response, (or comments they only want to hear?)

Firstly, I am a little confused your 2nd sentence says "how do you market your songs" .... but your overall subject seems to be based on "piano composition" writing for piano solo. If the former, can you show a video of a song you have written/ sung/ played with the lyrics and piano backing? You should be clear what you are composing for.

Your piano playing seems to be a reasonable standard, have you had piano lessons/ theory/ composition lessons?

The piece "Frozen Love" .... (to me, only my opinion) - seems rather basic, and too much repetition (and sequence) of the same theme. I'm also not sure if your debut performance should be based on the ups and downs of a love relationship. I also think by adding the word "Frozen" has inadvertently steered you into thinking if I choose this word in my title, anyone looking for "Frozen" / Let it go/ Do you wanna build a snowman? .... from the Disney sensation may put you next to them on the YouTube hit list.

Left hand chord texture (C minor) - using a basic spread chord sequence is OK for parts of the music. As the music changes key to E flat major.... it just sounds a bit like a "music theory exercise" .... "how to modulate to the relative major" ????

A couple of important issues first (basics) ...... your piano sounds OUT OF TUNE. Has it been tuned recently, or just before your recording? Some of the octaves later in the piece sounded wildly out of tune.... certainly not the way forward to attract listeners. Kawai are nice pianos (I have the K5 myself) - and sound wonderful when tuned, so I recommend you book a professional piano tuning - to you, it might sound Ok, but to a professional musician, your piano is out of tune by some margin - especially in the top treble regions.

Home-made video/ camera shake/ wrong angles for video (taken almost under the pianist) .... needs care.

I would suggest that you start by recording some well-known piano pieces - from Grade 6 standard/ major key/ more rhythm variety/ syncopation/ suspensions in harmony etc.... and also try listening to Abba.... sounds weird I know, but analyse their music scores for a better melody line.

The pieces (I also heard another sad piece of music.... why sad?) .... sound OK within themselves, but I think by starting your debut in the minor mode will not attract many - sounds rather "funeral" like.

You seem to stick in the same key & chords? .... your rhythm skills need a lot of attention and brushing up, however, suited to a small audience who like this kind of music will be OK. Anyone as a recognised "composer" has previously been to a music college and studies composition properly. perhaps starts with something a bit brighter?

Hope that helps.

Colin

[Model V]

^ A very subtle reply.

To be honest your composition is very basic. About the standard of a bare pass GCSE composition. Most professionals who are able to, could improvise better compositions.

Sorry, but stick to the day job!

MV

[vernon]

dodgy ground here.
there are thousands of eminent musicians writing music out there; exquisitely melodic and harmonically correct that get nowhere.
Music is an art that appeals to depths that we cannot begin to understand.
Being very ignorant in this matter, I venture to suggest that some of the Beatles All Time Greats lack expertise but they bestride much other.
For me Bach's bleak cello sonatas are exquisite tho' others find them boring(most of my family).
Music is completely subjective. Thank goodness.
Listen to Peggy Lee singing "Brown Bird" unaccompanied

[Model V]

Have a look at Howard Goodall's excellent programme about the Beatles. He explores how the Beatles' music is not just innovative; it is also of very high technical quality in purely musical terms. Hence their enduring appeal. The same goes for all bands that have stood the test of time. Sometimes the excellence is in the production e.g. the work of Trevor Horn, but excellence there is, in some form. Great popular artists who do not have musical training, invariably have people behind them who do. Those who don’t (think of the giants of Blues and Jazz) have very many years’ learning their trade at the feet of masters (a bit like the way Indian classical music is passed down).

So you do not need formal musical training to write great music. I know many musicians with vast training but little creativity as composers. They often wind up orchestrating or arranging – using their particular gifts.

But none of this helps the OP whose music is just unoriginal, bland and simplistic. Sorry.

[Colin Nicholson]

The OP may be interested in this information I have.
Being able to sit at the piano and compose 'by ear' is one thing, but then being able to recall the melody/ harmony exactly and then convert it into written musical notation (using pencil on manuscript paper or PC/ or both) is another thing.
If you choose to compose ad lib/ by ear/ off the cuff.... how do you know if your melody & harmony has substance/ correctly notated and so on?

Over the life time of me teaching piano, theory of music and general music skills, I have created hundreds of music files/ course notes for melody writing, chord progressions & cadences.... right from the basics to advanced melodies & harmonies. I also occasionally use snippets of information from well-established text books such as "Melody Writing" by Annie Warburton/ Harmony & Counterpoint by Lovelock, and some of the ABRSM syllabus. It is also useful to buy the ABRSM "Music Theory in Practise" books - showing working exercises. Some of my work is based on this, and includes a stop-start-explain policy along with purposefully written wrong examples/ model answers and backed with various exercises as you go along. Part 1 of my melody writing notes covers the basics/ bars 1-4 only/ simple chord structure using the primary chords I, IV and V.

My other course notes have detailed information/ exercises etc on simple chord progressions/ cadences/ harmony and useful tips on how to make your music stand out.

These notes are ideally suited to students leading up to Grade 5 standard.

Here are some of the Melody Writing contents >>>

Melody Writing Contents

melody.jpg (127.75 KiB) Viewed 11318 times

Harmony/ chords, cadences & progressions contents >>

Chords contents

chords.jpg (121.13 KiB) Viewed 11318 times

.... and here is an example of a working exercise taken from the above Chords/ cadences etc.
(Cadences and progressions are covered later in the notes) >>>

Example chord exercises

If you do not understand any of the above, then this may be where you are going wrong.... and possibly some 'Old school' theory/ keyboard skills required first before trying to make up your own music.
Hope this is useful. All my notes are professionally printed, binded and can be sent anywhere in the world.
Some other music teachers have welcomed my approach and bought my course notes, which are very detailed.

Colin