The music industry is notorious for shooting from the hip, as they say. Many of the major events that have occurred in music were unplanned ‘happy accidents.’ Richie Haven’s off the cuff ‘Freedom’ medley at the start of Woodstock in 1969 was one of the most memorable performances of the festival. Eli Fountain’s sax intro at the beginning of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On?’ was a result of him goofing around in the studio while the tapes ran (Gaye reportedly told Eli: "Well, you goof exquisitely. Thank you."). Even Jonny Greenwood’s chunky power chord right before the chorus for Radiohead’s ‘Creep,’ which is the defining moment of that song, was actually a mistake that the band, and producer, Paul Kolderie, decided to leave in.

But when it comes to music marketing and promoting, the band with a well thought out plan for reaching their potential fans is the odds on favorite to progress their career further than a band that leaves promotion up to chance.

In order to create a successful marketing plan, it helps to know the lay of the land. I wrote a piece a little while back that points out what the common components are to a music marketing plan. And while this plan details what a record label will likely do for your band, the information in here is also useful to folks that are doing it on their own. Take a look at it here:

Putting Together a Marketing Plan that Works

Once you have these basics together, you’ll need to target your potential market. Arny Schorr, president of S'More Entertainment, talks about how to determine where your following is, and how to laser in on them using structured and organic marketing techniques.

In the case of some bands (and this number is getting lower every year), their marketing plan will be directed and executed by a record label. Peter Standish is the Vice President of Marketing at Warner Bros. Music, and in this clip he talks about the different marketing positions within the label structure, and how the marketing department works hand in hand with the artist’s managers to look out for the band’s interests as well as maintaining the goals of the label. Watch this interview here:

Janet Kleinbaum is the Senior VP of Artist Marketing and Video Production for Jive Records. In this clip she discusses the different channels a record label can use to market and distribute an artist, and how the rise of the Internet has been a major factor in marketing her bands.

For more marketing strategy content, take a look here.