Hey Reader!

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Welcome to our second Music Industry Digest newsletter!

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Psychology is behind every decision we make. As consumers ourselves, we hardly notice how important it is when it comes to purchasing things, becoming someone's fan, and virtually anything else. In this newsletter, we'll run you through four ways brands leverage certainty, a sense of belonging, recognition, status and power to ensure they gain and keep customers.

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Note: When using psychology in brand/business, please ensure that you do so ethically. Do not try to manipulate fans, as there's no integrity in it. Do so with good intentions, and to make them feel a part of your brand.

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One quote about this topic:

"All decision making is a values-clarifying Exercise" - Tony Robbins

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☕- As always, please read this email in a relaxed environment. We want you to soak up all the gems.

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Covered In This Newsletter:
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1. Certainty
2. Belonging
3. Recognition
4. Power & Status

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1: Certainty

Certainty is ingrained into our biology. Have you ever wondered why we, as humans, find attractive people attractive? One of the key reasons is that someone who looks after themselves signifies to us that they are a suitable and robust mate. A man or women then pursues that person because psychologically, he or she ticks the boxes of having a healthy and secure family = Certainty.

A well-known brand in the U.K called "Marks & Spencer's" creates a sense of certainty for their consumers by communicating the date in which they were established (1884). This simple act of adding a date to their logo and advertising material shows to customers how long they've been around for, and that they aim to stick around. Once again = Certainty.

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Ways to build certainty:

• Remind fans of how long you've been in the music game or that you're excited about the next "X" years.
• Document your career and show fans what you're up to.
• Defend fans if they come under attack from other commenters.
• Talk about why you love music or what got you into music.
• Share your older tracks (this shows you have an extensive catalog from months/years ago).

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2: Belonging

Human beings are social creatures by nature. We flourish when in groups, whether that's completing projects together like in High-school, or working with people to help manage our careers. When we're a part of something, we feel a strong sense of belonging. One brand that does this well is "Dove".

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Dove put together an advertising campaign that focussed on building solidarity between women of all shapes, colours and sizes. What this portrayed to consumers was that their brand stood for more than just "making money". Their brand became a safe-place for women so that they never had to feel ashamed about their bodies. And thus, women were far more likely to identify with and purchase from a brand that saw women as equally beautiful. Now, when women purchase from Dove, they see a brand with values that aligns with theirs.

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As an artist, it's up to you to find ways to help your fans feel like they're a part of your brand. Celebrities often try to create their tribe by having names for their fans, such as "Beliebers" (Justin Bieber), "Ratpack (Logic), Swifties (Taylor Swift), and so on. The more you can make your fans feel a part of your brand, the more they'll feel attached to your message. Even better, they'll probably end up being a fan for life - or at least for a long, long time.

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Ways you can build a sense of belonging:

• Calling your fans a nickname.
• Supporting them (engaging with them).
• Host meet-ups
• Shoutout fans at your shows and make eye contact with them.
• Inspire your fans through content.
• Think about how you can get your fans to align with your views on things perhaps?

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3: Recognition

From the moment we're born, our ego is created. We get recognised as being an adorable baby, and everyone wants to protect us, hold us and tell us how amazing we are. The reality is that we, as consumers and creators, love to feel recognised. One of the many reasons we even post personally to social media (this doesn't include you as you have a brand) is to be "seen" - why else would we post things about ourselves to people who we don't speak to or wouldn't want to hang out with?

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Understanding this allows you to pay close attention to ways you can recognise your fans and show them your appreciation. Too often we see artists gaining recognition and praise, but not giving anything back. Fans take time off work to pay for your shows. They spend valuable hours of their lives listening to something you created. You have to learn to build a sense of recognition in your brand. We want to feel loved, appreciated and seen. So let your fans know that you see them. Be personable and message fans to thank them. Send random gifts, random videos and so on to show that they are awesome.

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Ways to show recognition:

• Sending a thank you DM for sharing a post.
• Sharing a story post whenever a fan tags you.
• Sending personal video messages.
• Sending "thank you" voicenotes.
• Adding fans to your music videos or cover arts.
• Sharing pictures of you with fans.
• Calling people by their names of Instagram Live's.
• Responding to comments on your music video or social media posts.

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4: Power & Status

We can almost guarantee you've never sat and thought, "how can I make my fans feel powerful?" - It's always about you, right? (It's okay to admit this). The reason this is important to ask is that a lot of the human existence (sadly) is based on status and worth in society.

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Designer brands know about wellh. A Designer brand like Gucci, for example, knows that their clothing is more than just good quality materials and nice designs. The word "Gucci" holds with it status amongst it's buyers. A Gucci buyer will automatically think of themselves as more superior to someone who wears non-branded clothes. Once again, this is a biological process and signifies that we can look after ourselves and be safe thanks to our money and ability to buy nice things.

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Clothing also impacts social power. In a negotiation context, a study by Kraus and Mendes (2014) demonstrated that men in business suits benefit from a perception of dominance.

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When we see a man or woman wearing Gucci, we automatically think about their wealth and status. The same happens if they're driving a supercar, for example. One brand that instils power and status in their customers is Supreme. They do this by leveraging two things:

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1. FOMO = "Fear Of Missing Out", so customers buy their products as soon as it's released.
2. Status = Buying limited edition products enhances your status and sense of "coolness" psychologically.

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Ways you can make your fans feel powerful:

• Sell Limited-stock merchandise that rewards people with status (die hard fans!)
• Give sneak-peeks of content to newsletter subscribers only.

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Thanks for reading!

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This email is brought to you by Musicspace, the easy way for Musicians to organize and protect their music catalog's in minutes from just $3.99/month.

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As always Music Industry Digest Family, we hope you enjoyed this newsletter! - It takes us a while to ensure we provide the very best content, so if you get a moment, please share this link with your friends who could also benefit from this newsletter.

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Stay Learning MID Family,

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Your Music Industry Digest Team

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