Independent Artists.... Here are a couple of things that you should keep in mind in 2016.

1. Don't do anything without a plan and make sure your plan has an exit.
2. Don't do paid showcases unless it is an extension of your already booming marketing strategy. Gospel showcases are not going to break you as an artist. They are designed to give you exposure so stop treating them like they are the "end all, be all" in your life.
3. Use videos in Social Media for exposure but take it a step further this year. Take some online classes and study how to effectively market and promote your self on Social Media.
4. Master your craft if this is what you are supposed to do. Some of us aren't that good at what we profess to be our ministry. There is a difference between a singer and an artist. You need to figure it out.
5. Find out what you are really good at in music ministry and "Do It". Stop trying to be everything to everybody. There are people who have been assigned to support you but you need to be in the right place musically and with your marketing/promotion for them to find you.
6. Know this.... Church music is coming back. People are soon going to come back to music with a strong message and strong harmonies People are going to start desiring meat instead of milk again. Church choirs and directors need music that the average choir can sing. If you write music like that then you need to start gathering up your songs because "ITS COMING BACK".
7. Radio isn't everything. In 2015 I produced two records in the Billboard Top 10 sales chart that received very little Gospel Radio airplay. Keep this in mind before you spend your mortgage on a prominent radio promoter.
8. Start submitting your songs to conferences like the GMWA, Thomas Dorsey Convention, Hampton Ministers Conference, Edwin Hawkins Seminar and other smaller conventions. Your songs will go a lot farther when directors are taking them back home singing them in church. You need a holistic plan when marketing your music ministry.
9. Turn your heart back to God and off of popularity. in my opinion, Reality shows have ruined our passion for being ministers and caused us to desire stardom. We don't desire excellence and we want to be the next sensation instead of spreading the Gospel through music. Let us all go back to what makes "Gospel" "Gospel".
10. Come together in your city with other Independent aritsts and Pastors and figure out how to maximize your buying and selling potential amoung those who are buying Gospel Music. The one thing I have realized is that we can do a lot more unified then we can apart.
www.indiegospelalliance.com