Press play: Ex-SG Idol Sezairi Sezali on the importance of community in marketing music

Sezairi Sezali, otherwise known as Sezairi, rose to prominence after winning the third season of Singapore Idol in 2009. First stuffed into the genre of Malay rock, the singer broke out of the precedence set for him and ventured into pop music and has since flourished over his 15-year career in the industry. 

As struggles come with marketing on different social media platforms, including adapting to different audience demographics and communication styles, Sezairi's go-to in engaging with fans through his long career has been live performances and community events. 

In this series, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spoke with Sezairi to get to know more about how he markets his music and himself as a rising artist. 

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MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Tell me the story of your first big moment when you felt you made it in the industry.

Sezairi: One of the biggest moments for me was when I opened for Taylor Swift in 2011. At that point, I had just released a song in English called Broken. People were singing along to Broken for the first time, so probably around 10,000 to 15,000 people singing it.

It opened up my eyes to the possibility of, "Hey, you know, whoever that's listening to your music, also grows and progresses with you."

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What’s the most exciting way you’ve marketed your music? How did you go about it? 

Sezairi: Attending music festivals. Every year I tell my marketing team, "Okay, we're about to release this, which are the music festivals that we are going to and who's going to these festivals? What kind of music do they listen to? Where do I fit in this?" 

Doing it live and in a fun way where you can include community and build community. The best marketing really is to meet community because if you build a community, then you whatever you say from then on, will spread within this community before it gets out to the rest of the world. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What are some challenges you faced in marketing your music? 

Sezairi:

I think the biggest challenge is the copy between each platform.

It's slightly different. People on my Instagram respond to vlog style captions, where I'm pouring my heart out. People that exist on my TikTok, it's just an emoji. That one emoji, if it synchronises with that video, will create more of a response than a large wall of texts.

It's a different approach that you can only learn when you start interacting with the people that are on your page. That's something that I didn't like to do at the start because I'm actually a very shy person until I start talking, until I'm in a comfortable space, but I just don't like to express my opinions in a public space.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What’s one marketing tip you’d like to give fellow musicians who are starting out and are struggling to get their music out there? 

Sezairi: You should think about your marketing, but just know that as an artist, you're not meant to multitask. Do one thing at a time. Concentrate on your music, finish it, don't judge it, listen to it for what it is, and then go on to the next step. 

If you're thinking about a 10, 20-year career, you have to take your time, you have to slowly think about things.

When you don't rush into things, you are more honest with yourself.

Join us on 12 June 2024 for an exciting experience as Content360 makes its debut in Malaysia! Brace yourself to join the crème de la crème of the content marketing industry hailing from across the region. Immerse yourself in a dynamic atmosphere, and uncover the latest trends with thought leaders and solution providers from the realm of content.

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