HELP! An Artistic Diva’s Music Marketing & Distribution Conundrum

The ever mysterious and highly unusual, Bjork.

I’m trying to figure out how to get my music in front of the right listenership.  I need to make it visible and available to people who will understand it and appreciate it.

I know there is a demographic of music enthusiasts out there who wants to listen to music for its lyrical and artistic merit, as opposed to a juvenile hook and a monotonous beat you can bop to while your pants sag below your bottom.

I know there are people out their who still want to read the words to a song, and want those words to have meaning more profound than oversexed materialistic narcissism.

I know many of you reading this ARE that demographic. You listen to a broad array of music, and tend to shy away from the prepackaged jingles that play ad nauseam on corporate radio stations.

Sadly, many people in today’s world don’t care much about art. They don’t appreciate why the painter may take months to finish a masterpiece. They think attending a symphony is for old rich people.  They feel that reading classic literature is a boring waste of time, particularly when you can just download the movie on Netflix.

They don’t comprehend the time and care a songwriter puts into constructing a composition, and are satisfied to listen to tracks compiled by a team of producers and lip synched by a Barbie doll model with a bad attitude, raunchy antics, and too much makeup.

Hardly anyone wants to “stop and smell the roses” anymore, except the small group of people who also tend to enjoy my music.

They’re the sort of people who read the book before they see the movie the book inspired. Whenever possible, they prefer hand prepared meals as opposed to “fast food” or frozen dinners. They may not be able to afford real paintings, but they definitely prefer them to posters of Katy Perry. They like blending real limes in their margaritas instead of using a mix. They appreciate natural and healthy beauty as opposed to airbrushed models and shallow ideals of sexuality. They often to strange and cultured things, like make their own jewelry, attend wine tastings, go to nerdy conventions, recite poetry, and eat hummus.

They enjoy listening to other artsy musicians, including Loreena McKennitt, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and the occasional Swedish prog metal band like Opeth.

Now we’ve defined by listeners. They’re awesome people, aren’t they?  But how do I reach them?  How do I, on a shoe string budget, get my music in front of those people?