Long gone are the days when independent musicians struggled to promote themselves.
Thanks to online platforms, you can now handle the process of marketing their work without a big team or a record label.
From websites to music streaming apps, there are many opportunities for musicians to promote their work.
And that’s not to mention that most of these platforms are free of charge. So, musicians don’t have to worry about budgeting, especially if they’re just starting out.
When done right, marketing and promotion can accomplish a lot more than just spreading music to larger audiences.
It helps one gain new fans, open doors for career advancement and even propel someone to fame and glory.
So, choosing the right promotional strategy is just as crucial as creating good music.
We’ve gathered the most effective methods that will help spread the word about your music.
- Create a music website. Increase your visibility and online presence.
- Start your own YouTube channel. Regularly upload your videos, showcasing your skills, and get discovered.
- Promote live performances online. Use concert tracking apps to help advertise your live performances.
- Get on Spotify. Grow your fanbase through the biggest music streaming app.
- Upload your music on Apple Music. Get detailed data on your listeners and convenient tools to promote your music.
- Use social media. Take advantage of social platforms and expose your music to attract more followers.
- Use an email list. Send more personal, engaging promotion messages to your followers.
- Get covered by blogs. Reach out to credible online music critics and enhance your music’s discoverability to a broader audience.
- Make music videos. Visually interpret your song and engage your listeners.
- Know your niche and audience. Focus on a genre and gain insights from your listeners.
1. Create a music website
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Musicians get discovered online all the time. Think Bieber.
Having a website is a must if you want to start promoting your music. Having a good website makes all the difference, and if you want your website to get noticed then you should know the hottest web design ideas.
It helps people find you and get to know your music more as a site can provide all the details — your latest songs, most up to date news, live shows, music videos, and so on.
Plus, it’s always online. People can go back to your website at any time if they need information, for example, the dates of your gigs in their city.
2. Start your own YouTube channel
Some musicians are living proof of how YouTube has helped them promote their music and achieve absolute stardom.
The aforementioned Justin Bieber is a prime example. His local singing contest footage got noticed by his producer, Scooter Braun.
Scooter had accidentally clicked on his YouTube video and ended up liking what he saw. One video and Bieber’s life changed forever.
So, go ahead and start your own Youtube channel. From there, you can regularly upload your videos and showcase your music. With 2 billion active monthly users, no one knows who’ll end up watching your videos.
To add to your promotional efforts, leaving comments on other music channels can help introduce your own channel to their subscribers and increase your visibility. Do avoid spamming, however.
Keep in mind there’s no guarantee you’ll get to fame and fortune overnight. Many artists also needed quite some time before it all worked out for them, think 5 Seconds Of Summer and Boyce Avenue.
Be patient and consistent.
3. Promote live performances online
While you need to focus on promoting your music online, don’t forget to plan live shows too.
Putting on a fantastic performance is still the most powerful and efficient way to connect with your existing fans, as well as make an impact on new ones.
To help with getting your gigs packed, try to promote them on location-based concert-tracking apps such as Songkick and Bandsintown. They will inform people about when and where your upcoming shows will be.
4. Get on Spotify
Spotify is currently one of the most popular audio streaming apps, which makes it the perfect place to promote your music.
The Share tool comes in handy as it enables you to share your music on your social media accounts with ease, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
What’s more, your listeners can be your promoters as well. By sharing your music on their social media platforms, there’s a chance that their followers might look you up and give your songs a listen.
Try to get your music in Spotify’s most-streamed playlists, Discover Weekly or Release Radar, and expose your songs to potential new listeners.
How do you do that? By regularly producing and uploading original, high-quality music to Spotify.
Plus, you get paid each time someone streams your music. Isn’t that enticing?
5. Upload your music on Apple Music
With 60 million active users, Apple Music is another perfect platform to promote your music. Its Artists section is equipped with many features that can help improve your presence on the platform.
One of them is its advanced Analytics. You can find out the number of people listening to your songs daily, get insights on your most streamed songs and albums, as well as purchases.
You‘ll see the demographics of your audience as well — gender, age, location, and more.
The affiliate program also offers a wide range of tools that can be used to promote your music. You can generate code or preview links of your playlist or albums, and embed them on your website and social media.
With Apple Music’s support, promoting your music is super convenient.
6. Use social media
Almost half of the world’s population is active on social media.
Now that’s an astonishing number that you should definitely do something with.
Social media can open many doors: a viral tweet, post, or photo can expose you to wider audiences.
Plus, social media platforms are straightforward to utilize and are largely free of charge. Don’t we all like that?
For a compact, to-the-point promo, go to Twitter. One tweet can contain 280 characters, with a maximum of four pictures included. Thus, perfect your copywriting skills and send out attention-grabbing photos.
To increase your visibility, include appropriate hashtags and spread your music to your dedicated listeners or potential ones, e.g. #rocknroll, #pop, #hiphop.
A dedicated fan-page on Facebook is also very useful. You can share your latest releases, information on your next gigs, tour, or collaborative projects to your followers.
Apart from that, it’s also an excellent place to socialize with fans. Enable the comment section, reply to their messages on your wall, or simply ‘like’ their comment.
Facebook can help you create a deeper connection between you and your fans while collecting insights from them at the same time.
And finally, for Instagram, create visually-appealing content to draw attention.
Give a sneak-peek of your music with 15-second videos on Stories, or talk about your recent projects on IGTV.
Plus, you can always Highlight your Stories to make them visible on your profile, whenever people visit.
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7. Use an email list
Email marketing is still one of the most efficient strategies for music promotion.
For that, you’ll need an email list.
You can either build it manually with Gmail’s Group feature or with the help of tools like MailChimp.
With an email list, you can send a promotional email to multiple recipients, in this case, your followers and listeners. The process will be much quicker and easier.
Remember to make the emails personal and let your audience know that they are appreciated.
Call them by their names, use personal language, and engage in other techniques that make them feel as if you’re speaking to them directly.
Let them know about your latest releases, news, tour dates, or live gigs. Attach links that direct them to your website, Youtube channel, social media accounts, and Spotify profile.
By doing so, you make it easy for them to find you. Happy and appreciated fans are worth their weight in gold.
8. Get covered by blogs
Never underestimate the power of music blogs. They have thousands of loyal followers that trust them. Getting covered by them will expose your music to a broader range of listeners.
There are many music blogs you can reach out to. Popjustice, for example, is the web’s most popular pop music blog, which covers not only Western but also Korean pop music.
Find blogs that frequently discuss your genre.
Tip 💁 – Start locally. It’s more convenient for local blog writers to promote your music due to familiarity – venues you’ll be playing at, the events you join, local acts you’ll work with, and more.
To reach out to the blog owners or writers, you should send a personalized email, briefly outlining who you are and what you do. Give enough detail about your music, about what makes it different, and how your work relates to the blog’s niche.
Also, don’t forget to add links to your music, whether it’s on your website or on music streaming platforms. After all, it’s the reason why you are reaching out — to promote your music.
Once you’ve got a deal and your music is covered, don’t forget to share the article link on your own online platforms.
And always thank the writer after they give you coverage. They’ve done you a huge favor.
9. Make music videos
Music videos have taken all of the most-viewed video spots on Youtube since 2010. Six billion views are not unheard of and we’re sure this year’s top hit will go over that.
Editor’s note 📝 – A music video is a powerful tool in your promotional toolbox. It provides a visual interpretation of a song, and these days all you need is a smartphone and an idea to make your own.
How much a music video is viewed or talked about depends on how interesting and well-produced it is. Yet, having one almost automatically means that it will get more attention and recognition than just an audio recording.
Thus, start creating your music videos now and share them on all of your online platforms – personal website, Youtube channel, and social media accounts.
10. Know your niche and audience
Keep in mind that when it comes to online content, sticking to a niche is crucial. The same goes for music.
Not only will it attract more people with the same interest, but it can also build a strong connection with them. It’ll be easier for you to get to know and interact with your followers.
People will most likely buy your music, come to your shows, and buy your merch if they can relate to your music.
Listeners will also help spread your music voluntarily, either by word of mouth or through social media.
So, focus on your genre and what you do best. Then let your audience know they’re appreciated.
Do what you love
Your love for music is the most important aspect to your success.
By doing what you’re passionate about, you’ll be motivated to create new music and improve your skills continuously. Promoting your work is what comes after.
Plus, there are tons of methods and platforms to help you with that, as you can see from the list above.
Find what works for you and use it to the max. Start promoting now and share your music with the world.
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