Whether you’re an artist, songwriter, DJ, singer, or music group, music promotion and marketing is essential if you want to successfully sell your music, inspire your fans, and hold concerts.
With the influence of new technologies in the industry, it has never been easier for musicians to promote their work. However, musicians continue to face the challenge of selling their creative work and gaining recognition. Gone are the days when we went to the record store to buy the latest album of our favorite singer.
Today we are subscribed to music streaming services and watch music videos on YouTube. How can musicians make money in this saturated and ever-changing market?
Whether you’re early in your career or a seasoned pro, there are plenty of ways to market yourself as a musician without hiring a manager or marketing agency. We show you the best way to promote your music without breaking the bank.
1. create a brand
You are a musician, but when it comes to music promotion, you are also an entrepreneur. That means you have to create a strong brand to stand out from the crowd.
What does that mean? Imagine a famous singer you know, for example, Beyonce. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe words like “extraordinary singer”, but also “powerful”, “empowered”, “Queen Bey”. All these elements together create a mental image or brand. Think about how you want your brand to be from the beginning. It will be part of every piece of content you create and must be consistent across all platforms and actions for music promotion to be successful.
Where do I begin? Since musicians are creative people, they may be able to create their own brand without the help of a music promotion agency. Even if it’s not your forte, there are tools that offer great templates to get you started.
Simple design tools like Fotor offer great templates that you can use as a starting point to design your brand and logo. This can be as simple as your name in a certain font and color scheme. Keep your music genre in mind when creating your brand. For example, a DJ’s brand may include bold lettering and a combination of black and fluorescent pink or blue. A country singer might use more earthy colors and genre-related imagery.
Be sure to write down the fonts and colors you’ve used so you can use them again in the future. This is also useful when making your own band merch, which we’ll talk about later.
2. create a website
A website is very important in your music promotion strategy. It is a very easy way to present your best content. In addition, the websites of the musicians are very well received by those in charge of booking the concerts.
There are also some wonderful platforms like WordPress WIX and Shopify that offer customizable templates that you can use to create your own music marketing website. You should use your website to sell your music and feature it on the home page.
On his website, his fans can also see his upcoming shows and buy tickets. Even if you don’t offer concerts, your music website should include your contact details or a contact form so customers can easily book you for a private event.
When creating your website, pay attention to your branding and include your logo, fonts, colors, and associated images.
3. Show a strong social media presence
Social media is the most important aspect of music promotion today. Many people discover new music through Facebook and Instagram, so they are perfect platforms to promote your music.
Create accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. This may seem like a lot of work, but you can publish the same content on multiple platforms using tools like Coshedule or Hootsuite used. You can create a music video for YouTube, edit it and post a 5-10 second sneak peek to Instagram and Facebook, then tweet about your new release on Twitter with the link.
4. build a fan base
If you’re worried about growing your audience from scratch, you can try a trick by converting your existing personal accounts to your brand account. In this way, you will keep all your current followers.
This works on most platforms except Facebook, which has strict guidelines for business pages. Make sure what you post is related to your brand. Change your profile picture to your logo and update your bio section describing your music and work. Don’t forget to use the relevant #H ???? hashtags and emojis.
5. engage your fans
Retain existing fans before looking for new ones. Whether you have 5 or 500 followers, make them your biggest fans. Ask them to participate and commit. Try Instagram’s “Ask a Question” feature in your Story to get your followers’ thoughts on things like your song names. Music promotion works best when all of your fans are involved.
6. Promote your music
Music promotion doesn’t work without advertising, of course.
You can promote your next show or album by earning tickets or a package of free signed items. Try broadcasting some scenes live before the show to promote it.
Paid advertising is another profitable way to promote your music. For just $10, you can boost your posts on Facebook or Instagram to reach the right audience. Target your music promotion campaigns at people who are already interested in your genre.
7. music streaming platforms
In addition to social networks, you should also be active on platforms like Spotify or Soundcloud. These platforms are not only great for promoting and selling your music, but you can also get feedback and see how your fans react to your songs.
Before choosing a platform, you should consider which one fits your genre and where your fans might be. For example, if you make electronic or house music, Soundcloud is the most suitable platform. Also consider the features and price of each platform before deciding.
8. document everything
Video marketing is everything in music promotion today. Everyone is obsessed with learning more about you as an artist, and there’s no better way to share that information with your fans than through videos on social media platforms. It can be a mix of music and non-music content, just document every step of your journey with a video recording.
You don’t need to hire your own cameraman or editing team. Just record with your phone and follow these tips and tricks to get better footage.
If you have no idea, here are a few music vlog themes to help you get started in music promotion:
- Curious facts about you or how your band came about
- The true meaning of its lyrics
- A music video for your song
- Your favorite things or habits or even what you had for breakfast.
- Teach us to play a song (tutorial)
- Backstage recordings (in a recording studio or behind the scenes)
- A recording of your show
- Versions of other songs and mashups
9. work with other big name artists
Part of your music promotion strategy should be collaborating with other top artists in your industry. Reach out to influencers in your music genre and ask them to collaborate on a track.
Even if it’s just a friend, by collaborating with some artists you can do small-scale cross-promotion, be present on each other’s platforms, and use each other’s communities.
Another option is to contact certain music podcasts for an interview, get a feature on a music blog, or play on a music blog. The possibilities are endless.
10. Remember the tried and tested music marketing tactics.
Don’t forget the traditional music promotion techniques that still work very well to promote a song or a group. For example:
- Ask if you can drop off flyers or posters at a music store in your city or neighborhood.
- Send your fans email newsletters with upcoming tour dates and upcoming music releases.
- Create and sell band merch like t-shirts – it’s free publicity when your fans wear them! The fans wear them! You can also add posters, stickers, phone cases, music lesson videos and much more.
- You can also sell signed physical CDs and vinyl, people keep buying them! Annual record sales in the United States have multiplied by 15 in the last 12 years.
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