For the quick answer, trusting a service online to promote your music should always be approached with an element of caution and requires careful consideration and research. Indeed, while there are reputable services that can effectively promote your music to a wider audience, there are also many scams and ineffective services that may promise to amplify the reach of your music but don’t really deliver on their word or may even engage in unethical practices.

Therefore, here are some factors to consider when evaluating a service for promoting your music online.

1. What services are we talking about? 

Getting the help of a service online to help you promote your music is a great idea and should be included in any good marketing strategy, especially nowadays as having an online presence as an artist is crucial. There are many online services and platforms for music to help musicians promote their music, such as : 

• Social media platforms:  social media marketing is very powerful and these platforms offer tools such as hashtags, reels, and live streaming to share your music, engage with your fans, and build an audience (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Music).
• Major streaming platforms: you can upload music to these and they have extensive user bases and algorithms that can help your music reach new listeners (Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music).
• Music distribution services: these primarily focus on distributing music to various streaming services but they also offer some promotional features as part of their services (DistroKid, CD Baby, and TuneCore). 
• Independent music platforms: websites and apps like SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and Audiomack provide independent artists with more direct control over their music and opportunities for grassroots promotion within specific communities or genres. 
• Music promotion websites: these platforms connect artists with bloggers, playlist curators, and other influencers who can help them promote their music. They act as the middleman and can be a great help when submitting music to various music industry professionals. Groover is one of these platforms and you can use it to submit your music to radio stations, blogs, record labels, and playlist curators – and as well as promoting your music through the various platforms you reach out to, you can get feedback from professionals in the industry.
• Music blogs and music magazines: these offer great publicity and you can submit your music to these platforms to help expose your music to new audiences and give your work credibility. 
• Online radio stations and podcasts: a lot of them are interested in music discovery and are often looking for new music and new artists to showcase. And getting radio airplay can really help an aspiring artist get his or her music in front of new listeners and advertise their brand. 
• Crowdfunding platforms: if you’re working on a new project or album, you can consider using crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Patreon not only to raise funds but also to generate buzz around your music. 
• Music promotion companies: these companies offer a range of services including PR campaigns, radio promotion, social media management, and much more.
• Playlist promotion services: some companies specialize in promoting music to playlist curators on streaming platforms like Spotify. These services can help artists get their songs added to popular playlists, increasing their visibility.
• Influencer marketing: collaborating with social media influencers or content creators who have large followings can help expose your music to their audience.

2. The good, the bad and the ugly

As with everything in life, these services have a good side, a bad side, and a truly ugly side. 

And what you really want to do before getting your music on one of these is to navigate this part of the music industry with a healthy dose of skepticism. So let’s look at all these sides in detail. 

On the one hand, reputable music promotion services can provide valuable exposure and help you connect with listeners who resonate with your sound, as well as industry professionals. What you want ultimately is to get your music heard and build your fanbase through tools such as curated playlists on Spotify and radio promotion, which can help you reach audiences and expand your fanbase as well as your potential revenue streams.

But as we saw earlier, not all online music services are created equal, and while some platforms will genuinely have your best interests at heart and will prioritize your success while operating transparently, others may indulge in shady practices that could damage your career and even your reputation. These are the bad and the ugly, and we’re going to take a look at them now. 

The bad relates to the issue of remuneration, because while some services will ensure that you receive a fair payment for your work, other platforms may take a significant portion of your earnings, leaving you with only a fraction of what you rightfully deserve. Songwriters are not immune to scams and some companies or individuals might promise them lucrative royalty deals in exchange for a fee or signing over rights to their music but these deals sometimes turn out to be fraudulent, and the songwriter never receives the promised royalties.

Now, the ugly thing here is the risk of piracy and copyright infringement, because by uploading your music to certain platforms without a license or proper protection measures, you could fall victim to misuse or even theft of your work. 

In short, it’s essential to do thorough research and evaluate all services before committing to working with them. But what exactly should you look out for when doing your research? 

3. What are the factors you need to look out for before entrusting your music to an online service? 

OK, so you’ve decided to use an online service to promote your music and now that you know what could go wrong, you want to do your research. 

The first thing to check is the reputation of the service. Any business knows the importance of word of mouth and while people don’t always say when something goes right, they are usually very vocal when things go wrong. With this in mind, look for reviews, testimonials, and comments from other artists who have used that particular service and look out for complaints or warning signs about their practices. It’s important to have a good track record and you need to make sure that the service you’re considering has a history of successful campaigns or promotions they’ve run for other artists.

Communication is key and any service you are considering should listen to your questions and concerns and keep you informed throughout the promotion process.

This brings us to the next point, transparency. A trustworthy service must be transparent about its methods, prices, and exactly what it offers. A service that promises unrealistic results or guarantees overnight success, or offers vague explanations of how it will promote your music, is a red flag not to be ignored. 

You have a right to clarity and, in the same vein, make sure you read any contract or terms of service carefully before agreeing to work with a service. If there’s a lot of jargon you don’t understand, you might consider hiring a professional to help you understand what you’re paying for and what results you can expect.

Make sure you work with reputable services that prioritize copyright protection and fair remuneration for artists, and be wary of services that charge high upfront fees or lock you into long-term contracts without providing tangible results. A reputable promotion service should be transparent about its pricing structure (it should mention things such as royalties, music licensing, music publishing, copyright…) and provide clear metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of its campaigns.

Finally, because people tend to associate artists with the people they work with, make sure the service you’re considering adopts ethical promotion practices and doesn’t use spammy or misleading tactics that could damage your reputation as an artist.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the decision to trust an online music promotion service comes down to doing your due diligence and ensuring that the service aligns with your goals as an artist. Remember, trust is earned and the music industry, at the end of the day, is a business. This means that while there are good and decent people out there, there are also untrustworthy ones, so make sure you take the time to thoroughly research and vet all services before entrusting them with promoting your music.

—

Send your music directly to curators and pros with Groover 👇

L’article Should you trust any service online to promote your music? est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.

But how can you set realistic goals to promote your music? Read on and find out 👇

1. Choosing the right indicators

Before starting a promotion campaign, one of the essential steps is to set the indicators of success. These include, for example: 

• Listens on streaming platforms
• Articles in music media
• Social media followers
• Spotify playlist adds
• Concert date requests
• Proposals for collaboration with labels

All of these goals help promote your music, but require different actions. Setting the relevant indicators for your project has several advantages: 

• Plan the right actions: Promotion can be time-consuming if you start too many initiatives at the same time. It is therefore better to focus on certain aspects and direct your actions according to this. For example, if you want to target media, you can plan a promotion campaign with the Groover platform.
• Work gradually on your objectives: establish a plan of action covering several days or weeks, rather than doing everything at the same time. For example, if your goal is to increase your followers, try to do so at a steady pace. By asking 10 people to subscribe to your account every day, you’ll already have 300 followers in a month!
• See how far you’ve come: there is no limit to the numbers, and the comparison effect can be daunting. But if you follow the progress of your KPIs, you will be able to see your growth. You’ll also be able to celebrate wins, for example with a post or an event, when you reach a certain number of subscribers.

Instead of spreading yourself too thin, focus on things that will support your goals. If your goal is to be included in Spotify playlists, you know that sending your track to media outlets is a higher priority than creating content for your social networks.

Do you want to get added to playlists? 👇

2. Set goals for means, not just results

Now that you have an idea of objectives and indicators to define, you can go further by distinguishing between means objectives and result objectives. Understanding the difference between these two concepts can really help you in your promotional efforts:

• Result Objectives are focused on achieving a specific and measurable goal. The focus is on the end result to be achieved, regardless of the means used to achieve it. For example, “get 10 media mentions” is a result goal. The goal is considered to be met only when the number of mentions is reached.
• Means objectives refer to the commitment to mobilize all the means necessary to achieve an end, without guaranteeing the achievement of the end result. It is the effort and process that is emphasized, not the outcome per se. For example, “contacting 10 media outlets every day” is a means goal. We focus on the action of contacting 10 media outlets, and the goal is reached as soon as it is done. 

In a promotional campaign, we may tend to focus only on results objectives: the number of subscribers, the number of reads, the number of press coverage… It’s useful to set these types of objectives, but it’s also possible to combine them with means objectives.

If we take the example of press coverage: a result objective could be to get 10 articles on your new title. But you can also set a means objective. Instead of contacting as many media outlets as possible without a method, you establish a plan with regular actions that will help you gain visibility. For example, you can decide to contact 10 journalists each day via Groover for a week, and gradually assess how much impact that generates. With the power of regularity, you will inevitably get results in promoting your music. This way, at the end of each day, you easily check that your means goal is achieved. You will be able to refine your strategy, thanks in particular to the feedback that the media outlets send you on the Groover platform.

3. Focus on engagement rates and feedback on your work

Social media encourages you to focus on numbers: likes, followers, views, reposts, etc. However, these indicators do not fully reflect the quality of the exchanges with your audience. 

Beyond the absolute numbers, you can look at the relative numbers to evaluate your fan engagement. A high engagement rate means that your audience is not only a spectator, but also interacts with you and appreciates your content.

Note that the average engagement rate worldwide on Instagram is 6.82%. This makes it possible to relativize and avoid the effect of comparison with the largest accounts. For example, if you have 1000 followers and get 100 likes, your engagement rate is 10%: an above average result that shows that your followers are real fans!

You can extend this approach by looking at the qualitative feedback you receive: comments, private messages, media feedback via Groover, etc. Also pay close attention to what your loved ones and fans tell you when you meet them: it’s often face-to-face that you will get the most encouraging feedback! 

It is also advisable to group the feedback you receive. For example, create a folder where you save screenshots of messages: this will allow you not to lose track of them, see the progress of your project, and even give you a dose of motivation when you need it. It is even possible to share some of this feedback on your social networks, after obtaining the author’s agreement or by anonymizing. Seeing this, other people will surely send you feedback as well.

Promoting your music is essential for the success of your project, but it can be discouraging when you do not achieve your expected results. Acting methodically and with regular effort will allow you to hold out in the long run and get opportunities, sometimes unexpected! Be careful not to be overwhelmed by the logic of numbers, and remember to use the powerful tools at your disposal to make it easier for you to connect with the media and music professionals.

– Translated by Kole Wright –

—

Get in touch with professionals and get your music out there 👇

L’article How to Set Realistic Goals to Promote Your Music est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.

We all know self promotion is highly time consuming and is very hard to obtain results so Groover helps us direct our efforts in the right direction and towards the right audience.

TECHNOIR

Hello TECHNOIR! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your music?

Thanks for having us! We are Alexandros and Jennifer and together we form the duo TECHNOIR, we have Italian, Nigerian and Greek origins. 

We always have a hard time labeling our music, let’s say it’s a multi genre combination of electro/soul, alternative, jazzy harmonies, hip hop beats and distorted sounds.

Since 2016 we’re based in Milan, where we started creating all of our music and videos as a duo in our home studio.

What do you think would be the best conditions to discover your music?

Definitely attending one of our live concerts, which are a mixture of our songs and electronic improvisations. We sing and play a lot of instruments live but thanks to the electronics we sound like a full band.

Otherwise, we still make albums to take the listeners into a journey, so explore one of those however you enjoy listening to music!

How did you come to create your project and take it seriously?

We met in the music scene of our hometown, Genova and we quickly understood we had the same attitude towards music, wanting to make it our profession.

It’s really simple for us because we can’t imagine our lives doing anything else, but we weren’t lucky enough to find collaborators with the same drive as ourselves, so from this came the decision to team up as a duo learning to do everything independently.

In today’s times being a musician forces you to wear multiple hats and you have to develop many skills beyond writing music.

We write all of our music together and then Alex typically takes care of the technical aspects of producing and finalizing our tracks, and Jenny focuses on the more bureaucratic and promotional side of all the releases.

Most of the time we also take care of creating all of our artworks and videoclips, since a few years ago when we started learning 2D animation.

How did you first hear about Groover and what convinced you to use the platform?

If you know where to look, the web offers you infinite resources, so when we came across the Groover Blog we immediately became interested in the platform.

Did it help?

It’s very helpful because it puts promotion right in the hands of the artist, and lets you take control of how you use your budget, optimizing your financial resources, which is of vital importance for an independent project like ours.

Also, we all know self promotion is highly time consuming and is very hard to obtain results so Groover helps us direct our efforts in the right direction and towards the right audience.

| Read also: How to choose a budget for your release?

If you had to sum up the evolution of your project in a few major stages (past, present and future), what would they be?

Every one of our albums embodies a different stage in our growth:

1) NeMui (2017): the first explorative work, the embryo of it all.

2) Never Trust the Algorithm (2020): a slight change of direction towards a darker sound building upon what we did up to this point. Also our first completely independent work.

3) AFTER MATH (Oct-2023): our first album after the pandemic that shows a new-found awareness of what we are and where we want to go as artists.

What advice would you give to artists just starting out in the music business?

Do it only if you really can’t live without music and then focus on your multitasking skills and take time to really understand how the music business works, even the boring parts.

Keep in mind that you’ll meet lots of collaborators along the way, and that’s great, but nobody will care like you do.

Also remember that social networks aren’t everything!

Is there any news you’d like to share with us?

We just started a Groover campaign to promote our new album AFTER MATH which will be out in October 2023.

We just released the first single, Saturate and will drop a new song every month until the full album release.

AFTER MATH is a moody, multi-genre work inspired by the dark sounds of the 90’s Bristol scene blended with R&B beats, glitchy guitars and soulful vocal melodies.

Any final words?

We are living in a fast paced, shape shifting historical period in which real artists are at risk of extinction, but there is still hope so, if you care, support the art you like!

—

L’article TECHNOIR takes control of its music promotion with Groover est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.

Making your music known has always been the #1 goal of every indie artist. Thankfully, the internet offers a lot of tools to speed up the process, or at least facilitate it. Now, as before, musical artists of all kinds must make themselves known to hope to be listened to.

1. Promoting Your Music on Instagram

Is Instagram still the best online stage? For now, yes, even if it is on the decline. Social media is one of the most interesting possibilities available today because of its various features and the number of users. When an artist puts music content on a streaming platform, they can communicate on Instagram and reach different target audiences: the general public, but also the entire music industry that watches the site carefully.

It’s the perfect place for free (or cheap) communication. This is the place to centralize all your communications: launch of new merch on your website, the next album cover, quality content, and sometimes even a collaboration with a brand à la influencer… in short, Instagram is a great place to show your stuff and communicate with fans.

2. Make a Name for Yourself on TikTok

Everyone listens to songs that have made it big on TikTok. It’s impossible to miss these days. TikTok is an ultra-efficient springboard to gain visibility, but how can you harness it? As a musician , it is obvious that you need to put your music on the Internet, such as on YouTube for example. For TikTok, it’s the same. Choose a paid distributor that posts on the social network (they almost all do today, but check anyway).

Be careful, though, being visible does not mean sacrificing your art for the benefit of efficient communication. In the long run, that’s not going to be sustainable. 

—

Get in touch with the top media outlets and music industry pros ⬇️

—

3. Making your Music Known on Reddit

All musicians who seek to build creative communication have at their disposal an ultra popular, yet less often cited network: Reddit. How do you share my music there? Identify the right subreddits: r/PromoteYourMusic, r/indieheads, r/listentothis… analyze the habits of listeners in each of these spaces, and share your music. 

It may sound simple, but climbing to the top of a subreddit isn’t necessarily so. It takes a bit of luck, but also rewards being very active. All the music posted on Reddit is not necessarily going to take off; but you might as well throw in a little of your own. The most relevant posts are those that will generate interaction. This is really the basis of the site. So to promote your music, start by going to comment on the posts of other artists. This will make all your musical and sound experiments will be more likely to get feedback. 

⎮Also read: How to use Reddit to Promote your Music

4. Make Waves in the Media

To promote your music, it is important to make your musical project known to the relevant media. To find out which ones they are, you need to research the musical genres you are exploring:  electro, folk, pop, rap, hip-hop, soul, etc… See which media outlets put these genres at the center of their editorial line and contact them.

The advantages are many: for example, referencing your music on search engines via the right keywords, because their websites are generally well-placed on Google. It’s perfect for targeting new listeners, because their readers are curious and open to discovery. People from labels may also have a listen to your stuff if you appear in the media! So if your goal is to find a label, having your singles, EPs, albums highlighted in the media—and we’re even talking about niche bloggers—will send a very good message.

You can even appear in the media’s newsletter and/or on its social networks, which is a significant highlight for an independent artist. 

Last point, it can generate word of mouth: “Hey, did you read the last article in so-and-so…I found something cool!” … you know the drill.

5. Getting Listens on the Radio

When a composer chooses to distribute their music on streaming platforms, they almost forget the possibility of one day being played on the radio. It seems unattainable, yet millions of titles are broadcast, and not always hits, so why not you? Listening to the radio and discovering new music go hand in hand.

Not everyone is a pop star (yet), so it’s not necessarily easy to get the attention of radio stations. Still, send in your tracks, the notoriety you can get is too significant to pass up. Especially when you consider that there are tools as powerful as Groover to contact radio programmers directly. Also, think of the web‑based radio stations broadcasting free music. This can be a good introduction. Especially since major stations like Universal monitor all these platforms, it’s a very positive signal to get on the radio, and it will have an impact on your streams. A future fan listening to music on the radio may Shazam your song and follow your musical journey for the long term.

6. Streaming Platforms – the #1 Path to Notoriety

Artists looking for their big break are going to have to make their music available for streaming. In 2023, there is no other way. All listeners are becoming increasingly concentrated. A streaming platform like Spotify, Deezer, or Apple music for example, is an indispensable vector of success.

Available tracks have a change to land in influential playlists and reach a wide audience. People don’t even necessarily need subscriptions—on Spotify for example, you can listen for free, so it’s an essential tool to make yourself known, in addition to making some money through streams that could allow you to finance all or part of your project.

To make your music available on the Internet, simply upload your mp3 or wav files via an aggregator such as Tunecore, DistroKid or CDBaby. Being on the major platforms won’t build you a fan base on its own, though, so also look at sites like Jamendo, a platform for music diggers.

7. Websites to Know for Music Promotion

Groover: As an independent artist, you don’t always have the reach to get through to media, playlists, record labels, or other players in the musical sector.  That’s where Groover comes in! Getting your music listened to by people who matter in the music game can change everything. Plus, you’ll save yourself the ultra-long, unsuccessful emailing sessions.

Soundcloud: In any list of free, efficient streaming services dedicated to indie music and discovering new artists, Soundcloud holds the top spot.

Last.fm: This is the webradio /community music related platform par excellence. We’ve already talked about SEO. Well, with its millions of users, Last.fm is a great way to get a higher rank on Google.

Jamendo is a free streaming platform. The site will especially attract the deepest diggers, which is good for you! Plus, you can choose to put your music in royalty-free mode, allowing users to use your music for commercial purposes.

– Translated by Kole Wright –

—

Do you need a response on your music? Get in touch with music professionals on Groover today!

L’article How to Make Your Music Known Online est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.