Promoting your music is not an easy task, especially when you’re doing it on your own and with limited resources. You’re already creating good music, so how can you get it out there? Each one of the following tools is an extremely valuable way to promote your music and create a space for yourself in the industry.
The only difference between an independent artist with traction and one without is the amount of eyes on their artist pages. Though it may seem daunting, do your best to post about your music online as much as possible to develop an engaging social presence.
Even if it means posting snippets of unfinished music while you plan a release, showing that you are actively involved in your socials will go a long way. Engaging with your followers on TikTok and Instagram is an excellent way to show that you are present in the development of your fanbase.
Your listeners will feel even closer to you if they feel like they might get a like or comment from you once in a while, or that they discovered you early on. Let them in on your process and they’ll cheer you on even harder.
2. Pitch your music to playlists
Getting your music onto playlists can make all the difference in your career as an independent artist and is a great way to promote music. Being included on an editorial playlist (think Discover Weekly, Rap Caviar, Throwback Thursday), is a big deal as they often have tens or hundreds of thousands of followers. To get added, you can submit to the editorial team directly in your Spotify for Artists dashboard!
Independent playlist curators curators sometimes have a larger following than big editorial playlists, making them another valuable means of exposure to consider. The enormous benefit to pitching to a curator is that you’re talking to a real person, and can build a personal relationship with them.
Playlist placements can:
- Reach wider audiences than you otherwise would
- Generate streams (and in turn, earnings)
- Bring you new followers
- Put you on an A&R’s radar
- Lead to additional playlist adds
- Lead to collaborative opportunities
- Lead to live gig opportunities (opening for an artist)
… amongst many other things.
3. Use artist services (Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists)
Make sure your music is available across all streaming services, and claim your artist page wherever you can. In doing so, you’ll be able to take advantage of the listening data and insights on how your music is performing that is provided to you by these platforms. On Spotify for Artists, for example, available analytics include:
- Where your listeners are located
- Your listeners’ age and gender
- How many active listeners you have
- How many playlists your music has been added to
- Your music’s streaming trends over time
- What countries listen to your music the most
- What cities listen to your music the most
- Editorial playlist adds
- Streams per week
- Overall streams
You can also make changes to your profile by adding profile and canvas pictures, creating an artist bio, and choosing your own “Artist’s Pick”, as well as submit your music to Spotify playlists, which we’ll explain a little later.
In addition to Spotify, you also have Apple Music for Artists, YouTube for Artists, Deezer for Creators, and Amazon Music for Artists. Sign up for all of them to see how your demographics differ by platform!
Promote your music to the right people by using the data on Spotify for Artists |@macleighton
4. Have lots of visual content (music videos, bts)
Try to have multiple videos to go with every song you have out, whether it’s a music video, BTS footage (from shoots, the studio), animations, or anything else that might be eye-catching. Use whatever you can to make content, and have a stock pile of videos to choose from whenever you need to post. Ideally, your videos capture your personality, artistry, and work ethic.
Make sure to create both long form and short form videos. One music video can be turned into a ton of snippets, and given that volume is the name of the game on TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts, having long videos to work with is a huge advantage.
5. Target the right audiences (ads, live shows, content)
Half of promotion is marketing. Now that you have access to analytics on who listens to your music, you can target similar audiences in all your other promotional endeavors.
Ads
The best way to reach audiences that do not already know about you is on TikTok. The second best way is ads. Music discovery does takes place on Instagram and other such platforms, so it’s worth looking into starting a campaign with Instagram and Facebook (they operate under the same ads manager).
Take one piece of content and use it as a litmus test by pushing it out through Meta to similar demographics to the ones shown on your artist pages. You can also run campaigns within streaming platforms as well. Spotify has campaign options readily available to you if you are more comfortable letting their algorithm take the reigns.
Live Shows
Your artist analytics will tell you a lot about listener location… excellent information if you’re planning on playing a few live shows. Go to where your fans already are.
This is advanatageous to you for a number of reasons – it will: solidify your fanbase in that area, be extremely encouraging to see an enthusiastic crowd come watch you, get you great content and press coverage from a show with a great turnout, and make you money off ticket sales!
Content
Use the insights available to you on your social media platforms to understand the following:
- What time your followers are most active
- What days your followers are most active
- What types of posts get the most reach
- What types of posts get the most engagement
- How these stats differ by platform (IG vs. TT)
This information will help you tremendously in knowing when to post, what to post, and who you’re posting for.
6. Build the right team
If you know your own blind spots, you can build a team around you to fill those gaps.
Alone you go faster, but together you go further. Maybe it’s time for you to think about reaching out to managers, labels, or music publishers? These are people who can give you valuable contacts in the music industry, unlock budgets to help you move forward, and take some tasks off your plate so you have more time to focus on your music.
Remember to surround yourself with people who you know truly believe in you. As long as everyone has your best interests at heart, you will be able to go very far.
7. Get press coverage
Take the time to identify media outlets that write about artists similar to you, or that you would like to be likened to. You can find relevant media outlets, blogs & magazines using the filters on Groover and get in touch with them directly through the platform.
Just as you’d want work experience to build a portfolio, artists want as many press releases and write ups as they can to build a solid list of good reviews. The bigger fish will take notice once you approach them with a larger quantity of past press.
Having a website is the best way to create a base for people who search you up to get to know you as an artist and learn more about you. In addition to including links to your streaming pages, a bio, photos and videos, past and upcoming show dates, and a contact page, you should also allow people to opt in to a newsletter. Anyone who is interested in it is guaranteed to be a dedicated fan, and having a list of the names of some of your biggest supporters is incredibly valuable to you.
Use the newsletter as a way to make announcements, promote future releases, provide exclusive content, offer early downloads or merch sales, and so much more. Try using services like Sendinblue, Mailchimp, or Revue to create your own newsletter.
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