Promoting a music album independently can be a daunting task. You don’t have the backing or support of a traditional record label or major distributor and you have to deal with all aspects of marketing and promoting the album yourself.
This may sound scary (and to be honest with you, it kind of is), but the beautiful silver lining is that it gives you complete freedom to promote the music album however you please.
With that in mind, let’s look at 11 of the best (and most fun!) ways to promote a music album independently.
1. Develop a strategy and prepare a budget
Promoting a music album independently is going to require a very DIY (do-it-yourself) approach to the task. As we saw earlier, you’re going to have to handle all aspects of marketing and promoting the album yourself, which means creating promotional material, organising events, pitching to the media and engaging with fans directly through social media and other channels… among other things.
Now, if you’re an unsigned artist, chances are you don’t have a lot of money to spend on promoting your music album. Don’t worry, there are plenty of artists who came before you who managed to promote their music with very little money. One example is “For Emma, Forever Ago” by Bon Iver, aka American singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. The album was recorded entirely by Vernon in a remote cabin in Wisconsin over the space of a few months and, despite its independent release and minimal promotion, it received widespread critical acclaim and gained a cult following. So, if he can do it, so can you.
But if you don’t need a big budget, you do need to have a clear idea of how much money you can spend on promoting the music album in question.
As an independent artist in today’s music industry, it is essential to use all the resources and tools available to effectively promote your music and succeed in your music career. Social media is one of those tools. You should create profiles on popular social media platforms that have a lot of active users such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok to connect with your fans, share album updates and engage with your audience.
Having a strong online presence is non-negotiable and on top of that, you need to come up with a multi-faceted content strategy (use hashtags!). A particularly great tactic to promote your album is to share the making-of process on these platforms. People like to see how something has been created. You can either document the process of creating your album in real time through a live stream on these platforms, or even on Twitch or YouTube.
If you haven’t thought about documenting material during your creative process, no problem. Something you can do instead is tell people about the process now, whether it was writing the songs, how the recording went, what decisions had to be made during the production phase.
Finneas and Billie Eilish aren’t independent artists anymore, but they’re both good examples of this kind of approach, as they are very vocal about how they create their songs.
3. Have fun with live shows and touring
Sometimes the best thing to do is to let the music speak for itself and, with this in mind, many independent artists have given concerts to promote their albums, often in small intimate venues where they can make direct contact with their fans. Don’t underestimate the power of these small concerts to generate buzz and attract new listeners.
A good thing to do if you can is even to organise an acoustic session of your album and hold it in a unique location, like a rooftop, an art gallery or a warehouse. It’s all about creating buzz, so be as creative as you can.
Some artists have taken to the streets to give impromptu concerts to promote their music albums. This approach allows them to connect directly with people in public spaces and create memorable experiences. You can also organise a virtual concert and if, say, your fans are scattered all over the world, this might be the best option.
You can even organise listening parties to celebrate the release of the album and engage with fans in person. You can organise these evenings in different places to attract different audiences each time, such as local venues, cafés, bars, record shops… and bear in mind that these are all great opportunities to sell your album.
4. Build a strong brand image around your album
Album covers can play an important role in attracting attention and generating interest in an album. Don’t believe me? Just look at Pink Floyd‘s “The Dark Side of the Moon” with its iconic prismatic design, created by graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, which has become one of the most recognisable album covers in music history.
Take note and make sure you design a visually striking album cover with eye-catching visuals that capture the essence of the music. You can use this artwork not only on your album cover, but also on stickers, posters, T-shirts, hoodies….
Now, if we go back to our section on planning a budget, you may not have planned to hire a graphic designer. Not to worry, you can either create your own artwork or a great and cheaper idea could be to partner up with a local artist who needs as much exposure as you do. Not only would you be helping each other out, but it can lead to cross-promotional opportunities and help attract the attention of different creative communities and new customers.
5. Look into alternative album formats
As we’ve said, it’s all about creating a buzz around your music album and, with that in mind, you might consider releasing the album in unconventional formats, such as limited edition vinyl records, cassettes… because all these can create a sense of novelty and exclusivity that appeals to collectors and fans. To take it a step further, you could even offer limited-edition merchandise or collectables related to your album, such as custom artwork (if you choose to partner with a local artist, that could help them too!).
Once you have all this merchandise, you can run competitions or giveaways on social media platforms to encourage fans to engage with your content and share it with their friends. You could offer the merchandise as a prize or even concert tickets. The key is to always tie it back to your music album and make it the centrepiece of your promotional campaign.
6. Partner with a wide variety of people
First of all, consider influencers and bloggers. They have a lot of power in today’s digital world and a great way to promote your music album would be to partner with one or two of them in your niche to help you promote your album to their followers and extend your reach. For example, they can feature in one of your music videos.
In the same way that you might partner with a local artist for your album cover, you might consider collaborating with artists from other disciplines, such as visual artists, designers, dancers or filmmakers, to create multimedia projects or installations that incorporate the music from the album.
The more the merrier, so don’t restrict yourself here as collaborating with unexpected or unconventional partners, such as brands, organisations or influencers from unrelated sectors, can help you to reach new audiences and create unique promotional opportunities.
Send your music to curators and pros ⬇️
7. Run targeted ads online
Now, it’s not as much fun as collaborating with various artists, but it’s crucial to getting people talking about your music album. You need to use targeted advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Youtube to reach potential fans who are likely to be interested in your music.
Keep in mind that many artists make the mistake here of trying to appeal to everyone and because of this, they appeal to no one. You need to know your music genre, as well as your target audience so that you can precisely target your advertising efforts to reach your niche.
8. Submit to playlists
This is one of the most crucial things you can do to promote your album, because at the end of the day, an album is made up of songs and songs are listened to. So you need to submit your songs to curated playlists on online music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, SoundCloud, iTunes and Deezer to increase their visibility and reach new listeners. You can directly contact the playlist curators that specialise making indie music playlists or go through a music promotion service such as Groover to make the process quicker and easier.
Now, don’t forget that it’s all about engagement and driving traffic to your profile to boost downloads, so one great thing you could do is invite your fans to curate their own playlists featuring your music alongside their other favourite songs. This not only encourages engagement but also helps to introduce your music to new listeners.
9. Reach out to local media
You need people to cover the release of your album, so with that in mind, you need to contact local newspapers, radio stations, music blogs, websites, online publications and TV channels to feature articles about the album and get interviews. You’ll want to send out press releases, album previews, and you can also use a platform like Groover to simplify this process and guarantee feedback.
If we come back to ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’, it received a lot of media coverage from critics and the positive reviews and articles in influential music media helped generate buzz and bring the album to the attention of music fans.
10. Leverage email marketing
If you’re promoting a music album independently, email marketing is crucial, so make sure you build an email list of fans and subscribers and use it to send newsletters, updates and exclusive content about the album.
A very good practice to adopt is to personalise emails. Who doesn’t like to feel special, right?
11. Pitch for music licensing opportunities.
How many of us have discovered great songs and artists through a film? For example, the soundtrack to the independent film ‘Garden State’, created by director and star Zach Braff, included songs by independent artists such as The Shins and Iron & Wine, bringing many of these artists to a wider audience and fanbase.
With this in mind, actively seek out licensing opportunities for your music to be used in films, TV shows, adverts and video games. This not only increases visibility, but also generates additional sources of income (royalties!).
Independently promoting a music album in today’s music industry where record labels have the power can be tricky. But with the right strategies and tools, it is possible to reach a wider audience and increase your music sales.
—
Send your music to curators and pros ⬇️
