The Music industry is a notoriously uneven playing field. It is saturated with undiscovered artists fighting to make their way to Superstardom.
The biggest mistake musicians can make is neglecting music marketing strategies. While it's easier for your audience to find your music with the use of online streaming platforms like Spotify, there is still a lot of work to be done to get your music recognized on bigger platforms.
What is Music Marketing?
Since the dawn of commercial music, music marketing has played a key role in helping musicians get discovered. Whether you go with a music marketing campaign or decide to go rogue and do it yourself, music marketing strategies are a non-negotiable part of the job.
Music marketing helps spread awareness for your music, bringing your sound to new audiences and generating a larger fan base. If you want to make something of yourself in the music industry, you'll need to market yourself and your music as if you were selling a product.
Music Marketing Strategies
There are plenty of ways to dive into music marketing that can be lucrative and rewarding. But it's overwhelming, especially when you don't know where to start. We've compiled a helpful guide to music marketing strategies to help you get started.
Build Your Network
Building a network and making friends in high places is a time-old tradition of music marketing. Even back in the 1800s, one of the main ways for musicians to get discovered was through their personal connections with people.
You need to build a mailing list; this can be club owners, label executives, producers, and more whom you can send your music. Don't make it impersonal; get to know these individuals, as they could be the key to kickstarting a booming music career.
It doesn't stop there. Make friends with other artists, they can introduce you to their contacts, and you can collaborate with them to help push your sound to their audience too.
Friendships in the music industry are vital; they can help change your sound, market your music and get you to higher places.
Keep Your Fans Close
Your fans are your most important allies in the music industry. They make or break your career. There's no worse feeling than playing to an empty crowd, which is why most artists keep their signature sounds to hold onto their fanbase.
Your fans must come first. Please pay attention to what they respond to, whether it be a snippet of a song you haven't released or a song on the album that didn't blow over well. Your fans will keep you in the loop regarding what's working for your career and what's not.
Social Media is Your Friend
Social media is both a blessing and a curse, but one thing is undeniable; Social media is an easy and rewarding way to market your music.
Posting your songs across various social media platforms draws in an audience and boosts your streams. In addition, it provides a means to interact with your fans and reach out to audiences you never thought you'd find.
If done right, a social media marketing strategy can attract hundreds of thousands of new streams and up your follower count sevenfold.
Be Interactive
Keep interactive with your fans and contacts, make social media posts that prompt action, start polls, and make vlogs. Consistently interact with your crowd. It makes their relationship with you feel more personal and, in turn, generates hype and excitement for you and your successes.
As we mentioned, your fans are a priority, and interacting with them ensures they know it.
Traditional Methods
Don't look down on the good, old trusty methods that made names of musicians like Freddie Mercury and Elton John.
They weren't just handed their opportunity; they worked hard and did the footwork necessary to build their fame. Booking gigs in small clubs, busking on the streets or finding a way to personally hand a music industry bigshot your demo are all part of tried-and-true methods that market your music to the right demographics.
You're in control, and it can earn you some friends on the inside if you're smart about it.
Invest in Your Music
You have to give to receive, and investing capital into your music career can help boost your music marketing strategies.
Whether paying a radio for an ad campaign or hiring a music promotion service like GetPlaylisted, you may want to consider budgeting for music marketing strategies.
Be smart about it, don't blow thousands of dollars you don't have on a single demo. Instead, build your music, make something tangible and slowly build up a paid marketing campaign to help boost your streams and get your music out there. After all, the help you're hiring are experts in their fields.
Build a Website
Websites are a necessity to boost your music. You can customize it to the audience you want to attract and use it as a low-key music CV. Make it as personal as you wish, with music players to demo your songs, announcements, merch stores, and more that can earn you money and advertise your music.
It shows a calibre of professionalism but also gives you an air of exclusivity that helps boost streams and downloads. Plus, it puts all the important links to your music in one convenient place.
Have an EPK
An EPK, or Electronic Press Kit, acts like a musician's professional resume. Music industry professionals can conveniently find all the information they need in one spot. You can also use smart links.
It links to your music, album art, videos, social media, and more. This lets the receiver get an in-depth view of you and what you can offer them. Consider it like an artistic portfolio.
Things To Remember
Be Consistent
Consistency is the key to success. Make sure you persist with posting on social media and making new music, even when it gets tough.
Slow and Steady
Success takes time, don't try and get everything done at once; build from a slow start and learn as you go. You'll be better for it.
Plan Long Term
Plan ahead. Don't just worry about the single you're dropping today. Instead, worry about the long-term for your career, and plan for it.
