Being successful in the music industry to get your product known involves hard work.
You are competing with literally millions of people who have been dragging themselves along the way to get to the top.
However, most of these people don’t know how to market themselves or their music. They release song after song, hoping to be discovered by a record label executive or somehow go viral.
Although this does happen, it is extremely rare, and setting an unrealistic expectation that this will happen to you is a recipe for failure. Instead, set yourself apart from the crowd by learning all you can about different music marketing tactics , and treating your music career like a business.
Here’s a list of 50 music marketing strategies to get you started.
50 Music Marketing Strategies
I. Be smart and creative with your live shows.
When most musicians think of music marketing , they think of online promotion strategies for their music.
Don’t limit your efforts to online music promotion . Playing live is a great way for musicians just starting out in their careers to gain new fans.
Here are some ways you can use your live shows to increase your fan base.
1. Play a few (very few) shows for free.
If someone asks you to play live for free and you’re early in your career, don’t rush into it. Alternatively, if you’re already a bit more established, don’t be too quick to say no. It is important to evaluate the opportunity.
Here are some questions you can ask a promoter when they ask you to play live without getting paid.
What other artists are going to play?
When will we play in relation to other artists?
How many people will be at the show during our presentation? (It’s important to ask specifically about the size of the expected audience. Many promoters will say the total number when asked otherwise, but many people will go to the show at the end of the day.)
Will we be able to sell our merchandising?
If the opportunity is truly going to offer a jump in the size of your fan base, or if it’s for a cause you believe in, or if it’s for a big conference or event, then go for it.
If you are a new musician or a new band and if you don’t have a lot of experience playing live, it might be a good idea to learn by doing and even get some small exposure opportunities. Don’t play too many out-of-town shows early on – it’s important to build your fan base locally before branching out.
In the extremely early stages, any opportunity for free ad exposure is a good thing. Pay close attention to the kind of people who love your music, and find a way to get in front of more of these people using strategies dedicated to listening to your music.
2. Play With Established Artists
If only you play a show, it will be difficult to get a new audience. If you are new, it will be difficult to get someone to appear on your show.
A great way to boost your fan base is to play with musicians who have a much larger fan base than yours. Create alliances with local artists in your area, or in cities where you have toured – check the social networks of the bands that follow them (both in size and commitment), and reach out to new artists that you would like to have a live show.
Find new musicians to play live with
Facebook is a great way to find new musicians who are a similar size and gender to you. Below are some easy ways to accomplish this.
Go to the Facebook page of an artist who is in your area and in your preferred city.
Please “Like” the page.
You’ll then see a full list of recommended pages based on what artists’ fans have ‘Liked’.
Simply click on the options, send messages to the artists, and repeat the process as many times as necessary.
These recommendations can be great ways to find new musicians, especially if you’re using this method from your own page, as this means there’s an overlapping fanbase and you can increase the perceived value of the event to ticket buyers.
If you’ve already ‘liked’ the artist page, leave the page, come back again, and ‘like’ one more time to see the recommendations.
3. Don’t play live too often
If you play every weekend in the same city or town, then your shows will lose their value.
Think of it this way – if your favorite band played in your city every weekend, how likely are you to come back this Saturday? what is the probability that you will spend a good amount of money on admission?
They will most likely stop going.
Separating your shows increases the urgency of each event. Your fans are less likely to put it off, a lot more people will go and it will be a better show for everyone involved.
II. Promote your shows
In addition to some other ideas mentioned in this post, here are some more specific recommendations for promoting your shows.
4. Register your shows on Bandsintown, Songkick and Notikumi
Both Bandsintown and Songkick use multiple databases to find local events, but you can register with Bandsintown as an artist to ensure all information related to your event is correct. For Songkick, you can sign up for Tourbox.
On the other hand , Notikumi has an app that works in a synchronized way and allows you to update the information of your concerts on several platforms at the same time.
5. Send emails to local subscribers of your mailing lists
When you build an email list, be sure to segment subscribers by location so you can send them relevant links to buy tickets. This is much more effective than simply sending each subscriber the entire tour lists, which results in far fewer people unsubscribing from your mailing list.
6. Create an event on Facebook
Create a cool photo for your event for free using Canva, create the event on Facebook and invite everyone you know. You can also promote your event using Facebook banner ads.
7. Post the event on local event calendars
Check the websites of venues, newspapers, cultural agendas, and other media outlets in your area to see if they have calendars for events. If they do, find out how you can be included in the calendar.
Do a Google search for “concert in____” and try to make a database of the places where you see that it would be feasible to put your head.
III. Music marketing through distribution
Music distribution is the way in which you get your music to your fans.
Music marketing isn’t just about getting new fans, but it’s also about using the right distribution channels to make sure your music is in the right places so existing fans can easily find it. While some may visit your website, most will find your music on a streaming or download service.
8. Make sure your music and merch are everywhere
By using digital distribution services (aggregators) you can get your music on most music services around the world.
However, there are many other music platforms that do not accept music from these services due to certain licensing-related reasons, such as Soundcloud or Dozmia. It’s important to make sure your music is on these services as well, as they often have a loyal following.
When it comes to merch, make sure it’s available everywhere your fans can find it – your website, Bandcamp, and Amazon.
Why stop at the digital world? Although there are not many, some people still buy CDs. Consider selling your music, and even your merchandise, at local retail stores in areas where you have a dense fan base.
9. Upload your music video not only on YouTube but also on other sites.
While YouTube is the largest online video service, uploading your music video to other platforms can help you expand your reach and offer additional music video promotion.
Because not many people upload their videos to lesser-known platforms, you have less competition, which increases your chances of being discovered by music fans, thus making these lesser-known platforms much more channels for music marketing purposes. big.
Here are some other places you can upload your music video, and how they can help you reach more fans.
facebook videos
I know what you’re thinking – “I can just share my YouTube video on Facebook”.
This is true, but there are benefits to uploading your music video directly to Facebook. Here are some:
Facebook likes it when you use their platform, so by posting your video directly to Facebook, they are more likely to show it to more people.
Facebook has more information about its users than YouTube, which means you can collect better information about who is watching your music video, and thus have better targeting when it comes to Facebook ads.
Very easy to be discovered: when you see a video on Facebook, which has been published directly to Facebook, then they recommend more videos to you. This means that if someone is watching a music video similar to yours, then your video is likely to be exposed later.
Vimeo
Vimeo is the artistic cousin of YouTube. Its users are more interested in quality, while YouTubers often upload funny videos or cat videos.
Vimeo has a much more artistic audience than YouTube, so people who find your video are more likely to be impressed by a music video with great attention to detail. This can cause the number of times users share the video to increase if the video is of high quality.
DailyMotion
DailyMotion is another platform that focuses on the quality of the videos. Here, the videos are frequently categorized with professional, featured, and high-quality videos.
Categorization in DailyMotion makes it easier for users to search and find new music videos , which can make this a great source of discovery for your next music video.
Note: If someone other than you uploads your video to one of these platforms, you can request that it be removed. To do this, you have to prove that you own these rights, so make sure you assign copyright to your music.
10. Get your music played in restaurants, retail stores, and other businesses.
Restaurants and retail stores play music to enhance the customer experience. If your music matches the style of a local business, find out if they can play your music in their establishments.
There are also many services that offer music for businesses on a subscription basis, so contacting them and recommending your music can provide you with additional exposure – especially if it leads to your song being played in large chain stores that have thousands of locations.
If you do this, make sure your music is registered with SGAE, BMI, ASCAP or SESAC (whichever applies to you) so you can earn royalties. Additionally, for discovery purposes, add your music to Shazam so business customers can easily identify your song.
Social media represents a great marketing tool for musicians , however many of them use it the wrong way – spamming music video links in posts and comments trying to get more followers and likes.
This doesn’t work, social media isn’t about getting more likes for your band – if you want to be successful on social media, it’s important to treat it as a tool for getting more attention rather than as a promotional platform.
Don’t try to be on every social network. Instead, pick 3 that are best for you based on the demographics of your fan base, and then expand to other social networks as you grow.
If everything you post on social media is promotional content and an attempt to control sales, then people aren’t going to care about your posts, and they may unfollow you. To keep your followers and to raise their affinity level, it’s a good idea to follow the social media rule of thirds:
- A third of your posts should be promotional.
- A third of your posts should provide value to your fans.
- A third of your posts should engage fans in some way.
Follow this rule, and you’ll increase your chances of seeing a highly loyal following, and this is what record labels, managers, and booking agents look for when they look at social media stats.
12. Create a schedule to post content
Timing is everything on social media. It is important to understand your group of fans, and to know when they use different social networks. The time of day you post content on social media can dramatically affect the affinity level of your fans.
In order to post to different social networks at the best times without having to sit at your computer all day, use something like Hootsite to pre-schedule your social media posts throughout the day.
Below is a cheat sheet to help you schedule your posts on different social networks.
13. Facebook Music Marketing Tips
Facebook is the largest social network in the world, with over 2 billion active users, so when it comes to social media marketing , Facebook is an indispensable resource.
What to post on Facebook.
Remember, your goal on social media is to bond with your fans, and it’s not about constantly posting about your music or asking your fans for money.
Statuses on Facebook get the most comments, but videos tend to get many more shares.
When to post on Facebook
When scheduling when you’re going to post on Facebook, try to post when users are most active on the social network. When is that?
Check out:
Where to post your music on Facebook
You’ll want to post your music to your Facebook artist page, but consider finding music-related groups within your comfort zone with members who might be interested in looking for new music.
14. YouTube – Optimizing a Music Video for Success
It’s not enough to simply post your music video on YouTube ; you also need to set it up for greater success by placing an optimized title and description. Since YouTube does not have a way to analyze the contents of your video, it works from the texts.
This article can provide you with good advice on optimizing your video so that it can be found on YouTube more easily. It is also important to promote your music video effectively.
15. Twitter
Twitter is a great social network to get your music in front of a whole new audience. With hashtags, retweets, and even likes, Twitter can expose your music to an interested audience.
Also comment that Twitter, in this IAB report on social networks (2017) finds that its use is stagnant and is expected to decrease. This is lower rates of use, however there are professional sectors that make intensive use of the tool.
Like any other social network, Twitter users are most active at different times of the day.
16.Instagram
Instagram is all about beautiful and eye-catching photos. If you’re releasing a new album, this is the place you can get the most feedback on the album design. This, in conjunction with band photos, and even photos with fans can result in high levels of fan affinity.
17. Pinterest
Similar to Instagram, Pinterest is all about photos. Creating photos related to high-quality album art, or related to a band member’s interests, can result in a lot of consistent advertising across the Pinterest platform. Photos can even appear in Google search results.
When are Pinterest users most active?
It seems that Pinterest users tend to be more active at night on weekends:
18.Reddit
Reddit is all about becoming an active member of the community without looking too promotional. For more details, we have put together a promotion guide for Reddit.
19. StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon can be an amazing source of free traffic for your music videos and social media pages. StumbleUpon users identify what they’re most interested in (including music genres), then click a giant button that says “Stumble” to discover new content. This is great for musicians, because StumbleUpon users are actively looking for something new.
Before you can submit a tagged link to StumbleUpon, you must meet the following requirements:
- Your account must be older than 24 hours.
- You must put a profile picture.
- You must have a minimum amount of Stumbles (however, they don’t reveal how much this is).
V. Promote your music through email.
Take a look at different articles we have on music email marketing for musicians so you can use it to grow and capture the attention of your fan base.
20. Pick the right email marketing provider
There are many different providers of mailing lists, but here we take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of some of the most popular providers.
Advantages:
- It has an amazing editor that consists of drag and drop. It allows you to easily place text formats, add hyperlinks and insert images.
- Schedule emails by time zone.
- There are more than 700 formats to choose from.
- It is a clean and easy to use interface.
- Spam is taken seriously.
- Split evaluations into A/B.
- It has mobile applications.
- Offers strong customer service.
- It has an integration with shopping carts with PayPal, Shopify and Google Checkout.
- Allows you to add attachments to emails.
- Offers extensive tracking and reporting of email campaigns.
Disadvantages:
- Does not have integrations with Google Analytics
- Does not offer social media tracking or reporting
- You cannot design your own email format.
- You can only import xls, xlsx, tsv, csv and text format files.
Advantages:
- It offers a free plan – up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.
- Competitive pricing for paid plans – from $10 for 500 users/unlimited sends (see more here)
- It has good formatting and an easy-to-use editor that offers RSS support.
- Track where registrations are made from.
- Customize your registration forms for mobile devices.
- It’s easy to import and customize your lists.
- Allows you to segment email campaigns, such as those that are organized by location (great for tour alerts)-
- There are mobile apps available.
- It has a lot of integration with web page providers.
Disadvantages :
- Many advanced options require a Pro plan, which starts at $199 per month.
- May have very slow loading times.
- Some targeting options require a paid plan.
Advantages:
- Competitive prices (see here)
- Offer discounted annual billing options.
- It has the best texting integration of any provider.
- Strong integrations with Facebook, Google Analytics, and Shopify. Impressive options for sharing content on social networks.
- It has an amazing editor that consists of drag and drop.
- The best value for the options they offer you.
- The availability of dynamic content with behavioral segmentation allows you to target subscribers with specific interests.
- It offers storage for images and audio.
Disadvantages:
- It is insufficient in some areas of security.
- The import of contacts is limited to files in Excel and txt format.
- After you have sent 200 text messages, you need to pay for additional credits.
Mail Relay
We will simply say that it is as competitive as the others and that it has an unbeatable free plan: Up to 15,000 subscribers (if you follow them on social networks) and 75,000 emails sent per month. In addition to a great customer service in Spanish.
21. Increase Signup Conversions – Limited Required Fields
It’s important to only ask for the information you need, as the presence of too many fields can lower the conversion rate for mailing lists. In addition to asking for the email address, consider asking for a phone number for marketing purposes through text messages or whatsapp.
22. Promote your mailing lists on your website
You can place a full-screen call-to-action with apps like SumoMe, or paste a bar at the top of your website asking subscribers to subscribe using Hello Bar.
23. Let customers sign up the minute they leave the page
Adding a checkbox option to your website’s checkout form is a great way to collect emails from the majority of your most loyal fans.
24. Add a call to action to your Facebook page
Adding a button on your Facebook page to get mailing list subscribers can help you build these lists from your followers. Here’s how to do it:
- Simply click the “Create Call To Action” button on your cover photo.
- Select “sign up” from the list of options.
- Then type the link of your mailing list and click “Create”
25. Collect emails at your merch table.
Adding a mailing list sign-up sheet to your merch table can be a great way to collect emails from new and existing fans who come to your shows. It is especially powerful when coupled with powerful incentives.
Get the attention of the press
While online music marketing is extremely important in today’s digital world, offline music marketing still holds its value.
26. Stories in the local newspaper
If you’ve accomplished something interesting, or if you have a unique story, then the local press may be interested. In some cases, it’s as simple as calling them and finding out if they’d be interested in doing an interview, but if you’re less connected, you may need to write a press release.
27. Contact music bloggers
Contacting music bloggers is not as difficult as you think. Contrary to how conventional media works, you don’t have to write a press release. Some bloggers actually prefer that you don’t write any press releases.
If your music is good, you may be able to get a number of reviews. Review these guidelines to improve the efficiency of your efforts to increase your reach.
28. Interviews on the radio
If radio stations in the vicinity of an upcoming show are already playing your music, then they might be interested in an interview. This can result in increased awareness and publicity for your show and music.
SAW. Crowdfunding for your album.
Micro-financing not only offers you a way to finance your next album – it also offers you advertising to the financing platform’s audience.
29. Pick the right crowdfunding platform
There are many crowdfunding platforms. Specifically, in this article they list up to 75 and there will surely be more.
In any case, and regardless of the platform you choose, we recommend that you visit one of our articles on crowdfunding.
Although Kickstarter has a large audience, Indiegogo may have less competition in the music space:
Whichever platform you choose, you are bound to get a lot of publicity for your music just by being a part of the platform.
Don’t miss the small print whichever platform you choose.
30. Have attractive rewards
Basic rewards like album downloads are nice rewards, but don’t be afraid to go crazy with your offers. Let people donate enough so you can fly in to see them at a private show, or even have them fly in to your album release show. A large donation can make a huge difference in how quickly you can raise money.
31. Give a reliable story
Why are you raising money for this release? Don’t just focus on yourself, or even your fans – tell a story that led you to choose to massively finance your album.
32. Get the attention of your followers
If someone supports you, send them a personal email thanking them. This can go a long way, and if he responds to you, you can ask him to share your music on social media.
32. Companies specialized in Crowdfunding Promotion
Sometimes the crowdfunding platforms themselves have specialized marketing and promotion teams to promote your campaign knowingly. Ask and weigh if it is what you need and above all if it compensates you.
34. Understand the odds of success
About half of the music projects are successful according to Kickstarter statistics, which is great (That is, at least they get the necessary funding). Even if you don’t reach your funding goal, you’ll likely get more publicity from the campaign.
VII. Get your music played on radio stations
Getting any kind of radio airplay is a great way to get exposed to an audience. Making requests to radio stations can lead to many rejections, but when you finally get a positive response, it will be worth it.
35. Upload your music to internet radio
Many internet radio stations like Pandora (Beware, this is not available in Spain, at least for the moment) have a review process before accepting your music on the platform. However, there are many Internet radio stations and many music services that accept most requests.
If you submit your music to Pandora with a view to cross-border distribution or whatever, make sure you have high-quality recordings (although you should still have high-quality recordings before you release your music).
36. Promote your music on college radio and FM radio
Getting your music played on college radio stations (This is especially good in the US) and FM is a great way to market your music to a dense population, which is great for touring. When considering promotion through radio.
Just consider this, contacting radio stations over the phone is a massive cold calling effort. The big radio stations are likely to be owned by giant corporations that are related to the bigger record labels, but there is an opportunity to be discovered by independent artists and labels in small radio stations and in the college radio market, so don’t think that this is out of your reach.
If you don’t have a big budget, and want to do it yourself, check out this guide on promoting your music on radio stations. If you have the money, you can hire a radio promotion company to contact radio stations on your behalf. These companies have existing connections to radio stations, and can give you reports to help you with touring-related efforts.
In any case, do not be blind to the Radio, if you see possibilities ahead, otherwise you have many other music marketing strategies within your reach .
37. Get your music played on satellite radio (Sirius XM)
While the big FM radio stations are likely to play your music from major labels, satellite radio can offer you publicity as an independent artist.
Simply find a station that plays your same type of music from the SiriusXm station list, and submit your music to the programming department:
Attn: Music Programming Department
SiriusXM
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
VII. Get more plays on music streaming services.
Getting discovered on music streaming services is another valuable way to grow your fan base for free. Having a cool design, being added to playlists with a large following, and connecting with DJs can all work in your favor.
38. Have an amazing design
Album artwork is extremely important to the music world. In most cases, your music will be featured prominently since album art is the first thing people see – before they even hear your music. If you want the chance that someone will click on your album art design to hear a song, then you better make your image look like it’s worth the click.
39. Being added to playlists that have a lot of followers
Being added to playlists that have a large following can quickly get you publicity to hundreds, even thousands of people. Simply find playlists that contain your style of music, and contact the playlist creator directly via social media or the platform you’re using.
40. Find DJs to mix your music
People frequently visit Soundcloud or Mixcloud to find mixes of popular songs. By having your music mixed and reposted to these platforms by a popular DJ, you can quickly reach a new set of fans.
40. Paid advertising
If your music is going viral in some way through word of mouth marketing efforts, then paid advertising can really accelerate the growth of your fan base.
41.Google Adwords
Target and target ads on Google to people who are searching for new music in your scene. For example, if you’re a heavy metal band, try targeting some of these keywords:
- Heavy metal bands near me
- new heavy metal bands
- songs with amazing riffs
Here the interesting thing is that you manage with the keyword planner that we talked about at length in Our SEO Guide For Musical Projects.
Ads targeting these keywords can give new music fans free access if done right, and with Google Adwords, you only pay for clicks.
On a clicks per day basis, these keywords are not very expensive.
42. Facebook Banner Ads
Advertising on Facebook can offer you various opportunities as a musician. Here are some types of banner ads, and how you can use them:
Promote Your Post
You can pay to promote your post on Facebook so that more people see it. With Facebook’s consistent reach being a low amount, this can lead to your posts being shown to many more people who like your page, achieving a number of boosted likes, comments, and shares of important messages.
Promote your page
If you have the budget, a quick way to get more likes for your Page is to simply promote it. You can target Facebook’s massive user base organized by likes, devices, and more.
Ads for leads
Capture Potential Clients
If you’re looking to build your email list, a quick way to do this is with Facebook Lead Ads. These ads contain user information that has been shared with Facebook, such as their email address, city, and phone number, making it an easy process for users to complete the form and subscribe to your list. of emails. You can use these ads to target people who have already pressed the “like” button on your page, turning them into subscribers to your mailing list.
43. Promotions in Dozmia
Despite the fact that the ads on Dozmia are more expensive, they work quite well – with a 15% click-through rate (15% of people who see an ad and click on it). With these ads, you can get full screen exposure for fans using the app.
It’s free to upload music to Dozmia, but if you’re interested in buying ads, you can do that too.
44. YouTube Banner Ads
If you just released a music video , then you can promote it on YouTube using video ads or banner ads to generate more views faster. With many other music videos on YouTube, it is possible to target users who have specific music tastes.
45. Retargeting
Has it ever happened to you that you were looking at something on Amazon or on some travel website and when you went to another website at the time or even on another day, you had the feeling that you had been “spied” because either on Google, Facebook or on banners in, for example, an online newspaper, did advertisements appear for exactly what you were seeing (a trip, a book…)?
Well this is remarketing, and it is a great way to increase sales. Many of your web page visitors are probably about to buy music or a t-shirt, but they closed the page. In fact, most people don’t make a purchase the first time they visit a web page.
Using remarketing ads on Facebook, Google’s Display Network, or Adroll can help you generate more sales from sales that have visited your site, searched for your merch pages, and then left without making a purchase, by reminding them what they were shopping while browsing other websites.
IX. search engine optimization
Search engine optimization seems on the surface to be a very difficult thing to do, but at its core, it comes down to proper optimization of your website, and how many links are leaning towards it from other more popular sites.
We have published a great guide on search engine optimization for musicians that if you apply the practices discussed there you can increase traffic to your website, convert that traffic into email subscribers, and ultimately convert those emails into sales. Check it out.
Here are some ways to optimize your website so Google can get it.
46. Blogging
Blogging adds pages to your website, which increases the chances that you will appear in search engines like Google for more keywords. Make sure to optimize each blog post so that you are more likely to be on the first pages that appear in search engines.
47. Create links for your website
Link building is the main method to improve your rankings. There are a number of link building strategies you can use to improve the rankings of your web pages, but when it comes to link building, it’s important to write blog posts that people love and will actually want to link to.
Some key tips: Authority and related websites that link to your site.
48. Submit your URLs to search engines
To make your website appear on Google faster, you can directly send each url of your website to them. Before doing so, make sure you give them the pages of your website names that are most likely to be searched by people, such as “-bandname-shop.-” or “about –bandname- “.
Once your pages have been properly optimized, you can easily submit your URLs to Google.
X. Other ideas for music promotion
49. Build an app
A mobile app can be a great way to stay in touch with your favorite group of fans, through notifications. You can also sell merchandise (excluding music downloads on iOS devices) within your app.
50. Create alliances and associations with other musicians
Creating alliances with other musicians within your scene and building relationships with them is extremely important. Hang out at music stores, go to local shows, and be friendly with those who support your efforts. This will benefit you if you ever want to co-promote an album release, need musicians to play a show with, or even find a new band member.
