Today artists have far more opportunities to become known and promote themselves without having to be backed by large companies or huge budgets.
Today, many independent artists have been able to launch their own music careers all by themselves. However, there are those who really have no idea where to begin, let alone how to market themselves in a successful way in order to make money from a musical career.
Promoting music in 2022
First of all, the music needs to be good, really good. It needs to be well written, have great instrumentals and it needs to be produced professionally. If it is not all of the above, you won’t get very far with it no matter what you do.
Assuming that your music has all the above, below is a list of ways in which you can promote yourself and your music independently in the world of music today.
Be sure to sign yourself up to artists’ services
There are platforms, especially for artists and the majority of the top streaming services have them so obviously the first thing for a newcomer to do is to sign up; it’s as simple as signing up to an online casino. These platforms have all kinds of features and benefits that are especially for the use of artists to make their music public on the platform.
Spotify is a good example in that it gives artists the chance to add a profile image and forward their music to Spotify playlists. It allows you to edit your Spotify artist biography, look at streaming analytics and see ‘Artists Pick’.
And it’s not only Spotify that does this. Artists can sign up to Apple Music for Artists, YouTube for Artists, Amazon Music for Artists, and Deezer for Creators. So, what are you waiting for?
Create a website and mailing list
Building a professional website is crucial. But perhaps even more important than an online presence is developing a substantial and dedicated mailing list. Your site should have links to all your tour dates, music, images and bios. More importantly, there should be a sign- up form for a mailing list. This way you are able to have email access to huge numbers of people who are likely to listen to your music.
Creating a compelling social presence
We all know how important social media marketing has become. It is so important to create and maintain an interesting and appealing presence on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and on the lesser- known platforms such as Snapchat.
Things are changing rapidly across every platform and there is plenty of advice to be had on how to best manage your social media presence.
Getting playlisted
Playlists on all the platforms – Spotify, Apple Music and others attract millions of listeners throughout the world so it is not clever to ignore streaming and playlisting. If you get your music onto a popular playlist, it can help you to gain millions of streams and at the same time you can earn Spotify royalties!
Getting your music onto curated playlists will bolster awareness but it’s also worth getting onto algorithmic playlists such as Discover Weekly, which will add to your stream count.
Blog and press coverage
Getting featured by music publications, mainstream or any other is good publicity and will build up awareness and push your music career up a notch. In order to really enhance your “publicity campaign” it is best to actually hire a professional. Obviously, this can be on the expensive side, especially for someone starting out with a very small budget.
However, there are do-it-yourself options. The most important factor is making sure you approach bloggers and journalists in the correct way. Create an electronic press release first which should include all the main information about you and your music. See the following for more info on this.
Music videos
Creating an interesting and exciting video is a great way to get your music out there. Be adventurous and think outside of the box. Look at the videos that have become so popular online and get inspiration to create something really unique. The time and effort spent doing this may prove to be very rewarding.
Be sure to work with a good team of people
It may not be your natural approach, but surrounding yourself with people that think like you can be hugely beneficial. If you are working with a team of people, some of whom will be well-connected, and who are excited about your music, the chances of your being successful are greater.
It may be necessary to search out a professional team if you don’t have a team of close friends that can help you. That could mean finding a professional PR person, a promotor, a radio plugger or whatever. Getting a manager who really believes in your music is also a good move as they will work tremendously hard for you and can move mountains.
Understand who your audience is and your musical niche
It is so important to know where and to whom to market your music. With this knowledge you can make a successful promotional campaign. For example, if you’re a rapper then you need to focus on rap communities and rap venues in order to boost your rap fans. Sometimes the audience is not about the music genre.
It could be that if you live in a particular town or city, the people who live there want to see a fellow townsperson succeed no matter the musical genre. It may be possible to boost your fan base locally by taking advantage of this mentality prior to focusing on a national level.
Be sure to play live whenever possible
True, things have changed somewhat since the pandemic but playing live and doing gigs is still a great way to connect with people and expand your fan base. Searching out local and nearby venues where you can perform will help to develop a strong following.
It is up to you to put on a good show, be memorable. Once you have established a local fan base you can take the show on the road, heading to different towns and cities and even different countries.
Touring and gigging are not easy but can be great fun and if you know how to perform well you can reap huge rewards.
