Online Advertising. Today, the role of an independent musician is extremely varied. Not only are you tasked with producing quality tracks, but you need to promote your music business through online advertising at the same time.
Thankfully, the digital age has made it relatively straightforward to market your tracks independently, even though it takes a lot of time and effort to get your music heard.
Here, we take a look at why self-promotion is crucial for independent artists, and we explain a number of things you can try to get your music heard by new people.
So, read on to discover our musician’s guide to online advertising and kick-start your independent music career today.
Online Advertising: Why should you advertise your music?
It might seem obvious to say so, but you need to promote your music if you want to attract fans to your portfolio. Some musicians are put off promoting their own tracks because developing a promotion strategy can seem daunting.
But the reality is that you need to work hard to get your music out there and heard by new people. If you rest on your laurels and hope that fans will find your music, you’re leaving a lot up to chance!
The good news is that you have lots of options when it comes to advertising your music, both offline and online, as we explain below.
Online Advertising: How can you find fans?
As a modern-day musician, you can find new fans offline and online. Playing gigs in your city is a great way to increase your fanbase organically, without the help of the internet.
Be sure to check out suitable music venues in your area and secure a regular spot to showcase your talents to local crowds. Even if it’s unpaid, it’s a great way to increase your following offline.
But thanks to the evolution of digital platforms in recent years, the best way to find fans is to focus most of your attention on online marketing.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways that you can grow your fanbase and promote your music online as an independent artist.
Online Advertising: How and where to publicize your music?
It’s entirely up to you how many of these promotion tips you take on board, but they can all help you find new fans. Let’s begin with the artists’ services that you can benefit from as a musician.
Sign up for streaming platforms
The biggest streaming platforms out there have services that are exclusively for artists. So, if you haven’t done so already, create an account on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music to release your music into the world.
For instance, Spotify for Artists allows you to personalize your profile with images and a bio while linking out to your social platforms. You can also view a huge range of streaming analytics that help you track the popularity of your songs.
You can also check out Amazon Music, Deezer for Creators, and YouTube for artists to grow your potential fanbase.
Create a website, blog, & mailing list
In addition to maintaining profiles on music streaming platforms, it’s important to create a website for your music. Your website serves as your online hub and is a great place from which to promote your latest releases and details about upcoming gigs.
But crucially, you can also build a dedicated mailing list from your website. When people visit your site, offer them the chance to sign up for your music mailing list to hear any musical updates from you.
You can also launch a blog on your website, which offers you the chance to increase your SEO and appear in organic search results. It’s up to you whether you create your own website or hire the services of a web developer – just make sure your site reflects your identity as a musician.
Harness the power of social media
Social media is a non-negotiable for independent artists. The likes of Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter can all serve you well as you promote your music.
While you don’t need to have a presence on every platform, you do need to make the most out of the platforms that you use to promote your music. Posting engaging and informative content regularly is a really important place to start, and you should engage with your followers as much as you can.
One of the best platforms for musicians is TikTok, and if you can go viral on TikTok, you have an excellent chance of adding to your fanbase.
Create a content strategy
After deciding on the social media platforms to use, you will need to think carefully about the content that you share with your fans. Of course, as a musician, you will want to share your music, but you need to be a little more creative than that. Consider:
- Maintain a blog on which you share your experiences of being an independent musician.
- Create music videos that you can upload and share on YouTube.
- Put together “shorts” that you can share on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
- Share images of your time in the recording studio or at gigs to upload to your Facebook page.
You will also need to think about how often you should post on your channels. Some people post every day, while others update their socials once a week.
The fact of the matter is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it. You should post at intervals that make sense to you and create sufficient content to share with your followers.
Feature on blogs and podcasts
While conventional PR is often hard to come by, a great way to boost your credentials as a musician is to feature as a guest on industry-related blogs and podcasts.
New-music podcasts are an excellent way of increasing your online presence. You can reach out to the hosts and offer your time for an interview, which can be a great way to get your music in front of new people.
Alternatively, you could offer to write a guest post on someone’s blog or appear as a guest on a popular YouTube channel. You can then link these guest appearances back to your own website and share them on your social media channels.
Not only do they get your music out into the world, but they also help you make connections with other artists in your niche, which can lead to future collaborations.
Create music videos
YouTube has more than 2.6 billion active users. In other words, you have a world of opportunity when it comes to promoting your tracks on the platform.
Shooting unique and compelling videos to accompany your latest releases is an excellent way to build your profile on YouTube and attract subscribers to your channel.
You don’t need a huge budget to create music videos, but it will work wonders for your engagement levels. Alternatively, you could use a Music Visualizer to create unique videos for your tracks, which is another viable way of building your presence on YouTube.
Videos are an excellent way to increase the quality of your content and give you something compelling to share with your followers on social media.
Collaborations
Collaborating with other musicians is another great way to boost your following. You can reach out to musicians that you currently know or engage with people via social media to float the idea of a collab.
Following the collaboration, you will be able to interact and engage with the other musician’s followers, and if they like what they hear, they will become your fans, too!
The beauty of collaborations is that you can get creative when it comes to production, and you can mix contrasting genres and musical styles.
The end result will be a collaboration you can be proud of, which you can then promote to your current and prospective fanbase.
Online Advertising: Which music promotion platforms work best?
All of the above strategies will help you promote your music organically as an independent musician. But what if we told you that you don’t need to do it all alone?
At Musicvertising, we offer real and targeted promotion to help independent artists promote their music to new audiences.
For instance, our Spotify promotion helps you reach huge numbers of fans, and you can also target specific genres or countries specifically, depending on your targeted outreach.
We also offer a premium campaign that includes distribution to curators, which ensures your tracks appear on playlists.
What’s more, we also help our clients grow their YouTube channels with real engagement and subscribers. This helps to grow your channel and increases the number of likes your videos get.
Ultimately, our music promotion is the perfect way to supplement your organic advertising campaign and will help you get your music in front of new audiences much more quickly.
Online Advertising: Final thoughts
It’s time to bring our musician’s guide to online advertising to a close. We hope you have found the tips helpful and are able to promote your music to a much wider audience.
Remember, Musicvertising is perfectly placed to provide you with the helping hand that you need to get your music out into the world more quickly and is an excellent way to expand your fanbase.
If you liked this article on this topic, please consider sharing it on social media so that more people can have access to it.
If you are interested in delving into the subject, then read the contents below:
Online Advertising: The Complete Musician’s Guide
Table of Contents
Online Advertising. Today, the role of an independent musician is extremely varied. Not only are you tasked with producing quality tracks, but you need to promote your music business through online advertising at the same time.
Thankfully, the digital age has made it relatively straightforward to market your tracks independently, even though it takes a lot of time and effort to get your music heard.
Here, we take a look at why self-promotion is crucial for independent artists, and we explain a number of things you can try to get your music heard by new people.
So, read on to discover our musician’s guide to online advertising and kick-start your independent music career today.
Online Advertising: Why should you advertise your music?
It might seem obvious to say so, but you need to promote your music if you want to attract fans to your portfolio. Some musicians are put off promoting their own tracks because developing a promotion strategy can seem daunting.
But the reality is that you need to work hard to get your music out there and heard by new people. If you rest on your laurels and hope that fans will find your music, you’re leaving a lot up to chance!
The good news is that you have lots of options when it comes to advertising your music, both offline and online, as we explain below.
Online Advertising: How can you find fans?
As a modern-day musician, you can find new fans offline and online. Playing gigs in your city is a great way to increase your fanbase organically, without the help of the internet.
Be sure to check out suitable music venues in your area and secure a regular spot to showcase your talents to local crowds. Even if it’s unpaid, it’s a great way to increase your following offline.
But thanks to the evolution of digital platforms in recent years, the best way to find fans is to focus most of your attention on online marketing.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways that you can grow your fanbase and promote your music online as an independent artist.
Online Advertising: How and where to publicize your music?
It’s entirely up to you how many of these promotion tips you take on board, but they can all help you find new fans. Let’s begin with the artists’ services that you can benefit from as a musician.
Sign up for streaming platforms
The biggest streaming platforms out there have services that are exclusively for artists. So, if you haven’t done so already, create an account on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music to release your music into the world.
For instance, Spotify for Artists allows you to personalize your profile with images and a bio while linking out to your social platforms. You can also view a huge range of streaming analytics that help you track the popularity of your songs.
You can also check out Amazon Music, Deezer for Creators, and YouTube for artists to grow your potential fanbase.
Create a website, blog, & mailing list
In addition to maintaining profiles on music streaming platforms, it’s important to create a website for your music. Your website serves as your online hub and is a great place from which to promote your latest releases and details about upcoming gigs.
But crucially, you can also build a dedicated mailing list from your website. When people visit your site, offer them the chance to sign up for your music mailing list to hear any musical updates from you.
You can also launch a blog on your website, which offers you the chance to increase your SEO and appear in organic search results. It’s up to you whether you create your own website or hire the services of a web developer – just make sure your site reflects your identity as a musician.
Harness the power of social media
Social media is a non-negotiable for independent artists. The likes of Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter can all serve you well as you promote your music.
While you don’t need to have a presence on every platform, you do need to make the most out of the platforms that you use to promote your music. Posting engaging and informative content regularly is a really important place to start, and you should engage with your followers as much as you can.
One of the best platforms for musicians is TikTok, and if you can go viral on TikTok, you have an excellent chance of adding to your fanbase.
Create a content strategy
After deciding on the social media platforms to use, you will need to think carefully about the content that you share with your fans. Of course, as a musician, you will want to share your music, but you need to be a little more creative than that. Consider:
You will also need to think about how often you should post on your channels. Some people post every day, while others update their socials once a week.
The fact of the matter is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it. You should post at intervals that make sense to you and create sufficient content to share with your followers.
Feature on blogs and podcasts
While conventional PR is often hard to come by, a great way to boost your credentials as a musician is to feature as a guest on industry-related blogs and podcasts.
New-music podcasts are an excellent way of increasing your online presence. You can reach out to the hosts and offer your time for an interview, which can be a great way to get your music in front of new people.
Alternatively, you could offer to write a guest post on someone’s blog or appear as a guest on a popular YouTube channel. You can then link these guest appearances back to your own website and share them on your social media channels.
Not only do they get your music out into the world, but they also help you make connections with other artists in your niche, which can lead to future collaborations.
Create music videos
YouTube has more than 2.6 billion active users. In other words, you have a world of opportunity when it comes to promoting your tracks on the platform.
Shooting unique and compelling videos to accompany your latest releases is an excellent way to build your profile on YouTube and attract subscribers to your channel.
You don’t need a huge budget to create music videos, but it will work wonders for your engagement levels. Alternatively, you could use a Music Visualizer to create unique videos for your tracks, which is another viable way of building your presence on YouTube.
Videos are an excellent way to increase the quality of your content and give you something compelling to share with your followers on social media.
Collaborations
Collaborating with other musicians is another great way to boost your following. You can reach out to musicians that you currently know or engage with people via social media to float the idea of a collab.
Following the collaboration, you will be able to interact and engage with the other musician’s followers, and if they like what they hear, they will become your fans, too!
The beauty of collaborations is that you can get creative when it comes to production, and you can mix contrasting genres and musical styles.
The end result will be a collaboration you can be proud of, which you can then promote to your current and prospective fanbase.
Online Advertising: Which music promotion platforms work best?
All of the above strategies will help you promote your music organically as an independent musician. But what if we told you that you don’t need to do it all alone?
At Musicvertising, we offer real and targeted promotion to help independent artists promote their music to new audiences.
For instance, our Spotify promotion helps you reach huge numbers of fans, and you can also target specific genres or countries specifically, depending on your targeted outreach.
We also offer a premium campaign that includes distribution to curators, which ensures your tracks appear on playlists.
What’s more, we also help our clients grow their YouTube channels with real engagement and subscribers. This helps to grow your channel and increases the number of likes your videos get.
Ultimately, our music promotion is the perfect way to supplement your organic advertising campaign and will help you get your music in front of new audiences much more quickly.
Online Advertising: Final thoughts
It’s time to bring our musician’s guide to online advertising to a close. We hope you have found the tips helpful and are able to promote your music to a much wider audience.
Remember, Musicvertising is perfectly placed to provide you with the helping hand that you need to get your music out into the world more quickly and is an excellent way to expand your fanbase.
If you liked this article on this topic, please consider sharing it on social media so that more people can have access to it.
If you are interested in delving into the subject, then read the contents below:
Spotify Promotion
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