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Best Apple Music Promotion – Tips to Reach New Audiences
July 19, 2023 •
7 min read
Recording an amazing track is just the first step to reach new audiences, now it is time for your next move: music promotion. In order to make a release a huge success, it's important to strategize a plan. And streaming platforms are an indispensable ally for that. In this article, you'll learn how to achieve the best Apple Music promotion. The pioneer company offers plenty of tools to boost your career. Of course, do not forget you also need a good music distributor like Magroove to put your songs there in the first place.
What is music promotion?
In a crowded music industry like the one we live in nowadays, you need to stand out and build the hype. With the speed and breadth of the internet, hundreds of artists are releasing tracks all the time. That is why before putting a song, album or EP out there it's vital to create plans to draw attention. This is what we call music promotion.
As an independent musician, you must know how to promote your own work. It goes from organizing your expectations and getting into streaming to manage your social media and branding. You should be ready for everything: from an elevator pitch to a viral big break on YouTube or a great music promotion on Instagram.
That way, an essential point is to find a music distributor that meets your needs. For example, Magroove is a service founded to help indie artists with free and easy solutions. They will put your songs in more than 40 high accessed streaming platforms globally like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, TikTok, Tidal, Facebook, and more.
Magroove gives 100% of your royalties and does not charge upfront. You will only be charged if you make more than USD 5 a year per release. The company will keep USD 5 and all above is yours. If you earn less than that, they will keep just the amount made, without taking the release down. The firm also provides important features to support your music promotion for free.
Now that we understand the relevance of music promotion, let’s dive into the world of streaming platforms. They changed the industry during the last two decades and transformed the way people listen to music. These services cut the middleman and allowed artists to share tracks online while keeping royalties, the copyrights paid to holders.
According to the latest IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) report, digital music accounted for the lion’s share of global music revenues in 2022. Streaming services alone represented 67% of the recording industry’s $26.2 billion total haul. Past year also saw a 11.5% growth in overall streaming revenues. Physical copies, which dominated sales for a long time, are now just 17.5% of the amount earned.
Talking about the turning point for the music world, it is impossible to not mention Apple. The firm was a pioneer opening iTunes in 2003 and helping to lower piracy. With that experience in hands and a developed knowledge in the business, it debuted Apple Music in 2015. Back then, global streaming revenues were just $2.89 billion, following IFPI's data.
As we learnt, there are millions of new music on streaming every day. So simply putting your track in there is not enough - you need to promote it. Here’s a guide to reach the best Apple Music promotion and turn your song into a hit!
Besides making your music available for a huge audience, Apple Music for Artists provides features to build momentum around an upcoming release. Here are a few of the best Apple Music promotion strategies you can adopt.
To start, the artist can customize a social media post to fit its style. As these networks are vital to interact with fans and win new listeners, it is smart to share your work there and keep your visual concept. It is easy to use this tool - which is at hand on the app and the web, with a variety of colors, sizes, and themes.
You can also customize celebratory posts to share your milestones. Show everybody that your track is becoming a hit and reaching a new record of plays. Let your followers know that you got featured in an Apple Music playlist as well. Success attracts success. The ability to publish while maintaining your special identity and bearing Apple's credibility stamp is valuable.
The platform has even more options to drive social media buzz. It supplies Twitter Audio Cards. They are a 30-second preview of the track alongside the album cover art. It is also hassle-free: just go to the Marketing Tools, search for the song, add your affiliate token, scroll down to the section, copy the link, and it is ready to share!
Another must-have for your promotion are the pre-adds. They allow fans to add songs from an upcoming release to their library of playlists without missing a track. The people who signed up are notified the minute the content is online, so they can stream and share immediately. For independent artists, music distribution services will ensure the release meets all Apple Music pre-add specifications.
Pre-adds are useful to bring advanced excitement, users will want to know more about it. Along with the fanbase, the press and contacts in the industry may be interested to see what is coming too. According to the platform, releases with pre-adds have more listeners than those without.
With Apple Music you will also have Linkfire. With one link, your audience can find your music on the platform and other streaming services. They will be able to reach songs, albums or playlists automatically. It is good for social media posts and mailing lists. There is a tool to generate a shortened link as well.
The features are not over: you can have a preview of your music available anywhere with only a click. People not logged into Apple Music can play a 30-second clip of a track or see the full list of songs from an album or playlist. If they are on the platform, they can hear full tracks. You can also pitch music to curated playlists like Puro Pop and Today’s Hits to increase your public.
Thinking about your image as an artist, the company offers a brand and icon that are recognizable globally. You can use Apple Music badges and icons to promote your marketing - such as social, advertising, apps, and printed strategies. The service is available in 42 languages and you can study analytics about how users are listening to you around the world. Now you can get the best out of Apple Music promotion and do the most for your career.
Further Expand Your Music Promotion
You already know that Apple Music has a lot of tools to help to boost your release. But do you know that there are even more options to grow your popularity? And Magroove, the music distributor, provides most of them for free.
First of all, you need to work in create your persona. This comes along with maturity and goes through your identification as a musician. Ask yourself: what are my goals and inspirations? What are my interests beyond art? What are my plans and dreams? These answers will help you to understand yourself better and have more confidence positioning in this competitive market.
Another move that supports you finding your own identity is going out there and performing! Do not have to be in a sold out tour, can be on live streams, festivals or other artists’ concerts. Let the public participate in your journey with you. This kind of promotion never gets old and brings people closer.
Then, social media comes back to the heart of the matter. Being active in these spaces is crucial. Pay attention to communicating with your followers in the way each platform asks. You can create fun challenges and dance trends with your single to raise engagement. For example, you can use Instagram to post short videos - called Reels - and insert your track in the background. Magroove put your music in popular networks like TikTok and Facebook. Now it is your job to make your profiles interesting and interactive.
You can build your own website as well. It is important to gather information and publish posts. Magroove even offers fully customizable themes, newsletter, SEO tools, and mailing list. Another relevant portfolio instrument is the electronic press kit. This material turns life easier for the press, members of the industry and fans. In it, the musician can put together a biography, contacts, discography, professional photos, performances' schedule, awards, press highlights, links for concert tickets, and much more. All of this imprinting its visual identity and characteristics, of course.
The artist can build a webstore too. There, it can sell personalized products - called merch. Which fan doesn’t want a t-shirt with the band’s logo or the singer’s photo? Maybe an excerpt of their favorite lyrics too. You can also sell mugs, backpacks, key chains, and what else your creativity brings on. The buyers will use the products and arouse curiosity around your name from people who might not know you yet.
