How to promote indie music - Tips for independent musicians : Blog

In the past, the most common way to become a relevant name in the music industry was signing a deal with a record label. Nowadays, there are way more opportunities for artists who want to start their careers independently. But in order to be successful, they must know how to promote their music. Many talented artists in the market stay hidden because of their lack of knowledge in that matter. For this reason, learning about music promotion, especially indie music promotion, is really helpful for newcomers. At the beginning of their careers, most musicians don’t have much money to invest. Because of that, strategies that don’t require much monetary investment are the most important ones. Being active on social media, for example, can be as effective as paying for promotional campaigns. There are a lot of free techniques artists can use in their favor. In this article, you'll discover how to promote indie music efficiently and effectively.

Why should I learn about music promotion?

What are some of the most important things for a musician? Their listeners and supporters! Your productions need to be listened to, and that’s what makes music promotion so important. A good promotion plan will make a lot of difference in the results of your releases. It can help you reach more people, along with making fans look forward to your next releases. For independent artists, it's crucial to learn more about music promotion. Not having a label to invest in your work can be difficult at the beginning. But there are music promotion strategies that require little to no money to put into use. So if you're trying to make a totally free promotion plan, you're on the right path! If you know what type of people would enjoy your songs, you're already one step ahead. Knowing your audience is essential to a successful promotional campaign. In addition to that, search more about the gender of music you make. You can look for artists with a similar style and see what type of promotion they invest in. The more similar their public is to yours, the more likely it is that their strategy will work for you, too.

Social media 101

Social media can be a really good ally when it comes to promoting indie music. There are a lot of strategies that you can use for free and will still give you good results. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are especially good, since the audio aspect is really important on them. But having a profile in other big social networks, like Facebook or X (previously Twitter), will enhance your chances of getting more listeners. Even though each of these apps work on a different, specific way, they all have one aspect in common: visuals. The appearance of one's profile or posts matter a lot online. This way, artists must pay a lot of attention to their visual identities when planning their promotion strategies. It's ideal to have cohesive, recognizable visuals throughout your social media pages. Artist branding is the process of defining who you are as a musician. It will guide every visual decision you'll make and the designs you’ll create. As we've said before, knowing your public and the genre you are in will be helpful in many ways, including when it comes the time to do branding! If you don’t have any idea where to start, think about who your audience is. From there, make the most complete profile that you can. What type of clothes do they wear? Which other artists do they listen to? What graphic style are they into? All of these questions will help you in making decisions for your artist branding. Of course, don’t forget to bring your own style and authenticity. Your brand needs to translate your vision and perception as an artist combined with the style of your audience. And that’s what will make your artist branding a good one. Once you make all these decisions and put your branding to use, all your social media profiles will be in harmony. The people who visit them will see your identity and remember you more easily. The branding also helps your listeners associate you with certain colors, graphics and trends, for example.

What about playlists?

Playlisting pitching is a free but effective way to promote indie music. Playlists, and especially the editorial ones, have a huge reach and can help you get lots of new listeners. Spotify's editorial playlist “Songs to Sing in the Car”, for example, has over 7 million likes on the platform. Editorial playlists are made by the curators of the streaming service. Their team chooses songs from the pitches they receive. The quality of the production counts a lot, but they also take in consideration if the track matches with the playlist theme.

For your song to be eligible to enter an editorial playlist, you need to send the platform a pitch before the actual day of the release. A pitch is a short and objective text about you and your song. You can write down your inspirations for that track, which genre it fits the most and what the lyrics are about. If you have a specific playlist in mind, write about why you think your track is a good match for it. Make sure your songs are available on all main streaming apps. Magroove distributes your releases to over 50 online stores and streaming platforms for free. There's no catch — we only charge you after you've profited, and even then, it's only USD 5 per release uploaded per year. After that, you’ll be ready to send your songs to streaming platforms and pitch to their playlists. Most Spotify playlists don't change that often, so you'll have enough time to shine and gather new listeners!

Make appearances!

Live appearances and interviews are some of the most organic ways to get new listeners. Concerts and festivals are also a good way of promoting your music. Social media is very important, but it will never replace connecting with fans live. In festivals, there will be a lot of people that don’t know you yet, but are potential listeners. You can even try to be the opening act for a well established artist that is an inspiration to you. Never forget that you must search for events that align with what you want for your career. If you’re a pop singer, a festival focused on pop music will work better than a rock centered festival. So put effort when you're looking for events that might work for you. In this article, we're focusing on how to promote indie music, and pitching your songs to radio stations is a great call! Send your pitch to the radio station you believe has the audience you're looking for. Your chances are even bigger if you choose a radio that gives space to smaller and independent artists.

The importance of a good pitch

As you can see, pitches are actually really important when it comes to music promotion. It's indispensable for an artist to know how to make a good elevator pitch. Writing a good pitch means having more people believing that your songs should be heard. It can elevate your chances of being chosen to be in radio shows, playlists or even festivals. A pitch should contain a summary of the most important information about you and your work. Radios stations and festivals receive tons of pitches everyday, so it’s important to keep it short. But the text should be enough to let them know you're the best choice!

Along with that, you can also make an Electronic Press Kit, also known as an EPK. You can send it together with your pitch and show even more relevant content about your artistic career. An EPK is similar to a curriculum vitae, so it can be longer and shows more visual aspects about an artist. It can be especially helpful to send one if you're pitching for a TV or YouTube show!

Conclusion

The key for an independent artist to grow is learning how to promote their music in an effective way. Knowing their music style, public, and which places they want to reach are really helpful tips to focus on the right type of promotions. As we've seen, money is not the only way to promote your content. With the right actions and knowledge, your songs can get to thousands of people. These strategies, which don’t need any monetary investment, are ideal for indie artists. And don’t forget: once you set your promotion plan, always monitor its results. This part is really important, since it allows you to analyze which actions were actually effective for the goals you wanted to reach. Most of the platforms named here have tools for that. They'll let you see not only the numbers, but also demographics about your followers. And the more you know your public, the more effective your promotions can be if you invest in the right content.

How to promote indie music – Tips for independent musicians