How to Promote Your Mixtape – Tips For a Successful Release

Music promotion is a essential for any release, including one of a mixtape. Releasing a full album is not easy. Albuns require a lot of investment and a huge marketing plan. A mixtape, on the other hand, can be simpler than that. But do you really know the difference between them? A mixtape may not require as much money as an album but, as any other content an artist produces, it's also important to promote it. Yet, different contents ask for different ways of promotion. For that reason, if you are planning to release a mixtape, there are some important things you should know to make sure that your content will fulfill its purpose. It's essential that you set the goals you want to reach with your release. Then, you can choose the strategies that fits the most. Here, you will find some tips and strategies that you can use and learn how to promote your mixtape.

Mixtape vs. Album

The term mixtape, in the early days, was used to refer to a cassette tape that gathered together some unrelated songs. Now, mixtapes are known to be a way for artists to gain exposure and catch the attention of listeners. A mixtape can be released from an artist that is launching themself in the market, or even a well established artist that wants to build the hype around a full album that is coming soon. Mixtapes are also a great choice to place songs that wouldn't work as a full album or something very different from what you’ve been doing so far. The main difference between the album and the mixtape is their purpose. As said before, mixtapes are used as a tool to gain attention and exposure. As for the album, one of the main purposes of it is to make a more significant amount of money from it. For that reason, mixtapes are usually sold for a really low price or even distributed for free. But, especially with streaming apps being the main way of listening to music nowadays, it's hard to differentiate a mixtape from an album. Apps like Spotify do not have a specific designation for mixtapes and they are all classified as albums as well. In consequence of that, it's up to the artist to classify the work as an album or a mixtape, depending on its purpose. For that reason, make sure that you know for sure which one of the two options is better for the goals you are trying to reach.

Before The Release

A mixtape can be a great way to gain attention and reach new audiences. But, in order for it to work, it's important to have a well settled artistic brand. Your visual identity matters a lot for the listeners as well. It's a way, besides your productions, to learn more about you and your style. Branding is a game changer when you want to learn how to promote your mixtape – or any other release. When building your artist brand, have in mind what you want for people to think when they see it. Your choices must be based on what you want to transmit and what your target audience may like and identify with. That way, you will be able to create a stronger connection with your listeners and make them remember you, not only for the quality of your music, but also because of the visuals you choose. Don’t forget that, as an artist, everything you do is a party of your artistic brand and persona. Your clothes, way of talking and behaving, everything matters when it comes to your artistic branding. Present yourself the way you want to be known. 

Judging a Mixtape by Its Cover

Along with the artist branding, the visual part of the mixtape can really make a difference in your release. A well designed cover can make your work stand out among all the other productions available online. There are a few options that you can choose to create a good cover for your mixtape.   But first, it will help a lot if you create a mood board with photos that have the same type and style you want your cover to have. you can add photographs, illustrations, other covers and fonts that you think will work. References are really good to understand what direction you want to follow. There are a lot of mood board pre-sets online that you can use as your guide. Once you make your mood board, it will be easier to visualize your cover and visualize how to promote your mixtape properly. Your mood board, and in consequence your cover, must give an idea of what your album is about. The songs and the design must be in harmony. 

Start Creating

After you know what you want your cover to look like, you can start the actual work of creating it. If you are working on your mixtape by yourself, you can use free apps like Canva that have great stock images and illustrations. Canva also has a premium option if you want more possibilities for your design. There, you will also find presets for the cover itself. But be careful, if you use the preset exactly as it is, it is possible that your cover will be too similar to someone else’s. Because of that, use the presets for inspiration and then change to fit your style better. If you have a bigger budget, you can search for a designer that is experienced in creating album covers. Search for professionals that align with the type of work you have in mind. Designers normally have a portfolio with previous work so you can see if it's a match!

Time For The Release!

When defining the songs that will be part of your mixtape, take in consideration that they must reflect your identity — even if it is an experimental work. Having a featured track with another artist can be a good call as well. Write a pitch about you and your songs and send it to artists that have a similar style to yours and can add value to your work.  After you define the songs that will be part of your mixtape, it's time to define other important details that will help your mixtape reach a larger number of people. Setting a promotion plan is crucial to make sure that your release will be a success. Social media will help you in every part of the process. When it comes to artists, it's mandatory that they have their official profiles on all social media platforms. There, people can find out more about them and their work. Along with that, social media is great to put on action promotion strategies not only after the release, but also before and during the release period. So make sure to set your profiles on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok — along with others that may be relevant to your target audience. Many of these SNS have a specific designation for artists, so make sure to claim that as well. Your artist branding must be present on your profile and guide the esthetic choices.  It's important to know that not every content works in all of them. TikTok, for example, is an audiovisual based platform, so static posts may not work that well as it would work on Facebook. Because of that, study what is the best way to place your promotion campaign in each one of them.

How to Promote Your Mixtape

The same way you with the album, the mixtape promotion must also have a pre-release campaign. Building hype around your mixtape is very important for it to go well. As previously said, social media has an important part in music promotion. And, especially for a pre-release campaign, SNS may help you a lot. Through them, you can start a pre-save campaign, for example. Pre-saves are really good for the algorithm in the streaming apps. It shows that people are interested in you and think your release will be good! Sharing a snippet of the song is also a good pre-release strategy to use on social media. It will build the hype around your release and make listeners wonder what the rest of the song sounds like. For the period after your release, you can invest in a content that shows the behind the scenes of the production of the mixtape. Telling your followers the inspirations behind the tracks, showing your production process is great content for social media since it will strengthen your relation with your followers. 

Conclusion

Now you have some ideas on how to promote your mixtape. It's essential to keep promoting your release at least one month after it is out. Also, keep monitoring the results of your mixtape promotion. All the strategies you use must be part of a bigger plan to achieve the goals you settled earlier. If you have a long term plan, you can even release a mixtape before a full album. This way you can gather a larger public for the second release. Don't forget that, even though mixtapes tend to be simpler, they can really help you conquer audiences and attention. So, put in the effort to make the best out of it. SIGN UP!