How hard is it for an indie artist to release an album? Well, a decade ago, artists would never achieve success without a label behind them. But, luckily, with the rise of social media and streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, an artist can break through the industry independently. The secret is music promotion. In this article, we’ll explain how to promote your music as an independent artist using social media and creating an EPK.
It’s true what they say: it’s easier to have a label. Look at Olivia Rodrigo, in the middle of 2023, she surpassed 45 million monthly listeners on Spotify within a few years in the music industry. Although she’s very talented, she also had a big team of marketing and producers to help her.
The work of Olivia Rodrigo’s team is a job-of-one when you’re an indie artist. But there are many benefits of being an unlabeled artist. You have control over all your career, such as visual identity, performances, merchandising and social media, besides owning the rights to your songs.
With the rise of the internet, the chances of achieving a fanbase independently are much bigger and it all comes down to music promotion.
Music promotion: what is it and why is it so important?
Music promotion is about raising awareness about your music and expanding your fanbase. Imagine you’re a seller: if you want people to buy your merchandise, you need to spread the word about it. Music marketing is letting people know you’re selling music.
The first step to be successful in music marketing is to have a business mind. Yes, music can be your hobby, but the music industry is still a business and it has its own rules. Start treating your music as a business and we guarantee you’re going to succeed!
Social media is your best friend in music promotion. Platforms like Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Tik Tok tend to encourage artists to share their work in their apps. Of course, each one of them has a different set of rules for engagement, so it’s important to make a plan before starting to post.
Let’s see some basic tips on how to promote music in social media as an independent artist.
There’s a platform for all kinds of promotion – videos, photos, text, etc. The main thing is to create something viral that sets you apart from other users on the app. In order to do that, you'll have to define your branding.
On the internet, you’ll find tools that will help you set a palette of colors, choose fonts, build visuals for your performances, etc. And remember: it's important to use this visual identity on all your social media profiles! This way, your work will become recognizable and increase your reach.
Let's take Olivia Rodrigo as an example once again. Since the beggining of her career, she's been using the color purple in all of her promotional material. As a result, over time, her audience started to associate everything purple with her work. That's the power of a strong brand!
Find an audience
Is it better to have millions of followers or a few thousand faithful fans? Building an audience is finding the second option. Although you can have a lot of followers, they won’t all interact with your posts. On the other hand, a fan will not only engage with your content, but they’ll help you promote it at no expense.
This is great, but how do you find an audience? First, you must know who are the people that listen to your music. If you claim a Spotify for Artists account
, you'll receive a lot of interesting data about your listeners, such as age, gender and other artists they’re into. You can use this information to plan your content.
Focus in a few platforms
Social media requires a lot of your time. It’s hard work, especially if you're doing it all on your own. To avoid wasting time, choose two or three platforms to focus on.
TikTok and Instagram are the best choices, since they’re the most hyped up social networks nowadays. Viewers of these platforms tend to enjoy short videos, so it’s easy to build up content. Clips from your gigs or covers of bands that inspire you are great ways to start.
Pictures from backstage of a show are also great. Fans love to see this kind of content, because they have a sense of connection with the artisr. You can also post snippets of new releases and build the hype for them.
Always check the analytics of each platform to see if your content is working. As in any business, sellers have to check if their product has been selling, the same thing happens on social media. See the posts that have the most interactions and try to understand why this post attracted more people.
Use the algorithm in your favor
We're living in the era of the algorithms. Basically, an algorithm is a set of rules that platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok use to keep track of what their users like. Hereby, they can recommend more of the type of content they enjoy.
How can you use the algorithms to boost your music promotion? First, the platform considers the hashtags you add. Find out what kind of hashtags are trending and try to post something that fits them. In this way, people looking for a specific kind of content will find you through the trending hashtags.
But be careful: if you don’t interact with your followers and don’t post regularly, this won't work! Both Instagram and TikTok’s algorithms consider the number of followers you have and your interactions on the platform.
Connect with fans
Stay connected! Try to answer as many comments as you can. In this way, you can build a relationship with your fans and better understand who they are. Engaging also increases your hype in social media and helps with the algorithms, as mentioned above.
Get out there!
Back in the 90s, gigs were the only way an indie artist could find an audience. Nowadays, we have a lot of tools for promotions, as we saw in this article. But performing live is still very important for musicians.
If you don’t know where to start, contact local venues and festivals in your city. People tend to support an artist when they're local, so that's a great way to build a fanbase. Now, in big festivals, fans usually go to see a specific band or singer, but end up watching all the shows. It's the perfect opportunity for an independent artist to promote their music, since the audience there already likes the type of music you play.
If you’re just starting out, a tour might not be the best option. Including transportation, accommodation and equipment, it can cost a lot of money. If your fanbase isn't established enough, don't try to eat the whole elephant in a single bite.
Another option is to look up artists who are coming to town and contact them, in hopes of becoming an opening act for their show. In order to do that, you'll need an EPK. We’ll you show how to build one in the next step.
Building your own EPK
EPK stands for Electronic Press Kit. It works as an online portfolio which contains all relevant information about a musician: a biography, photos, contact information, social media profiles and samples of their work. The EPK is sent to agents, event promoters, radio stations and journalists.
An effective EPK has:
- A brief artist biography, which could be an elevator pitch: it’s a way of summarizing your idea or product to someone so briefly that it could be done in an elevator ride;
- Press photos;
- Music videos and live gigs;
- A compilation of articles and reviews already written about your work, to bring authenticity;
- Contact information: website, social media and email;
- Analytics from streaming platforms and social media to show the impact of your music.
On the internet, you’ll find a lot of free tools to put your EPK together, such as Canva and Wix. Canva is an online platform of graphic design that allows users to create their own visual identity. With Wix, you can create an online website to upload your EPK.
Pitch your song to editorial playlists on Spotify
Spotify has thousands of curated playlists with active followers. Entering one of them is a great way for an independent artist to promote their song, but how does it work? A team of editors from Spotify are responsible for curating the music, you'll just need to pitch your tracks to them.
Any artist can submit their upcoming music to one of their playlists.
To pitch a song, you have to log in to your Spotify for Artists account and follow these steps:
- If you're on your phone, go to the superior corner of Home and choose the option "Pitch From Next Release". If you're in the web, go to the tab "Upcoming" and choose "Music".
- Choose the song you want to pitch and fill in the info requested.
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Make sure to create a good pitch – a short text that sells all the great features of your music and highlights why it would be a good addition to their playlists. Spotify will send you an email to inform you if your song was chosen.
Conclusion
To promote your music as an independent artist is hard, we know. But if you want to be successful in the music industry, you’ve got to work hard. So raise your sleeves and start now!
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