As you go through your own journey as a musician, you might need to learn about music promotion and music marketing. It is not enough to have your music distributed and available – you need people to actually listen to it. This article will present you with all types of information about marketing tools for your releases. This means that you will have all the means to promote your work and get rewarded for it, after all.
The importance of marketing for music
Nowadays, the market is overflowing with new music. Within each minute of the day, there are brand-new songs on the most popular streaming platforms. This not only shows how difficult it is for a musician to find the spotlight in such a large crowd; it also means you need to make some extra effort to be seen. Although music marketing surely helps you gain instant popularity as an artist, you need to try and see further into the future. As your popularity rises, your work will be recognized. From there on, many faces of your career will thrive. As your music gains more listeners with the promotion that comes from marketing, the financial revenue from your releases will increase, for example. If you are seen, connections within the music industry can also rise, which translates into new opportunities. You will notice the rewards of promotion in many areas of your professional life. This is the reason music promotion is so important for an independent artist. The success of your career greatly depends on being seen by other people. To help with that, there are many marketing resources you can rely on. Keep reading to know more.Music marketing 101
The concept of music marketing entails how an artist presents both themselves and their music to the public. Mostly, artists choose marketing strategies that will help their releases reach more people and, therefore, gain popularity. As a direct result, they can appreciate financial benefits and further career advances.
Since music promotion is such an important part of an artist’s success, there are many choices to be made around it. It is a multifaceted deal. You can polish your artistic identity and promote your music from various points of view. Some examples of tools you can use are social media, paid advertisement, online stores and pitches for playlists and outlets.
Methods of music marketing
Now that you have enough knowledge to manage your own branding and persona, you can apply it in many ways. The internet is a vast territory, with a myriad of opportunities; therefore, there are various roads you can take to promote your music. Following, we will present you with a few effective methods to grow your career:Establish your artistic persona
An essential part of creating your brand comes from the artistic persona you choose to embody. In other words, a persona is an identity that reflects the characteristics of your music and defines you as an artist. When it comes to music marketing, your artistic persona will allow the public to differentiate your work from whatever else is out there; as well as your songs, and what they stand for. This way, people can instantly recognize your work.
At this point, you’ve probably heard of, or even experienced the difference a powerful fanbase can make. Because the audience’s support is so critical, it’s imperative that your artistic persona mirrors your listeners. This can come naturally, as the people that listen to your music are likely to see themselves in your work already. Just like that, you can create a persona in which they can also see their own reflections.
You now know that an artistic persona is vital for music marketing. But the persona is not limited only to itself. The branding that comes with it can be reflected on every surface of your promotion: from the merch you decide to sell, to your online presence, visual identity, concerts and events. With a well-established artistic persona, you can proceed to use marketing tools for self-promotion.
Have a presence on social media
In today’s day and age, social media platforms are one of your biggest allies when promoting your music. Creating social media accounts on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook is practically non-negotiable for marketing your music as an independent artist. As mentioned before, in these accounts you can make sure that your persona resurfaces. If you do so, your work will be easily recognizable from the aesthetic front. Once you’re set on social media, you can use trends as a marketing strategy to grow as an artist, for example – it is easy to make your music available on Instagram and Facebook. There are many users on social media, which assures a large reach on new audiences. There’s more to social media than just reaching new people. A social media presence can aid you in communicating with your fans from an earlier time. Strengthening your fanbase can help you build the hype for your future releases, for example. With all that was stated, it’s likely that you’re convinced to take part in social media. These platforms are fertile ground for connecting with your fans, conquering new ones, sharing information and amplifying your voice.Sell your music (and your image)
The idea of music marketing unintentionally implies that some of your money will be spent. But what if you could, at the same time, market your music and sell it? That’s the main concept here.
For one, you can distribute your songs to streaming platforms and collect revenue from the royalties – but you probably know that by now. Fortunately, there’s more: some people (mainly dedicated fans) are still willing to pay for the digital downloads of your music, or extended versions of your releases. A similar phenomenon occurs when it comes to CDs and vinyl: physical sales are a very effective way to sell your music, still.
To make all of these sales happen, you can count on the help of a website, as well as a merch store. With the latter comes another the possibility: to create some personalized merchandise based on your branding. Amongst the products can be accessories and clothes, for example. At last, you can sell it to your fanbase (they will greatly appreciate it).
Pitch your music
Did you know that your songs can be part of a streaming platform's music recommendations? While browsing platforms such as Spotify, Deezer and Tidal, you might’ve stumbled upon a few playlists entitled official. These platforms create curated playlists and recommend them to many of their users. As you can imagine, having your songs in these playlists can help you reach a much wider audience. To make this possible, you need to do what is called “playlist pitching”. It consists of a very concise text, in which you can present the best qualities of your release, and the meaning it holds to your career. Its basic function is to sell the idea of your release. Streaming platforms eventually enclose a form for official playlists; that way, you can pitch your release to them. Playlist pitching is very effective when it comes to calling attention to your music and having a fruitful release. There’s more: pitching is not reserved for curated playlists. You can also pitch your music to music journalists, websites, blogs or people in the industry who might help you with advertising the new release.Use live concerts as promotion
Live concerts inhabit the core of what being a musician is. Conveniently, you can take advantage of live shows to fit your marketing strategy. It is in the nature of concerts to allow a musician to reach new listeners; still, there’s more you can do.
You can take advantage of live concerts to sell custom merch, physical copies of your releases and spread information regarding your next gigs and social media presence; and, of course, the performance in itself is an opportunity of self-promotion. You get the chance to connect with the crowd and create unmatched memories.
The new audience that you conquer within one gig can translate into new members of your fanbase. This growing support can increase your sales, engagement and improve your career overall.