8 Tips To Promote Music That Actually Work

For artists seeking to find ways to promote their music, we here list eight tested and true techniques for marketing your music which have proven to effectively capture and maintain the attention of music consumers.

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Guest post by Naima Karp of The Cab Portal

If you are an artist who is constantly looking for effective ways to promote your music, then you have come to the right place because below we have a list of eight tried and true tips to help you get the full attention of music consumers.

1. Don’t spam people or constantly self-promote, even to friends. It gets tired. On a similar note, don’t post too often on social media. This is annoying and will lead to a fast click of the unfollow button, but also don’t be so sparse. It's about finding a happy balance and the rhythm of your followers. Gauge your insights through social media analytics to find out when the best times to post are, and what content of yours is most engaging. 

2. While self-promoting can get old quick, sending out your music to a plethora of different outlets never does. But make sure to personalize each email to the context of the platform you’re pitching to. Send a track or music video you’re really proud of to as many music blogs as possible. This doesn't mean the entire album, and it needs to be genre-appropriate for the website.

3. Make a free mixtape or release free (but still quality) tracks. This will entice people to get a feel for your sound, without needing to invest too heavily. We’re in a day and age where nearly anything can be downloaded free-of-charge, and as a musical entrepreneur, that can mean giving your content away for free, at least in the beginning. 

4. Create unique merchandise. Utilize your cool designer friends or pay one who’s still in school (they’ll still be talented, but it won’t make you broke). Then, use that merch as incentives for fans, i.e, a free item for RSVPing or showing up to a performance first. For your merch designs, and all things marketing, find a good graphic designer. Even the most talented musicians need to have clean and effective graphic design in work and posts, otherwise they won’t be taken seriously and their credibility will go down.

5. Start a blog about you! Not just a hard sell of your music career, but one that lets the fans get a peek into your personal life, in an aesthetically pleasing manner. A variety of content and interests is essential to gain and maintain fans. Make sure to use visuals here – it can easily be done with a smartphone. The same goes for photoshoots and branding images. Brand yourself well and consistently through creatively planned photoshoots, album art, and more.

6. Fans can get to know you as an artist, but people also love curation. If you share playlists and tracks from other artists, people will follow you for having cool taste and start to see you as an influencer, leading them to listen to your own music too. Make sure you share and upload on Spotify, which is a useful uploading and curation platform for an artist. 

7. Find a good PR connect. While not every musician starting out needs a publicist, having a connection to the outside world and connections in the media are much stronger than word of mouth, and could help you get discovered. Contact friends in PR and go to networking events to accomplish this organically.

8. Another highly vital connection and resource you need to utilize is other creatives. Make sure to connect with the relevant people on social media or go to their shows! Yes, reposting and supporting each other is great, but collaborating in any capacity joins the forces of two followings, and increases the presence of both of you. Whether that collaboration is with fellow musicians, artists, or photographers, it is up to you. We suggest doing it all. What do you have to lose?