Music Promotion Tips For Independent Artists

In this piece, Andy Gesner provides some advice and insight for independent artists on how they can most effectively promote their music to capture the attention of consumers and grow their fanbase.

Guest post by Andy Gesner of HIP Video Promo

Greetings everyone, I am Andy Gesner, and I am the owner and president here at HIP! Over 20 years of helping my fellow creatives, the most frequently asked question has been, how can you help me with music promotion? There are countless spokes in the music promotion wheel; the key as an artist is to hit as many as possible. Today, we’re going to talk about music promotion and the three things you must do to break through and get to the next level. Number one, music video promotion; number two, social media marketing; and number three, Spotify playlist pitching. Now more than ever, all three are crucial to getting your music heard and your visuals seen.

Number one, music video promotion. My incredible team and I have promoted over 3,400 music videos over the past 20 years. Twenty years ago, music videos were not nearly as important as they are today. Why is this? People listen with their eyes. Given a choice between just listening to a song or seeing it, they’re always gonna want to see it – so music videos reign supreme. And if you’re an independent artist, you have to consider just how important your music videos are. It’s the best way to brand you and your music. People want to see who is behind the music they’re listening to.

When it comes to music video promotion, many publicists shy away because of how mind-numbing and labor-intensive it is. You don’t want to leave it to someone inexperienced; you need a specialist and trusted professional partner for your music video promotion. Tasks such as closed-captioning, quality control, and ensuring that the video is delivered to all the folks out there that could give your music video potential exposure are not for the weak of heart.

At HIP Video Promo, we pride ourselves in doing the kinds of things that others can’t do. Now, of course, you might pitch a video to someone, but who are you? What is your story? We take great pride in telling our clients’ stories eloquently and passionately. Many of the music videos we promote need an exclusive online world premiere. Why is the premiere important? We’ve always had a philosophy here at HIP: If you’re going to go, go big. You want to get out of the gate with a big head of steam, and having a well-respected website or blog, vouching for you will be huge for your musical career.

Let’s look at the amazing opportunities to get your music video exposed. Of course, there are television channels – BET Jams, mtvU, Music Choice, REVOLT, plus all the regional and multi-market outlets across the country. What about the OTT channels? Platforms like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Sling, or Apple TV are a fantastic way to get your new music videos seen by the maximum number of viewers. What about pitching to websites and blogs? As mentioned, having these online platforms telling the world that you’re great will help you tremendously. What’s more, online real estate also improves your search engine optimization (SEO). And then there are the retail pools, which get your music video seen in fitness centers, shopping malls, department stores, FootLockers, cruise ships, etc. All of this works together to provide you the best return on investment for your new music video.

Number two, social media marketing. Folks will judge you not only by the quality of your art, but by your social media presence. There is no better way to get your video seen by lots of people than using your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube channel to get the word out. At HIP Video Promo, we include social media marketing with every single music video promotion campaign. The idea is that once we help you optimize and enhance all of your online platforms, you’ll be ready to go. We’ll reach out to the most active fans of the bands and artists that fall within your musical wheelhouse, and from there, those fans will check you out and visit your social media platforms.

Number three, Spotify playlist pitching. It’s more important now than ever before. Spotify has become the leading streaming platform, but getting to the Spotify playlist curators is difficult. Well, ladies and gentlemen, at HIP, we embrace the opportunity to take your song and present it to these user-curated Spotify playlists. Sometimes they will politely pass, or inform us that it doesn’t “fit their filter”, but think about it. It would be a great blessing to have someone you trust presenting your song to the Spotify playlist curators. As a creative, you’ll have more time to work on your music.

So let’s recap. Number one, music video promotion is vital to getting your art out there. Number two, social media marketing, because you need new fans to find out about you. The bigger the fan base you have on social media, the easier it will be for you to unlock that door to the next level. And number three, Spotify playlist pitching. We’ve been doing it since 2017, and just like our video promotions, we are very selective. We will inform a client that if we don’t think that video is going to be their best first impression; we won’t fib and tell you that it is. So, if you’re interested in Spotify promotion, please reach out. If you’ve got a terrific track, it would be our pleasure to pitch it to the Spotify playlist curators on your behalf.

Now, if you’re watching this video and you don’t have a music video, well, we are proud to announce that HIP Video Productions is now up and running. We’ve been shooting music videos, lyric videos, and social media visual content for over three years. If you go to HIPVideoProductions.com, you can see some of our work.

To recap this video, all you need to know is that I am the owner and president, the head honcho here at HIP, and I will speak to you. If you’re interested in finding out more, all you need to do is give me a call. My number is (732) 613-1779. If you prefer to email, the email address is info@HIPVideoPromo.com. Music promotion is crucial to furthering your career – if you’ve got great music, but nobody hears it, well, you’re going to be SOL. The best thing you can do is give me a call. I am here at HIP Video Promo HQ, and I look forward to hearing from you!