7 Music Promotion Alternatives to Short-Form Content

Tired of feeling forced to sell your whole music brand under the constraints of short-from content. These music promotion alternatives will expand your reach and elevate your music career, all without following the latest content trends.

7 Music Promotion Alternatives to Short-Form Content

by Caleb J Murphy of Bandzoogle

The easiest way to get your music in front of new people is through short-form content: it’s free; you can make it with your phone; and if it’s good, the algorithms are incentivized to push it.

But…

Maybe you don’t want to make short-form content. Maybe you’re an introvert who doesn’t want to be on camera, or you feel like you don’t have ideas, or you would rather focus only on making music instead of learning how to edit videos. 

Good news: there are other ways to get yourself out there without relying on short-form content.  

Here are 7 music promotion alternatives to Short-Form Content without making short-form content, including some free and some paid options: 

1. Playlists

Every major streaming platform offers the ability to create and follow playlists. They are an excellent tool for you to get your music heard by more people. 

When your music gets added to a playlist on Spotify, for example, that’s one small ping that tells the algorithm it should push your music out via Radio, Daily Mixes, and other algorithmic playlists. It also tells the algorithm what kind of music you make, based on the other artists on those playlists, and therefore which listeners would be more likely to enjoy your music. 

To that end, even getting on small, relevant playlists helps your overall streaming strategy.

Whatever the platform,  having your music included on a playlist with a bunch of followers  puts your music in front of a lot of people who have probably never heard of you before. And that can lead to more followers and streams.

I usually use SubmitHub to get on playlists, but I’ve also used Soundplate, Daily Playlists, and just contacting playlisters directly when I find a cool playlist that my music could fit into. 

2. Playing live

Playing shows is the classic way to find new fans. If you enjoy performing and are entertaining, people will be drawn to you. And chances are they’ve never heard of you before. 

Here’s how to play shows that get you discovered by new fans:

• Play local open mics
• Open for other bands who make similar music (whether they’re local or passing through on tour, and perhaps even if you can support them on multiple cities during their tour)
• Get into a local/regional songwriter’s showcase
• Organize a house concert with local artists who make similar music (cross-promotion!)
• Play originals and covers on TikTok Live, Instagram Live, and/or Twitch

3. Collaborations

When you collaborate with an artist who makes similar music to yours, it can be a very effective way to cross-promote each other’s work. Their music gets in front of your fans, and your music gets in front of their fans. 

Here’s how to find an artist to co-write a song with or to swap features with:

Find an artist who makes similar music to you

Look through Spotify’s Fans Also Like section. Check out the artists on the playlists that your fans put you on. Listen to your music on Spotify Radio or Pandora to find similar artists. 

Make sure the artist is at your level

You’ll have a better shot of collaborating with an artist if they’re at a similar level – both in terms of music quality and the size of their following. You should genuinely like the artist’s music too. It will make the whole process fun, and that’s what making music is all about, right?

Contact them about a co-write or swapping features 

Lastly, shoot your shot. The worst they can say is no. 

Send them an email or DM them on Instagram. Suggest a co-write or swapping features (you feature them on your track, they feature you on theirs).  

4. QR code posters and stickers

Make some posters and stickers using a QR code that leads to a Smart Links landing page with all of your links. Then hang those posters and slap the stickers at places where you think your fans will see them.

For example, I make kind of sad acoustic folk music. So if I did this, I would probably hang mine at coffee shops, libraries, and out in nature (like along a hiking path or in a public park).

Think of where you hang out and where your music fits the vibe, then hang your QR code poster in those places (with permission where necessary). 

5. Spotify marketing tools

Spotify is the biggest streaming platform in the world in terms of listenership. The per-stream payout is terrible, but music promotion is all about finding fans who will not just stream your music but also come to your shows, buy your merch, and become your patrons.

And Spotify offers some free and paid tools to get your music in front of more people. 

First, there’s Spotify Marquee, which is ”a full-screen, sponsored recommendation” for new releases. You know that pop-up you see sometimes when you open the Spotify app? That’s Marquee, and it has a minimum spend amount of $100.

Second, there’s Spotify Showcase, which is a banner that appears on the homepage of the Spotify app. This option is for any release in your catalog and requires a minimum budget of $100. 

Lastly, there’s Discovery Mode, which doesn’t cost anything upfront. It’s an option where you tell the Spotify algorithm to push your songs to more people who may like your music. It will then prioritize your songs on Radio, Autoplay, and Daily Mix. In exchange, Spotify keeps a 30% commission on all streams that come directly from your Discovery Mode campaigns. 

6. Social media ads

You can use social media even if you’re not creating video content.

You can throw together a quick video that’s simply your song artwork with the song playing underneath. You can do this with iMovie or CapCut very easily.

Then you can take that video and run it through YouTube Ads and boost it on Instagram and Facebook. The call-to-action can drive people to your website or your Smart Links page.

7. Hire a PR/marketing person

If you’ve got a more serious budget, you can look into hiring someone to do the marketing for you. Just a heads-up, the PR team or marketing person you hire may ask you to create content so they have something to push out to people. But you can tell them upfront you’d like to stay away from content and would rather brainstorm other ways to get your name out there. 

Try a combination of these promo methods, see what works and what doesn’t, then adjust accordingly. Regardless of which promotion avenues you combine, you can still promote your music effectively without creating short-form content. 

Caleb J. Murphy is a singer/songwriter whose music has been on NBC, ABC, and in hundreds of indie film projects. He also sends a twice-monthly email to indie musicians called 5 Things To Help You Keep Going.