How To Keep Fans Engaged Between Releases and Tours

Struggling to keep fans engaged between releases and tours? Explore these 10 strategies to help maintain excitement, grow your audience, and stay top of mind, even when you’re not dropping new tracks.

How To Keep Fans Engaged Between Releases and Tours

by Lisa Occhino from Bandzoogle

Releasing new music is one of the best opportunities you have to grow your audience and propel your artistry forward. But how can you make sure fans don’t forget about you while you’re between projects? That space can feel tricky to navigate, especially when you’re focused on writing, recording, or just recharging after an intense period of releasing and touring your work.

The good news is that you don’t need to exhaust yourself by constantly dropping new albums to stay connected with your fans. Some of the most meaningful engagement can happen when you invite people into your creative world while you’re regenerating after your most recent release. It gives them a reason to stick around for your whole creative journey, not just for the final products you put out.

Here are 10 ways to keep your fans interested and invested in what comes next:

1. Reimagine your older songs

Revitalize your back catalog with fun remixes or stripped-down acoustic versions. Play around with borrowed chords to put a new spin on some of your existing songs, and share those new takes as video reels and snippets for social media. Releasing fresh takes on older tracks keeps you active as an artist while engaging both new and existing fans. 

2. Involve fans in your creative process

People really value getting a behind-the-scenes peek into the lives of their favorite musicians. Provide a glimpse into some raw material you’re reworking in your writing practice. Share songwriting snippets, home studio shots, voice memos, or day-in-the-life vlogs to make them feel part of your journey. You can also allow fans to feel more connected to your work by asking them to vote and give feedback on potential album covers, merch designs, or setlists.

3. Drop surprise singles or bonus tracks

Gather up your unreleased songs, demos, or live recordings, and share them unexpectedly to get your fans excited. If you don’t want to go through the process of officially releasing them on streaming services, dropping new tracks on your own music website can just as easily generate buzz.

4. Repurpose your music for short-form video

Chop up your songs into catchy 10–15 second clips for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Try to start a trend or challenge, or see if you can create an opportunity to use your music as a reaction to a viral sensation—who knows, by putting your reimagined content out there, you could have a viral moment as well!

5. Curate playlists

Getting featured on a popular editorial playlist can work wonders for growing your fanbase, but you don’t have to wait around for that to happen. You can create and share your own public playlists on Spotify and Apple Music. Curate your playlist around a searchable theme like a mood, genre, or activity. Show support for fellow independent artists by adding their tracks alongside yours.

6. Host live streams

Go live on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube to play music and share updates about upcoming projects. Make it interactive by taking song requests, answering fan questions, or co-hosting with other musicians.

7. Create exclusive content for superfans

Engaged fans love getting rewarded with exclusive content. Offer early access to unreleased songs, private live streams, or behind-the-scenes content via Patreon, your email newsletter, or through fan subscriptions on your music website.

8. Plan a unique live show

Real-world experiences offer some of the best opportunities to deepen fan connections and keep engagement high between releases. Rather than a traditional show, you could do a themed performance, such as a full-set tribute to your influences or a “deep cuts” night. You could also host pop-up performances in unexpected locations, or partner with local businesses for intimate, invite-only gigs. And remember: you can sell event tickets directly through your own website, so your opportunities for promotion are boundless.

9. Start a social media series

Create a weekly or monthly series around your music. For example, you could post “Throwback Thursdays” featuring old songs that newer fans might not have heard, “Songwriting Sundays” where you share the stories behind your lyrics, or “Fan Feature Fridays” to spotlight your top listeners. You can cleverly use social media to expand your fanbase.

10. Collaborate with other creatives

Team up with other musicians, producers, designers, or influencers for co-writes, remixes, lyric videos, or content swaps. Collaborating with other musicians is a great option for creative inspiration, and it allows you to ross-promote to each other’s audiences, giving you a nice boost of exposure that you couldn’t get on your own.