Build a website & mailing list
Your website should \include links to your music, bios, images and tour dates, but make sure to also include a mailing list sign up form. Email marketing offers direct access to the inboxes of people most likely to engage with your music.
If a fan gives you their email address, it means they want to hear from you, and a message direct to their inbox about your latest release or upcoming tour is much more likely to reach them than a social post that can be restricted by a platform’s limited reach. Just like Myspace died, other platforms will too, and you want to be able to reach your fans no matter what.
Social Media
Developing and maintaining a consistent, interesting and engaging presence across Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and even less obvious platforms like Snapchat, is essential.
PR PRO TIPS:
- Try and keep your profile handles consistent to make things easier for people searching for you online.
- Respond to messages, comments, shares. Engage with people. Be humble.
- Put effort into the profile images. This is your first impression.
- If there’s a new platform, try it.
- If you’re doing the same thing over and over and not getting the “volume” or “response” you want… try something different.
- Don’t pay for followers or engagement or verification. This is always a scam.
There’s an insurmountable amount of advice out there on how to manage your social channels, and things are constantly changing across every platform. Look through some of these helpful resources for more info on how to run and make the most of your social media presence.
Get playlisted
You can’t afford to ignore streaming and playlisting. Playlists across Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and other platforms reach hundreds of millions of listeners across the globe, racking up billions of streams. Getting your track into a popular playlist can help you rack up thousands of streams. That’s not only great awareness but also royalty earnings in your pocket.
Build relationships with curators, bloggers, reporters
If you come to a media professional with a cold call or cold e-mail, it’s not a zero chance that you will get a response. However, if you build a genuine relationship with someone who curates a playlist, runs a blog or column you love, that’s the kind of relationship that has real payouts if you are creating art that resonates with their audience. Play the long game.
If your music is featured by music publications, whether that’s mainstream mags or niche blogs and webzines, those placements can help build hype and give you the credentials to take your music career up a level.
Hiring a professional PR executive to handle your campaign is generally the best way to get great coverage. But this isn’t always affordable or possible for a new artist with a limited budget.
Do-it-yourself PR is an option for artists without a big enough budget. But it’s important to approach blogger and journalist in the right way. Firstly, you’ll need to create an electronic press release. This should contain all the essential info about you & your music. The resources below offer advice for musicians who want to take PR into their own hands.
Make quality music videos
Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to creating a video for your latest release.
- PR PRO TIP: A common way PR folks pitch music is to offer a music video to one reporter/blogger “exclusively” — meaning only they can cover it and will get to “break” the news. This is a great way to offer something special to a media professional you have developed a relationship with and share your music to a new set of listeners. Keep this in mind if you want to have a music video you can pitch before you release your project.
- Video ideas: BTS video, Performance video, acoustic video, Lyric Video, Official Music Video, Unofficial Music Video, promotional ad video, teaser videos from big videos. When making all of these, hire someone to take “stills” for BTS to get yourself more content!
Surround yourself with a strong team
You might prefer the lone-wolf approach to promoting your music, but there can be huge benefits to surrounding yourself with a great team of like-minded people. If you have a team of well-connected individuals who are passionate about your music all working in your interest, it stands to reason that your chances of success will increase.
A strong team could look like:
- Artist/Band/Producer (You)
- Manager
- A&R
- Producer/Engineer
- PR
- Playlist/radio plugger
- Sync Agency/Agent
- Talent Agent
- Booking Agent/Manager
- Content creator/creative director/photographer
- Mentor / Advisor
- Therapist / Wellbeing specialist
Know your audience & focus on your niche
Where and to whom you market your music can make all the difference; you can access this information in analytics built into social media and streaming platforms. Finding, knowing and exploiting your musical niche is key to your promotional campaign.
But niches aren’t always defined by genre. If your music has more widespread appeal, start locally. People generally want to see an artist from their area succeed. Take advantage of this mentality and grow your fanbase close to home to before expanding nationally or even globally.
Play/appear live often & make an impact
Obviously this is much more difficult in the Covid-19 era, but gigs and tours offer an invaluable way to connect with fans. Get booked at nearby venues, play awesome sets for local music fans and you’ll quickly develop a strong, new fan base. Do instagram takeovers and appear on podcasts. Try something new, whether that be a YouTube series or Twitch/Patreon channel.