6 Ways to Promote Your Music (Without Being Shameless)
So you’ve decided to take your music from a passion to a business. Congratulations! Having the confidence to put yourself out there as an independent musician is the first step. But now you need to promote yourself. If you’ve ever been on the internet, you've noticed that it's full of artists promoting themselves.
You might have some “friends” that slide into your dm’s all the time. They try to get you to share their songs or support their newest thing... daily. Even if you like their music, you get so annoyed with their shameless self promotion that you unfollow, block, or unsubscribe. Lucky for you, it doesn’t have to be that way!
You can promote your music without driving all your friends crazy. Keep reading for 6 ways to authentically promote yourself (and keep your dignity).
1. Find your audience, and “promote” to them.
Part of being a professional musician is figuring out who your audience is. Don’t try to market to everybody. Don't just market to your friends. Figure out who's drawn to your music, your look, your vibe, and market to them. Trying to get to everyone with your music will waste your energy, and make you look scattered.
Make a list of the people, friends, followers, and other musicians, who already like your music. Add people who you'd like to attract to your list. When you’re promoting your music online, imagine that you’re talking directly to those people. This will help you stay authentic, and attract similar fans.
2. Be consistent on social media.
You don’t have to come out with new music every month, or constantly be promoting a show or selling something. Post behind the scenes looks at what you’re doing. Post about a friend or colleague's music (and have them post about you.) Post about causes that you care about and that will be relevant to your audience. Set goals for when you want to put out music, and let your followers know when new things are coming out.
Social media can be intimidating. It can be difficult to come up with something to say several times a day. But on most platforms, your fans won’t see anything if you don’t post regularly. The algorithms value consistency. Try using an online social media planner to help you stay organized. It will also give you a backlog of posts for when you're out of ideas.
Being consistent doesn’t mean you have to put out new music all the time. It can be tempting to put out a song that you worked hard on, and spent time and money to record. But you don’t want to alienate fans with a song that doesn't reflect your best work. Only put out your best music. When a person takes the time to listen to your song, you want them to leave wanting more.
Be consistent with your social media handles to make it easy for fans to find you. This is the one time that your parents naming you something weird could come in handy. But for most people, you’ll probably need to get creative. You could add “music” or “official” or something else to the end of your name. The key is to check and see if that handle is available for all the channels you’re planning to use. Pro tip: Even if you’re not planning on posting on a particular site, snatch up the handle just in case! For a musician, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook are key but you might want to grab that Twitter handle, too.
3. Keep your fans.
Think about how exciting it is when you connect with someone you admire on Instagram. Reply to as many comments as you can, even if it’s just a “like.” When you get a comment, follow up with a quick response and you’ll turn that fan into a superfan. Superfans will promote your music to others.
Use email to stay connected to your fans. You want the people that actually care to know when you’re doing something special. When a person gives you their email, that person is “opting in” to communication from you. You can collect emails by adding a pop up to your website. You can collect them at concerts when you’re selling merchandise, and you can collect them in person.
Send email newsletters regularly, or whenever you have something important to promote. Don’t abuse this. Think about how many times you’ve hit “unsubscribe” this year. You don’t want to turn fans off by over doing it. Don't send more than one email in a day. Strive for one or two a week at most.
4. Get offline.
Another way to connect with fans and promote yourself is to gig. Play shows at different venues to connect with fans, promoters, and industry insiders. When your fans connect with you in real life, it helps you stand out in their minds. It gives them a better idea of what you’re all about.
Professional development is important no matter your industry. It can be a great way to grow as an artist and a business person. Networking offline is also important. Look for conferences, workshops, classes, and communities with like minded musicians. Go to festivals, shows, and events that attract other musicians in your genre.
The side benefit of going to things IRL—It can give you great content for your social media. You can post behind the scenes videos and photos. You can tag the venues and the people you meet to keep the relationships going.
5. Connect with influencers.
Connect with people who have bigger audiences than you. Reach out to promoters and DJs, and other people who curate music and have access to a wider audience. Get on a Spotify or Apple Music playlist. When your music is curated as part of a list from a trusted source, your song will reach a much wider audience. Getting on Spotify playlists is tricky for the indie artist. If it’s in your budget, it might be worth hiring a placer or a PR company to do some of the heavy lifting for you.
Make music videos. Collaborate with another musician on a song, or gig with different bands. Sell merchandise created by a visual artist. Tag those artists on your social media, and promote them on your pages when they have things coming up.
Think about music industry professionals and artists who have a similar fan base. Reach out to others on social media, send a short e-mail with links to your music, or connect with them in real life. Your fans will see you as a resource to discover other artists. And the other artists will be likely to promote you back.
6. Keep it moving
When you reach out to someone to help promote your music and you don’t get a response, don’t get hung up on it. Don’t beat yourself up, don’t try to guess why they didn’t respond. Just keep it moving. People are busy and they don’t always respond right away, or they might not be able to help you.
If the person you reached out to feels important to you, feel free to follow up a couple of weeks later. If you don’t get a response, leave it at that. Don’t ask them why they didn’t respond, or send a “come back.” They might resurface in your career and you don’t want to paint that interaction with negativity. There are plenty of other people to reach out to.
Remember to be authentic, and collaborate with others. Be consistent, and get offline every once in a while. Promoting yourself can be difficult at first, but the more you do it, the easier it will be. You got this!