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Knowing how to promote your music is essential for the success of your act. If you aren’t promoting your own music, no one else is going to. There are many reasons to promote your music, from building your fan base to become more discoverable in the music industry. Below are ways in which you can promote your music.
How to promote your music
Social media
Social media is one of the most effective ways to promote your music. It’s the most obvious way and not very original, but it’s popular for a reason. With YouTube and SoundCloud being the strongest contenders for artists to promote their music, you’d be missing out not to have an account. Regularly updating these will help your music become more popular and allow it to be viewed by a wider audience. Of course, posting your music on other social media platforms is also essential; apps can allow you to post your music and videos on Facebook.
Getting your social media engagement and content right is massive in order to promote your music. For example on Facebook if you post too little you are in danger of getting lost in peoples’ news feeds and forgotten. Post too much however and you will irritate your fans! Striking the right balance is essential in keeping your current fans engaged and growing your fan base, these tips basics should help you to promote your music.
Gig as much as you can
You need people to hear your music and have the opportunity to see you perform as well; this is where gigging comes in. Gigging is an excellent way to promote your music. Having gigging experience not only helps to promote your music and you as a singer, but it also gives you real-life experience of performing on stage and in front of an audience. This experience will help you to improve your future gigs, as you will be able to find out which songs work, what your fan base is like and whether your crowd is enjoying your music. Perhaps start with smaller gigs and Open Mic nights before embarking on larger gigs.
The more you gig, the more you promote your music.
Working hard to promote the gig, promote your music at the gig and after will all assist in promoting your brand and music.
Create a press pack
A smart way to promote your music is to make up a press pack. A little less of a priority now in the age of the internet but having the following together as press pack is like a CV for singers; it should include everything in it that sells you as an artist. The most important things to include in a press pack are:
- Description and background of the act.
- Any artwork, such as business cards, posters etc.
- A demo CD or hyperlink to YouTube.
- Any publicity that you have received.
- Your contact details.
- A recent picture of the act.
Give stuff away for free
When learning to promote your music it’s wise to remember you need to invest in yourself. You should always have leaflets to hand out at you gigs, but of course, everyone loves a freebie too, so if you’ve got a big enough fan base then why not give them something to remember you with! After you’ve played at a gig, give some badges or demo CDs away, that way your fans receive something and are more likely to listen to you again. Make sure the CD is professionally recorded and represents you in the best way possible; quality rather than quantity is key. Run competitions through your social media giving away freebies to interact with your fans and keep them interacting with you.