While we're seeing an increasing number of unsigned artists breakthrough on their own, many talented new artists simply don't know where to begin or how to run an effective music marketing campaign.
Before you do anything else, keep in mind that making amazing music should be your first goal. You can take all of this advice to heart, but if your song, EP, or album isn't well-written, well-mastered, instrumentally tight, and professionally produced, you'll fail on the first try.
1) Learn Skills That You Can Use Over And Over Again
It's always beneficial to learn about the many tactics and opportunities accessible to you, whether it's in the realm of production or the business aspect.
While there are numerous courses on how to make music, there are few that cover the music industry and best practices for self-releasing and advertising your music.
TuneCore Rewards is a free masterclass and reward program that delves further into these themes. The courses are updated on a regular basis with the most up-to-date knowledge, and if you complete them, you'll get access to virtual groups and one-on-one mentorship sessions with industry experts.
Tastemakers with a following are one of the finest methods to attract new fans to hear your music. If you don't have the finances to engage a publicist to help you with this, look into the platforms listed below.
2) Data Is Your Friend
Keep in mind that a bird in your hand is worth five in the bush. Whether you have 100 or 5 million followers, audience involvement is crucial to maintaining a successful musical career. Once you've figured out who your fans are, make it a priority to do all you can to engage with them in a meaningful way. Before trying to gain new fans, or at least concurrently, it's critical to connect with and understand your present ones.
Before you start marketing your music, you'll need to figure out who your target audience is and how engaged your fans are. Knowing where to put your music is an important component of internet marketing for musicians. Knowing where your audience is from and how old they are will help you develop a music marketing approach that will effectively reach all of your prospective followers.
When you start getting traction and new followers start pouring in, it's vital to grab their attention as quickly as possible. For Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal, Feature.fm includes a pre-save function. This not only teaches the algorithms of these platforms to deliver your music to more new listeners, but it also allows you to maintain the email address of everyone who pre-saves your album. This means you may contact them at a later date to inform them about new songs, performances, or merchandise, or just to offer them an insight into your life as an artist.
YouTube's Creator Studio is used by a lot of up-and-coming bands. The Creator Studio allows you to arrange your channel, manage videos, engage with viewers, and measure the performance of your videos and channel.
If you're a self-taught musician, you've probably heard of SoundCloud. However, you can use SoundCloud Pulse to learn more about your audience, fan interaction, and more.
3) Set-Up Easy Alerts - Start with Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a fully free service that is one of the most underutilized tools for keeping track of who is talking about you online. If you score a huge placement on Pitchfork that you weren't expecting, Google Alerts will notify you right away, allowing you to remain ahead of the curve and amplify the publicity as needed.
4) Dedicate Time To Non-Musical Activities
Non-musical content such as posters, photographs, videos, and blogs are also highly important—dedicating a lot of time and attention to providing non-musical content to your audience can help you make an enduring effect that will eventually lead to new fans knowing about your music through their preferred medium. Listeners generally want more than just music to become excited about an artist's songs in today's thriving music market. A compelling visual or textual story may showcase your music in an exciting new light. If you're not sure where to start, consider establishing your creative identity: why you make music, what it means, and how you arrived at where you are now. This concise description will assist you in determining what to say in blogs and visual tales. Consider collaborating with a visual artist to assist you to showcase your work through films, photographs, fliers, and even products if you have the resources.
5) Prepare Contracts
When dealing with other artists, never agree to a verbal or gentleman's agreement. Splits allow you to keep track of your contribution to a song. You may create ownership agreements and give ownership percentages with a single click.
With these resources, you are guaranteed to go far in your quest for success as an independent musician. There might be more, but equipping yourself with these will be a good start for a successful independent music career.
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