We get countless emails from indie artists asking how to promote music. Through our years of entertainment marketing we’ve come up with a list of ways you can proactively promote your music on your own!
Upload your Music to Streaming Services
You can easily upload your music to streaming platforms using Distrokid. We have used a couple different music distribution companies, which is a company that will upload your music to Spotify. Distrokid is by far the best… and most affordable. Some companies will charge you per song, but Distrokid only charges $20 a year, per artist, with unlimited songs. If you use this link you will get a discount with Distrokid – Distrokid.
When uploading your music on Distrokid you will have the option to upload your music to YouTube. That means they will start a new channel for your music, but I would highly recommend only uploading your music to your own YouTube Channel. To keep Distrokid from starting a new YouTube channel for your music just “uncheck” the YouTube box when you are uploading your music on Distrokid.
Submit Music to Free Playlists
After your music is on Spotify (and other music streaming platforms) Submit your music to playlists. There are a lot of curators that allow you to submit to their Playlist…like ours 🙂 You can even submit your music to our Spotify Playlists and YouTube Music Playlist FREE. Just visit our Free Playlist Submission page.
Upload your Music to YouTube
Upload your music to your YouTube channel. YouTube is a great way to get organic traffic. The good news about YouTube is that it’s free to upload your music, unlike Spotify, and once you upload your video (music) to YouTube, it will stay on YouTube without having to pay yearly to keep the song online. With Spotify you have to pay every year to keep your songs on Spotify.
When you upload your video to YouTube make sure to check the box “No, it’s not made for kids.” This will tell YouTube to promote your video to adults and allow comments on your video. You want people to “Like” and “Comment” on your video so that YouTube’s system sees the activity and start to recommend your video to more people.
Promote your music on Social Media
Utilize platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok to reach a large audience and engage with fans.
Funnel Social Media Traffic to your Spotify and YouTube
Use social media to funnel traffic to your music on Spotify and YouTube.
Make Money from your Demos
Upload your produced music to streaming platforms, but also some of your raw demos. Spotify will pay you for any streams over 30 seconds (at the time of this post). We have made some good money from posting iphone recordings of a verse and chorus, just to see if our audience likes the idea. We have noticed people actually like hearing raw talent.
Live Performances
Play live shows and concerts to connect with fans and build a following in person.
Create an Experience for your Audience
Always be thinking of different ways to create a unique experience or product that you can sell to your audience.
My best friend growing up was Joel Smallbone, he’s in a Grammy Award winning band now called for King & Country. But before he was a King or a Country he was his big sisters back up singer and stage manager…when he was 12. I remember watching him work so hard at such a young age to come up with unique stage layouts, lighting sequences, choreography, and the list goes on and on. Then he and his brother Luke started for King and Country and they started from the ground up playing coffee shops. But his work ethic was the exact same as if he were still planning arena tours for his sister. I remember walking into a show they had at a coffee shop in Franklin and the whole shop was completely rearranged because Joel wanted to bring in drum risers, lighting and fog.
Collaborations
Work with other artists and influencers to reach new audiences and expand your network. Here is a list of some of the Top Collaboration Platforms.
Sell Sponsorships
Do you know a business owner? Ask them if they want to be a sponsor.
Sell Merchandise
Are you already selling merch? If not, you should think about setting up a print on demand shop. This costs you nothing! I use BigCartel.com as my web store and Printful.com fulfills the order.
I set this up a while ago but from what I can remember you go to BigCartel.com and set up an account. Then head over to Printful.com, set up an account, then link your Big Cartel store by clicking the “Store” tab on the left. Then they have a ton of different styles of shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, hats, beanies, cups, etc and you can choose the color, style, and design. After you finish a design, and choose the price, it will be on your “product templates” tab/page. When you’re on the product templates page you can hover over the design with your mouse and click “Add to Store” and it will show up on your Big Cartel store.
You can have 5 items on your Big Cartel store for free.
Email and Newsletter
Keep your fans updated and engaged by regularly sending out email newsletters with exclusive content and updates.
Paid Advertising
Utilize paid advertising on social media platforms and Google AdWords to reach specific target audiences. This is something we also cover at Virmedius. One quick and easy way to promote your music is to work with a company like Virmedius 🙂 You concentrate on your music and let us handle the marketing of your music! You can learn more on our indie music marketing page.
Remember that promoting music effectively takes time, effort, and a well-planned strategy!