Writing, performing, and recording your music is only half the battle.
These days, every artist has to market themselves and their music in order to be successful.
Keep reading for the top five marketing plans to get yourself seen and heard!
1. Focus on the Long-Term
Treat yourself and your music as if you are a brand.
Don’t focus on individual songs or albums, but cultivate a following that will last far into the future.
One-hit wonders are a dime a dozen.
Don’t you want to be the sort of musician that people remember?
You’ll need to develop a comprehensive music marketing strategy to grow your audience.
Part of being a brand is learning how to tell your story.
What makes you unique? What new perspective do you bring to the genre?
Developing your bio is the first place to start.
Highlight your unique perspective, or the fascinating story that brought you to making music.
2. Connect with Your Audience
Trendy hits come and go, but a loyal fanbase will stay with you as an artist.
Connect with those who love your music and make them your fans, not people who just love one or two of your songs.
Check out this guide on where to post your music online, posted on the GigFaster blog.
Instagram can be a great place to gain fans, especially by using the Stories feature.
Music videos are the perfect way to engage your audience and keep them coming back.
You can make a great music video on a budget, and post it to YouTube, and link to on in all of your social media channels.
There are lots of other ways to sell your music online, and the more avenues you use, the better your results will be.
3. Collaborate and Share Shows with Other Artists
One of the best ways to grow your fanbase is to network with other artists.
Find musicians that are outside of your genre to get your work in front of brand new audiences.
Whether you do collabs on each other’s YouTube channels, or share billing at a live event, working together benefits everyone involved.
By exposing others artists’ fans to your music, you can increase your following.
Likewise, the artist you pair with will similarly benefit.
It’s a win-win!
Collaborate online in Facebook live videos, on Twitch with raids and channel swaps, and trade video posts on your YouTube channels to get heard by more people!
Playing live shows with other musicians is probably the best method to get in front of new audiences.
Two or more musicians will attract more fans than just one.
Make the most of the opportunity by asking people to subscribe to your email newsletter, promoting your website and social media channels, and generally getting people to remember your name.
For great articles that will teach you how to get booked for your next music show, check out the GigFaster blog!
4. Keep Making Music
Don’t be afraid to be incredibly productive.
Only a certain percentage of songs will become hits, so the more you produce, the better your odds.
Continually making music and writing new songs will hone your skills.
More experience will make you a better artist.
None of this can possibly hurt your career.
Don’t be afraid to release a “dud.”
People won’t remember the songs that failed.
Only your hits will be truly memorable.
Work on writing impressive song lyrics, catchy tunes, and meaningful music.
5. Get Your Music into Videos
Ask YouTubers if they’d like to use your music in their videos as background music.
All they have to do is give you attribution, and bam! You’re in front of a whole new audience.
Anyone who vlogs, livestreams, or uses Twitch can likewise get your music heard.
Use private messages and hit up every vlogger you can find with more than 100,000 views.
Offer to let them use your music without paying royalties, and you could get lots of people interested in your music.
Related to getting exposure, you should get your music on Shazam. This app lets people record music clips to find out what song it is.
Once you’ve gotten your song entered into the database, anyone will be able to find you with a simple sound clip.
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