Practical Music Marketing Tips for Artists Who Want to Get Noticed

As an artist living in this day-and-age, you have more at your disposal than ever before. It’s too easy to believe that you are living in the “wrong era.” What’s harder is to understand that you are actually living in the best era to be an artist EVER.

If you are struggling to get your music heard, there may be a couple of avenues that you have been ignoring. With the cost-of-entry so low, there is now absolutely no reason not to! Follow these music marketing tips to get your music heard.

1. Quantity

As an artist, naturally you are a perfectionist. You don’t want to release anything unless it is “perfect”. You don’t want to post anything because you feel like it’s “not ready.” This is understandable. But if you are an artist who wants to heard, you have to post often. This doesn’t necessarily mean posting subpar content. This just means become more aware that the more you post, the more likely your posts will be seen. It is a skill in itself to be able to post 2-3 TikToks a day, while still maintaining the quality and creativity that you desire. Just takes some work!

2. TikTok

If you are an artist who is trying to get noticed and you are not on TikTok, what are you doing? TikTok (not that we need to tell you this) has absolutely blown up this year and it is the go-to social media platform for many musicians now. This is because TikTok is still at an early enough stage where it still has true organic reach, i.e – you can blow much easier and much faster than you can on the other platforms. One video that took you 30 seconds to make and upload can garner 1 million likes just like that. Get on TikTok and post TODAY. 

3. Instagram/Facebook Ads

Facebook and Instagram ads are a pay-to-play game. The more you put in, the more return you will see. Lucky for you, it does not cost much to play. With a $30 promotion budget, you can get your post in front of thousands of people. This is a great tool to utilize when you have a single that you are trying to promote or when you have a new cover that you are trying to get noticed and have a couple of extra bucks to spare. Next time you post, just click the “promote” button, specify your target audience, and you’re off!

4. Spotify Playlist Submissions

Let’s say you have a single releasing next month. Once you’ve submitted your single to be released on Spotify, there is an additional tool you can utilize. Once you sign up for Spotify for Artists, you have the ability to pitch your upcoming release to the Spotify team and have the ability to be featured on their playlists. When you login to Spotify for Artists, just click the “pitch song” button under the Upcoming Releases section. These playlist curators take a look through a couple of questions you answer about your release, obviously as well as listen to it, and you have the potential to be featured on emerging playlists. Spotify playlists are a great way to get discovered, so do not ignore this tool! You can submit your music to be considered for Gigmor’s Spotify playlist here.

Follow Gigmor’s Spotify Playlist

5. Engage with your Audience

It isn’t enough these days to just create and share. It is important to also engage with your community. All those comments on your last Instagram post that you did not reply to, go back and engage with those people that showed you love. All those TikTok musicians that you just scrolled past, go back and leave a comment telling them you respect their craft. Engaging with the music community is all ROI positive. 

Since we’re all at home, there is really no excuse for not going live on Instagram, Facebook, or even Twitch. Live stream weekly and sing some songs for your audience. This is a great way for your followers (and potential followers) to feel like they are in the room with you!

Now you have some practical music marketing tips, so go out there, create, and promote! 

5 Types of content you can easily share on social media

This guest post by Leonard Patterson is an updated version from IndieBandCoach.com

UNDERSTANDING WHY EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO YOUR PROMO ARE MORE INFLUENTIAL TO FAN ENGAGEMENT THAN THE PROMO ITSELF.

Now more than ever, it’s not just enough to show up. You have to stand out. As we all know, the pandemic has leveled the playing field to where your “stage” is literally the same size as everyone else’s. All of your fans and the ones following artists on major labels are all being viewed on mobile devices, laptops, and tv screens.

So how can you shine above the rest? One of the main points of a recent masterclass I attended focused on the difference between literal and emotional communication on social media.. and of course that got me to thinking about how it relates to music and musicians.

++ Stay Productive During Quarantine

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU

Here’s the thing, we’re all different in very unique ways, but unless we’re careful, all of our “stuff” will start to sound the same as the next artist or band. 

Just keep this in mind though: Most bands and artists you know are trying to grab the attention of fans online at this very moment. Some of them have larger fan bases and maybe even more money to spend on ads. But don’t let that stop you, because what you have (now) is a roadmap to better communicating with them.

Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman claims that 95% of our purchasing decisions are made subconsciously. This means that your decisions are mostly being made on an emotional level.

So how can we use this in our promotional messages? 

LITERAL VS. EMOTIONAL

Let’s talk about promotion literally. When artists or companies advertise, it’s typically a literal example; meaning that the calls to action and content is primarily talking about the event itself. When we focus on what our fans will get out of it, we can start painting the picture of the emotional payoff they get if they attend.

Literally speaking…

• Example 1: “Check us out at Indie Tavern where we’ll be playing all the hits! Come out this Friday, show starts at 10pm!” Or…
• Example 2: “I’m going live at 8-9pm on Facebook playing all originals! Come join me!

Those messages are informative and needed to get the details of your show out to your fans. There’s nothing wrong with them!! But what would happen if you started to talk and communicate in benefits to your fans instead of the features of your event?

++ Promote Your Livestreams On These Sites for Free

Emotionally speaking…

• Example 1A: “Leave stress at the office and enjoy a trip down memory lane this Friday at 10pm! It’s a classic rock party at Indie Tavern and you’re the guest of honor.” Or…
• Example 2A: If you’re tired of all the negative news online, join me on Facebook Live at 8pm. We’ll pour a worry-free glass of whatever you’ve got and I’ll provide the music!

Focus on how your fans will FEEL vs. just what you’re going to do. In fact, think about it as a template to use as a starting point.

As humans we do one of two things with every decision and action we take. We either move AWAY from pain or TOWARDS pleasure. Those are universal reactions, and can be what ties your message into what people relate to. You can then add in the specific feelings, emotions, and experiences that are unique to you and your music.

FILL IN THE BLANKS

If we take the first emotional example and break it down, it can easily be turned into a “mad lib” style caption that you can customize. Give this a try…

“Leave stress at the office and enjoy a trip down memory lane this Friday at 10PM! It’s a classic rock party at Indie Tavern and you’re invited.”

• Leave (1)_________________ [stress at the office, kids at home, boring nights alone] 
• Enjoy (2)_______________________ [a trip down memory lane, a fun night on the town, a 3-hour vacation from your worries] this Friday at 10PM!
• It’s a (3) ________________ [classic rock party, romantic evening of smooth jazz, a crazy 80’s night] and you’re invited.”

If we’re looking at it even more simply from the point of pain vs. pleasure, it could be summarized like this.

• Describe a common PAIN or negative situation your audience might want to leave.
• Describe a PLEASURE they might want to move towards (*keep it clean now*).
• Try to highlight the type of experience and/or genre your audience could expect. 

Again, this is just an example, and it can also pertain to your music. It doesn’t have to just be about events. But how can you focus on the feelings and describe the emotion around what you’re promoting?

When we realize that our shows and why we want people to attend them should really be ABOUT THEM, we can start to stand out from the online crowd.

Hopefully you got a few ideas on how to promote yourself using emotion. Here are some more helpful resources:

++ Grab the free Livestream Checklist from Indie Band Coach

++ Turn Your Audio Into Visuals with This Social Media Tool

++ Apply to Perform and Attend Weekly Shows at Twitch.tv/GigmorLIVE

Leonard Patterson (Indie Band Coach) is a former front-man for a 6-figure party band, a booking agent with 1000’s of shows under his belt, and a certified digital marketer. His mission is to help indie musicians and bands find their fans and share their gifts. Subscribe to his YouTube Channel to get time-saving tips on content creation and livestream strategies so you can get back to the music.