How to get your music heard online for independent artists
These days you can put your music online for millions, perhaps billions, to hear it – eliminating the need for big money-grabbing record labels. But with such a giant potential audience how do you get people to listen to your music?
The internet has got to be the best tool ever created for independent musicians, producers, DJs and independent record labels; opening up a worldwide platform to put your music on for pennies or even free. The problem with having such a vast landscape of music is that it’s filled with everyone else’s, and standing out from the crowd is harder than ever. These tips will help you make the most of everything you have available to you.
Sharing
There are loads of places to share your music online but which one do you choose? Why not all of them!
The best way to make sure you’re reaching everyone you can, drawing in potential new fans is to use every tool at your hands.
YouTube: YouTube is free to upload videos and has the biggest audience of any video site ever. If you have a music video then YouTube is undoubtedly the best place to put it. Even if you just have tracks with no visuals there’s no reason not to upload them – you can create a cool lyric video, have some nice images in the background or even just put the album art. As long as it’s there for people to hear!
Facebook: Whether you like Facebook or not, having an artist page is vital to keeping fans. It’s a one-stop shop accessed by people everyday where you can post updates about the bands, post videos on their fast growing video platform, share interviews and news, or even just post memes if you want to shamelessly grow your likes. Make sure you set up your page with plenty of information and links to your other sites as it will likely be where most of your new fans go to find out about you.
Twitter: Twitter is a funny one – it’s not as important as Facebook or YouTube but can still create massive traction. It’s a really easy way to interact with fans and a simple place to share any updates about the band. Make use of hashtags to bring in listeners who are interested in your types of music and spread your reach even further.
SoundCloud: Some consider SoundCloud the definitive indie artist site. You can create a profile and upload your music to it completely free, giving people an easy way to come and listen to your music with no hassle. However you’re unlikely to make a living through SoundCloud so whilst it may be a good promotional tool, it might not be the place to put up your entire album.
Instagram: Instagram is often overlooked as a promotion platform, but it shouldn’t be! Lots of artists use Instagram and as a testament to it’s popularity a majority of the most followed profiles are bands and musicians. It’s purely an image platform but it’s more free engagement. Share videos of your latest set or jamming a new tune, pictures of meeting fans, backstage moments, anything you want – fans don’t care they just want to see you!
Sell and Stream
In case you weren’t aware, we at RouteNote offer FREE digital distribution to all the top music stores and services. That includes Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Deezer and many more.
With RouteNote it’s free to sign up and all you have to do is upload your music, tell us how you’d like it to look and any metadata details. Then we’ll make sure it’s all good and send it off to stores where you can start making money; it’s that easy!
When you upload your music through our free tier you will keep 85% of all the revenue you make from any stores and streaming services.
We also offer a Premium option where you pay a small fee and keep 100% of all your earnings. The Premium tier is priced as following: