How to market your music online and get new fans
Getting your music heard is often the hardest part to making it as an artist but there are ways to bring in fresh ears.
Branding
Eurgh what a corporate word am I right? It may not sound sexy but having a style, a look, a name that people can latch on to is crucial to getting your influence out there.
You don’t necessarily have to stick to a colour scheme or visual theme for your entire career but something established that fans can instantly recognise will make all the difference for your career. Logos are a big part of branding that give you a unique identity.
Recognise any of these guys? If you don’t then go listen to some music. But assuming you do, that’s the power of logos. No names or music, but most can still instantly recognise an artist’s identity with a single, powerful image.
And of course, you need an artist name if you don’t have one. There’s no criteria to a good name except making it easy to remember and easy to find. If you call your band ‘Ocean’ then people are going to struggle searching for you online amongst all the pictures of the sea. If you call yourselves ‘∑RΦŒXZ⊗’ then no-one will ever be able to tell their friends to look you up. Catchy and simple is best.
Social Media
An online presence is key in the 21st century. If a label’s interested, they’ll see how many fans you have online. If someone hears your music and likes your stuff, they’ll try to find your social pages. At the very least you should have a Facebook page.
You don’t have to post there all the time, just having a page that fans can like and shows information about your band will help your artist identity a lot. Saying that, having an active profile posting about shows, upcoming music, things you’re working on, and so on will create engagement with users. It also lets people know you’re still making things and performing.
Taking it even further you can create a real relationship with fans from around the world using social media. That engagement means a lot to listeners and will create fans for life.
Make Friends
The biggest resource you’ll ever have in getting your music heard by other people is… other people. Connect with other people whether they be fans, other artists, industry types, venue hosts, and pretty much anyone, you never know where it could lead.
Connecting with other artists is massively important. They could ask you to support at a big gig, they can shout you out to their fans, and it also builds a local scene of music which people can get involved in. It’s a process of give and take, so do what you can for other artists and hopefully you’ll be paid back with interest.
Get Your Music Online
People come to the internet to find music these days and thanks to the creation of streaming services people are listening to music more than ever. The beauty of online music means that no matter where a listener is in the world they can still discover and fall in love with your music.
In case you didn’t notice, we at RouteNote allow you to upload your music to all the top stores and streaming services including iTunes, Spotify, TIDAL, Apple Music, Amazon, and many more for FREE. You can sign up at www.routenote.com.
Get Out There
In every way possible get your face, your music, your image, your name out there. Performing live has always been a staple in spreading the reach of your music. Most gigs will have at least a few people that haven’t heard you before, and now they’re getting to in the most personal, real way.
You will also 9 times out of 10 get paid for performing somewhere, so you can make money from it as well as new fans.