Music Marketing 101: Everything You Need To Know

Let’s kick things off with a hard-to-swallow pill: Marketing your music isn’t optional. A lot of indie musicians tend to work under the impression that once they’ve finally composed and recorded their work, it’s only smooth sailing from there. And if the labels don’t start calling immediately, it’s probably because of the wrong era they’ve been born in. Well, music marketing is an indispensable part of releasing your music, even if you’re a prodigy. 

Especially if you’re a prodigy.

 

What’s the point of making the best song in the world, if no one gets to hear it?

Music marketing is the process by which you make sure that the music you make reaches the ears of people who are likely to enjoy it. Just like a business needs to market its new products instead of keeping them a secret, artists need to market and promote their work to increase exposure, especially if you ever hope to do music full-time. 

Streaming services have made it easier for musicians to showcase their talents to the world, especially through playlists. However, this also means that the competition has increased in the industry and music promotion is essential to help you stand out amongst your competitors. Here’s Top 7 Music Marketing Tools in 2023.

 

Importance Of Music Marketing In The Digital Distribution Era

The abundance of streaming services has made it easier for people to access music. But in the era of digital distribution, the competition is also intense as it is so much easier for artists to release their work now. Almost every musician has a home-studio capable of professional-grade recordings. The existence and execution of music marketing strategies is what separates the successful artists from the waiting-to-get-discovered ones. 

 

In this day and age, the real challenge isn’t creating the piece of music, but marketing that to a guaranteed target audience and connecting with any potential opportunity that it may receive. These music marketing platforms can come in the form of a streaming service, radio, or social media post — each reaching a different audience and demographic. 

 

How To Market Your Music?

There are so many kinds and levels of music marketing strategies today. Thankfully, we have put out a lot of content with regards to that already. You can read up on Music Marketing in 2023: 5 Methods That Actually Work if you’ve decided to approach music marketing seriously. However, if you already have a bit of an audience and are wishing to expand your music marketing efforts by taking baby steps first, 10 Fresh Music Marketing Ideas might be right up your alley.

 

Even though social media is all the buzz for music marketing these days, traditional strategies should not be ruled out. Music marketing strategies like email marketing are still very relevant and helpful in spreading the word about your music. 

 

When Should You Start Marketing Your Music?

Music promotion is a long process that needs a lot of time and effort before it starts showing results. Therefore, it is suggested that you start planning way ahead of your music release. You should ideally start your music marketing campaign at least a month before the day of your release, and also have a proper post-release strategy in place. Here’s the Ultimate Indie Release Strategy.

There are various activities that you have to undertake to market your music more efficiently. 

 

To start, identify who your fans are and where they are from. Their basic details like age, gender identity, and general location. Doing this will help you figure out your target audience to craft a suitable marketing strategy. There are many websites and services that will provide you with detailed analytics about your listeners. 

 

Increase your presence on social media and engage with fans as much as you can to make sure that the word about your work or music reaches them regularly and you stay relevant. Pay for ads on different social media websites. Prepare good visuals and non-music content to distribute among your listeners. This will make marketing easier for you because your audience will be intrigued by new content. 

You can start by talking about yourself and explaining to your audience why your music is important for you. Build a story and create visual narratives for your listeners. 

Music marketing has been revolutionised by the digital era. There are so many tools available for artists to use for music promotion. A combination of new tools like social media and old tools like word-of-mouth provide uncountable opportunities to young and up-and-coming artists to spread their music to all corners of the world. 

 

Music marketing in the digital era is also fuelled by Gen-Z’s curiosity for discovering new music and their expertise with technological innovations. Video sites like TikTok bring old songs back and make new artists an overnight sensation. With so many options available to choose from, you can be sure to stumble upon a music marketing strategy that suits not just you but also your vision and your audience.