Do you promote where fans listen to music?

When it comes to marketing and promotion for music, you should be asking yourself the same questions as any other company. Where is the best place to reach my target market and make an impact?

For music, the answer is simple. The best place to promote is where fans are already listening to music and are tuned in to discover new songs. That is why historically, getting airplay on terrestrial radio made the biggest impact for exposure. Now, however, more and more people are switching to internet streaming and on demand radio as their primary source of music consumption.

Many artists focus their promotion in places that aren't condusive for how people discover music. Display ads, Facebook ads, Google Ads, Twitter Ads, and other traditional digital ad platforms don't hit people in the most efficient manner for music. These aren't the platforms that people use to listen to music, which is the product that you are trying to promote. Most people feel that ads are intrusive when the ads don't fit their current consumption habits. People instincutually want to close out of any type of ad and even pay premiums to not get ads on different types of services!

However, for example, if someone is listening to a mix on 8tracks, their goal is to hear and discover music. Placing your song into an environment that allows you to make your music part of the user experience is the best possible way to advertise and get more airplay. Users actually welcome more music! Why use any other type of digital advertising that isn't designed for music?

Here is a shot of what a featured song from Feature.fm looks like on 8tracks as it is played natively to a targeted audience with similar music tastes: