If I’m in-between releases, do I still need my Feature.fm account? What should I even be promoting?

As an independent musician you already know that marketing your latest release to reach new and current fans is important...but what about when you’re in between releases? What should you be promoting to maintain interest and consistency so that fans don’t forget about you and you maintain momentum?

Well first things first there are no shoulds that you need to feel pressure to do. It’s too easy to become overwhelmed with all the shoulds that the various music marketing blogs and self proclaimed industry gurus tell you that you need to be doing.

Whatever is right for you and your audience is the right thing for you to do. BUT there are certainly some things to think about in between releases that can help you grow your fan base, create a consistent income stream, and improve credibility.

Below are some things to think about in between releases, all hopefully helpful ideas to get your creative promotion juices flowing!

Maintain your brand with a custom domain

You’re a musician and should focus on the music as much as you can, not getting bogged down in tech details like creating new website landing pages for each new release campaign or marketing initiative you’re trying. Feature.fm allows you easily and quickly create a custom domain that you own (i.e. mycustomdomain.to).

Using Custom Domains for your Feature.fm landing pages gets rid of 3rd party branding when sharing your music with fans so they don’t get distracted by anything other than what you want them to focus on. It also shows that you’re serious about your career, which signals to fans that you’re in it for the long haul— and everybody wants to see their favorite artist rise so they can say coolly to all their friends “I knew them way before they were huge!” :)

*Another bonus to creating this custom domain is that they are now required to have a custom domain to continue using custom conversion events in Facebook Business Manager and Facebook Ads due to Facebook's recent changes in response to the iOS 14 updates. So if you ever plan on running Facebook ads, or currently run them then you do actually need to have a custom domain.

Build your fanbase by growing your email list

Integrate Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign into your audience data so you no longer need to export or import emails. When a fan shares their email with you they’ll instantly be added to your email list so you can start sending them your awesome emails, keeping them up to date on everything you!

If you don’t have Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign no worries because you can still manually keep track of emails if you wish with forms.

Sell tickets to your shows

Sell more tickets to your fans by making it easy to see your tour dates and purchase show tickets all within the same link in a mobile friendly format.

This is easily set up by linking your Bandsintown account to Feature.fm where we automatically scan and match your Bandsintown events. Manual setup is also supported if you prefer a more DIY route (we get it, we won’t be offended!).

Don’t worry if things change, as they often do, because you can easily delete or adjust dates, venues, locations, call to action buttons, and description text to let fans stay up to date. For more information on creating tour links.

Gain more exposure by promoting your podcast

If you’ve been getting outside of the music-making box and launched a podcast, you can also showcase your podcast through our new podcast links to provide all of the platforms to listen and even embed an episode to play right in the link!

Build followers on your social profiles

Of course there’s the obvious organic social media promotions you are probably already doing, but it’s good to mention that all year round you can be promoting your relevant social media platforms that you’d want to have your fans follow.

Shorten and track any URL you share online with "Short Links" in Feature.fm

Even if you aren't sending fans to a landing page, you can still shorten and track any URL you share online, whether it's to an article or your website. Utilize the Short Links product within Feature.fm to post your content, media and any other initiatives you may have between releases. You can use pixels for Facebook, Google, TikTok and Snapchat to continue to grow you advertising audience to set yourself up for your next release.

Get your music used in videos on TikTok and Instagram

Use Feature.fm's "Use my Sound" button for TikTok and "Use my Audio" button for Instagram to drive fans to use your music in their videos on each respective platform.

Become a natural part of the social media conversation and make it easy for fans to use your music in Reels and Stories in creative ways to spread the word about your amazing music.

How to use TikTok "Use my Sound"

How to use Instagram “Use my Audio”

Text with your fans using the “Text Me” or WhatsApp” button

Set yourself apart from other musicians and create a direct communication line with your fans (possibly with your non-personal cell number and whatever else you’re comfortable sharing) by creating a texting or WhatsApp integration into your Bio Link and landing pages.

When set up properly (don’t worry we have lots of help articles) the link will open directly into the platform that the number is linked to and you can start chatting with your fans right away :)

Extra goodies and ideas

• Create a link to showcase:
• Your merch store
• Your Patreon
• Your latest TikTok video that’s going viral
• Your new blog on how to create cool guitar licks
• A new playlist you were added to
• Your contest for fans to enter with an easy landing page and email submission form
• Literally any fun thing you can think to showcase your music and you as an artist
• Add a tracking pixel to your landing pages so you can retarget your new and returning fans with Facebook ads later!
• Create sponsored song campaigns to gain guaranteed streams

Don’t forget!

When you create these marketing promotions it’s part of the process to also be checking in on analytics to see what’s working and what’s not so you know where to invest your time and where to optimize.

Empower your marketing decisions by viewing an aggregated dashboard of your top performing links, popular services, effective marketing channels, and where your fans live.

Learn more about Feature.fm Artist Dashboard growth metrics.

Remember that there is a continual marketing loop taking place throughout the year and not just during new song releases. It’s a cycle of trial and error, always testing what engages fans and reworking strategy after you gather data. This isn’t as scary or intimidating as it sounds we promise.  

Feature.fm can provide all of these services to you to help your artist goals, no matter what they are. But if you only pay for services when you’re actively promoting new releases then you’re not taking full benefit of the range of features that are included and are missing out on opportunities that could have easily been yours. And nobody likes to feel FOMO (fear of missing out!)