Marketing Tips for Artists

You got the message, you got the music, but do you have the marketing strategies? You could have the cure for cancer, but if you don't market it properly, it's never going to sell.

In order to climb the ranks, your music needs to be heard. In order for your music to be heard, it needs to be marketed; people need a reason to listen and like your music.

Personally, I think aspiring artists are almost lucky to be in this time period because there are so many people who are looking into underground music to be that "hipster" who doesn't listen to the mainstream. As long as your music has the proper tags, and is available on some sort of medium (Soundcloud, Youtube, etc), it will get discovered...eventually. Which brings me to

Tip One: Get a crapton of views/likes

It's not obnoxious to seek help from your personal network. If you want to speed up your discovery, try to get a poopton of views/likes. Your friends and family are perfect for the job, so you might as well ask, but it is obnoxious to spam, so don't do that. Utilize your social media accounts, and tell your friends to check out the music you made. Whether it be on Youtube, or Soundcloud, or wherever. Let's say you made an alternative rock song, and someone looks up "alternative rock". If your song has that tag, and a shizzton of views, the chances of the video showing up on the first page are extremely likely. Plus, if it has a lot of views, people get curious and want to see what the fuss is all about. Having a lot of views increases the chances of that listener clicking on your link.

Granted, I'm probably making this sound easier than it actually is. If you have some extra cash to spend, you can get help from services.

Tip Two: Utilize and Optimize

Google is a powerful weapon. It can connect you to a bunch of different utilities to help you optimize your exposure in a matter of seconds. All you need to do is type in the search bar, and do a little research.

There are sites where they can help you find a job, and sites where you can negotiate to see if your music can get featured. If you're not entirely sure how to do that, there are services like Feature.fm who have paved the way for you. They can help increase your music exposure within a reasonable budget. Hopefully, aspiring artists choose our site, but if it doesn't work for them, there are more!

Tip Three: Stop Trying to Please Everybody

This tip isn't really a professional one, but it's only I believe people need to realize. The ideal is to get music that will reach out to everybody, but sometimes, it's best to start small. Unfortunately, we can't be as popular as Kanye in one day. We all need to start somewhere. There are different music genres for a reason, and each song wants to portray a different message. Don't try to make songs that you think EVERYONE will like, make songs that you think your wanted listeners will like. Simply put,

make good music for the right people

Once the right people hear it, they take care of marketing for you by showing it to all their friends and family.