Things every musician needs to know about music marketing

Hi super talented musicians, you want to take a shot in the music industry? Great, let’s do it! Wait, are you ready to handle the business side of it?

Many talented musicians struggle to make sales and get gigs, but still feel like they don’t get many fans or the recognition they deserve. Well, they forgot one thing: It is a business.

Knowing a lot about music does not mean you know a lot about the music business.

You can make your music and enjoy it with your friends. Fine. But if you want to get ahead, achieve more fans and feel their energy, understanding marketing is where you should get started.

Here are three things every musician needs to know about music marketing.

A. Raising awareness is everything

Your music is great, but nobody would know it unless people try it out.

Many musicians feel like their music would get noticed if it is good enough. While I could see why people would think this, it’s not the truth. How will people know your talented and want to listen to your music without giving you that initial chance? Get your music exposure to as many people as you can and show them that your music exists!

B. Visual media will become more important

Infographics are the most common form of content in the music industry. With shorter attention spans being a big consumer trend recently, “quick short content”, such as Instagram or Tweets have become more appealing.

Publishers who use infographics get 12% more traffic than those who don’t, reported by Starr Conspiracy. According to Forrester, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and visuals are processed 60,000x faster than text.

So take photos of your fans or snap the moment your band rehearsal. Use fancy visual contents to attract your viewers!

C. Involve an online music platform with the promotion process

Music marketing would be much easier if you get others, for example an online music platform, involved with the promotion process. Marketing is not that difficult, however, it still requires a lot of time and energy, which would lead to slower progress and frustration if you do it all alone. An online music platform will help you out.

It gives you more opportunities to expose your music to larger audiences and increase your fan base.

I put three types of online music platform that can help you promote your music.

• The first type is websites and streaming services themselves that allow you to show off your art, such as Spotify, Wix to create your official page, Bandcamp, etc. You can upload your own tracks, and create your own webpage or channels online.
• Another type adds services that actually gets your music heard and helps you track how your audience engages with your music, such as Feature.fm. It guarantees your music goes to the right ears and draws in-depth analytics.
• The third type is existing social media platforms, such as Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, etc.

“Although Instagram only gives you 15 seconds to show your talent, it's more than enough to get people interested.”

So there you have it, three things you need to know about music marketing. If you like it, share it! If you have more thoughts on music marketing, leave them in the comments and share with more people who want to start their music career!