How to actually promote your music and boost your presence (free and paid)

We love to make music, and generally ‘hate’ to promote our music because “it’s too hard to promote” and we just want to create, right?

But, sometimes, “it’s too hard” because we don’t know what we can do to promote, so here are a few things that would should do when promoting your music…

4 THOUGHTS FROM ME

1. Invest in your marketing strategy before the release.

Your marketing should not happen after you release a song. Instead, when you’re about to release one, the preparation for it is crucial to avoid rushing things or missing opportunities. So, to prepare:

1. Make a list of YouTube channels and Podcasts that can feature your song. Remember those podcasts that I mentioned? You should know them by heart, and if you don’t, go to 1001tracklists and search for podcasts that played the top 10-15 songs of your genre, and find the podcasts that play them, and later find their emails as well.
   For YouTube channels, look for “[main artist name] set [main label name]”, and look for videos that have these tags in their title and have a high viewer count. Find their email, and put them in a list as well;
2. Discover Instagram/Tiktok channels that could play your song. On my last release, I received a paid proposal from a channel that would play my song on top of a cool video, and their videos would normally reach 100-500k plays on the song, which can be a nice promo opportunity.
   Look for channels like this on TikTok and Instagram, or channels from friends who could feature your song, or even big influencers who could tag your song on their videos. Make a list of these channels, and get in touch with them at least 4 weeks before your next release.
3. Develop your own newsletter to promote your song. The more you promote your song, the more you’ll be able to grow an audience that is eager to receive your new releases in their inbox. You can develop your newsletter on Mailchimp, which allows you to build a list with up to 2000 contacts for free, but make it engaging.
   • Don’t spam it, or people will unsubscribe, and;
   • Send ‘newsletter only’ content to engage with them and make them excited for your next post;
   • Use an ’email-to-download’ service like Hypeddit and post exclusive remixes there and collect emails;
4. Map your favorite playlists on streaming platforms. To save money when submitting songs to playlists, it’s important to discover playlists that play exactly the type of music you want to promote. For this, you can use two platforms:
   • Isitagoodplaylist, already mentioned here, and I love it and use it all the time;
   • Playlist Map, which I recently discovered and am still testing.

2. Invest in your ongoing marketing, not only on your release.

When you release a track, you’ll be putting maximum effort into marketing the track, but marketing is something that should be consistent and constant. Here are a few ideas on how to market in between releases:

1. Create your Spotify playlist and promote it with ads. When you create and grow your own playlist, you’ll be able to promote your own songs and, as your playlist grows, you’ll be able to take in paid requests by other artists as well or do playlist swaps with other artists who also have playlists.
   However, as UOAK, owner of a playlist with 100,000 saves and owner of Sekora, says in this post about getting more streams, focus on creating an experience with your playlist and not only promoting your music;
2. Create your own ‘Live Set’ YouTube channel. Some of my producer friends, like Phikey and Motry, have made videos playing sets in nice places, and this has yielded millions of plays on their sets and on their songs (and on my songs).
   There are also huge producers and DJs like Chris Luno, who got so big that he’s now touring the world playing live shows, and even some famous artists who do this, like Marsh, Ben Bohmer, and other major artists, who do this a way to connect with their fans;
3. Re-market older tracks as you’ll grab a new audience. Tracks you may have released 1-2 years ago, that may not have done as well as you had liked, could find a new life, by being resubmitted to playlists and youtube channels. You might just pick up a whole new audience when they hear a track that maybe they missed the first time around.
   Also, persistence may be just what you need. Shouse’s major hit, Love Tonight, took almost 3 years before it became a major dance hit in 2020. So don’t be afraid to promote older tracks again, and again, and again.

3. Be creative with your marketing.

It’s not only necessary to do the basics when marketing your music, and sometimes doing some out-of-the-box marketing can yield some amazing results to your songs. For example:

1. Soulja Boy renamed his song “Crank That” with the names of other top 10 songs on Limewire (old music downloading platform) so people would listen to his music;
2. Pretty Lights gave all his music for free on his website and included it on torrenting websites, distributing a bundle with three popular EPs, a new song, and a video of a show, which increased his email sign-ups by over 60,000 people;
3. Make a killer remix of a famous song and put it as a free download on websites, and send it to multiple DJs. That’s how my friend Édel got his song played by Keinemusik and was later authorized to officially release it and get over 1 million plays on the song. Or, you can also do this by participating in remix competitions, like what Rivo did with You & Me for Disclosure;
4. Create mashups of your favorite vocals with your songs and put them as a free download on your SoundCloud;
5. Play live shows as it is an amazing way to connect with an audience, but distribute thousands of QR codes to people, linking to your music;
6. Create a two or three-part story reel that gets people interested in you and hype them up for your next release in the last reel. Or, make a funny post that will also showcase something of your song, like this post or this post, or this pre-save campaign from Dave Winnel. I also love this video by Ferry Corsten and Ilan Bluestone promoting their release that was near Xmas, but they’re just banging their heads to the song (haha)

4. Make strategic signings and collaborations.

There are other ways that can help you promote your music and reach bigger audiences that are beyond just ‘active promotion’, like the topics mentioned above. Here are some of them:

1. Target labels that deliver the streaming numbers you’re looking for. One way to maximize your streaming presence and reach bigger audiences is to find labels that can deliver this to you. But, for that, you need to find your ideal label (read more here on this). If streaming numbers are important to you, set a target stream number for each release and look for labels that can deliver this to you. How? Look at past releases of the labels you’re looking to sign with. If they meet your expectations, go for it.
2. Collaborate with artists who have a bigger audience than you. When you collaborate with another artist, you’re not releasing your music to your crowd, but to the other artist’s crowd as well, and you’ll naturally gain some of their crowd as well. In addition, you can also pay attention to his local importance in terms of djing, as collaborating with this artist could eventually get you some gigs as well;
3. Submit your songs to big podcasts like Group Therapy, A State of Trance, Lane 8’s mixtapes, or find labels that can do that for you. When your song gets playlisted in one of these major podcasts, thousands of people will end up listening to your song, and you can also end up with thousands of plays on Spotify as some of these podcasts upload their sets as well. So:
   • Find the email to submit songs to your favorite podcasts, just email the podcast asking for the correct way to send demos, or
   • Find a label that consistently has their songs featured on these podcasts.

3 QUICK TIPS FOR YOU

For all of it to work, you have to do a few things as well

1. Stay consistent.
Not only with your social media content, but most importantly, with your releases. Aim to release new songs every 3-6 weeks, but you can also include remixes and alternate versions, like acoustic versions of your own songs, to keep the momentum going;

2. When someone features your song on their playlist or comments on your posts, treat them like a king.
If someone raises their hand for a handshake, don’t leave them hanging. Thank them publicly, especially for playlists, and that can make them feel special and encourage them to keep on supporting you;

3. If you don’t like any of this, build a team that will do it for you.
You don’t need to do all this yourself, and you can hire someone to do it for you, like a manager or a marketing team, so you can keep on focusing on your music.