Music Marketing Strategies Every Musician should Know

Music Marketing is the process of marketing the music and artist for a multitude of reasons, such as :

• Generating a higher yield of revenue/profit
• Creating a brand for the music/artist
• Building a social media influence/following
• Creating demand for a new album/EP/single

 
And below, we’re going to mention multiple strategies that work effectively together to create a strong Music Marketing strategy. Utilizing all these tools will help you boost your engagement and reach while also creating multiple streams of passive income!

Electronic Press Kit

Firstly, you are going to want to have an ‘Electronic Press Kit’ (EPK). An EPK is a tool you can utilize to send on to publications, bloggers, playlist curators, venues, event management agencies, record labels, and festivals to create a buzz around your music and your act as well as make it easier to secure bookings. 

Your EPK should consist of :

• Your Bio - A short introduction/about section, no more than 3-4 sentences long giving information about yourself as an artist. This should always be written in 3rd person.
• Your Music - Links to your most popular tracks or even an embedded music player, in case the people you’re approaching may not have heard of your music.
• Your Videos - Embedding some music videos or live performances will give anyone who checks your EPK a better understanding of your sound and who you are.
• Promo Photos - Interesting imagery is a must of your EPK as it is the first source of visual information available to the people you will be pitching to. Having a variety of high-quality promotional photos could make all the difference in landing gigs. Having these readily available in multiple formats also makes it easier and faster for promotional purposes from the organization you’re pitching to.
• Press Cuttings - Any existing clips of interviews, quotes from articles, etc. is a great way to show that there is some buzz being generated about you already.
• Social links - Add links to multiple socials, which are active, have a decent following and are very interactive to give a broader perspective of yourself.
• Contact information - There should definitely be multiple routes of contact such as mobile number, email, socials, etc.
  
  

Here's an article on 10 Things you Should Include in your EPK

Website

In today’s day and age, a website is extremely useful in aiding your marketing. A website acts as a ‘have-it-all’ source of information on the artist. Your website should include :

• A News Section - A space used solely for new releases, tour appearances, and media appearances.
• Tour Dates - A way to let people know when and where they can watch you perform live as well as how to purchase tickets.
• Social Links - Make it easier for people to find and interact with you more.
• Contact Information - Make sure you have an email or a contact form for fans or venue owners to get into touch with you.
• Music Player - Make it easier for people to listen to your music.
• Weekly Newsletter Sign-up -  Creating a larger more engaged fan base.
• Your Bio - A larger, more in-depth version of the bio in your EPK.
• Merch Store - Utilize your website to create a source of passive income.
  
  

Here's an article with more information - Do Musicians Still Need a Website in 2022?

Pro Tip: Make sure you include your EPK on your website.

Social Media

Create specific social media accounts for your music. Getting as specific as you can, while providing the most information in your social media accounts makes it easier for you to build a genuine fan-base in the right industry.

For example, using an Instagram handle such as ‘@harrystylesmusic’ already gives a better insight into what the account is about than ‘@harrystyles’. Creating and using your social media influence to speak to fans, promote tours/music and building a community can go a long way in marketing your music.

Interactive Content

A new method that has popped up in recent years is using interactive content to engage with listeners. With the introduction of reels, face filters and augmented reality, musicians have found multiple ways to create buzz around themselves.

Creating interactive content allows fans to dictate the way they want to consume content instead of feeding it into their mouths. 

Marketing Across Platforms

With access to so many social media platforms, getting ahead in each of them broadens your demographic and maximizes interaction with the content you put out. This proves crucial in pulling engagement to your website which behaves as a 1-stop hub for any musician.

Building a network

Creating a network for yourself can go a long way in the long run, being in the thick of it can prove crucial to landing gigs, building a fan base or just having the right contacts to help promote yourself.

• Reach out using social - Interact with people who you think could help promote you. By reaching out, we don’t mean instantly start promoting yourself. Start a conversation, build a repertoire with them, interact with their account publicly or ask them some questions.
• Be active - Get your name out there, play local gigs, open mics, hang out at venues that book local artists. In short, contribute to the local music community.
• Follow up - Create the effort to follow up potential gigs/deals and try and force the negotiations towards a consensual closure.

Email Marketing

Even still in 2022, email marketing goes a long way in marketing an artist. Some methods you could use

• Incentivize people to sign up - Offer free content or merch discounts
• Follow up - As soon as someone signs up, have a personalized email sent out and any incentive that was promised
• Schedule your emails effectively - Following a schedule is crucial to stay on the thin line of useful and spam emailing. Create newsletters and send them out at the same time once a week. Important announcements such as new music, tour tickets, etc. do not necessarily need to follow this.

Pitch Your Music

Pitching your music to radio stations, artist blogs, official playlist curators, music industry press, etc could create a lot of engagement in your music and potentially improve your following.

Breaking into some of these avenues could prove somewhat difficult as they are heavily reliant on user analytics. Going through a more organic route such as unofficial curators could prove more beneficial. Greaserelease's Submission Platform, SubmitLink, Groover, Indimono, etc.

Here's an article on How to Get Placed by Spotify Playlist Curators!

Creating Merch

Merch is no longer just another way to generate income. Merchandising has proven to be a very effective marketing strategy, pulling more people into your brand. Offering merch could grow into being another brand by itself. For example - Kanye’s Yeezys.

Here's an article on How to Sell Your Merch on Spotify

In the digital age of 2022, standing out from the rest in such a saturated market is difficult. Using all the tools available to you to give yourself the most of your opportunities is the best way to stay different.