Music Marketing in the Digital World

This year, music marketing becomes all the more important for emerging musicians who want to make their place in the music industry. Music Marketing isn’t just limited to maintaining a great streaming platform profile or promoting your music and merch on your socials. Music Marketing is the culmination of effective analysis of promotion on all digital platforms and whether physical promotions and formats such as flyovers, banners, and so on are effective today. What should you do to better market your music this year?

We have tried to combine a few effective and practical pointers that you should keep in mind while strategizing your music promotion plans.

Build a Release Strategy 

Have you wondered why superstars such as Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and the like release an official lyric video before they release a music video? The answer is simple - To keep the crowd engaged. Having a fully-fledged release strategy makes so much sense in today’s time because there is so much you can do and so much you SHOULD do. New Music Friday is good, but today, good isn’t good enough, you have to be great at what you do and that includes marketing your music effectively.

Your methods and plans can practically hint at the moment of truth once your single or album is released. So lay out your arrangement from the get-go and make it the absolute first thing you do could make a major difference in the success of your release. The most generally acknowledged hypothesis is that more aspiring musicians need to deliver new singles consistently to keep their crowd locked in. If you are confused between releasing singles or albums, read our articles Album vs. Single and Putting Previously Released Singles on an Album.

If you're not sure how to create a proper release strategy, check out the "Full-Time Musician Game Plan" where you can learn how to make a solid pre-release and post-release strategy for your music!

Quantity Over Quality

Just because emails are probably ‘old’ and ‘no one reads them anyway’ doesn’t mean you shouldn't try email marketing. Maintaining an email list is as important as pushing your music on your social media.

This may be the right time to value quantity over quality. With calculations zeroing in on the heap of content you put out, if you're not centered around volume, your work will stay in the bubble of your fans. You will probably require two times as much commitment per post to have a similar effect, and well, you can’t afford to invest so much time on every post you will be putting out there to make it extremely effective. 

Time is important, so instead of focusing more on putting out quality content about your music on different platforms, it is high time you focus on being consistent with your posts and never let the hype fade. Hence, maintaining a presence throughout all platforms in some or the other way is the way to go in 2023. Read our article on Music Marketing Using Social Media in 2023. 

Build A Brand

No, you don’t necessarily need a record label to brand your music. You can do that on your own. Independently. And yes, branding is important. 2023 becomes a year where there is an upsurge of new artists and hence, newer music in the market that you have to constantly compete with; gone are the days where similar music could exist between two artists harmoniously. Here, competition implies bagging better streams, views, reach, and recovering returns on all investments you have made, let alone gaining profits. 

A major part of your branding comes from your merch and the way you present your music, in terms of the artwork, the conceptualization of your music videos, and the story you are telling. Read our article on Build a Story That No One Forgets.

Press shots and music recordings are an extraordinary spot to begin. First off, you can reuse them for use across various platforms, and music streaming apps, as well as in any media inclusion about your new single. Above all, make sure that your branding represents YOU and your music in the most authentic form. People like originality and a unique signature in your branding would help your music reach more and more listeners. 

Live Shows are Back

Live shows are becoming more and more important and act as a deciding factor in analyzing your performance skills. Sure, during the pandemic, virtual shows and gigs were important, but today, when things are far better than it was in 2020, live shows act as a significant medium in which you cannot only showcase your talent but also engage with your fans and listeners and let them know a bit more about your musical personality. 

You could also take certain anecdotes or incidents from your shows, have your attendees rate you, and get content that you could post on your socials, on your blogs, and eventually speak about in your interviews with reporters. If you feel you don't think you sound good live, work on it, because in the end, to arrive at superstardom and have a positive return for capital invested, you presumably need the stage. To improve your singing, read our article on How To Sing Without Straining: Getting Your Notes Right. 

Get Playlisted

Yup. Playlists are topping almost all listening interests and getting playlisted on playlists that have a very high count of followers or listeners MUST be your priority in 2023. You can submit your tracks to Spotify curators themselves and get playlisted on their official playlists. Or you could submit your songs to different independent playlist companies and curators who have a great following on Spotify. Another method is that you could land on Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Release Radar. Each requires an alternate set of procedures and strategies. Read our article on Finding Spotify Playlist Curators: How to get Placed on Spotify Playlists.

You could submit your tracks on other platforms that are made for curators and artists to receive and send tracks to get playlists. To know more, check out our article on Top 5 Music Submission Platforms and Websites. 

Pitching your track to curators becomes very important here. It is better to always note that most of these curators would receive hundreds of tracks that probably fall under the same genre as yours, and may sound very similar. If your track gets rejected by the curators, it is probably because the track lacks something completely fresh and a vibe that is ‘playlistable,’ or because your pitch was too plain. A major way to make a good impression before the curators listen to your track is to write a great pitch. Read our article on Do(s) and Don't(s) When PItching Your Music To Curators.

GreaseRelease has its submission platform, and you could pitch your track to us, and gain a chance to reach more than 2 Million listeners! Don’t forget to check us out!

An EPK is a MUST

Having an electronic press kit is a must. Stepping into 2023 without it is like being on social media without writing a bio. You'll require a smooth public statement, an artist bio, and EPK - along with the right methodology when it comes to press coverage, press releases, and the music you’ll be sending to reviewers and journalists. Read our article 10 Things You Should Add In Your Electronic Press Kit. Speaking of bios, do not miss our article on The Indie Musician’s Guide to Writing an Effective Artist Bio.

BTS always works. 

People love being curious. They need just the right bit of a sneak peek. Hence, a clip of what’s cooking for your new single or the album, maybe the rough sketch of the cover art of your single, or a 10-second clip of behind the scenes of the music production and so on, can keep your already existing followers and fans on their toes, waiting for your next song to be out. This becomes a part of how you build curiosity and keep your fans or potential listeners engaged. You could release such clips or sneak peeks on your socials and YouTube. Speaking of Youtube, read our article on YouTube Monetization 101: Income Generation. 

That said, if you do everything just because you have to and if it doesn’t reflect what you do as an artist, and your personality as a musician, it will not impress or draw attention to your true talent. Even if it is the smallest thing you are doing, like going live on your Instagram, be you. Show a side of you that your listeners could connect to. Your music is a part of you, probably an extension of your personality as well. But make sure that your marketing game is updated with all the latest, as well as efficient strategies, in addition to highlighting your essence to your listeners and potential fans.