With Spotify hitting 356 million monthly active users this year, there’s little doubt the future of music is online. Local bands can upload their music online on a multitude of platforms including Spotify and expose their music to millions in just an instant. In some cases, bypassing the need for third parties like a record label completely.
So how do you take advantage of these platforms and which ones are worth your time? We take a look to help you hit the right note!
1. Start your music promotion with a website
It’s important to have one platform where you control your music, content, and brand image—your website. If a promoter or fan is searching for you online, the first hit they should get is your band website. This is your chance to hook them with a great first impression and win them over with an amazing user experience. Don’t be afraid to blow your own trumpet!
Even if you promote your music online elsewhere you should always have a website to list your tour dates, news, contact details, and some sneak peeks!
If you don’t have a website yet, don’t worry! You can easily create a Website with Jimdo below and connect your band’s social media page. What are the advantages?
- Easy music integration: Add songs from iTunes or Spotify directly on your homepage
- Videos: Easily upload videos from your performances to your site
- Podcast: Link an Apple or Spotify podcast in your Music block to share interviews or teasers
- Contact form with map: This lets visitors know where they can find you and how they can contact you
- Social media: Link your social network profiles
- Designed for music: Use a layout that is specially designed for music websites
2. Get discovered on Spotify
Uploading your music to Spotify has a ton of advantages, the main one being a huge reach. Spotify is used by a worldwide audience with its mobile and desktop downloads. Unknown artists have the chance to shine through the “Discover” tool and “Release radar” that connects similar music. Almost every artist is in the Spotify music library, connecting your name by association with the biggest stars.
Have you built your music website? Add your playlists, so visitors can listen to your songs. It’s easy to embed your playlists from Spotify, SoundCloud or BandCamp.
3. Post your tracks on Reddit Music
Many music channels tend to be saturated with artists but Reddit still has a lot of untapped potential for grassroots marketing to promote your music. This is the perfect opportunity to get up and personal with your potential fans and build up your brand. Reddit is interactive and there’s no distance between you and your customer base. You can introduce yourself, share your website so people can listen to your tracks, and interact with your potential user base. Reddit users don’t hold back so be prepared to get some constructive (and unconstructive) feedback about your tunes.
4. Try music-related hashtags on Twitter and Instagram
Hashtags are huge on Twitter and Instagram but you’ve got to make sure you use the right ones to really see effective results. You should always add hashtags like #music, your music genre e.g. #AcidJazz and your own band/artist hashtag to get started.
On Twitter, you can look at @TwitterMusic and use trending hashtags like #newmusic, #nowplaying, and #musicvideo. Whilst on Instagram you can also search for music emojis, as well as hashtags, so try a mixture of both. Trending hashtags to look out for are #instamusic, #instanewmusic, #instanowplaying, #instalive, #instaartist. You could also try using e.g. #insta before the genre e.g. #instaacidjazz
If you play live, always have your artist/band hashtag displayed clearly at gigs so people can tag you with credits when they post the video on their social media page.
5. Upload your videos on YouTube
Did you know? Artists Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen were discovered on YouTube! The platform offers a perfect opportunity to organize playlists, showcase your music videos and show backstage antics. The “Browse channels” offers the potential for you to be found in the “Creators on the rise” or “Popular on YouTube” section.
6. Spike on Last.fm
Last.fm has some really cool features for aspiring artists. The “scrobbling” feature checks what users are listening to most then streams songs based on the findings. Fans can subscribe to your music and they’ll receive an instant notification if you’ve uploaded a song or given an update. Users often find new music by following people with similar tastes so they get notified about their new favorite song.
7. Create buzz on TikTok
TikTok is a global video community that is breaking records among young audiences worldwide. Although the platform is now much more, TikTok originally started as a music network. You’ll see everything from lip-syncing to hit songs, dance routines to celebs doing TikTok videos with their kids. Not to mention movie scenes being reenacted and random short, funny videos. In any case, the potential is huge.
8. Share your music on Soundcloud
The idea behind Soundcloud is to share your music or mixes with a community. Unlike Spotify, Soundcloud is not a music app with whole albums on-demand, but a sharing platform. On Soundcloud, you can upload your music, listeners can comment on your tracks, and (if you activate the function) also download them. It’s the ideal platform for up-and-coming artists to reach a bigger online audience.
SoundCloud, TikTok, and BandCamp are included in Jimdo’s Smart Apps, so you can show content from a range of other platforms on your Jimdo website. Explore Smart Apps
9. Find your first fans on BandCamp
BandCamp is a great place for new starting bands and singers. With its audience of music lovers looking for new music, the platform can help you find your first fans. Visitors can stream music you upload and buy albums, digital downloads, or even branded merchandise from you.
If you use BandCamp to find fans, make sure to embed the playlist on your music website as well. The more often your music gets streamed, the more signals BandCamp gets that your music should be featured prominently on the platform.