PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
The Few Step Digital Music Marketing Plan
Releasing new music is always a special and exciting moment.
You worked hard to create something that’s personal to you and now it’s time to share it with the world.
But how do you get your tracks in front of as many people as possible?
You don’t want to put in all that time and not have anyone hear what you’ve worked so hard on.
You need a music marketing plan to grow your audience and capture the hearts of new listeners, Get Goose Bumps.
Plus, we’ll show you how to promote your music in the lead up to your release and post-launch.
1. Grow your following on social media
Your social media following is the quickest measure of your popularity and reach.
But don’t get discouraged. You don’t need tens of thousands of followers to be considered successful.
Having a small niche of followers who care about you is often enough to convince labels and press that your music is worth their attention.
There’s plenty of ways to increase your following.
Here’s a few ideas:
Playing shows in your local scene
Engaging in conversations online
Regularly posting about your creative process, music, and life
Networking with other artists
Focus on finding the right followers for your social media accounts.
1000 loyal fans are always worth more than 100,000 lukewarm (or even fake) followers.
1000 loyal fans are always worth more than 100,000 lukewarm (or even fake) followers.
2. Get a band website
Band websites are a music marketing tool that musicians often overlook.
When you create a website for your project you’re claiming an online space that’s uniquely yours.
You can design your website in any way you like, and you can use it for a number of different purposes.
For example, a website can be used to host your electronic press kit, collect fan emails for a newsletter, announce upcoming tours and events, or serve as a conceptual art piece.
The cool part about owning a website is that its content is up to you!
The cool part about owning a website is that its content is up to you!
And don’t worry about coding, tools like Squarespace or WordPress make it easy to build a custom website using a cool template.
3. Develop your EPK
If you’re planning a big release, you really need to piece together a strong EPK.
Getting press coverage should be a big focus if you’re just getting started.
We’ve written about how to make the perfect EPK before, but here’s a few quick tips.
Keep it simple
Include basic details about the release
Mention any major shows
Include past press coverage
Include your music, artist pictures, and any relevant music videos.
Once your press kit is ready your best bet is to send it to journalists, radio stations, blogs, and podcasts that already know about you.
If you’ve gotten press from playing shows in your local scene first reach out to any outlets that previously covered you.
It’s very rare to have your EPK get picked up by a media group that hasn’t heard of you yet.
Industry professionals get thousands of cold emails a day from hopeful artists looking for coverage.
Practice proper email etiquette to respect their time and increase your chances of getting a response.
Hot tip: You can connect with professional PR agents and publicists to generate a professional looking press release and even access more media outlets on LANDR Network.
4. Release singles from your album early on
It’s really common these days to see artists release singles sequentially in the lead up to a big release.
So once you plan the actual date of your album’s release, plan to release a few singles up to a month in advance.
That way you can treat the launch of each single as a mini-release, complete with a round of press, social posts, and even a music video.
This is why you’ll benefit from having some kind of video to accompany any single from your release.
You’ll benefit from having some kind of video to accompany any single from your release.
Scheduling your releases for online streaming is easy if you work with a distribution service like LANDR.
5. Paid promotion tactics
Digital advertising is a relatively new music marketing tactic for artists, read more about the benefits of b2b marketing automation.
If you use it, you need to be careful since it won’t be effective and can cost a lot of money if you don’t do it right.
The main philosophy behind pay per click advertising is that you only want to pay for a click that will earn you money.
Only pay for a click that will earn you money.
That means targeting your paid ads to the kind of people who buy vinyl, concert tickets, merch, or at the very least stream your music.
As a starting point, your best bet is to boost posts about your single or album on social media.
