If you’re an artist or producer and you’re just starting out or not very well known, you probably want to get your name out there you’re asking yourself the common question, “What is the best way to promote my music and how can I do it without breaking the bank?”
There are many ways to get people to listen to your music, but this can be especially difficult if you don’t have money to spend on buying promotional ads on Instagram or
Facebook.
Here are five free, yet effective ways to promote your music for those wondering, “What is the best way to promote my music?”
1. Free Shows
If you want to gain more of a fan base, a good way to do that is to incorporate the more personal aspect of connecting with fans into your promotional tactics by interacting with them in person.
Go to bars or restaurants and offer to play free gigs. If they accept your offer, the bar owners will promote your shows and people will start getting curious if they’ve never heard of you before.
It may not pay the bills at first, but if you manage to snag some fans, you’re bound to get some plays which will lead into something more, and that’s when you have a chance to start making money off of these things.
The most important part about this method is to make sure you interact with the crowd while performing. You’ll win a lot more people over by being friendly and social rather than by only playing your music and leaving after that.
Offer to sign autographs or take pictures with people if they approach you. Free shows open up a window of opportunities.
So ask yourself, “Is doing free shows the best way to promote my music?” If you get excited about engaging with the crowd and meeting fans in person, then try it out. As you build your fan base, you’ll be able to start charging for gigs.
2. Social Media
Social media is obviously one of the most popular methods of promoting music. We all have some form of social media. There are plenty of ways to promote your music
through social media without having to pay for views, plays, or likes.
The best way to draw people in is by being funny, conversational, and relatable. If you can connect with people by using universal experiences or feelings, like going through a breakup, being in love, getting fired from a job, etc, people tend to want to talk to you about their own issues or experiences with such events.
If you can lighten the mood with humor, that’s even better. If you’re a producer, you could start discussions about recording studio gear or mixing techniques and then sneak in your music that you employed aforementioned mixing techniques in.
Once you engage with people on a conversational level, you can then turn things into something more promotional if the time is right. Use your better judgement here.
There are plenty of good websites for promotion. Of course, Instagram and Facebook are quite popular and easy to use. Reddit has several Subreddits specifically for music promotion. I’ve used Reddit myself and have gotten good responses.
Ask yourself, “Is using social media the best way to promote my music?” If you already spend time on social media sites and enjoy having conversations online, chances are the answer is “yes”.
3. Word of Mouth
Yes, it may be 2019, but things do still get around by word of mouth, and it can be super effective. Go out and tell people about your music.
Just doing a simple thing like telling people about your music can start a chain reaction. If you play one of your songs for someone and they like it, be sure to tell them to spread the word about your music.
Once people start hearing your name and your music, it snowballs and keeps going.
Friends and family can be especially helpful with spreading the word about your music. Have them tell their friends, their coworkers, their coworkers’ friends, etc.
If you’re having a gig, your fans might want someone to go with, and thus ask some of their friends to go with them.
Someone telling you about a cool new artist that’s playing soon near them is more likely to get them to want to come to the gig than just hearing about a random artist they’ve never heard of before that’s playing a show soon without any context.
If you have a lot of family, friends and acquaintances who you think will help you spread the word, then word of mouth might be the best way to promote your music.
4. Posters
You might not think of posters and physical advertisements when you think of the best way to promote your music, but it’s absolutely a great way to get your name out there. It doesn’t matter if you live in a big city or a small town, posters are a great way to get noticed.
With the help of online tools, posters don’t take much effort to make, and most people already have a printer at home. If you can come up with a poster that is flashy, bright, and straight to the point, it can be extremely effective.
Whether you’re announcing a show, the release of a new song, or selling merchandise, people flock to anything that looks cool, so the design and how things are worded really counts.
Most people probably won’t want to read something that’s extremely wordy and detailed, so be sure to get straight to your point on your poster.
I recommend putting them up in places that get a lot of traffic. Places like grocery stores, bars, outside of restaurants, and clubs are ideal spots to put up posters.
I’ve actually used this method to promote my music production, mixing, and mastering services, and it worked out pretty well. I put up my posters in a pretty big city, outside of some bars and clubs and got a decent response from some musicians who wanted to work with a producer.
So if you’re thinking, “Posters are probably the best way to promote my music,” then try out the tools at www.PosterMyWall.com.
5. Collaborating With Other Musicians & Artists
Collaborating with other musicians is such a great way to promote yourself and your music, but it tends to be overlooked. However, it can help you to gain fans quickly.
Collaborate with artists who are similar to you in terms of the genre of music you make; that way, you’ll already have aspects of your music that will appeal to the fans of the person you’re collaborating with, and automatically give you a leg up.
Another good idea is to keep demographics in mind. If your music is primarily popular with young adults, it would be smart to collaborate with someone who also has a majority of fans who are young adults. In some cases, however, working with artists who have different fan demographics can be effective. You just need to experiment.
You can collaborate in many different ways, with creating songs together being the most obvious one, but you could also consider making a complete album with one or more collaborators, or even make YouTube videos. Don’t forget to link your fans to each other’s social media and music streaming pages.
So with all these great promotional options available for free or almost free, ask yourself, “What is the best way to promote my music?” Choose one or two and then start implementing those strategies right away!
Guest post by Austin Consordini
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