Content:
1 - Your Music's Artwork
2. Copyright
3 – Create an EPK - Electronic press kit
4 - Digital Distrubution
5. Setup your Artist Profile on the streaming services.
6 – Spotify Editorial Playlist Submission
7 – Social Media Accounts
8 – Get On Playlists, Blogs, YouTube Music Channels
9 - Final Words
You've just finished your music production process; you've mixed and mastered your great music, and it's now ready to get heard. Now your next step starts: music marketing.
We've created a step-by-step guide for the beginner artist on what, where, and when. Today, your music marketing strategy must include an online presence, You can live tour, perform at small gigs, or even record songs at your home studio; either way, you won't get anywhere without an online presence, so your music marketing efforts should be focus on your placing your music visible online. Music marketing is at reach for all indie artists, through lot's of music marketing services.
1 - Your Music's Artwork
Artwork should be created for your new music releases; your artwork will give future fans a taste of what to expect from your song, and it should go hand in hand with your sub-genre, branding and image on the web. The music you create will always be the ultimate representation of who you are as an artist, that's for sure, but the visual representation of your music and song title can help by grabbing your audience's attention and creating an eye-catching design that will make your new fans want to listen to your songs, or a great impression with the playlist curators listening and reviewing your song.
Take your time to think about a concept artwork that will support your next single, not just the upcoming one; maybe create a branded design or a unique logo, Think about your desired audience and your upcoming new releases, maybe they should look similar.
If you have some sort of design touch, you can use Canva to create cool artwork. There are lots of great templates there, and there's also an option to use Midjourny for AI-generated images. Here's a link to some cool artistic single cover art.
2. Copyright
Now that you have the cover art, your song is ready for distribution and streaming on multiple platforms, but wait! The next phase of songwriting starts here, with the registration and protection of your music. You become the songwriter and the legitimate proprietor of your music when you copyright it. Regardless of where you are in your music career, copyrighting your music gives you the exclusive right to distribute it and to create derivatives and samples of it. In general, music legally becomes your intellectual property. You have complete control over how the music is used and shared thanks to this. Additionally, you can get paid royalties each time someone uses your song. To learn how to copyright a particular song, speak with your music manager or do some research online.
Examples of large organizations that can register your music are BMI.com , ASCAP.com, and SESAC.com (in the US), and PRS in the UK.
3 – Create an EPK - Electronic press kit
Many established professionals in the music industry will tell you the importance of a well-written EPK. EPK is like orgenized press coverage and should include your artist's bio, press quotes, links to your music releases, hi-res images, a music video link or a live video link, as well as links to your YouTube channel, Spotify channel, media, and social accounts. There are lots of places online to create an EPK, from your artist website (if you have one) to Linktree, Canva, or similar. This is the first impression of your musical craft, so it should look good and sound awesome.
4 - Digital Distrubtion
Now that you're done writing your press release, it's time to spread your own music to the world. This can be done through digital music distributors. These businesses connect the completed song to streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Tidal, etc. These digital distribution businesses are now crucial to the marketing of your music since they help spread the word about it to all prospective listeners. When done correctly, digital distribution can significantly improve your visibility and aid in getting as many people as possible to hear your music.
Distributors and music publishers used to put their records on display in stores, and record labels would advertise their products to get people to buy them. Each broker receives a portion of your profits throughout this procedure. Additionally, due of their contacts, working with competent music publishers can be a terrific way to have your music heard and establish a link with a record label or recording studio. The distribution of music has changed and become simpler in modern times. You simply need to send your music to a digital distribution platform online, and they will deliver it to music streaming services. According to the amount of streams your music receives and the platform it is streamed on, artists get paid royalties.
Streaming earnings and their payments are made through your digital sales account. There are many digital distribution platforms where you can upload your work. CD Baby, TuneCore, and DistroKid are among the most popular and well-known digital distribution companies. You should take some time to learn about these different platforms and their fees. Some digital distributors say they don't charge a fee, but there may be hidden costs that you are not aware of, The goal is always is to keep your copyrights 100%, unless it's a really good offer.
The beauty of using digital distribution companies is that most of them don't strip you of the rights to your music or obligate you to a long term contract, that means if your next single is better represented by another distributor, you don't have to work with the same digital distributor.
Read our blog about "Which Is The Best Digital Distribution Platform?"
5. Setup your Artist Profile on the streaming services.
Once your song has been delivered to the different streaming platforms, you'll need to claim your artist profile and attach your newly released song to your new account. To create your artist account on Spotify, visit artist.Spotify.com On Apple, visit artist.apple.com On Deezer, visit creators.deezer.com
Artist profiles on the different streaming platforms can help you monitor your streaming, the playlist you're on, fans locations, and more.
6 – Spotify promotion through Editorial Playlist Submission
As mentioned above, digital distribution companies upload their songs to music streaming platforms, including Spotify. Appearing on a popular Spotify playlist that has many potential fans is a huge win for any independent artist looking to promote their craft. Any music promotion is not complete with promoting your music on Spotify playlists.
Spotify supports different types of playlists, some more difficult to get to than others. The playlist that could benefit you the most in terms of airplay and exposure would be Spotify's editorial playlist. However, getting on these playlists is not easy.
Editorial playlists are playlists created and maintained by Spotify. These playlists differ from user-generated playlists, which are playlists created by registered Spotify users.
The number of listeners and "likes" your music receives on Spotify might vary greatly. Spotify prioritizes its own playlists higher than independently curated playlists, including user-generated or algorithmic playlists, which is the fundamental explanation behind this. Please be aware that in order to be featured on Spotify's editorial playlist, your music must be unpublished and you must have already chosen a release date.
To learn more about how to submit to Spotify editorial playlists, read one of our previous blog posts "How to get on Spotify editorial playlists".
Check out the top music promotion companies.
7 – Social Media accounts
It's time for you to begin promoting your new songs on all of your social media channels now that all of your music has been posted to various streaming services.
In order to boost your social media presence, you must set up an artist profile on each of the major social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Social media music marketing is crucial. Being active on these social media sites is essential for growing and keeping a fan base, and it can significantly affect the number of song streams you get.
The most popular social media site for musicians nowadays is TikTok, and many artists have found enormous success there.
Produce material like cover songs, brief song excerpts, and collaborations with other musicians; these are examples of content that will help you engage viewers and entice them to watch more. It's crucial to engage with your followers and establish relationships with them in order to gain their loyalty over time.
Find your ideal format for your post-release; it could be a performance in a great location or a short, catchy video.
Be distinctive and fascinating, if possible. Remember to remain active on all of your online platforms after you begin advertising your work on social media since the more time and effort you put into each piece of content, the more success you will have. It simply requires perseverance, consistency, diligence, and devotion. Today's tools, like Hootsuite or Planable, allow you to centrally schedule all of your social network postings.
8 – Get On Playlists, Blogs, YouTube Channels
Most listeners do not browse artist profiles on Spotify to discover new music; they just use different playlists to get exposed to new music by unknown artists.
In other words, Independent musicians today need to get on playlists to get their music heard; the more followers the playlist has, the better.
The same goes for YouTube music channels, Blogs, and TikTok channels. Music submission can help you get your song in front of playlist curators.
One Submit is one of the organic music marketing platforms that offers independent music promotions and the opportunity to submit their music to curators on various platforms, such as Spotify playlists, YouTube channels, blogs, radio stations, record labels, and more.
The curator reviews and listens to your song and adds it to their playlist or channel if they like it. Getting your music on playlists, will expose your song to new target audience and will generate streams for your music.
We recently launched a new Spotify ad campaign, which uses Spotify ads to promote music, generate streams using Spotify ads, and in most cases, trigger Spotify's algorithmic playlists.
Find out how much does Spotify pays per stream
9. Music Videos
Making a unique, inventive, and interesting music video that has the potential to receive a lot of internet views should be one of the music marketing initiatives. Being as distinctive as you can in your video is the key to success. A music video with humor and/or a message, for instance, as well as one that was shot in a beautiful setting, will be more interesting to watch.
Another idea is to play your music in a creative new way.
TikTok is a great platform for embedding a snippet of your music video, which allows you to quickly grow your following by connecting with more music fans.
Final words
It goes without saying that independent artists have many opportunities to release their songs.
When it comes to digital marketing, the main idea is to think outside the box and be unique in everything you do, from songwriting, producing, placing your music online, music marketing, the media outlets you choose, creating videos and more. If you're looking for inspiration, check out what other artists are doing, look for creative ideas and integrate them when you create music.
The music business is no different than any other business; if you show up for work, give your best, you will start to see results eventually. Work smart, efficiently, and persistently, and you'll make it in the music industry.
If you feel you're not capable to marketing music by yourself, you can use a music marketing agency to create a music marketing campaign, different digital music marketing companies, or social media marketing. Major record labels are using these methods to boost up their artist carrer through social media platforms. Feel free to check out our music promotion on One Submit, we offer artists marketing campaigns from Spotify playlists submissions, Spotify ad campaigns which delivers targeted ads for artists, TikTok music promotion, blog publications and more.
Good Luck!
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