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Free Ways To Promote Your Music

free-ways
As an independent artist, you'll usually have a non-existent promotional budget. You still need to get your music other there in front of your target demographic. It's still possible to promote your music without having to spend a penny...
With the right strategy and planning, you can make your music successful. You’ll have worked for weeks or months to put together your song, and you want it to be a success. We’re covering a few of the ways that you can promote your music for free, using tools you can download directly to your phone or laptop. Your marketing budget doesn’t have to break the bank.

Make a Press Kit

You want to spread the word about your music and reach out to publications that might be interested in featuring your single in an article. The same is true if you’re trying to get your music played on the radio. Most artists assume that you need a marketing team or press officer to put together a press kit. It’s easier than you might expect. You can make a press kit for yourself within a few hours.

Canva is a free graphic platform that comes with specific templates to make it easier for you to create a professional press kit that meets the industry standards. You want to make sure to incorporate as much information about yourself and your music as possible, including your social media handles and the inspiration behind your song.

When you have your press kit, you can send it to different agencies, radio stations, and publications. You can draw up a list of both local and national media that you want to send your press kit. Most of these organizations will have a press officer whose email will be easy to track down online. Set aside an afternoon before the release of your song and send out as many copies of your press kit as possible, along with a personalized message to each organization.

Build a Network of Creators​

When you become an independent artist, you enter the creative community with other like-minded individuals. You want to build a network of fellow creators who can help you promote your music on their platforms. It’s always a good idea to find creators in the same niche as you, as their followers will likely also enjoy your music.

Networks are a two-way street, so you’ll have to find a way to help your fellow creators as well. These creators may also be able to provide you with opportunities to link up with organizations and introduce you to people who can help you promote your music. Social media is a perfect way to grow your network and reach out to other creators within your industry.

Don’t forget to reach out to the people in your network who you collaborated with to make your song. Whether it’s your producer or artwork designer, these people have an interest in your music being successful, so they’ll be more than happy to promote your work on your behalf.

Open a YouTube Channel

You can’t underestimate the potential of social media to help you promote your music. Opening a YouTube channel is free and provides you with a way of creating an online portfolio. You can upload your music as a lyric video or film a music video. Once you have your video up on YouTube, you can promote it across your other social media platforms. With YouTube, you can monetize your video and start to grow a following. 

Consider Playlists

One reason why people love to use Spotify is because of its playlist function, which can help you discover new music that is similar to your tastes. You want to do everything you can to get your new song onto as many playlists as possible. Not only does it raise awareness for your music, but it also boosts your royalties.

To get your song featured on playlists, you want to be utilizing all of your social media platforms to encourage people to add the music to their playlists. If you spot a playlist that you think your song would fit well with, you can reach out to the user and suggest your song as an addition to their playlist.

Tell Your Journey

You want to be using social media to tell people about what makes your music unique. Your most significant selling factor is you. Don’t forget to tell your story and incorporate it through your social media posts. You could use platforms like WordPress or Medium to write a blog post about the inspiration behind your music. The more content you put out there, the more people who will organically come across your music. Sometimes the best content is what comes from the heart, instead of a marketing agency.

If you plan on making videos or other free promotional material, you want to incorporate your story into as much of the content as possible. If this is your first single, it’s even more critical that you introduce yourself to your audience and give them a taste of what’s to come. Creating an emotional connection with your audience can turn a listener into a fan.

Build a Website

The internet is full of free website builders. If you have the budget, you can purchase a custom domain and have someone design a personalized website for you. While these will make your website look more professional, you can always utilize free options instead. It’s usually a good idea to start building and posting on your website before your music is released. If you can get ahead of the game, you can build an audience who will be eagerly awaiting the release of your single.

When you have a website, you can use it as a base for all your content. You can add links to all your social media platforms, embed videos, and post exclusive content there. Having a website will add an extra layer of legitimacy to your work, helping to attract the attention of potential record labels or journalists. If someone likes your music, they want to have a place to go and find out more about you.

Having a website is also a vital tool for your overall marketing. You can access analytics that gives you information about the demographic that is viewing your website, broken down by country, age, and gender. You can also see how people access your website and feed that into your overall marketing strategy.

You don’t need to have a four-figure budget to create a tailored marketing campaign that promotes your song and raises awareness of your music career.

Offer a Newsletter

Once you have your website up and running, you can offer a newsletter. This tool gives you a direct line of communication to the most engaged section of your audience. You can encourage people to sign up for your newsletter by offering exclusive content and early access to teaser content about your music. A newsletter is relatively low-cost to run and is easy to set up.

Most website platforms will allow you to embed a newsletter sign-up directly into your site, so you don’t have to worry about manually adding emails to your list. With a mailing list, you can keep your audience up-to-date with everything that is happening, whether it’s a new song or an interview you’ve done with a local publication. You can treat your newsletter as a weekly or monthly roundup about everything that’s happened with your music.

Get on TikTok

If there’s any platform that is making music go viral, it’s TikTok. Several independent artists have launched their careers off the back of success on TikTok. There are a few ways you can approach this platform. You can use it exclusively as a way to promote your new music, or you can also introduce yourself to your fans. Your TikTok videos should incorporate snippets of your music. It’s a good idea to add your sound to the platform, so other creators can make videos using your audio.

The song ‘Drivers License’ by Olivia Rodrigo proves how effective TikTok can be in making your first hit go viral. There are almost 2 million videos on the platform that uses her original audio, with countless others using remixes of the song. With its focus on short musical clips and chatty audio, TikTok is the perfect platform to focus your efforts. While Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have their benefits, TikTok is your primary source of potential.

With over 800 million active monthly users, TikTok is a platform you can’t afford to overlook when trying to promote your music for free. You want to focus on creating engaging, 15-second videos that capture your audience’s attention. Use your original music as much as possible. You can turn your music into a challenge and get other users involved. Once a trend starts on Tiktok, everyone gets involved. It’s one of the most powerful free promotional methods available for you.

If you don’t have time to create separate content for Instagram, you can repurpose your TikTok videos and add them onto your IGTV and ‘reels’ section of your Instagram. The more people who see your TikTok content, the more likely you will have other people share your videos for you – it’s free advertising that you can’t afford to miss out on.

Share Behind the Scenes Content

If there’s one thing that people love to see, it’s behind-the-scenes content. You don’t need to hire a professional photographer; your iPhone or tablet will have a camera you can use. Throughout the production process, you want to take as many photos and videos as possible of your journey. You can start to post these across your different social media accounts to tease your music and give your audience a unique insight into your life as an independent artist.

Fans rarely get to see behind-the-scenes content from their favorite mainstream artists. As an independent artist, you don’t have a publicist controlling you or trying to put you in a box. Share your journey – both the high and low points – across your social media platforms. The more genuine your content is, the more your audience will engage with it. It’s this unique content that will set your profile apart from mainstream artists and help you build a connection with your audience.

Reach Out to Music Blogs

Sometimes, you have to find your audience instead of waiting for them to come to you. Music blogs are a vital tool that you can use to reach a niche audience interested in music similar to yours. It’s a good idea to research into a few different music blogs; narrowing down your list to websites that focus on music in the same genre as yours means you can be more effective with your work.

You can get in touch with the blog editor and ask about writing a guest blog to promote your music. As these websites generally make ad revenue, they usually won’t charge for guest blogs that they think will bring traffic to their website. If you’re not a natural writer, you can offer to interview the website to promote your new release. You can use these music blogs as a way to start your ‘as seen in’ section on your website. It may take a while for you to land a slot with a mainstream press publication, but these blogs will be a step in the right direction.

Which of these free promotional tips are you going to use for your next music release? What free platforms or methods of promotion do you use? Let us know in the comments below. Got a question about marketing your music online? You can drop me a DM on Instagram at @adelantemusic or email me at info@adelantemusic.net

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