Music Marketing Strategies for Aspiring Artists

To make it in the music industry you need to break through the noise which is no easy task so it's why we've made this shortlist of marketing strategies for musicians.

It’s important to have smart marketing strategies in place to help you grow your fanbase, increase the number of streams for your new releases and create enough kick-ass content to stay ahead of the game.

“To succeed in this music industry one must be patient and have the determination and motivation to never give up. One thing I learned from being around Tupac Shakur was to keep on making songs until that one song hits then it shows off all your embodied work throughout the years of working. In today’s digital world one must grab every important platform and social network and build upon them over time. The most important part of your character is the determination for greatness: stay humble and the rest will follow. ”

@DJKINGASSASSIN

You might be thinking that's easier said than done! And what on earth is a marketing strategy?

Just follow our three top tips and you'll be well on the way to understanding it all much better especially when you start seeing results…

A quick heads up though you are going to have to loosen the purse strings if you're serious about getting ahead as unfortunately as great as your music might be, it's money that talks!

Here are three ways you can get your music heard to get ahead of your main competitors:

1. Social Advertising

Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube are all free platforms, which is great.

But they are also businesses, so whilst organic content is still valuable, it’s not the powerful tool it once was.

To maximize the content you put out on your social channels you need to start investing in paid advertising.

Promoting your music, brand, and image on social media platforms via paid advertising, need not be expensive – you just need to be smart about where to spend your budget.

Decide what you want the ad to achieve. Is it downloads? Ticket sales? To advertise your next album?

One advert won’t meet all these objectives - define your goal and then tailor it to your audience.

It might take a little trial and error but when successful it will gain you new fans.

If you are really savvy, you can re-target specific people who have engaged with your ads previously, which will mean focusing your time and effort on those most likely to convert but remember people don't like being sold to so you'll have to be smart about it.

Check out our article on How to become a successful music artist to learn some tips on how to network online.

2. Content Is King

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Think about the heavy hitters in the industry right now and how they have mastered their content strategy.

Take Billie Eilish for example, in addition to great music, she appeals to her Gen Z fans through her branding and image; clothing like the baggy hoodies that signify she wants her music to speak for her, not her sexuality.
Her audience get that, love it and in turn eagerly await her next piece of content.

Create good content and not just ‘content for content’s sake’.

Burstimo shares with us exactly what works on Instagram, which is really helpful and worth taking a moment to read so you can start to implement it into your own Instagram profile.

Spend time talking with people, your peers, bandmates, friends, and fans.

Create your story and take your fans on that journey with you.

Once you’ve built your core audience – take it to all platforms.

Don’t put all your eggs into one social platform either.

Remember MySpace? Nah, neither do we!

3. Use Algorithms To Your Advantage

Understanding how algorithms work is key to your marketing toolkit.
Check out our article 'How to get plays on Spotify' if you want to learn more.

But in a nutshell, Spotify, YouTube, and Instagram all want their users to stay on their platforms for as long as possible and algorithms measure this data.

It stands to reason that all algorithms on music platforms favour artists who are releasing singles or albums regularly so aim to release new music every eight weeks.

Learn to love the algorithm. At no time in the history of music has the playing field ever been more level. It’s really down to the market to decide what it likes. 

If you can just focus on telling your story, creating high-quality content and releasing regular music, the algorithm will work in your favour.

Don't let negative energy steer you off course and keep making great music! We wish you the best of luck ✌️