You’ve probably been dreaming of becoming a successful musician. That’s why you’ve stumbled upon this article. To get insight on how you can navigate your way to success.
Like any other career, success in this field doesn’t happen overnight. You have to put in the effort.
With the help of the internet, there are many ways to promote yourself as a musician. This article will talk about some of these ways.
Let’s get into the details.
1. Get your Music Out There
First, ensure your music is good. People are tired of mediocre content. To stand out from the rest, ensure you have a quality demo.
With a quality demo, it’s time to get your music out there. Music promotion entails several things. You can either use paid or free music promotion platforms. Promoting yourself on free platforms enables you to reach a larger audience without paying a dime. Even better is to combine the two.
Get your music on every single streaming platform possible, including Spotify, SoundCloud, Google Play Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music.
Also, write a good artist bio that tells readers why they should be interested in you and your music. Using words, convince them you are the best. It’s even better when your music is good as it will speak for you.
Make sure you have a press photo of yourself (a great one) and cover art for each song or album to be released. People love visuals!
2. Build a Fan Base
Building a strong fan base is essential to becoming a successful music artist. To get more fans, you need to find and connect with them. Think about your target audience. Know their preferences, where they live, and how they spend their time online. More importantly, determine what kind of content they appreciate.
After you identify your target audience, focus on building relationships with them. Create an online community. Use free social media platforms, such as on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
The objective of the community should be to ask questions that lead your fans toward engagement, then analyze their responses and insights as well as the questions they raise in return.
But, most importantly, create music they will love.
3. Use Social Media Channels
Grow your brand using social media.
Start on common platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
You can create a strong online presence by posting regularly and using quality photos and hashtags. Post two to three times a week to keep yourself in the fans’ minds.
But if you want to grow even more quickly, consider using influencer marketing or paid ads. While these methods cost more time and money upfront, they are highly effective ways to grow your brand.
4. Be Present on Streaming Platforms
The best way to get yourself on all of these platforms is to use a music distributor. Distributors take your music, artwork, and metadata and distribute them to different streaming platforms. It can take weeks or months to get your music up on every platform if you’re distributing it yourself. Distributors do it in a couple of days.
Don’t forget about YouTube as well! It is one of the most popular ways people listen to music these days—they might not think of it as “listening” because they’re watching videos at the same time. Either way, make sure your songs are available for playback on YouTube so that people can actually hear them!
5. Connect With More People
If you want to be a successful musician, you need to connect with other musicians. Besides them, you need to connect with other people in the industry.
The music industry is full of people who aren’t musicians but play a significant role. These people include directors, choreographers, business managers, talent managers, and DJs.
You need to become familiar with these roles and connect with people in different positions.
Many people working in the music industry are willing to spend time advising or helping up-and-coming musicians. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if there’s something you want to ask.
6. Collaborate
Beyond creating great music, collaborations boost exposure. It comes with other benefits like developing your music knowledge, expanding your fanbase, and advancing your career in music.
Here are some collaborations you can make:
Collaborate with other musicians. This is a good place to start because you can easily find local artists who play the same genre as yours. Visit music venues and open mics. Once you find someone, consider doing a split show where you each have an opening slot for one of your shows. Also, you can swap sets at each other’s shows.
Use social media and word of mouth to connect with local artists whose work interests you or who inspire you creatively. This is easy if you attend live shows regularly.
Remember that collaborations don’t just happen—it takes initiative and effort from both parties!
Collaborate with non-musicians. Musicians don’t collaborate only with other musicians—they also collaborate with poets, painters, filmmakers, and more! If there is someone in the community who has talents that complement your own, reach out to them about working together on a project.
7. Continue to Learn and Work Hard
You may have the talent, but to become iconic, you have to work hard. Educate yourself on the different aspects of music-making. Examples include management roles, promoter and booking agents. If you are a solo artist, you have no choice but to educate yourself on various aspects of professional music-making.
You have to put in a lot of work when releasing and promoting a new record. Hard work assists you carve a niche for yourself.
Conclusion
The music industry is constantly changing. To succeed, you have to consistently promote yourself .You also have to work extra hard using both paid and free music platforms. Network and collaborate with the people in the industry and don’t forget to use social media to put yourself out there.
Don’t forget to be consistent in your efforts. With hard work and dedication the efforts will pay off. Remember good things take time.
Photos courtesy of Pixabay
