There is an interesting thing happening today. There has never been so much music, but as the number of new songs increases, music is being listened less. However, from time to time some artists manage to come up to the surface and are rewarded accordingly. Their music is being listened. And that is the main goal of every musician, especially those who are still trying to get noticed.
When it comes to promoting music, there are no secret ingredients or shortcuts. However, there is a huge number of marketing strategies that can help you stand out of the crowd. It usually requires lots of hard work but if you want to become successful here are some things you have to try. After all, if it worked for others, maybe they’ll do wonders for you too.
You are certainly familiar with Bono and that he made his music available free for download on iTunes. For some artists this was a terrible move. However, this is a perfect example of an artist who is ready to take risks and do something completely different than the others. And it paid off. The thing is that they didn’t just give their music for free. iTunes decided to buy all the rights in order to give the music for free. The success was amazing because everybody started talking about it and the album was downloaded over 26 million times. And one more thing, the album was free for a while and now they sell their music normally which earns them a good amount of money. So, we can say both Bono and iTunes took a look into the future and that gave them a certain level of protection.
Maybe you know or you don’t know who Kelly Mays is, but her example of music marketing is worth mentioning. To be more precise, she decided to distribute her music with the Creative Commons license and give it for free under the directions of CC licensing. This made it easy of a huge number of Youtubers to use her music in their videos for free. As a result, her music was used in more than 12,500 videos on YouTube and the number is still increasing. And then a wonderful thing happened – the music sales started increasing because the number of people who liked her music started to grow rapidly.
When AWOLNATION, an American rock band, released a computer game based on their spot for their song Not Your Fault. They named the game Megalithic Mayhem, and you can find it on Facebook and the open web. They have recently released a free iTunes app featuring the game. The best thing here is that the game is basically an extension of the song We have to admit that this an excellent gift for your fans. This made their fan bas even more loyal and the number is increasing day by day.
DJ Khaled didn’t actually rely in his music qualities. He started his career as a radio DJ ad gradually started building his audience by working with various artists including Snoop Dog. This made it possible for him to get in touch with their huge audience which has helped him building his own fan base. However, his time has come in 2013 when he succeeded to attract a huge number of people to his Snapchat account. On the social networks he reveals his tips to achieve happiness in an interesting and engaging way. Although most people would recognize him by his catchphrases rather than his music, his music definitely isn’t something you should ignore. Thanks to his social media strategy he has a strong and loyal fan base. When he released the “Major key” back in 2016 his fan base became even bigger.
There is one thing we have to aware of. Sometimes it isn’t enough to take out your true wireless earbuds, play your “masterpiece” and say this is going to be a hit. It usually takes much more. Even with the smartest and most advanced marketing campaigns and ideas won’t help us if the music is simply not good. So, before you even consider turning any of these examples into reality make sure that your piece of music deserves to be promoted.
Take your time and learn about the many different strategies available to promote your own music online and in the real world. And finally, music marketing is an area where thinking out of the box can do wonders for you. So, don’t be afraid to take risks and try new things. Who knows, maybe the thing you though would never work can do wonders for you. Just don’t give up!