So, you have spent several hours making that great song, and now it's time to let everyone know about it. Music promotion is an important part of the music-making process that many artists don't like to go through.

For most talented artists, they would rather just keep writing songs and recording, leaving the rest of the things for others to figure out. This is possible if you've signed a multi-million recording deal.

However, if you're an indie artist, you must be involved in the promotion process just as much as you were involved in the recording. Thankfully, we are in an age where it's possible to become famous just from internet campaigns.

To help your music promotion drive, here are the 5 things you should know before you start:

It's now more than just music

For most songwriters, artists and event producers, we love our craft and there's a natural drive to keep making great music. However, when we get to the promotion stage, you need a lot more drive to push the music to your target audience.

Music promotion is more of a marketing strategy than any other thing. See your music as a product that you're trying to sell. If you're convinced that you make a quality product, you shouldn't hold back when trying to sell it.

The fact that you think your music is good, doesn't mean others would naturally jump on the bandwagon. They need to be convinced. It would be very helpful if you took one or two courses online or digital marketing to help you with this.

Build a team

You cannot do everything alone. You need help. That's why a team is important. Of course, in the beginning, you can't afford to pay a whole team to do the job.

You can set up a group of friends that are passionate about your music and really want to see you grow. It's much better if this group consists of other music makers.

Here is where collaboration is crucial. As a rookie artist, when looking for a producer, search for a good producer who is also looking to be heard.

There are underground producers and artists just like you who have the drive to do whatever it takes. If you do a collab with such a producer, and feature such an artist,  your music promotion efforts would be tripled, because everyone wants the same thing. 

Your friends can also be of help here. Anytime you release a new song, they could share the links on their social media platforms and encourage their own friends to share too.

Of course, you will need to spend some money, but it's always better if the effort matches the money spent.

Engage with your fans

To be honest, if you want to promote your music, you must use social media to your advantage.

Even if you're not a social media person as such, you need to get used to it. That's the best space to engage your fans. Even if you make music for 70-year-olds, there are a lot of your fans on facebook.

Like I said earlier, it's not just music anymore, it's marketing strategies. The major reason you're on social media is to engage your potential audience. It can be explained as taking your product to where the consumers are. 

Of course, you shouldn't be talking about your music all the time. Be natural, and talk about other things that your listeners might care about. Social media engagement is the key to developing a robust fanbase.

Use demographics to your advantage

In the digital world, data is everything.

Only put your music on platforms that allow you to track the progress and know your audience.

Some platforms tell you whether people listened to the song till the end or just moves on after 30 seconds.  You can know which city or country your listeners are. This information can guide how you choose your concert locations and so on.

Think like a consumer

I've heard a lot of artistes complain that people don't love their music because they aren't "mainstream". That may be true, but before you make such a conclusion, be sure that the song is actually good. 

You listen to other people's music and you know how good music feels. Sometimes, you may be making excuses for your own songs if they're not up to scratch.

This is why as a producer, I don't send a finished song to the artist until I've listened again after about a week. That time gap helps you reset in a way, and enables you to listen to the song with fresh ears.

So, next time you finish a song, give a break of a week or two, then get a good pair of planar magnetic headphones and listen again.

To make it better, place the song inside a playlist containing other songs. It helps you judge better from a consumer's perspective.

Conclusion

You may have noticed that I didn't talk so much about money. That's because the strategy is more important. If you just throw money at it, you'd be back to square one in no time.

I hope you guys found this post helpful.