Music distribution platforms, such as United Masters, Distrokid, and TuneCore have made it possible for anyone to upload their music to streaming platforms. It is an incredible time to be an artist but that also means that the market is incredibly oversaturated. Marketing is more important now more than ever. Check out our free resources or schedule a free consultation!
Social Media Music Marketing
When CD’s, vinyl, and radio were the only way to promote music, record labels didn’t really have to spend a lot of money on marketing. A music lover would listen to the radio or go to the music store and that would be the end of it. The music would pretty much promote itself.
The internet has completely changed the user’s relationship with music. We are now in the golden age of content with close to 500 hours of content being uploaded to YouTube every minute. This includes music.
A lot of music lovers are now finding new music from viral clips, TikTok challenges, and hashtags.Major label artists such as FKA Twigs and Halsey are required to make TikTok challenges to make their music go viral and have complained about how this has affected their creativity. It is incredibly competitive time in music and those that have the best leverage on social media tend to have the highest streams.
Music Branding
“Artists are businesses. They are not just artists. Artists shouldn’t have managers. Artists should have CEOs.” – Kanye West
Kanye West’s first three albums are College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation. He created incredible branding around this with the College Dropout Bear placed on the cover of his first three albums. This art direction created a world around the music that people wanted to buy into.
Larry June has created a healthy, positive brand. He ends all his tweets with an orange emoji, does vlogs of him juicing, and going to Whole Foods. This has led to his cult following.
Branding is all about consistency and makes you stand out. Find out what makes you unique and stand out from the crowd. Use this to create a world around your music and market yourself.
Why is Marketing Important?
It is very easy for your music to fall on deaf ears because of how much content is produced today. It is important to make sure that your social media is optimized and reflective of your brand. This positions you differently than the hundreds of thousands of artists that upload their music to streaming services every year. Want more tips like these? Check our more of our free artist resources.