Are you an independent musician looking to make a name for yourself in the music industry? Well, with the rise of digital platforms, independent artists now have an opportunity to connect with their fans like never before. However, between studio sessions, networking and live performances, marketing your own music yourself is a tremendous task. Doing all of this on your own can be quite overwhelming and hectic, especially without help, but such is the fate of independent musicians.
Effective marketing is crucial for independent musician survival. In the past, the platforms available to musicians to promote their music were only accessible through corporate backing, but thanks to the Internet and social media, now there are platforms where musicals can connect with their fans with ease. So, in this blog – we will discuss the best social media tactics for independent musicians. Let’s get started;
Significance of Social Media for Independent Musicians
Today, the majority of people spend most of their time on social media. Instagram has 2 billion active users and TikTok 1.1 billion, which is expected to increase by 1.5 billion by the end of 2023. It has become a necessity for musicians to have an online presence. Independent musicians do not have access to traditional platforms to promote, but social media is open to everyone. Independent musicians can build their community on these platforms to market their music globally.
With access to billions, there also comes the burden to stand out among other creators, and then which platform to choose from to promote your music? All your queries related to this will be answered in the blog below, where we will discuss effective social media tactics for independent musicians.
Effective Social Media Tactics for Independent Musicians
Here we go;
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Identify Platforms Most Relevant to Your Music Genre
You might be able to build a community of followers on any famous social media platform over time, but focusing your efforts on a platform where the majority of people consuming your genre already are would be beneficial and time-saving. Before making a profile on any social media platform, conduct research on the music consumption on the platform and which genre of music is more popular.
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Build Strong Profiles on Social Media
As an independent musician, it is important that you build a strong profile on social media as it helps in increasing your reach, increases your chances of discoverability, engaging with fans, promoting music, and showcasing your music journey. A strong social media presence helps you stand out in an industry where competition is cutthroat. You can buy followers and likes from quality sources to boost your profile and content.
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Create Captivating and Quality Music
Though social media can be a great tool to market your music, it will only help if the music you are making is of excellent quality and captivating. Excessive social media marketing, while compromising on the quality of music, will only help in generating memes and getting trolled.
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Engage with Your Followers
Engagement with followers on social media platforms is essential for an independent artist as it helps create a community of loyal fans. Artists on labels with corporate backing can only interact with the audience in a certain way to maintain their image. This can be exploited by independent artists who can use social media platforms actively to harbor people’s attention on them.
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Cross-promote with Other Musicians
Interactions with other musicians on the platform can be beneficial as they help in introducing your music to another fan base. In collaborations with a major artist, independent artists can use bigger artist social media profiles across various platforms to share the music while being tagged; this gives exposure to both the music and the profile. You can buy Spotify plays on your collaboration posts to reach wider audience.
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Create Excitement for Releases
It is important to create hype among your fandom and people in general for new releases. Sharing short clips, teasers, and snippets of your music on social media platforms is a great way to generate buzz. Tease the collaborations, song lists, and music videos with the right hashtags in an engaging way like Taylor Swift does with easter eggs. Many artists delete everything from social media to signal the beginning of a new era.
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Create Genre-specific and Trending Hashtags for Your Music
Social media is a place of hashtags; hashtags are a way for musicians to gain the attention of people on the platform. For example, for the release of the recent Doja Cat album titled Scarlet, her team worked with Twitter for custom hashtags; fans were encouraged to post with hashtags like #Scarlet #DojaCat #RapMusic.
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Host Live sessions
Live sessions are a great way for independent artists to connect with their followers on a one-to-one basis. Instagram and YouTube live can be used to perform acoustic versions of songs. Many artists use lives to tease snippets of unreleased songs. If the song gets traction, then the artist might release it officially.
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Join Trending Challenges on Platforms Like TikTok
TikTok is a great platform for artists to market their music; with over 1 billion active users, the majority of TikTok videos feature music or some viral sound. One of the ways to get your music viral on the platform is by joining trending challenges and making TikTok with your own music. You can generate your own challenges upon new releases, encouraging fans to make user-generated content (UGC), like Taylor Swift did with the Anti-Hero challenge on YouTube shorts with the release of Anti-hero songs.
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Use Platforms Like YouTube for Music Video Premieres
YouTube is one of the biggest platforms to market your music. Many artists share their music videos on the platform; in the past, music videos were shown on MTV; now, any artist can upload it on YouTube, and it can be watched anytime by anyone. You can do a YouTube live before the premier of the music video to generate hype and connect with the fans.
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Share Your Process
Social media can be utilized by indecent artists to showcase their hard work and talent. You can share behind the scenes of making music like songwriting, composing, and producing sessions, taking your fans behind the process. Taylor Swift shared behind the scenes of making songs for her “Reputation” album.
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Offer Exclusive Content for Fans
As an independent artist, it might be difficult to manage your finances. You can offer premium content on platforms like Discord and Patreon for a small price. You can tease trailers for exclusive content for fans and share the link on social media where they can find it. This can help in financing social media content.
Read More : Discover Azealia Banks’ Music Career and Its Effect on Her Net Worth
FAQ’s
Q: How do I market myself as a musician on social media?
A: Identify the platform where your genre of music is popular, post consistently, interact with fans and followers, do live streams, join trending challenges, and share your behind-the-scenes of making music.
Q: How do independent musicians promote themselves?
A: Get featured on a popular playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.
Q: How do I grow my music on social media?
A: To grow your music on social media, find the right platform and post consistently, participate in challenges and trends related to your music, and form a community of fans by engaging with the audience and followers.
Q: What social media should a musician use?
A: Focus on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Q: How do you succeed in independent music?
A: Building a strong relationship with your fans and making quality music. Building a community of fans is necessary to succeed in independent music.
Q: How do I promote my music without followers?
A: Work hard, create quality music, and ask your friends and family to help get you started. You can also buy plays and followers from quality sources to get an initial boost.
Concluding Remarks
To sum up, social media is a great platform for independent musicians to market their music. To market effectively, it is important for musicians to find the right platform where there is a majority or culture for the genre of music they make, have a strong social media profile, engage with their fans, cross-promote and collaborate with other musicians, host live sessions, participate in trending challenges, showcase behind the processed footage. Social media can be used by musicians to create buzz for upcoming releases and tease unreleased music. So, good luck, and thanks for reading!
