I get it. Promoting & marketing your music can be a drag and not something you want to spend your time on, after all you want to make music right?
We’ll I’m not promising any magic miracles but I’m here to help get some ideas in on what different free online avenues you should go down to get your music in front of your future fans!
It’s SIMPLE?…
Yes it really is you might be overthinking it, the concepts are super simple, it’s just the time you put in is the hard part, but you want to be as successful as the artists you love right? So take a step back and think about the time you first heard them and their music? So let me explain and i’ll use a few of my own examples…
EXAMPLE – KOAN SOUND
The first time I heard of this legendary duo was on UKF in 2011 and their song “Trouble In the West” was uploaded. Needless to say I’ve been a big fan since. So what did they do to get my attention and make me aware of them and their music? They got an upload on UKF Dubstep! So let’s make a list and add and put this on it.
– Upload on UKF Dubstep
UKF Helped Launch many Careers!
EXAMPLE – SKRILLEX
The first time i was made aware of Skrillex was possibly 2010 when my cousin played me “Skirllex – My Name is Skrillex (Skrillex Remix)” and I was blown away instantly and wanted to hear everything that this Skrillex had ever made. Skrillex had that appeal with his music that is was so unlike anything we’d heard before that my cousin had to show me. Let’s call this a referral and add it to the list!
– Upload on UKF Dubstep
– Referral (Amazing Music)
EXAMPLE – MADEON
Madeon’s ‘Pop Culture’ Launchpad video ‘launched‘ (mind the pun) me into the world of Madeon and his music. I couldn’t help but not check out his music after such a sick video!
– Upload on UKF Dubstep
– Referral (Amazing Music)
– Youtube Performance Video
EXAMPLE – LAXX
First time I was made aware of Laxx was during a Modestep gig. I had recorded the drop on my phone and then asked my friends on facebook “wtf is this, who’s the artist?” we’ll I got my answer and now I cant get enough of LAXX (the song was ‘Hardcore’ btw)
– Upload on UKF Dubstep
– Referral (Amazing Music)
– Youtube Performance Video
– Live Show
EXAMPLE – KEENO
Keeno is definitely is one of my favourite artists period! How I came about Keeno is though a digital subscription service called “Drip.fm” where you subscribe to a Record Label or Artist and then you get their new releases in wav, mp3, flac format etc as long as you are subscribed when they drop them. So I through this subscription I was introduced to the world of Keeno through Drip.fm and Hospital Records.
– Upload on UKF Dubstep
– Referral (Amazing Music)
– Youtube Performance Video
– Live Show
– Music Label
EXAMPLE – PAROV STELAR
Probably an unfamiliar name with most that aren’t familiar with the electro swing scene. But let me explain this one.
A video of some random dude dancing was clocking up some serious views on youtube and being pushed into the recommend feeds. This dudes dancing combined elements of old school, lindyhop, ballroom & shuffle and it was fairly new at the time but like I said, this video was getting heaps of attention.
But the thing is he was dancing to this electro swing song ‘Catgroove’ by Parov Stelar. So just imagine someone casual recording themselves dancing to your song in their bedroom, the video becomes viral and subsequently brings all this attention to your song? This needs to be on our list!
– Upload on UKF Dubstep
– Referral (Amazing Music)
– Youtube Performance Video
– Live Show
– Music Label
– Youtube Collab/Dancer
THE LIST
Alright time to go through the list and explain how you could utilise this to help promote your music!
UPLOAD ON UKF DUBSTEP – Or an upload to any big music promo channel for that matter; Proximity, Dubstep Gutter, UKF etc etc. Getting on a massive channel can defiantly help get your music to the masses and make you a heap of new friends! Sending your new music to these channels is a very, very good idea and should be at the top of your list when it comes to promoting your new music!
REFERRAL/SHARE – You want to make your tunes so ahead of their time and just so creative that people cant help but share it to their friends. So put in those hours to refine your skill, get creative and start thinking outside the box! If you’re into the dubstep scene, a Zomboy copy cat isn’t really gonna stick out, I mean we’ve already got a great Zomboy, why do we need another similar sounding artist? What about something entirely different? That could be you!
YOUTUBE PERFORMANCE – Kinda speaks for itself. Be the next Madeon, M4sonic, Sean Wasabi! If you haven’t got the skills for that, team up and collaborate with someone who has!
LIVE SHOW – Get your music to as many DJ’s as possible! Send them exclusives, it doesn’t matter if the DJ is playing to a room of 50 or 5000 (although that would be nice) you need to get your music to as many of these show-goers as possible after all they are your ideal fans and could be going to YOUR shows in the future!
MUSIC LABEL – As well as getting your single or album to the digital stores, if they are a good label, their job is to get your music to as many people as possible. So your aim is to get your music on to these dream labels! Although these labels accept the best of the best, so if you don’t get a response from them don’t feel discouraged, get back to the studio and work on your craft! These things don’t happen overnight!
YOUTUBE COLLAB/DANCER – Why not collaborate with these youtube dancers, you provide the music and they do the dance? Why stop there, try get collabs with other youtubers, vloggers, artists, gamers….
So….
These are just my ideas, what are a few of your favourite artists and how did you first hear about them? Start compiling a list and think what you need to make these things happen? Do you need to practice and work on your craft to get your music to the right level? Do you need to reach out and make contact with the right people? Are you going into promotion with the right mindset?…
Embrace every opportunity on how to promote your music, and start making your dream a reality!
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