We’ve complied a ‘Music Producer Checklist’ of all the things we see on a daily basis where Producers/Artists could squeezing an extra bit out of their ‘Online Presence”
ESTIMATED READING TIME – 5 Minutes
Optimising your online profile can sound a bit cheesy and something that sounds boring and uninteresting, however it is essential in an ever growing industry like the music industry.
Needless to say there’s heaps of competition out there and in order to stick out and not miss any potential opportunity that comes your way you need to be prepared to make the most of your online presence to promoting yourself and music!
We’ve complied a ‘Music Producer Checklist’ of all the things we see on a daily basis where Producers/Artists could squeezing an extra bit out of their ‘Online Presence” whether it be through Soundcloud, Instagram, Facebook or other Platforms. Have you got all of these in place?…
– BRANDING AND GENERAL THINGS –
LOGO – Think of any famous artist, any one at all and chances are very, very likely that they have a logo that people can instantly notice and associate the image to the artist. Needless to say, it’s a good idea for you to have one in place!
COHESIVE ALBUM ART – Just like the logo, you’ll need a specific thing about your art that just makes your fans instantly tie your art to to your music! This could be a colour scheme, a type of visual effect, a photography style, a design style etc etc.
EMAIL FOR CONTACT – It is essential!!! If anyone wants to get in contact with you privately, you need an email in place. If not then the person trying to get in contact with you might start to think you don’t take music that seriously and you could miss out of some serious opportunities!
KEYWORDS IN PLACE – Any one who runs a website knows about SEO (search engine optimisation) and will tell you how import it is (it’s how google ranks your website pages, the higher, the better as more people can see your content). But, just like SEO, musicians need to optimise their Soundcloud and Youtube videos through ‘keywords’ so people can help discover them better.
So with that being said think of keywords the help describe your music that people are searching for (ie Dubstep, Bass, Trap, 2019 Music, a remix of a new tune) and see if you can fit your keywords into your descriptions and tags to help your tracks/videos rank higher. By doing this, you’re showing the platforms that this ‘keyword’ is in your video or track and that if anyone searches for the keyword, you track/video would be a good choice.
PROFESSIONAL IMAGES – First Impressions are essential so make it a good one and be sure to use professional images/graphics.
Check out some Youtube tutorials to sharpen up on your photoshop skills or higher a graphic designer to create your logo and album art or a photographer to get some professional portraits/promo pics done.
A GAME PLAN EVERY TIME YOU RELEASE MUSIC – Think again if you’re planning to sit back and expect your future fans to discover your music. It’s scary how many artists do little promotion for their latest tune and complain about how their music isn’t getting played etc.
You need to push your music to get it heard so come up with a ‘Game Plan.’ This could include which promotion channels you’ll send it to, repost chains to get on, social media content around the new music, getting on Spotify’s curated playlists. Think where there is a massive amount of people who like a similar style of music to yours and then try getting your music in front of them.
– SOCIAL MEDIA MUST HAVES –
AT LEAST 3 SOCIAL MEDIA SITES – Social Media is a great way for you to raise awareness for your music and connect with your fans! The more social media places you can get on (and manage effectively) the better. If your artist/brand isn’t on social media you’re really restricting your possibilities. Personally I would recommend Instagram as a must have. Youtube is a close second. Third would be Tik Tok at the moment! It seems video content is absolutely key right now and those platforms that are all about it are great places to grow.
POSTING CONSISTENT CONTENT ON YOUR SOCIALS – In order to stick in your fans head, it’s wise to post CONSISTENTLY on your social media pages! Like I stated above, social media is a great place to interact with your fans and your content you post is a great place to start interactions!
A GOOD BIO – It’s needs to let brand new potential fans know what your about if they’ve never heard of you before. What do you want your first impression to be? Make sure to have links to streaming/download your music and an email for people to get in contact with!
– LINKS –
Maximising the different places when your can post your links can be a good thing to make sure you’ve got in place.
So, we’ve complied a list of different possible placements on your social media sites where you can place links (either to your other social media sites or a place where someone can download/stream your music.)
- Soundcloud – Right hand Profile Sidebar
- Soundcloud – Each Track ‘Buy’ Link
- Soundcloud – Each Track Description
- Facebook – About Section
- Instagram – Bio Link
- Instagram – Link in Story [The Swipe Up Feature is for accounts with over 10,000 Followers at this stage]
- Twitter – Website Link
- Youtube – Banner Links
- Youtube – Channel About Section
- Youtube – Each Video’s Description
- Email – Add a signature to your emails and incorporate a link
- Spotify – Profile Links to Instagram & Facebook in your about Section (Access in your ‘Spotify for Artists’ Account)
– SOUNDCLOUD ESSENTIALS –
BANNER AND PROFILE PICTURE IN PLACE – Again first impressions are essential. A professional Banner and Profile picture shows you mean business and people should take you and your music seriously.
EMAIL IN SIDEBAR – Have we emphasised this point enough? It’s essential alright.
ORGANISED PLAYLISTS – Grouping your music by Genre or Ep or even Free Downloads are a great idea to let new fans aware of your different styles or projects.
Whats more if one playlist resonates with them (for example Dubstep tracks or Future Bass tracks) they’ll probably play the one that suits their preferred genre/style versus rolling the dice with your recently uploaded track and hope the style resonates with them. So think of playlists as the tools to help guide your future fans.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There you have it. Our top tips for optimising your Artist’s Online presence. Once finished maximising these different aspects/areas on Social Media on your Artist Profile on different platforms, you should hopefully be able to grow your awareness and most importantly be ready for when people discover you. ie if a new fan discovers your music and wants to hear more they can easily find where to stream and download your music, or if an A&R from a label discovers your music they can be greeted with your email address in a sidebar so they can get in touch.
Remember, success is when preparation (what you’re helping to do more in this article) meets opportunity!
