(Akiit.com) The music industry used to be an exclusive club that was incredibly hard to get into. Unless you could convince a record company to sign you and market your music, there was no way that you could find an audience and start selling your albums. But that’s all changed and now so many people are bypassing the record companies and breaking into the industry on their own. There are so many great online channels where you can post your music and find new fans. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy. More avenues for musicians to share their music also means a lot more competition so if you’re going to build a solid fan base, you’re going to have to work at it. If you’ve been posting your music online but you aren’t seeing much growth in your audience, try some of these simple ways to promote yourself.
Market To Businesses Not People
This is something that a lot of new musicians don’t understand and it makes it a lot harder to build a following. It is important to get individuals listening to your music but it’s equally important that you’re promoting yourself to organizations as well. For example,
events companies or DJs that have a bigger following than you might decide to play your music. That’s going to expose you to a lot of new potential fans that will seek you out and start downloading your stuff. If you’re just focused on individuals, you’re missing out on a lot of good promotion opportunities.
Promotion Services
Sometimes, you just need to invest a bit of money and pay for services that can help you to boost your listens. Soundcloud is one of the most popular places for people to post their music online and you should be using it too. If you try promoting your Soundcloud page through paid services, you will see a big increase in listens in a short period of time. Soundcloud is great for giving potential fans a sample of your music and then directing them to the rest of your paid content.
Live Shows
Promoting your music online is a good way to build a strong following but it’s important that you don’t focus all of your efforts on that and neglect some of the tried and tested methods, especially live shows. You should try to play as many live shows as possible for two reasons; first off, you can get paid for it so it’s a good way to supplement your income. Secondly, it’s a great way to reach a lot of potential fans. If you start playing support slots, you’ll be playing to people that are fans of music in your genre so they’re more likely to take an interest. Hearing your music live is also the best way for people to experience it so they’re getting a better picture of what your music is really like.
If you’re serious about making a living from your music, it’s going to be a long road. But if you use these techniques to promote yourself it is possible.
Staff Writer; Greg Love