Lately, artists leave the backstory behind and they let the music do all the marketing, sometimes to no avail. If you’ve been following me for quite a while, you’ll know that I frequently talk about ways to promote your music without using the music to promote itself.
If you continue to use the music alone, you’ll quickly run out of ways to share it, thus making all your efforts in vain.
Plus, if people can listen to your entire album on YouTube or somewhere else like Soundcloud, what’s the point of going to Spotify to listen to it?
So in this article, I’ll be telling you a few ways to promote your music, through video clips and audio recordings. Keep on reading on and maybe you’ll be doing them too to promote your music to get more fans and more traffic to yourself as an artist.
Other Ways Of Promoting Music
Marketing Your Music On Spotify
There are a few ways you can promote your music on Spotify.
A few artists have started doing a sort of commentary podcast/album talking about the album in topic. To name a few are CD Baby, a.k.a. Chris Robley who is an indie-pop artist, who uses stories about his music on Spotify, which is an American musical comedy duo, and many more, that use comedy to influence their audience.
These innovative approaches serve as competition templates, illustrating how artists can creatively engage with their audience on platforms like Spotify. Gleam.io is a growth marketing platform based in Melbourne, Australia, offering a suite of apps such as Capture, Competitions, Social Galleries, and Rewards. It helps businesses run engaging campaigns to grow their email lists, run viral competitions, create media-rich galleries, and build instant redeemable rewards.
Luckily, Spotify allows artists to create such content, so that their viewers visit the app more, and in turn bring more traffic to not only the artists, but to the application as well.
Now, what will you be talking about if you want to create commentary? There are a handful of things, honestly, but the usual topic is:
Who, What, When, Where and Why Method?
Who is the song about?
Is it about a past love?
Maybe a beloved friend or family member?
A parent that you miss dearly?
There are songs about the heartbreak the artist experienced from someone, the pain they endured when a loved one passed, so it’s a good way to have fans connect with you emotionally.
Talk about it more in-depth and let your fans know a little bit more about you, of course only as much as you’re comfortable letting them know.
When was it written?
Were you in a low point in your life and decided to write about it?
What about the highlight of your life, or at the peak of your existence?
Songs written about these are usually the more emotional ones as it talks about your life or the life of someone close to you and the details are not always so happy, but songs like these are the ones fans connect with the most.
WHERE ?
Were you writing the song, or maybe even the whole album while you were on vacation?
Maybe you were in bliss while staying with your family in your childhood home?
Or were you driving through the cities and decided to write about the sights that you saw. Nonetheless, it’ll give your fans a bigger perspective of who you are as a person.
WHY ?
Why was the song/album created?
Was it because of something you loved?
Maybe it’s what you enjoy doing the most?
Were you in a position in your life where you enjoyed your job and wanted to write about it? Why not! There’s no limitations as to why your music was created. It’s yours for a reason, so let people know why you love the music you make.
HOW
You can also talk about how you made it but not everyone would enjoy the technical side, so maybe keep it to a minimum.
If you plan on doing this, why not bring your friends in to join?
Have them comment on the music or maybe even invite those who are part of the story behind your music. If they aren’t available, why not call over the producer, maybe the editor too? Then you can talk about how the music came to be the way it is.
Learn How To Promote Your Music Online
Using Video Commentary To Promote Your Music
Now this is something most people won’t be comfortable in doing, especially because you have to be in front of a camera and not everyone enjoys a camera in their face.
This is only if you want to have your fans see your expression as you tell them about the music or just want to post it on YouTube and Facebook instead of Spotify. If you help with your music promotion make sure that you read our music marketing blog post.
As I said earlier, it’s better to have friends/ co-producers along to lighten the mood and so that fans can have a different view of how everything came to be. Now that I’ve already mentioned how to talk about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the song, all you have to do is apply the same to the video format.
Apart from that, there are a few things more that you need if you do decide to do video commentary. These are:
1
A List
You don’t want to be rambling on for twenty minutes, now do you?
Video commentary should be limited to only about two to three minutes, unless decided otherwise with your fans. Maybe they want a playlist of short videos? Maybe they’d prefer a single, lengthy video? Ask your community and look at the feedback you’ll receive.
2
Relax
Now, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but not everyone is confident in front of a camera, and maybe that includes you. So you’ll need to find a way to relax.
Your fans will enjoy the view while listening to you talk about their favorite song.
3
Good Lighting
Of course, no one wants to watch a video shot in the dark. It strains their eyes and you might not even be seen. Be sure to shoot in the daylight or invest in some professional lights so that you don’t have to rush in shooting if you do decide to do it during the day.
4
A Clean Room/Somewhere Quiet To Shoot
You wouldn’t want your fans to be distracted by the police sirens or cars passing by while you talk about an emotional song right?
Make sure the room you’re in is quiet, away from traffic and most of all, clean. Not only will they be put off by the dirty laundry in the back or the piles of plates at the side, but their view of you will change drastically. So keep your area clean and shoot a video where it’s pleasant to look at.
With these tips, why not head over to CD Baby’s article about how he posted his commentary album on Spotify?
You can find it here.
It was the inspiration for the article and he deserves a shout out as well, since not many artists know that they can do these tricks to boost their music in other ways other than sharing the music itself.
