Independent artists have opportunities their forebearers could only dream of. With the proper marketing methods and promotion channels, any artist with great music behind them can become an independent hit and maintain complete control over their personal brand. It won’t be an easy journey, and it will take time, but as long as you follow these top tips, you will be able to grow your fanbase and promote yourself independently.
Make Use of All the Live Gig Opportunities
To start, you may want to look at the pub scene. London, in particular, has a thriving pub culture that prides itself on providing quality live acts for its patrons. Demographic information will be crucial to your success, so check what music is played in each area in advance to align your music best with the right audience. You’ll be more likely to be booked, and you will connect better with your audience, who might just become lifelong fans.
During each set, you should have a mailing list people can sign up to. Eventually, you will also want to sell EPs and merchandise, but that will come later.
OR: The other option when it comes to promoting your music - without playing live - is to work in conjunction with other industries. Make music for brands, movies, television series and the like. There are plenty of independent filmmakers and small businesses who need music for their product.
Create a Website and Social Profiles
You need to have your own website and profiles on independent channels like Spotify, Bandcamp, and the rest. Your site should be selling, which means it should be attractive, easy to use and promote your music and your band.
A great way to do this is to collaborate with other professionals. By hiring a talented freelance videographer, you can create a stunning music video production that sits front and centre of your website. This one video alone can be useful in promoting your talent online and help you with your live auditions.
Tip: Keep the site simple to enhance how effective it is. Make it easy to find by highlighting:
1. Who you are
2. What you play
3. When you play (and where)
4. Your music
5. Where to sign up
Invest in Music Marketing
There are so many ways to market and promote your music, but before you get there, you will first want to create your assets and perfect them. This means:
1. Your stage presence and local popularity
2. Your website and social presence
3. Your music and music videos
Once you have those assets, you can look into marketing them more effectively.
Promote your music by creating killer playlists and contacting the owners of playlists to let them know of a song of yours that you think would be perfect for it. Get in touch with music bloggers and journalists to let them know about a music event you will be at, so you can get organic coverage.
There are so many ways that you can market yourself using social media, email marketing, print marketing, PR and playlist marketing, but it will take time to figure out what works best for you, so take your time and don’t give up, because you can make it.