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Once you have completed your first few tracks, the next step as a new artist is to get online. Yet many musicians find this the hardest part of all. A full-time job in itself, creating music and managing social media are two vastly different beasts. So how can you manage to promote yourself online as a new artist? Below are our top three tips.
Quality, Not Quantity
When it comes to social media, you need to update and post regularly. People want to know what you are doing and what is going on with your music and creative process. However, you need to walk a fine line between quality over quantity.
Start by creating a posting schedule for social media. Stick to one or two platforms you are familiar with, considering their demographic. For example, Facebook has an audience of people primarily between their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. If your music is targeted at older or younger generations, it may not be the one for you. You should also be reasonable with your workload. Do not make posts every day if you don’t have the time to make something of value.
Once you have this, then think about what quality content you can put out in advance. It may be music you are working on, a gig that you are playing at, or so forth. You should even consider spreading content over some time. For example, if you play at a festival, do not post everything on the weekend you play. Hold some content back for after the event.
Start Local, Think Global
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If you are in a geographically isolated location, such as outlying islands or even larger countries like New Zealand, it can be hard to get your music into the world. You cannot physically go and perform elsewhere without a great deal of financial backing and effort. As well as this, just dropping tracks online without the right promotion leads to poor results.
To counteract this, be patient and always think global, but start local. By building a community close to you, word of your artistic endeavors will soon spread by word of mouth. This will then naturally evolve into online shares and posts from those who love what you do. It is always better when an independent body recommends you as opposed to sharing content yourself.
You may even choose to offer incentives to those who join a fan club or support your music through a site like Patreon. This is a website that allows people to fund your endeavors, pledging a certain amount each month in exchange for a reward. There are also sites like Ko-fi where people can donate, not just the aforementioned. One industry that has done this to bring in support is the online casino industry. They offer bonuses and free games to entice new players to sign up for online casinos. Looking through Bonusfinder New Zealand, for example, you can see that there are many competitive offers. While you do not want to offer cash, you can provide exclusive content and even gifts, such as merchandise, for anyone who supports you.
Don’t Rush to Get On Streaming Platforms
Another mistake new artists make is to try and get their music on streaming platforms as quickly as possible. Spotify has a very robust entry process in place, meaning you can’t just upload tracks. Even then, without the right number of fans listening, you will simply get lost in the algorithms. The platform has a notoriously low payout scheme for artists as well, so you won’t be missing out on any revenue until you have built a huge fanbase to listen to the tracks anyway.
Instead, concentrate on building your following through live events and social media. Once you have enough people interested, the streaming sites will come to you, and you will be in a much better position to hit the ground running.