In today’s realm of music, there are many ways to be heard. It’s totally possible to be a basement artist or to upload music directly from your garage. This provides a huge opportunity for the solo musician to get their art to the masses. On the plus side, you can even start to make money playing music online.
The problem, how do you get your music heard? There is no doubt a lot of competition out there.
#1 – Set up a Site
First things first….You must set up a website. In today’s overwhelmingly amount of online options, a website may seem a bit futile, but I assure you, you’re going to want one. Think of it as your headquarters, your main office, your command post. Yea, let’s go with command post. This is the heart of where you operate. From here you decide your message and the way you want to be seen. Everything else should refer back to your website and from there you have your base of operations.
There are a ton of different options when it comes to building websites. You can search the web for multiple “how to build a website” posts and videos. Spend hours learning to code with HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Spend more hours coding the site little by little then checking every other line in order to see the results. the Buy online templates because you can’t quite get your site to look right or embed the features that you wanted to implement on your site, waste another few hours trying to intergrade your ideas and fix whatever you just broke on the site, then ultimately pay out the wazoo to have a web developer make the damn site for you…….that’s what I did.
#2- Build A Fanbase Through Email
Luckily for you, there’s a much easier option. Gone are the web pioneering days where you had to lay 200 lines of code down just to get a blue box with your name flashing on the screen. The ease of plug-ins and drag and drop technology has allowed people like me the luxury of being tech ignorant. After using programs like WordPress and Drupal, I’ll have to say the best by far is Wix.
Ok, you have your website up and running, great… now what? We’ll get to that shortly. I want to touch on something that is usually overlooked and underappreciated. E-mail. E-mail is extremely important. It allows you to target people that are already interested in you.
In fact, according to Statista.com, email is projected to grow to reach over 4 billion users by the year 2022. 81% of people claim they check their email randomly throughout the day and 55% of emails are opened on their phones. Not to mention, you will reach more people directly through email than with any social media avenue. This presents a huge market to reach the potential fans of your Nu-Metal-Jazz-Rock ensemble (yes, its a real thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2S-J_TvmMw). The bottom line, e-mail still works, and it’s super effective and it’s super cheap. One of the best things you can do is invest time in e-mail marketing.
So how do you market your music with e-mail? The concept is pretty simple. Recommend your fans to join your e-mail list. You can do this on your website, social media page, or even with a sign-up sheet at your gigs. From there you can message your groupies with information about your next gig, create a newsletter, provide album updates, and even sell merch. Its basically free advertisement to people who want to hear from you. There’s a lot of tools like MailChimp that will help you collect and organize your email list and sent it in mass. Don’t ignore the power of e-mail.
#3 – The Power Of Blogging
Ah, the ole faithful blog. Since the dawn, if the internet blogging has been a way for writers to spread a message, readers to interact with the writers and onlookers to soak in all the information. It’s also a powerful tool for promoting yourself on the internet.
Blogging these days can be just as overwhelming as finding a web hosting company or choosing which social media you’d like to focus on.
#4 – Get Social
Unless you’ve been under a rock the last 10+ years then you should be involved with social media. It’s taken over a huge chunk of the marketing industry and has the ability to reach billions of people. Different social media platforms are popping up almost daily but, the big 3 are still going to be your best bet for getting your music out there.
- Facebook- of course, Facebook. I would recommend setting up a facebook business page. It has a lot of different features that a personal profile page just doesn’t have. You can post pictures, promote gigs, and showcase some behind the scene prospectives for your followers. You can sale mech(im big on selling things) Again, it helps your website linked so that people who are interested can find out more information.
- Instagram- is owned by Facebook now so its easier than ever to integrate what you’re doing with both platforms. Just keep in mind, Instagram is a more visual platform. It works best with pictures over text base content posting.
- Twitter- where would I be without twitter? Probably on facebook more but that’s beside the point. Twitter is what many people use to get the latest news direct from the source. Use that to stay connected to your fanbase by tweeting your most important updates.
Of course, there are a ton of other music-based social media pages out there. The focus a little specifically on bands and solo artists.
#5 – Utilize the Social Pipeline
Once your social media accounts are set up, all you have to do is sit back and watch the gigs and fans start rolling in, right? NO! It’s not just enough to set all of this stuff up, it takes a lot of strategies utilizing it. This is where you really get to be creative and use your social charm to woo people to your music.
Bandsintown, Reverbnation & Songkick are also great ways to let listeners know where your performing. These are location based sites so you can target your specific area.
In an interview with John Mayer. he admitted in the early days of his career he would get on blogs under pseudonyms and build hype about himself and his shows. Reddit is a great way to do this. They have ways to post anonymously and subreddits that target people in your music genre.
Snapchat is also a very cool app to help you build some hype for yourself. I’ve snapped tons of times while at a gig persuading people to come out. Just like building an email list, make your snap handle available on all of your social media platforms.
#6 – EPK all the way
Ok so you have a kick-ass website, your email list is growing, you’re blogging on a weekly basis and you’ve got enough social media content to break the internet. That’s a pretty great start. At this
#7 – Gently Up the Stream?
Ah the internet, where would we be without you? As a musician, there is no easier way to be heard then from streaming your music online. Spotify, Itunes/Apple Music, and Pandora are just a few services dedicated to helping get your music in a radio-style rotation. This can dramatically increase your range of listeners. Out of all of the theses, there is one must have…..Soundcloud
Do you have your music on Soundcloud? If you don’t you’re seriously missing out on some potential fans. Soundcloud is one of the biggest platforms for musicians. SoundCloud is becoming the grounds through which many artists are being discovered. Artist such as Kiiara, G-Eazy and Post Malone all promote on Soundcloud and its help boost their careers significantly.
Just an additional idea. I promoted a show of mine one time and then did my whole first set on a Facebook live stream. I got a huge response from people watching and a nice crowd to come out to finish watching my set. Don’t be afraid to video yourself and put yourself in peoples faces, you’ll need the practice. Just think of all the exposure you’ll be subjected too once you get famous. Get used to it.
#8 – Upgrade to Uploads
Upload everything! No doubt YouTube makes it great to promote your work, just look at Justin Beiber. It’s the perfect avenue to record original music and also to refer listeners too. You can do a number of things with YouTube such as upload new songs, live shows, tutorials or just a weekly
#9 – Don’t Fear Ad$
Ok, this is a bit of a touchy subject. So many musicians I talk to are against spending money on advertisements. WHY!? They work and sometimes really well. There have been many times I’ve put a show on Facebook and a week or so before my show paid $5 to boost the post in the area. It’s great for the fans, it’s great for the venue and its great for you. You can simply boost a show to your local area and I promise you it’ll help inform the locals where to find some good music. It’ll also encourage your fans on what to do with their evening. To come to see you perform of course. Way too often we neglect to spend money because we’re in it to make money. Well, invest in yourself this way. It’ll pay off when that crowd of 20 turns into 50 and those strangers become new followers.
#10 – Collaborate & Listen
We all meet fellow musicians in this musical rat race. Utilize it. Bouncing ideas off of others in the same boat is a great way to gain insight into the business. In other regards, don’t be afraid to share what you’ve learned as well. I speak to guys who play as often as possible. They are always giving me tips on whos hiring and where some open mics are being held. Collaborate with other local musicians as often as possible. This is such a good way to find other venues and to co-play events. If the more the merrier then it’ll be your fellow musicians that’ll help expose you to that next level. As well.
Also, don’t forget what it’s all about. This is passion, joy, and love. We’re not in it to be greedy, money hungry solo artists. Hopefully, you play because you enjoy it and feel that you have something to share. No one is going to understand that better than other musicians.
Final Tips. There is a lot to cover, I understand. If you really want to make a living as a musician then it’s going to take some work. You’re also going to need every advantage you can get. If you stay consistent with this list then you’ll have a much better shot at being noticed. You don’t have to necessarily hit it big to be a successful musician. There are so many varieties of music, and so many artists out there. You can get plenty of satisfaction just by knowing others are listening to your stuff. In the end, it’s about connecting your message with others but, who knows. You just might find your breakthrough.
-Solo Gigger Out