Marketing Your Music Blog With Just 3 Tools

Marketing Your Music Blog With Just 3 Tools

Clambr's Richard Marriott got "50 Experts" to weigh in on "How to Promote Your Blog with Just 3 Tools." It's a big page that's now at 53 professional web marketers, SEOs and marketing bloggers. But I think their choices of blog marketing tools and their rationales for using them, which also reveals some of their approaches to blog marketing, offer useful insights for musicians, music businesspeople, music writers and music marketers who are creating content, building brands and spreading the word through blogging.
"50 Experts Reveal How to Promote Your Blog with Just 3 Tools" comes at a good time for me as I begin a process of getting organized for the New Year. I'm investigating new and old social media marketing tools for various projects and will be sharing what I learn here at Hypebot in 2014.
The blog marketing post covers a lot of ground but little of it is specific to music marketing. So here are some key tool groups and observations that I think are especially relevant for marketing music-related blogs with some notes about future coverage at Hypebot.
Email Marketing & Newsletters

Email marketing was considered a key approach with AWeber topping the tools list. That makes me want to take a second look cause AWeber seems more generally on the decline compared to MailChimp which came in a distant second to AWeber in this group. MailChimp's free tier gets multiple mentions for those on tight budgets.
I'm getting ready to reinvestiate FeedBlitz for both email and RSS management. RSS tools did not make it on the list which makes sense. RSS feeds are now a basic feature more than a core tool.
I will also be checking out self-hosted Wordpress email plugins for email marketing and newsletters though that will likely include plugins for hosted email services like MailChimp or FeedBlitz.
Social Media Networks

Twitter topped the social media network mentions with Facebook lagging behind and Google+ barely appearing. Twitter definitely makes sense, especially for content and blog marketing, given its broad reach and focus on short messages with links that can lead directly back to one's own blog.
Given that social proof is becoming a more important part of SEO, all of these networks are relevant in that realm as well, especially Google+.
We'll continue covering the big players and also following the emerging world of messaging as it grows in importance.
Social Media Management

Tools for managing one's social media presence were cited more than any particular social network, which makes a lot of sense, especially for professionals who are often managing multiple accounts.
HootSuite topped the list of social media management tools and it certainly seems to be a fave among music marketers as well. They've done a good job of keeping up with a wide range of networks as well as offering 3rd party apps with reach beyond Twitter, Facebook and Google+ into music-relevant networks like SoundCloud, YouTube and Instagram.
Buffer came in second.
I'm hoping to take a closer look at tools like HootSuite that integrate various services by either connecting with a lot of sites or by bringing all the features in-house. But, like a handful of the 50 Experts, I've focused more on doing things like tweeting by hand since I don't manage accounts for clients and am exploring low volume approaches.
Analytics

Understanding what's happening and how your actions are affecting what happens is an important part of blog marketing so it's not surprising that analytics tools made some lists. Google Analytics, which may be downplaying keywords but still offers more a rich suite of tools than a single tool, was the main one discussed.
Topsy for Twitter was mentioned in passing. Of course, many other tools such as HootSuite offer analytics related to one's social media marketing efforts.
I'm looking for other analytics tools for blogs and websites but it's hard to beat what Google offers for free. If you have any suggestions, please do share.
Link Building

Getting people to link to you is an important part of SEO as well as direct traffic. I've always taken the organic "let them link to you because you have great content" approach.
If you're interested in more overt link building as well as building relationships with other bloggers, these pros recommend such tools and networks as BuzzStream, Blog Engage and Triberr.
Miscellaneous Blog Marketing Tools

iTunes received multiple mentions by podcasters.
Wistia was singled out for self-hosted video.
Wordpress appears low on the list but both Wordpress.org (self-hosted) and related plugins get mentioned repeatedly by many of the respondents. Much of this can be attributed to the flexible nature and generally low cost of self-hosted Wordpress. It's also a reminder that blog marketing begins with a great blogging platform.
I'm slowly getting up to speed on Wordpress and will be getting more detailed in 2014.
Be sure to let us know if you're finding specific web and mobile tools of use for both blog and music marketing.
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is building a writing hub at Flux Research. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.



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Clyde Smith on 12/04/2013 in D.I.Y., Marketing, Music Tech, Social Media | Permalink

Twitch Debuts Live Streaming Music Concerts, Twitch Broadcasters Can Play Host

Twitch Debuts Live Streaming Music Concerts, Twitch Broadcasters Can Play Host

Twitch is an odd seeming thing, a platform primarily for live streaming video gameplay, that is incredibly popular. Since at least May various reports have it that Google is buying them. So far it's only been confirmed by "sources" and it's hard to say what that would really mean for Twitch. But there are lots of people watching Twitch and though there is music on the site in various forms, yesterday they supported their first official livestreamed concert featuring dj Steve Aoki.
Twitch is a true phenomenon with:
"more than 50 million monthly active users"
"more than 1.1 million members who broadcast videos each month"
"more than 13 billion minutes of video are watched per month on Twitch"
"in March, Twitch represented 1.35 percent of all Internet traffic"
So Twitch is doing great as it is but they say they "surveyed the Twitch community" and that a full 80% answered yes to the question:
“Would you be interested in watching your favorite artists perform live on Twitch?”
Apparently the music industry is quite aware of the promotional potential of live streamed concerts on Twitch:
"Some friends in the music industry have been interested in sharing free live concerts on Twitch for some time."
And to further integrate such shows, beginning with yesterday's stream of Aoki's Playhouse from Ibiza, Twitch now has Host Mode:
"Imagine you’re done broadcasting for the day, and about to go offline. Rather than just signing off, Engage Host Mode! Your chatroom remains entirely the same, but your video player is replaced with an embedded version of whichever channel’s stream you decide to host. Now you and your chat community can continue to hang out even after you’ve gone offline."
For an artist like Steve Aoki Twitch is offering a great tool for promoting his new album, "Neon Future." In fact, given that this is the first show on his Twitch channel, the stats of 529,980 views and 17,778 followers should be essentially for the show.
Keep in mind that Twitch has a Partner Program that includes monetization so Twitch's potential power for music goes beyond promotion alone.
There are also issues with unlicensed music playing during video gameplay cause people listen to music while they play games. So if Google has bought them, we're looking at many of the same problems and possibilities raised by YouTube but on a livestreaming platform.
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) also blogs at DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.




Location:Rohrerstown Rd,Lancaster,United States

Do something daring

As Mark Twain said: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. Sail away from the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover."

This quote by Mark Twain is so true, I felt long ago that I had musical talent and wanted to express with everyone. So what I had done was I had started Googling everything that was available that I can do to show off, and I had found Djing as an outlet. And that's pretty much was it from there. Reading a lot of information, and testing, and trying things out on my own and finding what and what doesn't work for me. And just sticking to what works for me.  Don't forget to ask for advice as much as possible, and don't be afraid of feedback it can only make you stronger, and help you out. Test the waters with your work, or project that you're doing. And I suggest to anyone that is daring to do something new try what I did, it might work for you as well.

3 Simple and Free Website Design Resources for Musicians

3 Simple and Free Website Design Resources for Musicians

A Guest Post by Crowd Audio

I’ve harked on marketing for a few posts now.

Not for nothing, because being a band in a vacuüm is pointless.

You want fans, and marketing is the thing that will get you fans.

It gets a bad rap, but marketing isn’t evil. It’s what you do every day when you talk about your music, upload a song or post a music video.

And as you all know by now, you should be doing this through your own website.

Where Do I Find a Good Website Design for My Band?

Good question.

The answer is: ALL OVER THE PLACE!

It’s actually quite frustrating because you can feel like you’re drowning in designs when you go search on Google. But let’s narrow the search parameter a little bit and focus on something that’s more budget friendly.

Or as you musicians might know it as: free.

I’m only recommending and talking about WordPress themes because that’s what I’m familiar with and confident to talk about.

There are a ton of free options out there, and even more Premium, paid themes as well.

Just a quick search on Google for “free WordPress themes for musicians” yields some good results. Obviously they won’t all be free but here are some great sites that have some good free options for you.

Premium Free WordPress Themes

PremiumFreeWordpressThemes has some good options for musicians on a budget that would like a simple and nice design.

The Retro Music and IndaClub are both cool options for wildly different genres.

Heaven Themes

Heaven Themes looks super cluttered and seems to portray itself as a massive hub for website themes. At first glance it looks like Amazon.com if they only sold website themes.

But once you get past that you can’t deny the massive amount of different themes available on their site. And they’re not only limited to WordPress so if you have different preferences for your platform(you shouldn’t) then you can choose a Joomla or a Blogger theme (don’t do it).

TightMixBlog

There are some interesting choices on TightMixBlog. I guess the generic 2010 theme could work for your music, but it just lacks design and is a bit “blah…”

However, the author’s favorite theme on the site is Sight, a really cool free theme that comes with a bunch of customizability.

I actually used it a few years back as the theme for my band so I can highly recommend it to anyone who needs a simple but cool looking theme that won’t cost them a dime.

Other notable mentions are the City Dreams theme, which would come in handy if you have a really cool band photo or an awesome live shot of your band rocking out on stage.

Make it Simple

You don’t need an expensive designer to make you a website. You just need some intermediate skills in setting up your free WordPress theme and you’re good to go.

This is something anybody in your band should learn because you should always treat your website as your flagship marketing tool.

What themes are you using on your website? Did you go with something free, or did you treat yourself to a premium theme?

Crowd Audio helps you take your music to the next level. They connect independent bands and musicians with excited audio engineers eager to help them with their music.

If you’re a musician, Crowd Audio gives you access to a community of audio engineers eager to mix and master your music, giving it that professional sound.

If you’re an audio engineer, Crowd Audio creates a community of like minded individuals looking to gain experience by doing the audio work they love.

Through community and crowdsourced competition, bands get a professionally produced sound while audio engineers get exposure and experience

Amplify the positives

What are the positive attributes of your situation? Try amplifying those to see how it affects the negative ones (like feeling stuck or not having enough motivation).

Well with the internet being the way that it is, this idea isn't that hard to do. It's just staying positive with yourself, and your fans is more of the problem with this. With Facebook, Google +, and other social media outlets keeping your friends, family,  or even fans is easier. The main thing is not to have all these people and not keeping everyone up to date with whats going on. The easiest way is to posts all the time, also there are tons of apps available now that makes all this possible.

Plus you can do a lot of this on your cell phone, or smart phones now. Apps like Foursquare, Get Glue, Instagram, and Pinterest to name a few.

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SEO For Musicians: “Don’t Chase The Algorithm”

SEO For Musicians: "Don't Chase The Algorithm"

There are a number of technical things one can still do to have a higher presence in Google and other search engines. But, unless you're really into playing search engine games, most of the time it's better to set up your site correctly and then focus on creating and sharing content, such as pics and blog posts, in addition to your musical activities. Jennifer Ha recently shared 7 tips from SearchEngineLand's Matt McGee to improve your search presence without chasing the constantly shifting details of Google's math. One in particular, "strive to be the authority in your space," sounds a bit odd for a musician but may actually provide a way to create a Google-worthy site that your fans will enjoy.

Don't Chase The Algorithm

The title to Jennifer Ha's Post at Federated Media, "Don't Chase the Algorithm," is an ideal mantra both for those just getting into search engine optimization (SEO) for music sites and for those with more experience. To me it speaks of avoiding the ongoing obsession with every tweak of Google's algorithm to focus on the bigger picture of what you're trying to create.

I really believe you could get by on the technical side by digging in once a month at Search Engine Land, identifying trends via headlines and then digging into the stuff that seems to be getting everybody worked up. If your site keeps up with basic best practices, you really don't have to do a lot of technical stuff to stay current.

Your main focus should be communicating with your fans. However you do that, you should include sharing meaningful news updates and content like behind-the-scenes pics that your fans will want to check out and share.

As it turns out, organizing your site to suit your visitors and giving them meaningful content in addition to music and music videos, is the kind of thing that Google wants to see and so does Facebook.

Be The Authority On Your Own Act

In Jennifer Ha's interview with Matt McGee she closes with "7 Tactical Steps" for improving your site's SEO. They're all good, basic technical tips worth checking out.

But the first, "Strive to be the authority in your space, and publish consistently," sounds like the kind of thing that a business person or wannabe thought leader might be more concerned with than would a musician.

However, I think the idea of making your official website the "authority" on your act is actually a great way to get yourself organized. When you look at it that way, then all the various components of a site make more sense and the possibility of content beyond the everyday becomes easier to imagine.

Becoming the authority on your own act can mean a number of things. For example, if your site is well-organized with multiple sections of content, news and events, it may mean that not only will your official site come up first in searches for your band's name but that Google will do that nice mini-directory to internal pages that they do for sites like Search Engine Land.

Add a Wikipedia entry, which Google will put in the sidebar of results, and you're dominating the section of initial results folks will first encounter.

Becoming the authority on your own act can also mean taking content to another level. For example, one could include song lyrics and stories behind the songs. Perhaps you have visual material that relates to those lyrics or stories. This could make for a meaningful addition to your site that is also quite unique.

So, rather than chasing that algorithm, try becoming the authority on your own act instead and see what it does not only for your search presence but for your relationship with your fans.

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Define your steps

Take a minute to list out the basic steps you need to take in order to start creating. Write them down on a sheet of paper, in order. Ask yourself what's preventing you from starting.

Take a minute to make a plan, list out what your goin, or should do. And then take a minute to understand and find out what would, or might prevent you from achieving each goal of your plan. And keep a record of it (very important part of your plan. Very important) now with technology, I would suggest putting all of your notes, and your plan. And saving it on a hard drive, or even in a cloud based program. And those are my suggestions.

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What would _____do?

Seeing your problems or situations from another person's perspective is a powerful way to getting unstuck. Asking yourself: "What would someone else do here?" is an easy way to getting yourself unstuck.

Yes it's true that seeing other people's problems and seeing how they solved it is a big help. Now for yourself see how you can analyze what was done, or even finding out what a person did is possible on your end. I would say google your idea (search the internet), look on You Tube. You Tube has a lot of different videos on just about anything that you want to find out. And go from there and see what you can do with what you had found out.

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Evolve an idea

Start with an idea (any idea at all!) and write it down somewhere. Then try to find one way to evolve that idea into something more. Repeat with the new idea, then again, and again.

In other words take an idea and just run away with it. And see where it may lead you. As long that you are sticking the same subject of course. Going off course is just going to confuse yourself, and any one else that is trying to follow what you are doing. If you need help with this idea I would say google it, or do a search the internet for examples, and my favorite go on YouTube to find example.

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Disconnect from the work

Turn on a movie or really loud music, talk with a friend or co-worker, or do something else while at the same time working. This way your subconscious is disconnected from the conscious work.

This is a good piece of advice, I do this on the regular. Meaning that I like to multitask with pretty much everything that I do. When it comes to looking at tv, sports, movies or whatever is on tv. A lot of times I do it mostly with my blog posts that I do every week. I would usually find stories to share from the internet. Or share some great ideas, I do a lot of this either while I'm out with family, driving to work, on my breaks at work and what not. But I usually have these post coming from whatever, and whenever. And I save a lot of it for whenever I get the chance to finish it off when I get the chance.

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Why Jay-Z Premiered His “Holy Grail” Video On Facebook

Why Jay-Z Premiered His "Holy Grail" Video On Facebook

By Corentin Villemeur, head of digital for 50 Cent and G-Unit Records, co-founder of Thisis50.com.

“Men lie, women lie, Numbers don’t”

Jay Z, 2009

Ever since the announcement of the Samsung deal back in June, I’ve been fascinated by Jay Z‘s release plan for Magna Carta Holy Grail. As he just released the official music video for “Holy Grail”, my good friend and coworker Tony G asked me “What’s the point of premiering it on Facebook?” .. It inspired me to write the following.
Perception Is Everything

In these days where album sales are still lower than they used to be, this concept in the music industry is key: Perception is everything.
Believe it or not, people care about numbers. They check their Klout, buy Twitter followers, and want more Likes than their look-at-my-salad-pictures-taking Instagram friends.
They also want Soundscan to check first week numbers.. It started with Myspace, YouTube and its prominent view counter took it to another level. Analytics for all is in, get your data right.
So the Brooklyn rapper just dropped the music video for “Holy Grail” – track off the album featuring Justin Timberlake – and chose our friend we hate to love, Facebook to premiere it.
This might come as a surprise for most, but it makes total sense in the overall master plan he used for his MCHG marketing campaign.
I will try to highlight here his clever usage of numbers .. not the ones you’re now accustomed to, the ones he wants you to see; believe that he’s hard at work to make the first impression, the last one.
The first impression is the last impression

Facebook’s proprietary video player is pretty weak if you ask me. One of its only values is the predominance of the Like the Page button when you watch the video within your feed. Outside of that, it’s a standard player with an obvious lack of features (see embed above: no source/logo, no click through, meh).
So why use it you would ask..
2 reasons:

It’s Facebook’s proprietary player and by using their own technology, your content has a better chance to appear on your fans feed.
No need to run a Fan page to see that your photo directly uploaded to Facebook will get more likes than one uploaded via your Instagram account. Your friends are simply more likely to see it that way. That’s just how Facebook works.
With that being said it’s a better way to capitalize on his 17M Likes rather than posting a YouTube clip.
Now, Facebook offers you to promote your posts and everyone is accustomed to click on a YouTube player, so the real reason might be elsewhere.
No one knows the real amount of views, all you see is the amount of Likes .. and it’s going to be a lot!
As I’m writing this, the Holy Grail video post has more than 230,000 Likes.
To see this kind of numbers on his Page you need to go back to September 19th 2012 and this iconic photo with Obama and Beyonce, which has 269,000 Likes.

So can this video compare with meeting Obama? Clearly not, but that’s where Jay’s brilliance lies.
When Jay Z announced his album, he also said he had already sold a million copies.. what now?

If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard doesnt report it, did it happen? Ha. #newrules #magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII

— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) June 17, 2013

The exact details of the deal here are not known but it was reported that Samsung bought a million copies at $5 a piece and were to give them away for free to their users.
Do we know how many were actually downloaded? No.

Just like his Facebook release, you only get a certain number – The one he wants you to see, that big one, that Lady Gaga number, that number that will make you go ‘wow’.
The Wow effect

Don’t let him fool you, that album wasn’t put together overnight. Justin and Jay’s summer tour was planned months ahead (announced in February) and the timing of MCHG’s release – actually both their release when you include JT’s 20/20 Experience – is no surprise.
The RIAA updates its standards; they move faster than Usain Bolt now?
A $5M deal with Samsung.. sure, let me sign that here while Timbo finishes this beat.
Jay Z doesn’t use his VEVO channel, so his other platform of choice would have been YouTube. He recently used it for “Picasso Baby“, guess he wasn’t too happy with its performance.
Though it had a good concept and some wide coverage (before and after), the video racked a mere 2.8M views for 22,384 Likes.
The stats on the video, obviously, have been disabled.
Was the video too long? Did he go too far with his art concept? Is Justin making that much of a difference?
Anyway, want to see what 200,000 Likes gets you on YouTube, it’s here.
On YouTube, people might not pay as much attention to likes than they do to views but they do on Facebook, and that’s all that matters here.
We have no way of knowing how many views this video has (you have to be a Page admin to check the amount of plays – ‘Export the data’ .. open Excel .. too many steps) but the perception is there. 230,000 likes in 48hrs .. Justin Bieber kind of numbers.
Starting to make sense now, right?
I remember reading a lot of comments arguing the legitimacy of this Platinum status. The fact is, the app used for the release was downloaded well over a million times.
The app was removed since [old link] but thanks to the Wayback machine you can clearly see that the app received somewhere between 1 and 5M downloads.

If apps are to replace physical CDs, perfect by me.
On top of that, Jay still sold 527,000 copies its first week and had the best opening week in Spotify history.
In this day and age of information overload, using numbers to your own advantage is an art.. Jay mastered it.
Chapeau l’artiste!

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YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube continues to be a primary tool for many musicians and fans and third parties are here to help out. To create a quick single frame music video, see TunesToTube. Want to track your YouTube action across the web? Try Strike Social. Just need more insights into using YouTube? The Creator Playbook has been updated.

TunesToTube Creates Single Frame Music Videos

YouTube is not only a great way to market your music but, for many musicians, it's becoming a great way to monetize as well. And since making a full music video for every track you with to add to YouTube is probably out of the question, some musicians are creating videos with one image that then serves primarily as an audio player.

TunesToTube (via Musformation) offers a free service to combine an MP3 and an image into a music video that's then posted to your YouTube account.

For those who donate to the site, an upload to SoundCloud option is also available.

Strike Social Offers Free YouTube Analytics

Strike Social is a new YouTube analytics service whose current features are free and should remain that way. According to CEO Patrick McKenna, long-term plans include additional premium features for monetization.

Special features include:

"Strike Score" - One overall score based on "more than 100 data sets across YouTube, Facebook & Twitter."

Engage - Discover and engage with viewers across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Promote - Video advertising to increase viewership.

So the Strike Score gives you a quick overall take while you're also able to get more detailed, for example:

"Publishers can also look at what people are saying about the video, sort those comments based on the size of each commenter’s social media following, and respond to specific remarks from within Strike Social — in particular, McKenna says that the tools are 'more actionable on the Facebook side' than the competition."

YouTube's Creator Hub & Creator Playbook Updated

YouTube recently announced the update of their resources for videomakers, Creator Hub and Creator Playbook.

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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Inspiration fix

Set a timer for 5 minutes and then use the internet or your environment to seek inspiration. Then spend 5 minutes focusing on your problem. Repeat until solutions arise.

This a cool way of inspiration, come up with an idea or an idea that you were givien. Focus, and Google your ideas and see what you can come up within the 5 minutes. And then use what you have gathered through the internet, or the enviroment and put them within the idea that you are working with. Somewhere in this process maybe of doing this process a few times. You may come up with how you want to do it from that point on. Give it a try and see what happens.

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49 Ways to Get Free Music Promotion

49 Ways to Get Free Music Promotion

BY: MARCUS TAYLOR 

This is a guest post by Marcus Taylor, a musician & founder of several music industry projects, including The Musician’s Guide, Music Law Contracts, and Music Job Board.

There’s no shortage of lists on how bands can get free music promotion, but I’d like to add one more. My hope is that this one is a bit more up to date, and shines light on some of the great free tools that have emerged in the past 2-3 years. If you have any other great tips for promoting music for free, feel free to add them in the comments below!

#1 Host a free virtual show With Stageit.com

Stageit.com has long been one of my favourite music marketing tools. The fact that it’s free is just the icing on the cake. If you’ve not used Stageit before, it’s essential a ‘Skype for bands’, where you can perform gigs from your kitchen to fans all over the World. Many good friends have used it and also found that it was a good way to raise a few hundred dollars for a couple of hours of performing.

#2 Add a Bands In Town app to Your Facebook Page

BandsinTown is a must-have app for your Facebook Page. In short, it displays all of your upcoming gig dates in a slick-looking Facebook App. A great way of passively raising awareness of your upcoming shows.

#3 Create a FanDistro project to help charities & reward your fans

FanDistro is another favourite of mine. After creating your project page and sending it out to your fans, each fan receives a unique link, which they can send to their friends. If their friends then share your music or buy any of your products, they are rewarded with free merch and 20% of the sales go to a charity in the fan’s name. FanDistro is a brilliant way of increasing your social media engagement – artists like Cosmo Jarvis generated ~19 new fans for each fan who shared his music on the site!

#4 Build an app for your music with BandApp

Created by a good friend, Adam Perry, BandApp is a great platform for getting a free mobile app for your band.

#5 Find some gigs using BandWagon

Bandwagon is a fantastic platform for finding gigs and applying for them for free online. Currently UK focused only.

#6 Upload your music to Soundcloud

Soundcloud is arguably one of the best sites to host your music on, especially now that they’ve announced heavy integration with many of Google’s services. If you haven’t already, upload your music on Soundcloud, tag it well, and encourage fans to leave comments on the tracks.

#7 Run an Adwords Campaign (with a £75 free voucher)

I have to admit, Google Adwords tends not to be a very effective way to promote music, as you’re relying on people clicking on your ad when they’re searching for something else. However, Google do offer free £75 vouchers (which you have to pay £25 to activate), so it might be worth a try. If it were me, I’d spend this on targeting terms like “gigs in London” if I had a gig coming up in London, or on similar artist terms like “bands like Metallica”. It’s a long shot, but it may work!

#8 Shoot a video & upload to video hosting sites via One Load

Oneload is a huge time saver that can help you get more exposure from your videos. It’s completely free and enables you to upload your video to 15+ video hosting sites, such as Vimeo, YouTube, Viddler, and MetaCafe, all in one click. You no longer have to waste hours upload them one by one – and ultimately your video appears on more video hosting sites, enabling you to reach a slightly larger audience (some ‘niche’ video hosts receive a surprising amount of traffic).

#9 Create a professional EPK using Presskit.to

In my opinion, presskit.to offer the slickest looking press kits currently available to artists. If you want to send your music to promoters, press, and others in style, creating a free presskit.to EPK is a must. What’s particularly nice about these EPKs is that they’re designed responsively, so they look great on any device.

#10 Search through Reverbnation’s opportunities and apply

There are a lot of services like Music Xray, Sonicbids, and Reverbnation who list opportunities for artists to apply to. They’re all great – and I recommend giving them all a shot, but Reverbnation is probably the most extensive feed of opportunities. The downside is that it’s probably also the most competitive. If you have a few minutes spare, have a scan over their opportunities here, and apply to any that look like a good fit.

#11 Apply to play at MIDEM’s upcoming festival

Every year Midem puts out a call for bands to play at the annual music industry conference. This is an excellent place to promote your music & learn about the industry.

#12 Create a Dizzyjam store & sell your merchandise for free

Dizzyjam is a free service that allows you to build a merch store to sell your merch directly to fans online. They take care of all the printing and shipping, you just upload your designs and you’re ready to go.

#13 Reward your fans & raise money using Pledge Music

Pledge Music is a great service for simultaneously raising money for your release (or tour, or video) while developing loyalty with your existing fan base, by offering them cool experiences and gifts for ‘pledging’ on your campaign.

#14 Find 3-4 relevant forums & get stuck into the community

There are literally hundreds of forums for musicians on the web. Pick 3-4 and actively participate in the community. You’ll ‘meet’ lots of like minded artists, and find lots of good tips on getting gigs, and building your fan base.

#15 Setup a fangate for your Facebook Page using Woobox

I’m a big fan of Woobox, and have used it many times to increase social engagement for my projects. While some of their tools are paid, you can quickly install a like gate and run basic social competitions free of charge. Like gates area good way of encouraging people to ‘like’ your Facebook Page, in return for accessing some exclusive content, such as a free download.

#16 Use search.twitter.com to find & talk with potential fans

Twitter is an exceptionally powerful tool when used correctly. I encourage all artists to learn how to use search.twitter.com to their advantage. Use it to find potential fans in areas where you’re performing – or similar artists who may be able to connect you with promoters or good contacts. The unique thing about Twitter is that it’s not unusual to reach out to people you’ve never spoken with, making it a great way to break the ice with potential fans, and contacts.

#17 Schedule some tweets using Hootsuite

When you have a few minutes to spare, logging in to Hootsuite and scheduling a few tweets can be a great way to ensure that you’re continually communicating with your fans. For artists with a global audience this is particularly important as it means you can reach fans on Twitter in different time zones.

#18 Write a guest blog post on a high profile music blog

There are a handful of artists who I only know because they blog heavily on music industry websites. Tommy Darker, Brian Hazard, and Simon Tam are all musicians who I probably wouldn’t have connected with if it weren’t for their participation on blogs like Music Think Tank. If you enjoy writing and have some constructive criticism or ideas on improving the way in which the music industry functions, why not put a post together on one of these sites?

#19 Create a list of relevant bloggers & befriend them

In most genres there is still a collection of music bloggers who influence the listening decisions of many people. This is most certainly the case in the R’n’B and hiphop World. Use sites like Hypem to create a list of potential bloggers, and then begin communicating with them (but don’t jump straight to promoting your music).

#20 Create a list of promoters in your area & befriend them

You’d be surprised how quickly you can compile a list of all the key promoters in your town. A few years ago I had the (tedious) task of doing this for the whole of the UK, and that took about 8 hours. That said, it was worth it. Start building a database of promoters in your area, and then create a plan to be-friend them, perhaps by adding them to a Twitter list and talking with them, or inviting them for a coffee / lunch.

#21 Write a sponsorship proposal & email 10x local companies it

Sponsors can be a great help in providing your band with a bit of extra cash. The key is to understand what you can do that will help to grow their business. If you have a small number of fans, pick a local sponsor that doesn’t make you seem like a sell out (alcohol sponsors are always a good choice). The more fans you have, the more options there are.

#22 Find some zero-cost promotional partnerships

I’m a huge fan of zero-cost promotional partnerships. This is where you partner with someone and offer them a favour, in return for them offering you a favour, for free. A great example may be to speak to local stores and ask if you can put up posters in their store, in return for you promoting their services or listing them as a sponsor for an upcoming gig.

#23 Find a list of upcoming music industry conferences

Music industry conferences are a goldmine for artists. Not only do you have the smartest minds in the industry sharing their case studies and tips on what does and doesn’t work, but you’ll also meet lots of music industry contacts. Check out this list on music industry conferences, pick one, and go! If you want to keep it free of charge, stand outside the front and just chat to people as they walk in / offer them demos. You’d be surprised how few artists do this, and how valuable an opportunity it is.

#24 Set up a charitable event

While there are many altruistic benefits to supporting great causes, it’s also a fantastic way of getting the support of local press. Host a charitable concert, donate album sales to a charity, or even use something like Reverbnation’s Music for Good.

#25 Set up a mailing list on Mailchimp

If you don’t have a mailing list set up, fix that. Now.

#26 Get some free business cards & use them as download cards

There are many services like Vistaprint that offer free business cards. A cool trick is to order several hundred of these with a custom design that includes a URL to download your music. This can be a cost effective alternative to download cards.

#27 Start your own blog

I’ve written about why artists should blog before, but in short, it’s one of the best ways to build up a passive audience, communicate with your fans, while getting countless opportunities for you and your music. The only thing I will point out, that I’m sure many bloggers will confirm, is that you really do get out what you put in. Sticking a few rambles up on Tumblr is not going to cut it.

#28 Build relationships with key bloggers by commenting on their blogs

There are many people who I only know through them commenting on my blog posts – some of them have become very good friends over the years. For the sake of a 30-60 seconds, commenting on other blogs can be a great way to plant seeds, that may blossom into fruitful relationships.

#29 Give your music away for free on torrent sites

This one is slightly controversial, and I understand not everyone will like the sound of it, but I’m of the belief that your music is your business card. Sure, it costs money to make and you want to redeem that money, but I think a longer-term strategy is more valuable here. Seed your music on torrent sites, and encourage it to be shared far and wide. The more fans you have, the easier it will be to negotiate better gigs, sponsorships, and other high value opportunities.

#30 Find DJs to remix your music & post their mixes on Mixcloud

When I began my career as a dance music producer (after years of drumming in a metal band…?!) I managed to get my music released on various labels by offering to remix their existing artists. I’d simply approach a label and say “Hey guys, I’d love to do a remix of your artist X on the house. If it’s of interest could you fire over the raw files and i’ll get to work”. It worked so effectively because it was essentially free promotion for the label’s artists. Looking at this from the other side, try to get DJs to remix your music, and then you (or they) can then promote this on sites like Mixcloud.

#31 Read some music marketing blogs to sharpen your skills

There are many fantastic people sharing their tips on what does and doesn’t work in music marketing. I recommend following Brian Hazard’s passive promotion blog, Michael Brandvold, and Ariel Hyatt. Follow these guys and you’ll be in good hands.

#32 Learn what’s working and what’s not with Next Big Sound

Despite my reservations against vanity metrics, I am a big fan of Next Big Sound. If you use it correctly, you can identify lots of handy information on what is and isn’t working in your music promotion strategy.

#33 Set up Google Alerts

All bands should have Google Alerts set up on their band name – find out what fans are saying about you online by getting a real-time or weekly summary of all mentions of your band name across the web.

#34 Be active on niche social networks like Pinterest

Despite being largely populated by foodies and interior decorators, Pinterest receives huge amounts of traffic, and is relatively uncompetitive for musicians. The challenge with promoting music on Twitter and Facebook is that you’re competing with every other band – this isn’t the case on Pinterest. Remember, the hardest place to sell a book is in a bookstore.

#35 Record a cover of a popular song & upload it to YouTube

A lot of artists I know are very against recording cover songs, as they feel it comes across as selling out, or not being able to write original music. Some of the more successful artists I know use covers in an incredibly smart way – to attract the attention of likely fans, and introduce them to their original music. There may be 100,000 searches on YouTube for Bastille’s new song. If your fans are also Bastille fans, consider covering one of their songs to grab the attention of those 100,000 people looking for Bastille.

#36 Get free Internet radio play with Jango Airplay

Jango (or ‘radio airplay’) is a huge network of online radio stations. If you head over to their site you can get 100 free radio spins free of charge. For tips on getting traditional radio airplay for free, I thoroughly recommend this great post that EmuBands put together by interviewing Ally McCrae from BBC Radio 1, and Julie Barnes, a radio plugger.

#37 Organise your own meetup

There was a good post on FanDistro’s blog recently that suggested that you should become the hub of your local music scene by hosting meetups for the community. Having organized a few myself in London, I can definitely vouch for this.

#38 Ask for help

It sounds simple, but most artists are too afraid of asking for help. If you don’t believe me, I recommend watching Amanda Palmer’s great talk from TED, where she explains how asking for help has helped her music career.

#39 Tag your fans in photos on Facebook

The image below is of a genius marketing campaign by DJ Tiesto. He put up a banner of himself in the entrance to one of his shows, and his fans got photos taken in front of it. Afterwards, he uploaded all of these photos to Facebook for fans to tag themselves in. This is so effective, because the friends of the fans who were tagged would have then been exposed to DJ Tiesto. Another easy, free, powerful tactic.

#40 Use BandPage Connect to update all of your profiles in one go

Bandpage Connect is another fantastic time saving tool that enables you to update all of your social profiles (Facebook, Reverbnation, Last.fm, Twitter, Myspace etc.) in one go. There are several other similar services, but Bandpage Connect is probably my favourite of the bunch.

#41 Order some free flyers

Similarly to business cards, there are some services like Club Flyers that offer free postacards and flyers. While I suspect they may have an advert for the company on the back, this is a good way to print a bunch of flyers for you gig free of charge.

#42 Recruit an intern / street team to help get the word out

The limitation with music promotion is that you only have so many hours in the day, and so while there may be hundreds of options to promote you music, you need to prioritise – or outsource. Recruiting a street team is a great way to encourage others (your fans) to do your marketing for you.

#43 Host a Google Hangout with your fans

Google Hangouts on Air have become increasingly popular over the past six months, especially as they can be automatically uploaded to YouTube afterwards. Why not host a hangout with a bunch of your fans to do a Q&A or studio update?

#44 Do something remarkable

This may be the single best piece of advice in this blog post, as it essentially applies to every piece of advice here. By definition, people remark on things that are remarkable. If you want to spread word of mouth about your music, you need to be doing things that are worth them talking to their friends about. Lady Gaga is a master of this – while her music may not be particularly remarkable, her costumes, videos, and lifestyle certainly are.

#45 Post your gigs on local Gumtree / Craigslist pages

While Gumtree may not seem like the coolest place to list your gigs, it gets a huge amount of localized traffic, which is perfect for promoting your upcoming gigs.

#46 Try out a new (controversial) service

When uStream and ChatRoulette came out, it was musicians who jumped onto the opportunity and reaped tonnes of PR value out of them. Keep an eye on emerging services and think creatively about how you might be able to use it to get coverage for your music.

#47 Improve your merch designs

Your fans are unlikely to buy your merch if your designs suck. Hire a designer to make them so good that even someone who’s never heard your music would want to wear them.

#48 Enter music company competitions

Admittedly, most competitions suck, but not all. Keep your eye out for good competitions and offers hosted by music companies. FanDistro and DiscMakers recently gave away $500 worth of free CD duplication & t-shirts to give away on FanDistro.com. Tip: follow the Facebook Page of artist service companies to keep tabs on competitions that may be worth entering.

#49 Record a video testimonial for music services you use

Virtually every service built for musicians has a website with testimonials on it. Most of these sites list their testimonials on the home page, in front of vast numbers of people. Do these services a favour by emailing them a quick testimonial that they can use on their site. It’s only a little bit of extra exposure, but it’ll sure help and is a great way to establish a relationship with these companies.

Related articles

• 49 Ways to Get Free Music Promotion (hypebot.com)
• Big Fest on Vita lets you deal with real unsigned bands (destructoid.com)
• 49 Ways to Get Free Music Promotion (digitalcowboys.com)
• Making Your Own EPK (pr2promo.wordpress.com)
• Official.fm Relaunches As Free Music Promotion Platform For Indie Artists & Labels (hypebot.com)
• What To Post On Facebook & Twitter For Music Promotion (hypebot.com)