7 Ways to Amplify Your Music and Reach New Followers

I just did a new workshop on How to Amplify Your Music and Reach – you can get the replay here. 

The marketing frontier is like the wild west. Everyone has a different approach and you can’t really make predictions about how well your release will do in the marketplace because of changing algorithms —so what do you do?

I hear you—we’re all in this soup together! One of the ways I help you stay ahead is by watching what works with my other clients, what I learn from the consulting I do with marketing professionals for my own business, and partnering with other marketing partners for my client’s record releases. I am continually learning the latest methods and techniques.

Here are a few of the points and latest marketing strategies I went over: 

1. The 3 Golden Keys of Marketing Your Music

This is the holy grail of marketing. Every marketing question or challenge always leads us back to something missing in these three areas. 

The most important part before you start marketing is making sure that you have the right product, the right message and are speaking to the right audience or your campaigns can fall flat. No matter how good your marketing is, you need these three elements to run a successful campaign.

I go into great detail about the elements of each of these inside my latest marketing workshop: “How to Ampliy Your Music + Reach”. Get the replay, slide deck and my latest marketing timeline here.

2. Social media marketing strategies  

Don’t try to excel on all platforms. You can be on all platforms but put your concentration on one or two tops. Which platform is your target audience more active on? And when I say target audience – the one you really relate to the most?  That’s important because if you have an audience but they are not truly aligned with what is in your heart, you don’t want to continue to grow that. 

Once you have the platform sussed out where the people are that get you and your music, then, create your posting strategy and decide what type of content you want to share. In time, you’ll see your community grow if you are sharing content that they respond to and like! Posting strategies are “how many times do I want to post per week? Start with 3 posts a week and be consistent with that for 3 months. Then you can decide if you want to do more. There are specific posting strategies that I reveal in detail in the Marketing Workshop here. I talk about how to post in-between releases, in preparation for your release, during your release and after your release. 

3. Marketing to Current Fans vs. New Fans

When you start marketing your music, you’ll want to first focus on your current fans. But you’ll also want to dream up ways that you can grow your reach. Simply distributing music online and hoping listeners find it probably won’t get you the results you’d like.

Effective music marketing happens when you work in a way that maintains your identity as an artist. This means engaging with your current fans through email campaigns, your music website, playlists, or blogs. 

New fans and followers are engaged with on social media, at livestreams, live shows, and through interviews or podcasts among other promotional events and networking.  

If you don’t have a website or mailing – stop everything and create that first. The most important thing you do is o grow your own fan base and your own list – your email list. Your followers on social media belong to the social platform —not to you. If that platform goes down, or you lose your channel for whatever reason (could be hacked), you lose access to your followers. Your own email list is the best way to communicate —plus, people that give their email could convert into “true fans” who purchase from you and support your career. Don’t leave yourself vulnerable to social platforms. Grow your own list. 

These are the people who will not only support you, but will also share your music and help you reach more listeners. From there, work on building your fanbase by creating new fans with exciting, engaging content as well. Drive listeners to your website and offer them a freebie to join your mailing list. Then use that list to keep the connection going.

4. Live Shows: Livestream or a Monthly Residency Show

Livestreams, which gained popularity during the pandemic, are still quite popular. Many artists are creating their own followings with livestream. This is exactly what Yejuniverse does. And she’s amassed over 80K followers in the process. https://www.twitch.tv/yejuniverse

Livestreams are community experiences to connect with your fans online in a performance-sharing-intimate style setting. You can share updates, what you’re thinking lately, sing a few songs, and check in with them – see how they are doing. Building your community of fans online gives you access to a global audience that performing in person doesn’t. It’s a great way to build an audience for touring in different cities or parts of the world :). Sell merch at Livestreams as well. 

A monthly residency is a show in a local venue near you that is held on the same day and time of the month. For instance every third Thursday of the month at 8 pm you will be performing at xxx venue. It’s a great way to build a local following that will support you.

5. Giveaways

Social contests and giveaways are one of the best strategies to engage your followers and make new ones. They have a ton of viral potential and you can use them to reach thousands of new listeners for very little effort or investment. 

Offer a prize (concert tickets, free merch, a signed album) as a part of a social media giveaway contest. Set it up so users have to take some action that helps promote you in order to enter. You can require participants to sign up for your mailing list to enter, or require them to follow you on socials or Spotify. You can offer bonus entries for those who share the contest with their friends which helps the contest or giveaway go viral. At the end you pick a winner – they get a prize and you get tons of new email subscribers, followers, and fans. It’s a win-win. 

Once a month at your Livestream giveaway a piece or your merch–or a prized hat or necklace you wore during the making of your record – something sentimental a fan might want. In order for a giveaway to be successful in growing your audience it has to be something really good that people will want. Great giveaways are a worthwhile investment that pay off in list growth and new fans (and can be a heck of a lot of fun while doing it). 

6. Your Free Offer to Grow Your List

Your free offer on your website tied to your joining your email list is the fastest way to grow your following and connect with new fans. Everyone loves an album giveaway! This is a very effective way to use your music to grow your fan base and attract new followers. 

Using your email service and Dropbox (or it’s equivalent) set up a free download of your album (or music bundle of songs of your choice) to give to new subscribers. Point to your free offer from social media and your Linktree. Remember to promote it 10% of the time. Watch your followers grow! 

7. Cultivate a Community Around Your Music 

A music community is more than just having listeners or fans. Music communities are groups of people who come together to support an artist and their work. This creates an ecosystem that supports and lifts an artist up.

Communities are a great way to communicate and meet with your true fans. 

Start by creating a name and hashtag for your community and once you have a substantial list you can start a private community on Patreon or a platform of your own choice (or run it through your own site)

And be in your own community of musicians for your own support. Stop reinventing the wheel—learn from others who have gone before you and know the loopholes.

Get the replay of my latest marketing workshop: “How to Amplify Your Music + Your Reach”. You’ll get the complete 2 hour recording, the full slide deck and my latest timeline for your next release. 

In this workshop I show you the: 

• The 3 golden keys of marketing
• A proven timelime for your next release 
• How to market day-to-day inbetween releases (and how to organize your calendar)
• Methods + strategies to attract new fans and listeners 
• How to write magnetic copy and create compelling visuals to wow your audience!