7 Ways to Promote Your SoundCloud Music

Music is your passion. If it had been as much as you, you’d spend all of your time writing and performing. But when music can be what you are promoting, it’s a must to depart the studio and do some legwork to advertise. So, we acquired our Music Liaison right here at SoundCloud Evaluations to succeed in out to a couple musicians and ask how they promote their SoundCloud music. That is what they stated.

Table of Contents

1. Create a Advertising and marketing Plan

In enterprise, it’s widespread apply to start out by stating your aim, figuring out a goal market, after which creating a product that fills the wants of that market to succeed in the objective. As a musician, this technique is simply as necessary for you as for any CEO.

Perceive your very best followers’ personalities in addition to their habits. Do they go to golf equipment or music festivals? Are they more low-key and like to hang around at a rooftop bar, or take pleasure in listening to music with just a few mates on a sofa within the again room? Do they hearken to music whereas working, understanding, enjoyable, or hanging out with buddies? As a musician, likelihood is that the way you devour your music is much like how your potential followers like theirs. The necessary factor is to have these questions requested and answered, so you know the way to greatest target individuals if you put your music on the market.

There are many methods to get to know your potential followers:

Attend exhibits by comparable native artists, or have a look at the profiles of followers for these artists on-line.
If you have already got a small fan base, survey your listeners to seek out out extra about them, and ask them how they discovered you.
Go searching on boards for individuals who like music like yours, and be a part of the dialog.
Discover YouTube movies of bands in your style, and see what folks say within the feedback. Check out what different bands are related to you, after which see if any of them are enjoying in your space anytime quickly. Go mingle with their followers!

Finally, it is best to be capable of create what is called a advertising and marketing persona. That is merely a template which sums up the profile of your common listener. You at all times wish to be as detailed as doable – to the purpose the place if you should utilize your analysis to construct your self a fictional “common fan,” you’re golden.

As soon as you already know who your goal market is, you can begin focusing on them the place they’re.

2. Know Where Your Target Market Is

This results in the following level: The place is your goal market, each on-line and offline? As soon as you already know extra about who your potential listeners are and their habits and demographics, you possibly can determine the place they’re on the lookout for music.

There are tons of locations to search out potential followers on-line. For instance:

SoundCloud (clearly)
Mixcloud
YouTube
8tracks
Reddit

The most effective half about trying on-line is that platforms are sometimes social – so you cannot solely see what your potential followers like, but in addition the place they stay, what actions they do, and the way they work together with the net. Dig round for information, as a result of the extra you have got, the higher you’ll be able to goal.

Your followers may comply with tastemakers. DJs had been the unique tastemakers on the planet of common (and different) music, however increasingly more bloggers are taking up that function. Go searching for bloggers, on-line DJs.

3. Get Into the Knowledge

If you wish to goal individuals in a sure space, you go to that space and go searching. While you’re on-line, this will get rather more sophisticated – and that’s the place analytics and information are available in.

The simplest method to get information on SoundCloud is to go Pro. SoundCloud locations add restrictions on free accounts, and doesn’t let artists entry any information. That adjustments with Pro, as you get more add time in addition to utilization and site visitors knowledge. If you happen to can afford the $7 or $15 value, this is without doubt one of the best methods to collect listener information.

In case you don’t need to pay for SoundCloud professional, or for those who’re simply on the lookout for one other method to entry information, then you may at all times use the analytics dashboards of YouTube or Google Analytics. YouTube will solely offer you knowledge about your YouTube channel, however this may be priceless as a result of you may see what else your followers take heed to, and how a lot of your songs they hear. YouTube might be helpful for extra granular track insights, however a downside is that it’s solely good for YouTube. You’ll solely be studying about followers on YouTube, not your followers on the web at massive.

Just like YouTube is Google Analytics. This is among the strongest free analytics applications on the market, and for those who set it up in your web site, you may get limitless insights from it. Google Analytics can inform all the pieces from the place your listeners are, to their age to their pursuits. That is very priceless information if you’re planning out something out of your subsequent launch to your subsequent tour, however the identical constraints exist as with YouTube: Google Analytics will aid you in your web site, and no place else.

Twitter and Fb even have their very own analytics platforms, too. Should you’re social media savvy or have the manpower, use each social media website you may. You’ll goal more individuals, collect more knowledge, and in the end be simpler when planning out your subsequent strikes

4. Promote Your Music on Social Media

Upon getting ready your promotional supplies for influencers and followers, you might be prepared to make use of all that. You’ve set your targets, recognized potential targets, and gathered knowledge. Now it’s time to take to the (social) streets.

As talked about above, in the event you’ve acquired the savvy and the manpower, you have to be on social media. That doesn’t imply that you need to be on all of them, and that doesn’t imply that you need to choose one and hang around on it simply because it’s Fb/Twitter/Instagram/no matter. Choose a social media platform that you simply’re comfy on, however the place your potential followers are, too.

One of many nice issues about SoundCloud is how pleasant it’s to different social media websites. SoundCloud means that you can hyperlink your web site, but in addition to Fb, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, and Instagram. This manner, you could be energetic on social media, whereas letting your SoundCloud profile be your most important base.

There are numerous methods to interact on social media, each by yourself profiles and on others’. For instance:

Use your social media to drive engagement. Ask questions, make polls asking what your subsequent album ought to be titled, crack jokes, and ask for shares, retweets, and reposts. Harner some natural buzz with hashtags and behind-the-scenes pics.
Make use of free downloads, discounted merchandise, tickets to gigs, and different incentives. Provide these in change for e-mail signal-ups or as rewards for remix contests.
Interact individuals. Maintain contests, provide giveaways or meet-and-greets, or backstage passes to your subsequent gig.
Mainly, if you happen to had been your preferrred fan, how would you need an artist to succeed in out?

Social media is a good device for development. You’ll be able to speak immediately together with your followers! For each hour you spend outdoors going to gigs and assembly followers in individual, spend an hour on-line to get to know folks higher. The extra individuals you discuss to, the extra followers you’ll get!

5. Use a SoundCloud advertising and marketing firm

You’ve executed planning, and also you’ve began creating buzz on-line. Superior! However earlier than you blow up, you’ll have to construct your self up with some numbers.

It’s simple for a high quality artist to get misplaced within the sea of any social media platform as a result of he doesn’t have a following already. This doesn’t imply that his music isn’t good, it simply implies that when folks see tracks with low play counts, reposts or comments, they’re extra prone to decide shortly and hit Next.

Shopping for performs, in small increments, all through this complete course of will assist. By doing this, you make certain your new visitors doesn’t fall on an empty profile. Shopping for social proof as you promote your self makes it look to your potential followers such as you’re rising organically – and can push them to observe you, too. And this doesn’t simply imply purchase performs, followers and reposts. For the perfect outcomes, give your self a social increase throughout all of your social media to change into a real on-line sensation.

This can be a trick that many musicians have used earlier than, and if it’s achieved accurately (which means, similtaneously a much bigger plan just like the one we’ve outlined to this point), it will work. This is likely one of the causes we constructed this website – so that you don’t have to fret about being scammed or shopping for spam. We’ve gone by means of and examined SoundCloud advertising firms. You may read our reviews here, and know that we stand by every one in every of our suggestions.

6. Attain out to tastemakers

When you’ve acquired some natural buzz occurring in addition to a great on-line advertising and marketing firm backing you up, you’re prepared to achieve out to the blokes with the large weapons.

Keep in mind that half about tastemakers, method up in #2? Properly, it’s time to deliver that out now.

Virtually all artists which have made it large, can not say that they’ve completed it alone. Throughout the board, there was some extent between the artist making nice music and being boosted by followers … after which getting picked up by somebody. That “somebody” is a tastemaker, whether or not it’s a producer who used a observe in a pattern, or a radio DJ, a blogger, a curator on Reddit, a YouTuber, or an A&R. There’s no finish to tastemakers, both on-line or off.

Don’t assume that tastemakers will simply discover you – that’s hardly ever the case. The truth is, that’s one of many causes that artists have managers. You must discover them:

Do your analysis. Who’re they?
Do they play music like yours?
Does your music attraction to their listeners?
Are you able to supply incentives, like tickets to a gig?
Do you could have a press equipment prepared, so you may ship over your emblem?

As soon as they choose up in your title and head to your SoundCloud to verify you out, they’ll see individuals speaking on social media, your music, and a rising fan base.

7. Work SoundCloud some more

All of it comes full circle. Your on-line music presence begins and ends with SoundCloud, and similar to you’ll be able to’t neglect your presence elsewhere, you’ll be able to’t neglect your SoundCloud. When you’ve discovered your area of interest and are beginning to develop, it’s time to succeed in out. SoundCloud is the easiest way to do this.

Observe others. It may be one other artist whose music you want, or it may be a fan who may love a comply with again. Following others could be a good way to increase your community, although it’s sluggish. Who is aware of, you would possibly even discover one other artist who’s eager about collaborating down the street!
Leave comments. That does not imply spam! SoundCloud has an superior feedback characteristic, and provides you a chance to leap into conversations with different artists and potential followers. Use this characteristic to get folks to your web page – however watch out to not simply hop in, insert a hyperlink, and go away. That will backfire.
Be a part of teams. Attempt to be part of teams which can be both geographically centered or style-based mostly. If you’re a musician in Portland, Oregon, then be a part of teams like “Portland, Oregon,” or “Portland Music.” If you’re an digital musician, be part of teams like “Electronic Music World.” This may be one other nice technique to meet not simply potential followers, however different artists, too.

When you take these steps and proactively promote your tracks to the suitable listeners, you’ll succeed. It offers you the social proof that you must persuade each listeners and influencers that you’re value their time.