You are responsible as an artist for promoting your own songs. So, how do you advertise yourself as well as your music on SoundCloud in order to acquire more plays?
Here are five great SoundCloud tactics for you to advertise your music business in 2022.
Here’s a snapshot of what you’ll learn:
- The Real Deal on SoundCloud and Promotion
- Before you advertise yourself and your music, there is one thing you must get right.
- How to Maximize Existing Audiences for Your Plays
By implementing these tactics, you can boost the number of plays, followers, and likes you receive on SoundCloud. Let’s get started!
A Brief Note
SoundCloud has made modifications in the previous several years, and your stream is no longer shown on the home page. This implies that individuals who follow you will not always be able to find your music when it is released.
In order to fully realize the potential of promotion and marketing in 2022, major services such as Spotify and Apple Music must be included.
Aside from that, here are 5 techniques for getting more Soundcloud plays:
- First, create excellent music.
- Make use of the platform’s current audience.
- Email may be used for networking and promotion.
- Participate in repost chains.
- Advertise your music to make it more accessible.
Strategy 1: Make (Actually) Great Music
While it is possible to promote bad music, it never survives the final test: the audience’s opinion.
No matter how much publicity or promotion you offer a track, if it’s truly average, no one will listen, and you won’t get plays.
Remember the golden rule of music promotion: your music is the marketing.
It’s not simply that you advertise music; it’s inextricably related to the promotion process.
Even though I gave it to a lot of people, one of my earlier tracks, ‘Carpark Anxiety,’ only received 900 listens in three years. Why? Nobody wants to share it since it’s so unremarkable. They do not buy a vacuum cleaner if they do not want one, and similarly, people do not listen to music if they do not enjoy it. This is especially true on Soundcloud, where the barrier to entry is so low that a lot of bad music is uploaded, giving listeners more to pick through.
Furthermore, if you ask for it, you are more likely to receive valuable feedback from the general population, helping you to determine what will and will not work.
While marketing music online is vital, gathering feedback and incorporating it into the studio will prove to be a far more beneficial use of time.
So, how can I ‘improve’ my music?
That’s a completely other topics, which is why we have courses like EDM Foundations and Songwriting for Producers.
But here are a few pointers:
- Make sure your basic musical ideas are solid – production, mixing, and mastering won’t matter.
- Collect comments from fans, tastemakers, and other artists.
- Be patient and continue to create a vast amount of music.
Strategy 2: Leverage Existing Audiences
This might be confusing to say, but it’s true.
There will always be individuals who are better at selling music than you. So, instead than reinventing the wheel, take use of these folks.
People devote their lives to finding relevant music with audiences that enjoy it, and you are one of them.
Find Soundcloud channels that can share your music with a greater audience than you can.
This may take the form of
- Channels that re-post
- Other musicians with larger fan bases
- Channels of promotion
- Labels/collectives
- Playlisters
Don’t forget about off-site audiences. Just because they don’t have an enormous following on SoundCloud doesn’t mean a blog or YouTube channel can’t give you a lot of plays.
Make sure you use:
- Blogs
- Hype Machine
- YouTube Channels
- Spotify Playlists
- Influencers (e.g. vloggers, Instagram accounts)
- Radio stations (some of which stream directly from SoundCloud!)
The goal here is to discover channels that are a good fit for your music. Don’t message someone simply because they have a lot of followers. They are already hunting for extremely particular kinds of music to suit their likes.
So, take a look at some of their prior uploads/shares and make a judgment. Don’t be afraid if your music isn’t precisely the same as what’s currently there; yet, if it’s too different, it’ll most likely be ignored.
Once you’ve decided who you want to share music with, you’ll need to figure out how.
Strategy 3: Email is still King
You may send a message in the following ways:
- That you know the receiver will get,
- That goes to a place they often check,
- That is straightforward and obvious,
- And that does not rely on a platform that may disappear shortly
What is the solution?
Email. It’s out of print, but it’s still the finest. You may be wondering how this relates to SoundCloud.
Email for Networking
Everyone has an email address. Artists. Labels. Channels of promotion Channels should be reposted. Music enthusiasts. And you may connect with them through this channel regardless of whether they have Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
My best play counts came via email networking, including a top spot on one of Majestic Casual’s weekly Soundcloud playlists.
In this situation, it was a form that sent them an email, but the idea remains the same.
Take a look at the difference in response time when I email my music to someone for a YouTube upload.
I received an answer in less than 24 hours!
Granted, this isn’t normally the case with industry heavyweights, but email networking works.
That is not to imply that you cannot utilize platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Those mediums are fantastic but always start with email.
To make things easier, compile a list of emails from relevant persons with whom you may share your music. Simply use Google Sheets or Excel.
- Be succinct — the receiver is probably already pressed for time, so go right to the point.
- Send them a SoundCloud link — it’s the easiest for them to listen to, and it’s downloadable.
- Be conversational – don’t just provide a link; treat the person on the other end like a human, and you’ll be treated as one as well.
- Personalize messages – CC’ing a broad list seldom works and frequently irritates individuals, especially if they ‘Reply All.’
- Send one message at a time and, once again, treat them as if they were human.
- Follow up – not everyone is able to achieve anything the first time around. If they haven’t responded within a week or two (depending on the person), follow up in a week or two.
Building a List
With the drop in SoundCloud plays (due to the lower exposure of the ‘Stream,’ it’s critical that your core audience hears your music when it’s released, and what better method to do it than email marketing?
If you’re acquainted with download gates like ToneDen and The Artist Union, you may try utilizing them to collect email addresses. If you utilize Bandcamp, you may also collect email addresses throughout the checkout process. That way, you may compile a list of people to whom you can send your music the next time you have anything to release!
Once you’ve compiled a list, you’ll need to locate an email marketing solution. Make sure to check out Symphonic Distribution’s selection of the finest email marketing tools for artists.
Strategy 4: Repost Chains
This is one of the most helpful SoundCloud features, and it is an efficient method to combine the power of numerous accounts in a simple, automatic manner.
I believe this method helps you to advertise your music effectively.
There are several ways to join or start a repost chain:
- Friends of the producer – Sign up for a repost chain with your inner circle. As a result, every time you post music, you get a guaranteed baseline of exposure.
- Larger chains – Many users on Facebook groups and elsewhere are seeking accounts to join repost chains, since the larger the chain, the more valuable it becomes. The only catch is that you normally need to have at least a particular amount of followers to join them (for example, 5000+ followers).
- Random chains – if you merely need exposure, try Googling’repost chain,’ and you’ll get a slew of results for submissions to specific chains. Be aware of those that need money.
Doesn’t it sound good? Wait a minute, there are a few things you should think about before joining a chain.
To begin, ensure that you are comfortable with reposting the music in that chain. Is it consistent with your brand, or will it irritate your followers? Even if the stats seem attractive, stay off if you believe it may harm your brand.
Also, some individuals object to repost chains because they ‘abuse the repost feature,’ so consider whether this is appropriate for you. Personally, I believe it is ok as long as you repost music that you enjoy.
Strategy 5: Make Your Music Discoverable
The goal now that Soundcloud has a ‘Discover’ page is to have your music included on this new avenue of discovery.
Metadata is the easiest method to accomplish this. Tell Soundcloud about your music so that it has the highest chance of success on the platform.
There are a few important techniques to accomplish this:
- Genre tags that are correct
- Track tags that are relevant
- Your track should be correctly named.
- Make use of the description
- Obtain further participation (likes, comments, etc.)
You may be asking why I bolded ‘Correct Genre tags,’ and the reason is that it’s probably one of the most crucial aspects in SoundCloud selecting where your music will be put.
The Bigger Picture
As I have stated, marketing and promoting your music should extend beyond SoundCloud.
Plays aren’t the only thing to think about.
However, without a lot of money, it’s difficult to advertise your music effectively.