The music industry never stops evolving. Today, with so many bands and independent artists out there, it’s harder than ever to get noticed – or at least, it was…
When it comes to music promotion, you can’t rely on luck and hope that someone will recognise how good you are – modern music promotion is all about action, positive attitude and hard work.
Who sends CDs any more?
It wasn’t so long ago you’d stick a CD in the post and hope for the best. But even the best music has no guarantee of being recognised.
Radio stations are screaming out for new music for their playlists – but do they have the time to sit down and go through CDs? They’ve moved on, and they’re scouring the web for talent, looking for the next big thing.
Radio Promotion hacks that work in 2018
Start off with having a critical look at your previous music promotion activity – how many gigs did you manage to secure in 2017? Did you upgrade your website or improve its performance? Have you spent enough time on your personal brand? All those points are crucial when it comes to planning your radio promotion strategy, so don’t be afraid of giving yourself a bit of a critique.
New Year may be long gone, but it’s never too late to create a new resolution and look long and hard at how you’ve done – and what you’re going to do this year.
Here is what you should consider:
• Start thinking about yourself as a B2B artist
If the main objective of your music promotion plan so far was to increase your band recognition, shift your focus and start acting as a business-to-business musician. The idea behind this is simple – you need to generate a solid financial footing first, so you can actually afford any further music promotion.
Start by reaching out to event organisers, websites that cover your genre and musicians who are more established than you, and get involved in as many opportunities as possible to build your professional image within the music industry and make some money.
• It’s time to care about your online presence
Believe it or not, building a strong online presence for both bands and independent artist is a must-have item on your 2018 music promotion list.
If you’re one of those artists who think that they don’t need a professional-looking website, then we must disappoint you – in today’s Digitally savvy world, your digital footprint is everything. The main goal behind having a fully optimised and up-to-date website (think music samples, videos of performance) is to allow promoters and producers to precisely investigate what is being offered by the talent so they can contact them effortlessly for booking.
Moreover, an SEO-friendly website will secure your band a premium position in the search engine results just like Google that can lead to more opportunities. Simply ranking for your band name is an absolute priority – but what about ‘indie band + your town’ – so that your bookings start to come to you? All it takes is a few SEO fundamentals on your site, and you instantly get more visibility.
• Go social, go viral
We can’t think of any better free promotion tool rather than social media. If by now you’ve been strictly personal about social, start thinking about utilising your social profile to establish your professional presence too. Sign up your band for the relevant platforms such as Facebook and Instagram in order to connect with your fans, generate some buzz and make your brand go viral. Viral here is the keyword, and we really mean GO GLOBAL, so make sure you carefully listen to your fans to find out their expectations.
• Trust professional radio pluggers
If low-cost music promotion tools such as music streaming services don’t generate enough opportunities, consider working with a professional yet affordable music promotion expert. Here at Radio Pluggers, we provide a powerful 3-step digital radio plugging service that is managed from start to finish by industry experts to ensure you receive global airplay at a small one-off cost, so why not drop us a line today?
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