A Musician’s Guide to Advertising and Marketing: 11 Things to Know

Musicians make music because they love doing it, but most musicians dream of sharing their work and making money from it, too. However, getting your music heard by other people and potentially building a career out of making music requires more than just turning out great songs. No matter how good your music is, if you don't have a comprehensive advertising and marketing strategy, you aren't going to be able to find listeners. Marketing scares a lot of people, but it's important to remember that the goal is simply to tell the story of who you are to the world so that people can enjoy the music you make.

1. Where to Sell Your Music

• Selling Your Music on Your Own Website: Most musicians need their own website to sell their music.
• CD Baby: Any musician who wants to sell their music through digital retailers has to go through a distributor like CD Baby.
• Bandcamp: Not only is it free to upload music to Bandcamp, but musicians can also use the service to grow their email marketing list.
• Soundcloud: Soundcloud doesn't directly sell music, but it does let musicians link to places where users can purchase songs they enjoy.

2. Where to Get a Band Review or Interview

• How to Get Your Album Reviewed: Sending a download link instead of a streaming link is one way to raise the odds of getting a review of your music published.
• 12 Music Review Blogs That Accept Song Submissions: The first step to getting music reviewed is finding a place to submit the music.
• Get Reviewed: Music Connection reviews multiple new artists each month.
• How to Get a Radio Interview: Most new musicians really want their band to land a radio interview but have no idea how to make that happen.

3. Where to Break News and How to Do a Press Release

• How to Write a Music Press Release: Template and Guide: Writing press releases can be a daunting task, but this template designed for musicians makes the task more manageable.
• How to Write a Band Press Release: Press releases are vital for getting media coverage for a band.
• How to Write a Press Release for Your Music Release: Press releases need to focus on answering the who, when, and where questions to be effective.
• Tips for Sending Press Releases to Music Writers: Don't be afraid to send out press releases via private messages on social media apps.

4. Where to Post

• Nine Best Musician Forums Totally Worth Your Time: These forums can be great places to share your work and learn from other musicians.
• Five Networking Tips for Musicians: Posting on forums helps musicians find fans and make connections in the industry.
• The Ten Best Musician Forums: The best communities include musicians of varying skill and experience levels.
• Ten Ways to Find Band Members and Musicians: One benefit of participating in forums is that it's a great way to find new bandmates.

5. What to Know About Blogging

• How to Start a Music Blog (and Make Extra Money): A blog can help a band build its fan base, establish its brand, and even make some additional income.
• How to Start a Music Blog: Being consistent with posting is a key part of any good blogging strategy.
• How to Find Music Blogs to Promote Your Music: Building a blog requires commenting on other blogs with related topics.
• Music Blog Ideas: Topics to Write About: Coming up with fresh content ideas is a stumbling block for many music bloggers.

6. Where to Get Links to Your Website

• The Musician's No-Stress Guide to Boosting Your Business With Backlinks: Websites only grow in authority and in Google's rankings when they are linked to high-quality sites.
• What Are SEO Backlinks? Search engines use backlinks to rank websites, which determines how high a website ranks when it shows up under a search term.
• Best Ways to Build Free Backlinks for Your Website: Guest blogging is a classic but still effective strategy for building backlinks.

7. Where to Post Your Gig Dates

• Event Upload: Bandsintown is a great website to use to publicize gig dates.
• Seven Online Places to Promote Your Shows That Aren't Social Media: Social media is an effective way of promoting gigs, but it's far from the only place that bands can find new fans.
• How to Win and Promote Music Gigs: Fliers and posters are still vital tools for bands to promote their upcoming appearances.
• Five Effective Ways to Promote Your Upcoming Show: Postcards and mass texting are the perfect blend of classic and modern marketing techniques that will help drive audiences to a band's next gig.

8. Get Your Music on the Radio

• Radio Airplay: How to Get Your Songs Played on the Radio: Bands need to build up their presence before seeking radio airplay, either from traditional or Internet radio stations.
• How to Get Your Music on Streaming Stations: Having a well-written bio is something a lot of bands overlook, but it's key to getting played on streaming radio stations.
• How to Submit Music to an Internet Radio Station: Only sending properly tagged music files is a best practice that greatly increases the odds that a station will listen to your submission and possibly play it on the air.
• Simple, Free Way to Get Your Music on Internet Radio: A Case Study: Simply sending a polite follow-up helps get music played by a station instead of sitting forever in their submission email folder.

9. Create a Profile to Promote Your Music

• What Your Music Profile Should Say About You: The first paragraph has to be designed to grab the readers' attention so they keep perusing your profile.
• Write a Killer Artist Bio: It's actually a good idea to have a short, medium, and long musician bio ready for different uses.
• Manage Your Artist Content and Profile: Apple Music is another place all musicians should craft an engaging profile.

10. Well-Known Essential Resources

• Digital Music Production: Carnegie Hall is one of the world's most famous music venues, and they've put together a video course to help people learn about producing music.
• Sound on Sound : This magazine is an authority on the world of music production.
• MusiCares: MusiCares provides a variety of important services for musicians, from mental health support to help with living expenses.
• What Musicians Should Know About Copyright: Read up on your rights and the rights of others so you can protect yourself from copyright claims.

11. Marketing Music

• 11 Best Resources for DIY Indie Artist Marketing: These wide-ranging resources can help musicians find marketing opportunities and develop the skills to take advantage of those chances.
• How to Promote Your Music in Nine Steps: Creating a digital press kit is a vital part of any musician's marketing strategy.
• How to Promote Your Music Online: Breaking onto popular streaming services requires strategy.
• How to Promote Your Single: Tips for a Successful Release: Creating a viral video should be a key goal for all musicians when they release new music.