10 Best Places to Promote Your Music Online
It’s no earth-shattering news that the internet has changed the music industry for good. Technologies like file sharing, streaming, social media and eCommerce are giving artists more opportunities to expose their music to larger audiences and increase their fan base. The downside of having so many options is that choosing the best ways to promote your music online can be challenging.
So, to help you make good choices, we put together a list of the 10 most popular and most effective online hangouts you should join to get the word out about your tunes. Here are 10 ways to promote your music online:
Create your own Music Website with Wix Music
Promote your Shows on Bandsintown & Songkick
Get your own YouTube Channel
Host your Music on Apple Music / iTunes
Add your Music to Last.fm
Familiarize yourself with Reddit Music
Upload your music to Spotify
Use Hashtags on Twitter (@TwitterMusic)
Find Music Blogs
Spread your Music with Dozmia
01. Create your Music Website with Wix Music
When it comes to promoting your music online, Wix Music doesn’t skip a beat. An all encompassing online marketing solution for creating a music website, Wix Music has you covered with all the tools you need to promote, sell and distribute your music online. Why do we love Wix Music so much? Here are some of our favorite liner notes:
Sell your music 100% commission-free, directly from your website. Easy music sales, means more money in your pocket.
Spread your music to over 120 of the most popular music channels on the internet, without leaving your Wix account. Distribute your tunes to top online stores and streaming services like iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Rdio and more (distribution is a premium feature).
Wanna push your gigs? No problem! Wix Music offers seamless integrations with BandsInTown or Songkick so you can promote your shows and sell tickets directly from your website.
Sell your merch by adding an online store to your website.
Include industry essentials like an EPK (electronic press kit) in your Wix Music site. This password protected page is the easiest way to give labels, press and other industry heavy-weights the most pivotal info about your band.
Beautiful templates that come ready-made with everything you need for a professional looking website. Did we mention that they’re totally customizable too?
02. Promote your Shows on Bandsintown & Songkick
One of the main reasons you got into music in the first place was to play in front of a crowd. Help ensure that your next show is played to a packed house by promoting your shows on ticket purchasing channels like Bandsintown and Songkick. With location based targeting, Bandsintown lets site viewers discover the hottest shows in their hood.
As an added bonus, connecting your Bandsintown or Songkick accounts to your Wix Music site automatically updates any new tour dates and allows ticket purchasing on your website without lifting a finger.
03. Get your own YouTube Channel
Artists that you’ve probably never heard of… like Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Karmin (Wix artists!) all have one thing in common: they were all discovered on YouTube. If you’re itching to get your music to the masses, you better believe that you need a YouTube channel to get you started.
04. Host your Music on Apple Music / iTunes
The default music service for all Apple products, Apple Music & iTunes are widely regarded for hosting the largest online music library in the world. The new Apple Music service goes one step beyond being the online home for your digital music collection – they want to help users discover new tunes based on what they’re already listening to. Could that be your band?
05. Add your Music to Last.fm
Last.fm is one of the easiest ways for new fans to make your music their latest obsession. Add your music to Last.fm, and they’ll put you on playlists with bands that your fans already love (making you extra cool by association).
Did we mention that if you’re part of Wix Music’s distribution offering, any music that you upload onto your site will automatically be spread across Last.fm too? Talk about smart online radio streaming.
06. Familiarize yourself with Reddit Music
The homepage of the underground, Reddit is arguably the biggest thing on the internet. You may not know this, but many of the viral things you see online made it to Reddit first, and that’s why musicians need to familiarize themselves with the Reddit Music thread. The grassroots-style community for content sharing allows musicians to get a genuine feel for how their music is being perceived by audiences, but be careful, the hardcore users can be harsh on noobs. Just be respectful and authentic and you’ll make it just fine.
07. Upload your music to Spotify
One of the biggest mobile and desktop apps in the world, Spotify takes the listening experience to a whole new level. Spotify has almost every recorded artist in their libraries, so you would absolutely want to be there too. With their super-amazing Discover tool for finding new artists, your channel might get connected with bigger names that play similar music.
08. Use Hashtags on Twitter (@TwitterMusic)
The front page of all things breaking, Twitter is the perfect place for music fans to find their next favorite band. Give them the opportunity to find you first by using popular hashtags like #music, #rap, #jazz or the music style of your choice when tweeting out new tunes. Also, keep an eye out for hot music hashtags like #MusicMonday and #NewMusicFriday when operating your band’s twitter account for added exposure.
09. Find Music Blogs
Music blogs long ago surpassed magazines like Rolling Stone as the authorities on the best of what’s next in the music world. This means finding the best musician websites or popular music blogs to post about your latest music, hype your next show or even review your album will earn you some serious street cred, and some genuine new fans.
Many bloggers have their email addresses or social channels listed on their posts, so try reaching out to them with a short intro and a link to one of your songs. Start by researching popular music blogs in your area and send the bloggers your EPK with a good professional email intro; a post on a blog in your town or city can help you generate a devoted local fanbase. The best blog for your music will differ from genre to genre, but Pitchfork, Stereogum, DatPiff and The A.V. Club are some of our favorites from the ‘music blog big league.’
10. Spread your Music with Dozmia
For many people, the definition of a nightmare scenario is a commute without music. Music and mobile are a combo as old as the internet itself; so needless to say, it’s just as important to spread your music on mobile apps, as it is on popular websites. Similarly to sites we noted above, the mobile app Dozmia work by recommending new music based songs and artists that users already like. But why Dozmia? Being a new player on the scene, musicians have the added advantage of getting in on the action early by utilizing Dozmia’s targetting music pairings in a not-yet oversaturated music space.
By The Wix Team
