Aside from promoting your music on YouTube, you should use the full possibilities of the internet to promote your music online.
It is easier than you might think.

“But I do not want/need to market my music. It is not a product; it is art.”

Yes, but no (but yes).
The music you create is a piece of art.
And yes, it needs to be presented that way.
The cool thing is that you can present it any way you want.
One way to promote your music online is by viewing it from a different angle.
The business angle.
Now don’t worry, you can still make some awesome music 🙂
The way you can approach it from a “business perspective” is by using these five simple steps.
Get your pen and paper, and write along. Or just read and implement the strategies right away, whatever suits you best.

Step 1: Build an awesome website.

You may already have it, or not.
Whatever the case, if you have/create a website, it should promote your music with a small business flavor.
If you imagine your music as a product, you want your customers (fans) to buy your product (listen/buy your music).
My advice would be to use WordPress, which is a great all-in-one solution to get a professional website. It has all the bells and whistles you need.
The easiest and most reliable way to get a professional WordPress site is by using Siteground.
They are a great hosting provider and provide you with a single click WordPress install to start in a flash.
At this moment, they have a great deal that you don’t want to miss (yes, I host there too, they are super awesome!).
You should check them out here:

The more your website represents you as a professional musician, the more you serve your fans with what they look for. That is why you need to have all the right call to actions and information in place.
Call to actions on your webpage could be listening to snippets of your music, watching some special YouTube videos, reading some excellent music-related stories and subscribing to your mailing list to get the latest updates.

Step 2: Add a Mailing List to your website and start email marketing

What would you say if I told you that you could send your new album right into the inbox of your fans? Talk about direct messaging.
If you want to start with a decent email marketing platform, you can go with Mailchimp or Convertkit.
They both have a free option available, so try it out and see what suits your needs.
Then, you can start sending out your music to your fans along with some great promos or music files. Yes, you can get them to sign up if you give away one song for free! How awesome is that?
Having them on a mailing list is worth one song, wouldn’t you say 🙂
You could also send links to Spotify or iTunes lists right in their inbox. But still, it is probably the most direct way to promote your music to your fans.
By adding a sign-up form to your website, and some call-to-actions to direct people to a sign-up form, you will create a highly engaged email list of fans.
You have to be patient in the beginning, but it will be super valuable in the end. (The Sale/Share)
To get people on that mailing list, you can also create relatable music content or some stories of live shows or rehearsals.

Pro tip: Create a YouTube Live event with your band! Ask people to sign-up to get access to your private Live event.  This is a great way to gather new fans and build your strong fan base.

Step 3: Create content that invites/attracts fans

By creating those remarkable stories about your latest live show, and by using strategically placed content snippets in your blog post, your fans are more likely to find your webpage, and thus your music.
Another good shareable content idea could be to create engaging videos in which you share behind the scenes footage or some lessons on how to play parts of your latest songs.
Bought some new awesome gear? Well, that is another super great opportunity to write a detailed blog post about how the gear works, why you bought it, what other gear you want to use and so on.
Ever did an awesome interview? Share it in a blog post. Have a great DJ setup at home? Tada, more blog post material. New album coming out? Collaboration with another band?

The opportunities are endless as long as you keep it interesting for your fans.

Step 4: Your Fans are on Social Media. Are you?

You probably already have a social media account. And you may even have some fans following you there. Is it working for you? Do you get the engagement you want?
If your profile looks exciting and professional, you are good to go. And if you make it clear that you are a Band or Musician, it is even better.
But what if you use your personal profile to promote your music? Is that possible?
You can share whatever you want on your profile, but we are talking serious business here. Your work of art! You want that to be the main focus of your posting routine.
Within your posting routine, if you take the business route, you will need to post content that attracts your fans and your music content. (pro-tip, do this in a 70-30 % way, 70% other relevant content, 30% your content, to not over-promote your music, and to attract that super fan.
In the above model, you see that there is very little room left for your content. That’s right. On your music profile, you should not be sharing your visit with aunt May and a picture of the cake she made.

Not only will your fans be presented with a picture of Aunt May, but Aunt May, will also be presented with you on stage the next time she opens your social page (Hi Aunt May, yes my music is a little bit louder than your music in the 50s).
So the short version would be:

Create a separate personal profile and another for your music or band. It will keep things more professional; you can do on each profile whatever you want (regarding your target audience 🙂 and everybody is happy.

Step 5: Press release

Been on stage? Had an awesome interview? Put it in your press release.
You can see a press release as a valuable document that will represent you in your music promotion.
This is something that you will build up during your career and can present to future managers/journalist/promoters/interviewers and such.
The more facts you can find about your band or music project, the better.
Tell them as if you are, you write it for someone else. Tell it from a third-person perspective.
Make it as professional as possible by stating facts and not including pure promotion lines like “Listen to my latest song.”
A good guide will be this blog post, where I talk about creating the perfect artist bio. It ties in with a decent press release.

Conclusion

Online music promotion does not have to be difficult at all.
You’ve just taken the first steps into the world of music business.
That is right; I said “first steps” because there are more things that you can do to promote your music online.
And, although it is up to you how serious you want to make this if you have taken the above steps, you are already off to a good start.
You can also check out my YouTube video about Social Media Marketing for Musicians:

And as always, keep creating awesome music and share it with the world.

Maurice from Music-Mindset.com

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