I’ve just discovered a new artist that’s unique, yet familiar that I was impressed by and wanted to bring to everyone’s attention. As I’m cruising the Spotify algorithms, I was suggested a song by an up and coming artist, Killerteddybear, and I was transported back to the 80’s. The particular song was Cruising and the production alone is timeless, as it could fit in multiple decades. But once you get past the production, Killerteddybear’s vocals are the definition of modern.

There are four principles of marketing music that are often overlooked by new artists when trying to gain a fanbase:

1. Accessibility: Getting your music heard

2. Accessibility: Branding/Aesthetic

3. Perception: Proof of Work Ethic

4. Perception: Social Proof

In this article we will explain them, and how they help bring attention to your music from new listeners.

The basics of marketing is the same for every artist, what separates them is how they use the principles of marketing creatively.

Before figuring out what you can do, you must study the mistakes that other artists make. How many times have you seen artists just spam their song links in whatever platform they’re using? How many times has that made you want to listen to their music?

If you don’t have a following, posting your link and asking someone to listen to it, won’t get them to do it. You have to find a way to creatively either force them to hear the music, or impress them with the content around the music enough to convince them to listen. Here are some ways to accomplish this:

You’ve finished recording, mixing and mastering, and you’re ready to release your art, what’s next?

Your first step should be picking a release date. While it sounds simple and arbitrary, the day your song or project goes live can add or take away momentum from your music, for many reasons.

Marketing music is the most pivotal aspect of the industry that defines the difference between a successful and unsuccessful independent artist. Chances are, the greater your reach, the more people will like your music. If out of 100 people, only 10 like your music, then potentially 100 out of 1000 people will like it. The ultimate goal of marketing for any business is to get the product seen or heard, because someone is bound to take a chance on it. With that being said, artists have to get their music in front of an audience.

We covered one way of finding Spotify playlist curators in a previous post, the method we described is the most accessible way of finding curators that want songs submitted to them, but there are other, less obvious and direct ways of finding curators. We will cover four more ways of discovering and reaching out to the Spotify users who have made playlists for placements.

“If you can sell one, you can sell a million.” I heard that quote from an advisor while building a startup company in college, and while there is a bit of embellishment, the sentiment behind the statement is true, nonetheless. Today I want to address the importance of securing one true fan and the obsession with instant success for independent artists.

The goal, though, is to convert that support into listens on paid streaming sites. Spotify is the best site in which to convert potential listeners. It allows you to create your own playlists and pitch your song to someone else’s. Playlists should be one of your most important tools, because playlist curation allows you to bring many artists together. Each artist that supports your playlist is another listener added to your stats.