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Category: Music Marketing

  • How To Make An Awesome Electronic Press Kit – EPK

    How To Make An Awesome Electronic Press Kit – EPK

    If you’re a musician or band, and you want to book more gigs, get more exposure, and put yourself on the road to success, you should know what an EPK, meaning electronic press kit, is. So what is an EPK?

    What is an Electronic Press Kit?

    Essentially, an EPK is a document that you can put together to show who you or your music band is to the world.

    Like a resume, cover letter, and portfolio all rolled into one and optimized for the needs of the music industry, an EPK helps you clearly and efficiently communicate what you are all about as a musician, making it a powerful tool in the process of hustling and working your way to the top.

    You can send your EPK to promoters, music supervisor, managers, agents, venues, and pretty much anybody who might want to get to know you as an artist.

    The bottom line is that a strong media kit will help you succeed in the music industry. Sound worth learning about? It is. That’s why this article is here to help tell you how to make an EPK.

    What to Include in Your EPK

    Though there is no one single, official and definitive EPK template that every single musician must use for their media kit, each press kit should generally include the following sections:

    ● Your music – As an artist, you already know that the most important thing about you is your music. That’s why it’s super important to include links to your work in your media kits.

    ● Promotional photos and/or promotional video of you and/or your band – There’s a reason why an EPK is called an electronic press kit; it’s supposed to include materials that can be used in the press to advertise the musician.

    ● Website and social media links – Including links to your website and social media will show interested parties where they can find more in-depth information about you. Social media is also an opportunity to show that you have an online and potentially in-person following – if you have one.

    ● Biography – This is your chance to tell your story as an artist. While you should have both a long and short biography prepared, your EPK can include the longer ones.

    ● Quotes – Here, you can include quotes and clippings from press and testimonials in which other people, like news publications and previous clients, sing your praises.

    ● Contact details – Your goal in creating a press kit is to get people to reach out to you, right? So don’t forget to include details about how they can do so. You could include a link to a contact form on the EPK – whatever you do, make it easy!

    Now that you know the basics of what to include in your EPK, let’s get into the nitty-gritty about exactly what does and doesn’t go in each section.

    Add Links to Your Music

    Like I mentioned above, there is nothing more important about an artist than their music. In an ideal world, your work can do all of the talking, proving who you are, what you want to say, and your value as a musician.

    Regardless of how interesting your biography is, what great venues you’ve played at, and how many millions of followers you have on Instagram, if your music isn’t good (like really good), agents and promoters aren’t going to be interested in you. That’s why your music should be front and center in your press kit.

    While some artists will include a direct, free download to their music as part of their press kit, it’s totally fine just to include links to your music on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or Soundcloud.

    The important part is making sure that the recordings are of high quality and represent the best of what you have to offer. Choose songs that are recent and that you feel accurately show who you are as an artist. If you have a particular single or album that you’re trying to promote, make sure to emphasize that.

    Include Photos and Videos

    If your press kit does its job and successfully helps you book a gig or get an agent, they’ll want to have materials to use to promote you and put you on their roster with.

    Help them out by having good, high-quality, high-resolution images that they can use in your EPK.

    Selfies taken on an iPhone camera might be acceptable, just make sure they are not potato quality.

    Maybe think about hiring a photographer to help you out. Ideally, choose somebody who knows what they are doing and who has worked with musicians before.

    You’ll want a photographer who has the experience and can help you come up with creative ideas. These photos are going to represent you as an artist, so it’s worth investing in.

    Don’t be tempted to ask your boyfriend who has a DSLR camera just to do it for a free hamburger.

    If you can, try to do photoshoots in multiple locations and with multiple outfits so you can have options to choose from. Include images in your EPK that show who you are and that you’d want to see on a poster next to your name. Include these in .png format (it’s a better format for high res) in your press kit.

    In addition to still images, videos are also important as a way to catch the eye of promoters and agents and visually tell your story in motion.

    They’re a great tool because they can show you in action, performing live, offering a sense of your energy and personality as an artist and what you really have to offer.

    You can also include music videos if you have any. Links to YouTube or Vimeo videos are just fine for your EPK.

    Website and Social Links

    In your press kit, you’ll want to include links to your website and social media. You might be wondering if a website link is really necessary, and what the difference between a website and an EPK is.

    If you look at electronic press kit examples, you’ll see that they are concise and curated, which are two important qualities in catching attention without boring anybody. They are also made specifically for the audience of music industry pros.

    On the other hand, your website can be longer, more detailed, and really get into telling your story. You should also keep in mind that it will be viewable by everybody on the internet, not just clients and managers.

    You’ll also want your EPK to include links to your social media, like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

    The reality of the world we live in today is that agents and managers will be more interested in you if you’re popular online. But it’s not enough just to have lots of followers.

    More importantly, you want to have good engagement, with an audience who actually likes and comments on your posts.

    That’s why buying followers is absolutely not recommended. It’s also important that your social media profiles are active and up-to-date.

    Also, there’s no point in sending a potential manager to your Instagram if your most recent post is a video of your band doing the Harlem Shake in 2013.

    Don’t Forget Your Artist Biography

    While most of your EPK will be audiovisual, your biography is the one longer, written section that you can use to really give context about yourself as an artist.

    You can talk about who you are, your background in life and in music, what you’ve achieved, whether or not you’ve played at any notable venues or gotten any exciting press, who you’ve worked with, where you’ve recorded, and what your goal is as an artist.

    This is your opportunity to really sell yourself and convince your readers that they want to work with you. If writing isn’t your strong suit, it can even be a good idea to have your bio looked over by a professional editor to make sure everything sounds good.

    And, of course, it should be professional, with no grammar errors or typos.

    Press Clips

    There’s no better way to prove your legitimacy as an artist than to show that you’ve been written up in respected, well-known publications.

    That’s why your press pack should include any good mentions you’ve had in the press. Whether it was a review of an album or a live show, it’s worth including. Just make sure not to put in anything that isn’t obviously, glowingly positive.

    If Rolling Stone or Pitchfork wrote about you, but it was all critical, it might be best to leave that out of your EPK. But hey, all press is good press?

    If you’re a newer artist and you haven’t been mentioned in any press yet, you can also include testimonial quotes from people you’ve worked with.

    If you have any really impressed fans, clients, or people in the industry you’ve collaborated with, go ahead and ask them if they are willing to write you a review.

    For example, if your band has opened up for somebody who is well-respected and/or well-known, see if you can get them to write you a quick one-liner that you can include in your EPK. It will give your press kit some serious clout.

    Give Your Contact Details

    Finally, you want to make sure to include contact details and a nice reminder to the reader of the EPK to reach out to you. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting your and their time.

    Seriously: don’t send out an EPK without contact details! (You probably think I’m stating the obvious, but you’d be amazed at the amount of music I’ve received without any contact details whatsoever!)

    You can include the names and contact information of each band member, agent, and manager you’re working with, but make sure to specify which one (or two at most) contact is the main point of communication.

    Also, this information must be up-to-date, so make sure to update your EPK in the case of a change in phone number, email, or management.

    Press Kits: PDF, HTML, or Both?

    Let’s talk a bit about EPK formatting.

    There are several ways to go when it comes to formatting your press kit and putting it all together.

    Perhaps the simplest option is just to create a PDF with live links. These are easy to edit and you’ll be able to have total control over the format and design, knowing exactly what it will look like when it is opened by promoters and potential agents.

    If you’re not interested in dealing with editing a PDF, you can choose from a variety of EPK creation providers, which are essentially online EPK-building tools that allow you to easily build an HTML-based electronic press kit.

    With these, you’ll have a bit less control over the design, as they more or less function as a media kit template with fill-in-the-blank and drag-and-drop functionality.

    However, it’s possible that you are less design-savvy and an online press kit template is exactly what you are looking for, which makes this a good option for you.

    EPK Examples

    Chances are, if you are planning to put together an electronic press kit, you’ll want to look over some EPK examples to see what other people are doing and answer any common questions that you’ve had from the beginning like “how long should a press release be?” and even “what is a press kit and what does it look like?”.

    When looking at media kit examples, you’ll be able to gather inspiration, note what elements you like and dislike, and make sure that the press kit you’re creating doesn’t look like something super weird the music industry has never seen before – unless that’s the vibe you’re going for.

    Here are a few EPK examples that you can look over to help yourself answer some of these questions.

    romi lovel - epk website
    Whoisrune - electronic press kit example
    Noah Young EPK example

    And there you have it! All you need to know to make a kick-ass electronic press kit.

    Now get out there and, well, get yourself out there. We can’t wait to see you on MTV soon.

     

  • How Using SoundCloud Tags Increases Song Exposure

    How Using SoundCloud Tags Increases Song Exposure

    Ah, (hash)tags… The original way of organizing and finding content on the web. Technology may have come far, but we’re still dependent on tags and keywords to listen and post amazing music.

    And just like every other platform, SoundCloud has its own tagging system.

    In this article, we’re going to show you how to use SoundCloud tags to increase song exposure, and make sure your music is heard by millions of interested listeners!

    Are SoundCloud Tags the Same as Hashtags?

    Yes, SoundCloud tags are the same as hashtags, in the sense that both allow users to find your content.

    On Instagram and Twitter, that can be a cool video or your take on a popular topic. On SoundCloud, you can use tags to accurately label your music so it’s found by listeners searching for it.

    After all, with over 272 million users in 2019, SoundCloud is a big platform. It needs a labelling system. Fortunately, it’s one you can use to increase song exposure.

    How Using SoundCloud Tags Increases Song Exposure

    Will Using Tags Help Increase Exposure?

    Yes, using SoundCloud tags will help you increase song exposure!

    Even the SoundCloud team advises using genre and mood tags to increase exposure, in addition to engaging with other users and musicians.

    When compared to the other streaming services, SoundCloud is much richer in features, driven by data, and also focuses heavily on promoting niche genres, independent artists, and unsigned creators. This is why having a platform such as SoundCloud helps new artists – it exposes them to more listeners, and SoundCloud tags are one of the most critical features to allow this exposure.

    Now, we’re all very familiar with hashtags, and how they help us get more exposure for our social media posts.

    Similarly, we can think of SoundCloud tags as the hashtags of SoundCloud.

    By looking at SoundCloud tags, not only will your listeners know the kind of music to expect from you, but it can also help the individuals who are searching for your particular type of music discover you.

    The key is in understanding how tagging helps the SoundCloud algorithm.

    How Does Tagging Help the SoundCloud Algorithm?

    SoundCloud relies on the DiscoRank algorithm with its search engine and Explore pages to provide the best-match content to searchers.

    In that respect, it’s very similar to Google.

    If you’re searching for “how to use SoundCloud hashtags” or “how to use SoundCloud tags,” you want to find content that responds to that specific question.

    It’s the same with SoundCloud.

    Similarly, the SoundCloud algorithm is fine-tuned to give ambient music to searchers looking for it, and disco music to those who haven’t been able to forget the vivacious tunes of Saturday Night Fever.

    The more relevant your genre and your tags are to users’ searchers, the higher will your track rank in the results.

    This is where a lot of SoundCloud musicians make mistakes.

    They add the most popular (genre) tags to their tracks, expecting to get more exposure. Instead, the opposite happens. A hip-hop track tagged as “disco” just because disco is trending that day is not going to receive clicks, leading the SoundCloud algorithm to place it lower in the search results.

    Avoid using irrelevant tags. Instead, double down on the tags that apply to your music.

    What Are the Best SoundCloud Tags to Use?

    The best SoundCloud tags to use are the ones relevant to your music, particularly genre and mood tags.

    When uploading your track, you’ll be able to choose your genre from a list of available SoundCloud genres or add your own.

    We recommend choosing from their list, as those genres are the ones widely recognized on the platform.

    The genre tags also act as main tags.

    You can find the most popular SoundCloud genre tags in the Charts section but again, make sure you’re using relevant genres. Don’t tag your indie track as “trap” just because it’s trending that day!

    How to Use Different SoundCloud Tags?

    You will be able to add your own tags in the “Additional Tags” section.

    How Using SoundCloud Tags Increases Song Exposure - image 2

    The key tags to focus on here are mood tags.

    Let’s say you’re posting a pop track. What is the track’s vibe? Is it a summer hit? Is it moody?

    All of these descriptors can be used as tags, because they’re the ones listeners look for, as well.

    According to RiteTag, some of the most popular mood tags right now are:

    #happy
    #dark
    #study

    This is where it pays to understand the SoundCloud algorithm. A tag that isn’t being used by listeners is a waste of space. Focus on the tags that are used to find music like yours.

    You can find relevant tags by taking a look at artists who post music similar to yours.

    Which hashtags are they using? If they apply to your music, add them to your tag mix.

    Be specific when tagging. Start from the main genre and then work your way down.

    Yes, you posted a #country track, but is it #bluegrass? #Alternative Country?

    If one instrument is prominent, make sure you add it. For example, using specific tags like #drumsolo and #guitar instrumental is a phenomenal way to reach more listeners who know exactly what they’re looking for!

    You can also add your brand name to your tag mix, to improve your branding on the platform.

    How Many SoundCloud Tags Should You Use?

    It can be tempting to add too many tags just to make sure your music gets seen.

    But as a rule of thumb: it’s better to use a handful of SoundCloud tags that are hyper-specific and relevant to listeners and searchers, than dozens of tags that aren’t a good fit.

    Remember: the algorithm evaluates if your music fits the tags. Use the tags real people use to find real music, instead of jumping on the popular (but generic) tag bandwagon.

    Your listeners come first!

     
  • How Does TIDAL for Artists Work?

    How Does TIDAL for Artists Work?

    Long gone are the days of music fans buying LP records and laying back to soak in the sounds.

    Today, music has gone fully digital. Instead of producing vinyl, every artist has to turn their sights to music streaming platforms.

    And while Spotify has revolutionised the way people hear your music, TIDAL, a music streaming platform owned by Jay-Z, has risen to prominence. And according to their latest reports, they show no signs of stopping.

    In this article, we’re going to show you how TIDAL works for artists.

    It’s time to jam!

    What Is TIDAL for Artists?

    TIDAL is a global music platform that brings artists and fans together through distinctive music and content experiences spanning across 54 countries.

    But why should you care about TIDAL as an artist?

    To put it simply: TIDAL’s global reach and advanced features allow you to reach millions of potential fans with your music.

    TIDAL currently has a catalog size of around 80 million songs, and over 225,000 high-quality videos.

    Additionally, they pull in subscribers by offering exclusive content and real-life experiences, such as concerts. All of this makes it possible for them to create a more immersive music streaming experience, with the focus being placed on your brand as an artist.

    Even if you don’t have a record label, you can publish your music on TIDAL through LabelGrid, Indigoboom, Record Union, DistroKid, or Tunecore.

    Their financial model benefits artists, as well. TIDAL pays the highest ratio of royalties vs revenues. You’ll be getting equal rates to label-signed artists.

    Finally, TIDAL pays attention to content curation. They frequently promote up-and-coming artists with a whole lot of potential. You might’ve heard of that program under the name TIDAL Rising.

    What Is TIDAL Rising?

    This is where things get interesting!

    TIDAL Rising is a program that allows artists that might have slipped through the cracks of other platforms to gain more prominence.

    Since the artists are selected by human curators, it’s really one of the best merit-based artist promotion systems available to up-and-coming artists.

    If you’re spotted by TIDAL Rising curators, you’ll get access to excellent star-making support:

    • Prominent placement – If you’re a TIDAL Rising artist, your every album, single release, video, playlist, or editorial content piece will be featured on the front page. You’ll also get a slot in the “What’s New” section.
    • Press photos – TIDAL will pay for professional photoshoots for you.
    • PR support – You’ll get a PR team that will create strategies for new music releases.
    • Artist imaging – Professional stylists will take care of your wardrobe, hair, makeup, as well as media training.
    • Tour support – TIDAL’s Tour Support is… well, free tour support. You don’t have to pay them back for arranging everything from van rentals to accommodation. This is probably one of the categories where it’s the clearest that TIDAL wants to help you succeed with their Rising program.
    • Music video production
    • Custom editorial and video content production
    • Live show bookings and premium show placements

    In short, TIDAL Rising is like a starter pack for up-and-coming artists.

    If you’re included in the program, it’s equivalent to signing on with a major label that will help you succeed.

    This is what makes TIDAL significantly different from other platforms.

    Even Maggie Rogers, who famously blew up after Pharrell Williams heard her song Alaska, was part of the TIDAL Rising program.

    But just because your music is on TIDAL, or they support you through TIDAL Rising, doesn’t mean you can’t get your voice heard across other platforms.

    Are There Any TIDAL Exclusive Artists?

    No, there aren’t any TIDAL exclusive artists, but artists do share exclusive content through TIDAL.

    TIDAL’s artist-owners (a list that includes Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Calvin Harris, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Daft Punk, deadmau5, Jason Aldean, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Madonna, among others) have shared a variety of exclusive content:

    • Coldplay shared a TIDAL-exclusive playlist, which included songs like The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony
    • Beyonce released Lemonade exclusively on Tidal
    • Rihanna released her single Bitch Better Have My Money exclusively on Tidal
    • The White Stripes’ debut TV appearance was exclusively available on Tidal

    This exclusivity model is really how TIDAL attracts a significant number of followers. By allowing fans to interact with unique content from their favourite artists, they’re creating an engaging platform while helping artists reaffirm their brands.

    TIDAL vs Spotify

    Now, we can’t avoid this question: which is better for artists, Tidal or Spotify?

    Let’s break it down quick:

    Spotify has a free plan (with ads), while TIDAL’s plans start at $9.99/£9.99. The free plan is certainly appealing to a vast number of users. However, many Spotify users end up upgrading to paid plans for the ability to listen without ads.

    Additionally, there are 4.2 million users on TIDAL, and Spotify has over 217 million subscribers. Still, TIDAL has a bigger catalogue. TIDAL offers >80 million songs in their catalogue, while Spotify offers >70 million.

    Finally, TIDAL’s sound quality (with the $19.99 plan) is superior to Spotify’s sound quality. It also has a reputation for being a platform used by taste-makers. This makes it a great option for artists that want to make it big (even if their sound isn’t mainstream).

    Finally, there’s no way around the fact that TIDAL simply gives artists more rights to their music. From the TIDAL Rising program, which is intended for up-and-coming artists, to their financial model, it’s a better option for making it big.

    In that respect, Spotify likes to dip its fingers in many pies; hosting podcasts as well as music. This does open up the platform to more users, but at a high cost that might affect artists who want to create a brand through the platform.

    The Verdict

    The ultimate answer depends on you and your music. You don’t have to pit TIDAL against Spotify.

    You can reap the benefits of both. And why not?

    You and your music deserve the world.

    Like this article? Check out this one on getting your music on Spotify Playlists.

     

  • Our Guide to Getting Your Music on Spotify’s Playlist – What to Know

    Our Guide to Getting Your Music on Spotify’s Playlist – What to Know

    You’ve spent many days, even months creating music you believe everyone should hear. You get it on Spotify and wait for it to penetrate the world. Unfortunately, you find that even after a few days or weeks, barely anyone has ever heard of you, let alone your songs.

    With that in mind, how do you get people to listen to your music? Well, one of the ways you can do that is to get it playlisted.

    In this article, we’ll talk about how you can get your songs playlisted on Spotify by different curators or by Spotify itself.

    Spotify’s Algorithm

    While we do not know how Spotify’s algorithm works precisely, we do know what you need to do to get on Spotify’s playlists, such as Discover Weekly or Release Radar. To do that, you need to capitalise on followers, saves, and streams. In other words, to get on Spotify’s playlist, you need to strike the delicate balance between the number of followers and save, along with how often it is streamed.

    Getting Your Music on Spotify Playlists

    If you want the best way to get on Spotify’s playlist, you’ll need to look for curators. You can find them through their social network. However, this method can be extremely time-consuming as the whole process consists of figuring out which playlist you want, looking for the curators on their social networks, such as Instagram or Facebook, befriending them, and communicating with them. Some might never, ever reply to your requests. Some that do respond to you might do so after a long delay (too long at times).

    If you don’t want to bother with that but have some money to spare, you can hire a Spotify promotion company to do the hard work for you. They’ll help increase the number of plays your music gets, along with boosting the number of followers.

    Purchasing Followers and Streams

    While there is an option to buy streams and followers, this method is forbidden by Spotify. Not only will your music be removed from Spotify if they discovered that your followers and streams are bought, but your account can be banned as well.

    External Promotion Efforts

    Other than trying to satisfy Spotify’s algorithm to get your songs on their playlist, there are other things you can do to attract more people to listen to your songs.

    For example, to supplement your use of Spotify promotion companies, you can utilize other social networks like YouTube to promote your music as well. There, you can specify an audience you want to share your music with, giving them a glimpse of what kind of music you produce and guiding them to following you on Spotify to listen more of what you have to offer.

    In conclusion

    The best way to go about getting your songs featured on Spotify’s playlist is to balance between follows, streams, and saves. Do this by promoting yourself through different channels, such as a Spotify promoting company or other social networks like YouTube. You can contact other curators to feature your songs as well. Remember, the more you go about improving your music, the more people are going to learn about you and follow you. Just avoid going the route of purchasing followers and streams, as that’s forbidden.

    Struggling to do all the work yourself? That’s what we’re here for! If you need help communicating your music updates to your followers, give Promo.ly a try! We are a music promo delivery system for artists, labels, and PR agencies, helping you maximize your current mailing list. We’re a self-managed music PR service that delivers music to your mailing list, get in touch to see how we can help today.

     

  • 3 Key Elements That a Musician’s Marketing Plan Should Have – Our Guide

    3 Key Elements That a Musician’s Marketing Plan Should Have – Our Guide

    With even more artists entering the music industry, the need to stand out as a musician has become as important as ever, especially when it comes to more populated genres.

    In the past, the task of standing out as a musician was mostly done through the use of sheer musical skill, which eventually rendered the quest of finding success in music as one that was a survival of the most skilled. Nowadays, however, being skilled and talented as a musician is no longer sufficient to stand out and be heard well enough to develop a fulfilling career.

    Attaining success as a musician nowadays boils down to a variety of crucial factors that each have their own significance in turning home musicians into international stars. Although there may be many factors to consider as an aspiring musician, an airtight marketing plan is one particular aspect (aside from talent) that has proven to be essential in attaining success.

    Why most musicians end up overlooking the marketing aspects

    Admittedly, the main reason musicians end up overlooking their marketing plan is that it doesn’t sound as appealing or impactful as practising, making connections, and performing. A marketing plan, however, holds the key for any artist to go far beyond what they’re currently doing because it gives them the leverage they need to present their content to a bigger audience.

    Today, promoting your brand as a musician, getting your music out there, and making your presence known by implementing a marketing plan is essential for attaining immeasurable success.

    What you need to consider when building a marketing plan

    When it comes to building a marketing plan for your music career, it’s essential to keep in mind that there’s no one solution that works for every musician. A marketing plan can be done in a way that best fits your needs. At the same time, however, it is essential to consider a few key elements when putting an effective marketing strategy together.

    If you’re keen on making an effective marketing plan that works, here are a few essential elements to consider throughout the entire building process:

    1. A proper introduction about yourself

    No matter how hard you work on your Facebook ads or Soundcloud profile content, all your efforts can easily be rendered unusable if you don’t have a proper self-introduction as an artist. With a proper self-introduction, you’ll be able to clearly state who you are, what you do, and why people should listen to you and watch your shows, which is essentially the foundation of your entire marketing plan.

    2. A set of realistic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and goals

    Accountability is one of the most effective tools that you’ll have as a musician who is trying to make a career and what better way to keep yourself in check than a few KPIs and goals? Setting a few goals to paint a clearer picture of where you see yourself in the next five to ten years will help steer your efforts in the right direction.

    3. A clear knowledge of your target audience

    Building a marketing plan as a musician without knowing your target audience is like playing darts with a blindfold. You can try as much as you want, but you’re probably not going to hit your target. Clarifying your target audience is an effective way to ensure that you know who you’re making music for, and it is essential that you take the right steps in building your marketing campaigns as well.

    Building a marketing plan as a musician with the right set of elements is a guaranteed way to achieve your long-term goals and establish yourself as a musician. By keeping the three key elements mentioned when putting your marketing plan together, you’ll get where you need to be an artist within a shorter amount of time!

    If you are looking to improve your music marketing strategies in the United Kingdom, get in touch with us today to see how we can help.

     

  • Why Personalisation Leads to Successful Email Pitches – What to Know

    Why Personalisation Leads to Successful Email Pitches – What to Know

    Whether you are aiming to be the front act for a famous band at a local show or seeking coverage from a popular music blog, you will need a well-written email pitch to succeed in your plans.

    Unfortunately, many unestablished artists struggle in this form of self-promotion because they are not skilled writers. However, that is not the only reason why musicians fail at email pitches.

    If this struggle persists for you, here are several considerations in promoting your music through email.

    What does the reader want?

    People often take you seriously based on how you communicate these pitches. Though spam emails are prevalent, some musicians still copy poorly written emails before sending them to event producers, media outlets, and playlist creators. If you also move annoying emails to your spam or delete them at once, think about what the blogger or the producer will do when they receive your hastily crafted email.

    Writing a well-constructed pitch takes time, and delivering it in a personalised manner entails research. If you're writing for bloggers, craft the pitch in the tone that they write to make them identify with the text. It helps if you quote one of their articles and build your pitch from there to show that you care about their work.

    Meanwhile, be more formal in pitching to a promoter or a producer to show respect. Using slang may turn them away. Instead, include in your pitch reasons you bring value to their show.

    Even if you are not writing a novel, you must still pay attention to grammar and spelling so that you will be taken seriously. Also, remember to make your message stand out by adding flair with the subject line to entice them to open your message out of the hundreds they receive weekly.

    Once they open your text, it must contain concise and engaging words that will make them like you. While including your credentials is the key, overselling yourself may not land you a gig. Instead, use your tone to share your story briefly before telling them what you want and why you are the rightful person to get the push.

    Get straight to the point

    Producers and bloggers choose the musicians that get exposure based on their personality and the quality of music. Pitching yourself based on personality won't get you anywhere because people may not appreciate the image you project. That's why it's essential to include nuggets on what your music sounds like, your inspiration in creating songs, and the platforms where they can hear your compositions.

    You must address those aspects first before developing your pitch and contacting people via email. Even if you want to include other information in your email, limit the message to what's essential and personalise it to each person who will receive the email.

    Mail Merge may help speed up the process of blasting emails. However, while you get the recipient's name right, your message will not resonate because it's monotonous. It may take longer hours to write personal and unique words for each recipient. However, this approach will have a better success rate than sending the same message to 200 contacts who may know each other because they work in the same industry.

    Making your recipients feel special in your email pitch may result in getting favourable responses. It's this connection that can propel your music and your brand to a bigger audience.

    Musicians often make the mistake of focusing too much on creating music that they forget about promoting their rhythms. Instead, they must find time to bring their songs to a bigger audience, be it on social media or through emails.

    If you are looking for a music promotion platform, visit Promoly’s website now to learn more about our software's features.

     

  • What Spotify’s New ‘Marquee’ Ad Tool Means for Artists and Listeners

    What Spotify’s New ‘Marquee’ Ad Tool Means for Artists and Listeners

    What’s new on Spotify? Marquee, an advertising initiative that allows music labels and artists to promote their music on the streaming platform – at a price, of course. It’s 55 cents a click, but Spotify recommends a minimum ad buy of $5,000. For that price, you can expect to increase your stream count to at least 9,000 streams, or 9,000 potential listeners, over a seven-day period. At least, that’s what Spotify says.

    Does Spotify’s Marquee tool mean that streams are now for sale? What if you don’t have the money for it as a struggling independent artist? How could this change the way listeners engage with the streaming platform? Let’s take a closer look at Marquee and what it means for artists, labels and listeners alike.

    What Spotify Marquee offers labels and artists

    Launched in 2019, Marquee is an ad system that lets artists and labels spend marketing money to “drive incremental streams” for their music. So how does it work? In a nutshell, you pay, and your music gets some pretty sweet exposure on the platform as full-screen pop-up recommendations for listeners. There’s no upper limit on how much you pay for promotional placements, so you can spend as much as you want.

    While Spotify already offers artists and labels in-platform advertising, the streaming service says Marquee is a more effective tool, and early testers have agreed.

    Spotify Marquee is said to have a wider reach, which means more listeners. The paid ads are shown not only to free users but subscribers as well. The click-through rate currently stands at 21.7 percent, plus users who receive a Marquee ad were found to stream 17 percent more than those who don’t.

    Despite this, Spotify stresses that artists are not paying for streams. Spotify’s Senior Product Marketing Manager, Charleton Lamb, clarifies that listeners have the choice to engage or not.

    What it offers listeners

    You can expect to listeners to groan at yet another ad from Spotify, but according to Rolling Stone, it doesn’t appear to be that bad – the platform “will not bombard listeners with pop-up ads” each time you open the app. And if you’re more of a classical music listener, you won’t be getting Despacito pop-ups. Hopefully.

    According to Spotify, the Marquee recommendations will still be based on a listener’s music taste, so the notifications will only be from artists they follow or frequently listen to. And probably from similar artists, if Marquee really promises a wider reach.

    Spotify also puts a limit on the number of ads listers see, such as a single ad in a day or two in a week. The Marquee notifications, captioned “Brand New Music For You,” can be turned off if you’re a premium user and don’t want pop-ups any day of the week.

    Concerns about Marquee

    Rolling Stone notes two primary concerns about Spotify’s new marquee ad tool. First, Marquee makes the music business more consolidated. If you have the resources – say, the marketing money of the major label you’ve signed with – then you can afford to pay for play and get more listeners.

    However, if you’re an independent artist who struggles to even earn $300 from streams, this means your music may have to stay in the background, away from the spotlight paid for by artists with means. Would you be willing to cough up (at least) $5,000 for a song or album promotion on Spotify?

    The second concern is about Marquee’s cost-effectiveness. As with other ad tools, Marquee can’t really promise success in terms of getting more long-term listeners, unless everyone that receives the pop-up recommendations becomes instant fans. However, if your goal is simply to create awareness of your music, then Marquee sounds like a good tool for it.

    What do you think of Spotify’s new ad tool? Share your thoughts!

     

  • The Ultimate Cheat Sheet on Music Marketing

    The Ultimate Cheat Sheet on Music Marketing

    Making it big in any industry depends a lot on sheer luck. However, along with luck, it’s also equally important to work hard, have determination, and use the right strategies.

    The same goes for those belonging to the music industry.

    If you’re an aspiring musician, your goal is to obviously get everyone out there to listen to your creations. The tactics you use in this regard become very important. While self-promotion platforms such as Promoly can aid you immensely in promoting your music, there are other aspects of the music marketing world you should know as well.

    Let’s take a look at what it takes to have a comprehensive cheat sheet on music marketing.

    How to Create a Successful Music Marketing Plan

    Before you start making your marketing plan, there are certain questions you need to ask yourself.

    These include questions such as whether you’re just starting out with an online presence and need to reach your audience, if you’re ready to head out on tour and sell tickets, whether you’re already on tour and need to sell more merch, if you want to double the size of your mailing list, or if you’re releasing a new album and need to generate awareness for it.

    Here are some ways in which you can create an effective music marketing plan:

    Define Your Audience

    Knowing your audience is the first step in any marketing plan. It’s the audience that will help you succeed, therefore, knowing them well is of utmost importance. Find out which platform your fans like to use the most, be it Facebook, Instagram, or something else.

    You will need to discover how to communicate with your fans effectively, and what to offer them in order to keep them coming back for more. Ask yourself questions about who your ideal fan is, because it’s this fan who will stay loyal to you, help you sell tickets, and buy your merch.

    The questions you need to ask regarding your audience include the age and gender and location of your fans, what their personalities are like, what excites them apart from music, what’s their favourite social network, and so on.

    Analyze the Market

    Once you know what your audience is like, you will have to find out about the current music market. This entails exploring both locally as well as globally. An understanding of this will aid you in figuring out where you fit in and what are the unique aspects you can offer to your fans.

    This department requires research as well. You need to explore which bands or musicians are the most popular at the moment, what is it they’re doing to engage with the fans, if the artists within your genre are touring successfully, and so on.

    Create an Action Plan

    Once you have some clear music marketing goals laid out, it’s time to think about how you’re going to achieve those goals. The components to include in your action plan are PR, advertising, content curation, touring, social media, networking, etc.

    Try to approach all the goals on a monthly basis. Develop a spreadsheet where you can list down when you’re going to approach the goals respectively. This will give you a picture of all your PR efforts and how you plan on creating and executing content in the upcoming months.

    In addition to making these plans, it’s also important to keep a track of how these strategies are working out. Some of the KPIs to consider include how many album sales happened through clicks on your mailing list in the current week and how that compares to the previous week, which sources on your website are leading the most to your store, etc.

    Formulate a Budget

    Much like any other industry, it takes time and money for your marketing efforts to grow and bring about results. Therefore, when you create your action plan, assign the necessary budget to each element so that you know just how much everything is going to cost. That way, you can be prepared and even tackle any sudden expenses that come your way.

    What are the Best Music Marketing Platforms?

    When it comes to music, self-promotion works wonders. If you’re looking to have all your promo campaigns in one place, Promoly is the platform to go for. It lets you view everything happening in real-time, and also helps you create stunning promo packages.

    Some of the best music marketing platforms musicians can go for are as follows:

    1. YouTube

    YouTube is obviously the first choice for any musician, both popular and new. With music being the most viewed category of video (27%), and people watching over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos every day, you really can’t go wrong with this music marketing platform.

    2. Social Media Networks: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

    We’re all aware of the fact that most of the people using social media are gathered and spread between Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Therefore, having a presence on each of these platforms is crucial for any musician.

    Twitter has about 330 million monthly active users (MAU), it’s the place for most budding music journalists and influencers, and it helps you get a lot of word-of-mouth.

    With a staggering 2.38 billion MAU, Facebook is the most used social media platform globally, and it’s where people discover your live videos. Instagram with its 1 billion MAU is the place where budding artists can generate a community and a loyal fan base.

    All three platforms have a varying demographic. This is why your marketing campaigns should be different with respect to all the three platforms, depending on your target audience and the kind of content they like to see.

    3. Spotify

    Controlling over 36% of the global streaming market, Spotify has 217 million monthly active users and is the most popular music streaming platform in the world. Whether you’re aiming for placement on the editorial or label-owned playlists depends on your marketing strategy.

    Not only will this give you global exposure and help in transforming your career, you will also be featured by the third-party influencers. It’s digital platforms like Spotify that helped in driving the change and shifting the focus from albums to digital playlists. Therefore, using this game-changer should be a must on every musician’s list.

    4. TikTok

    As you probably know, TikTok is the newest obsession in the world of music marketing. It lets you repurpose music and transform them into memes that you can share with your followers, and this is a trick most people seem to be loving these days.

    With TikTok, users will be able to discover your music and create their content with it, which serves as a great word-of-mouth technique. They further share this content and it gets seen on other social media platforms that also has music lovers who appreciate your work.

    It's a win-win situation.

     

  • How and Why TikTok is Transforming the Music Industry

    How and Why TikTok is Transforming the Music Industry

    How and Why TikTok is Transforming the Music Industry

    If you’re trying to make something of yourself as a musician, singer, producer, or band manager, etc., the more eyes and ears on your music, the better.

    They don’t say it’s tough to make it in the music business without reason—the industry is known for its glass ceilings and harsh outcomes. Still, there’s nothing more magical than creating something so artistic and beautiful that it can profoundly connect with anyone listening.

    Though in many cases, getting people to really hear your music is a battle in and of itself. For all the world knows, you’re a combination of Mozart, Katy Perry, and Bob Dylan—but can’t find avenues to reach the masses.

    Getting featured and turning up in the right spots as a band or solo act mainly comes down to those in which the top few record labels have invested. Those empires hold a monopoly over the radio stations, having also seeped their way into the likes of Spotify and YouTube—once havens for musicians without a label.

    As a result, the overwhelming majority of phenomenal independent talents remain unnoticed and underplayed. So, if you’re looking to make a breakthrough on the scene, stay tuned into the cutting edge of platforms with which you can share your songs.

    Which brings us to TikTok—a social platform dedicated to sharing short-form videos. With features – such as trimming tools, filters (both face and video), animated stickers, etc. – musicians now have an incredible opportunity to expand their audience.

    Let’s take a closer look at what TikTok is all about:

    The Story of TikTok

    Initially, TikTok was known as Musical.ly—until it was purchased by a Chinese corporate giant known as ByteDance.

    The transition was rather seamless, as the Musical.ly profiles were transferred and integrated promptly onto TikTok. Other than it being confusing waking up to your video-sharing platform having been turned into a different company, it all flowed naturally.

    As such, users lost nothing with the end of Musical.ly but gained the power of a superior brand in TikTok.

    For some context, ByteDance is a highly regarded private technology across the world and is worth a staggering $75 billion.

    The TikTok Experience

    TikTok is taking the world by storm, recently having hit 1.5 billion total downloads across the App Store and Google Play.

    But what about this revolutionary platform is making the likes of Facebook and Instagram sweat some serious bullets?

    With the short, 15 second videos acting as a vehicle, users have access to tools, such as filters, a music database, effects, and sound bites.

    Your feed will be filled with videos from the people you’re following—and generally, you’ll engage with the content through liking (by pressing the heart icon) and replying (by pressing the “…” icon). You can also share videos cross platforms after pressing the arrow button.

    Furthermore, TikTok encourages collaboration by offering algorithm-based incentives. When using the platform, you can “duet” with a friend when you reply to their video. This action creates a split-screen diptych, catalyzing a never-ending cycle of reactions.

    After recording a duet, your video is placed next to the video with which you’re collaborating. Then it’s posted onto your profile. Also, duets give artists a chance to reach a much wider audience.

    It’s interesting to note that users can upload their own sounds—which can come in handy for musicians looking to sing over recorded instrumentals.

    Also, TikTok connects directly to Apple Music, so musicians can link the full song, and interested viewers can hear it in its entirety.

    You can keep your finger on the pulse of what your audience wants to hear by navigating through the ‘trending’ section. Conversely, find inspiration from other high-performing artists just through standard browsing of the platform.

    It won’t take long for you to come up with something creative, fresh, and engaging. Once it’s time to post your video, just peruse your library to select and post a pre-recorded video. Alternatively, it’s possible to record new content directly via the app. It’s here where you can have some real fun and finetune your skills with speed changes, filters, and lengths—which is only scratching the surface of tools you can use.

    The Value of Organic Reach

    TikTok has yet to fully place ads on the platform.

    Now, we’re not here to denigrate the value of paid ads. When used effectively, it’s a form of marketing that can be quite successful.

    However, succeeding the paid ads on social media platforms necessitates a sizeable budget combined with a specialized digital marketing skillset.

    Yes, you can hire a marketing team to launch a campaign—but even then, there’s no guarantee of success. On top of that, if you’re a musician looking to catch a break. You don’t have the money for such comprehensive services.

    Conversely, organic posts don’t cost a single thing—so anything you get in return offers some form of profit.

    Beyond that, an organic following means people will have unobtrusively stumbled onto your content. When an audience discovers things on their own, they’re far likelier to be accepting of the material when compared to a sponsored post.

    People trust authentic, organic content far more than paid, corporate marketing drivel. This feature allows a musician to cultivate personal connections with their audience. As such, you’ll gain fans for life, who aim to follow you through your entire journey to the top of the industry.

    Then, once you’re ready to scale your personal music empire to the next level, you can plug paid content with your organic TikTok account.

    Furthermore, TikTok’s 500 million active users vastly eclipse Twitter’s 336 million users and Snapchat’s 186 million users.

    Plus, it’s been reported that 27 million of TikTok’s active users live in the US.

    Those numbers are substantial and present more of an opportunity for any aspiring musician to acquire that highly lucrative organic reach.

    One of the keys to TikTok is that it gives users more of a chance to stand out than Facebook, whose number of active users is 2.72 billion across the world. This statistic brings to mind the notion of having too much of a good thing.

    The sea of user-generated content (including paid ads that regularly clog up feeds) on Facebook will drown out your organic posts. In fact, Facebook is so weighed down by sponsored posts that organic reach dropped down to 6.5%.

    TikTok doesn’t stack the deck against organic users; instead, it encourages the most genuinely engaging and creative content. It’s only the most quality of posts that get rewarded with engagement and see their reach grow to new heights.

    In fact, TikTok’s robust algorithm searches chiefly for fresh, new clips, instead of favoring the content of popular users. Experts believe that successful content with lots of engagement is bolstered via longer watch times. If you can retain your audience’s attention for the entirety of your video versus them swiping to the next one, you’ll be rewarded with exposure.

    What Users are on TikTok?

    As far as where TikTok users can be found, the app has been downloaded 240 million times in India and 200 million times in the US. 40% of new TikTok users are from India—but it’s worth noting that it’s available in 150 markets in 75 languages.

    Worldwide, 2/3rds of TikTok’s users are below the age of 30 and are highly active on social media. While 60% of monthly active users on the app are between 16-24-years-old.

    Across the globe, Android owners are primarily using TikTok, with 80% of sessions occurring on those devices. However, in Western markets, iOS devices possess the bulk of the TikTok market share, accounting for 42% of TikTok’s revenue outside of China.

    What Kind of Music Can Be Synched with Videos on TikTok?

    As mentioned earlier, TikTok offers a vast library of music through a distributor or Apple Music. The other method is other people uploading their own sounds to the app.

    With that in mind, while you can upload any kind of song to TikTok, the short-form nature of the platform lends itself to a specific type of music. Simple, catchy lyrics tend to perform best, as this is what users want to use for lip-syncing, creating a challenge, or other content creation purposes.

    If you’re uploading your own song, do so with the understanding that you only have 15 seconds to make an impression with your audience.

    So, before putting your songs on the platform, perform your due diligence on the material. Listen to the whole track in 15-second segments until you land upon the hook that’ll capture the attention of your audience.

    How Will TikTok Revolutionize the Music Industry?

    With a younger aged audience, you’re appealing to a gigantic target market that is extremely passionate about your work. This is also the demographic that’s responsible for creating trends. Think about popular dances like the dab or the floss dance, and how you can’t see a Peewee football game without seeing those moves.

    TikTok already has proven industry success, playing a considerable role in Lil’ Nas X’s “Old Town Road’s” ascendency up the charts.

    With the “#yeehaw” hashtag, thousands of videos spawned with more than 67 million plays of the tune. Lil’ Nas X didn’t have to pay a cent to promote the song on TikTok and is on record saying he’d have happily paid for the kind of exposure that he received.

    Nas X was able to push his song and reach such a vast organic audience due to TikTok’s capabilities for producing memes, starting challenges, and reaching influencers.

    Could TikTok Provide a Boon to Record Labels?

    Record Labels have always been in tune with youth culture—if not responsible for crafting much of the narrative.

    Therefore, as highlighted by the story of Lil’ Nas X’s success with TikTok, anyone in the music industry can flourish with this product.

    Direct music sales and advertisements can’t be offered with TikTok. However, as mentioned previously, it’s possible to be exposed to the song through a memorable video clip and then immediately make the purchase through platforms such as the App Store.

    How Does Money Work on TikTok?

    While views are integral to the algorithm on TikTok, they do not impact royalty payouts to music groups.

    Royalties end up getting paid to artists and labels through posts with every piece of new content. Whoever holds the rights, receives the payments.

    So, even if a post receives one million views, it makes no difference in the royalty payouts. As such, the platform encourages artists and labels to reach new users instead of just focusing on followers.

    TikTok: The Next (and Current) Big Thing in the Music Industry

    Preeminent music magazine, Rolling Stone, has made it clear that it firmly believes TikTok has taken over the music industry.

    If you own a record label or you’re a musician, stories such as Lil’s Nas X’s should motivate you to leverage the platform to the benefit of your career.

    Also, if you liked this article, perhaps you’ll like this one on what music pr companies should do for you?

     
  • 3 Traits That Can Help You Become a Successful Musician – What to Know

    3 Traits That Can Help You Become a Successful Musician – What to Know

    A lot of people aspire to be successful musicians, from singing to playing the electric guitar. Promises to become the next Maroon 5 or ACDC have enticed many to clear their throat or grab their guitars and practice for many hours. Unfortunately, in today’s world, attaining success as a musician is much harder than it ever was. And although most would love to believe that all it takes to become the next star is to be excellent at your craft, there is more to it than that.

    In this article, we’ll highlight three traits that we believe can help any aspiring musicians reach success.

    1. Desire to be the Best

    The music industry will be extremely competitive, just like any other industry out there. Therefore, it is just as crucial for you as for anyone else to strive to be unique, a one-of-a-kind musician that’s worth the attention.

    What doe the most successful musician do to stand out from the crowd? For most, they believe that constant practice is the answer. Although that’ll help, most end up spending the majority of their time and energy into only practising. In the long run, that will burn anyone out. When that happens, anything goes, and many will settle for “just enough.” Although doing “just enough” is an easy route to a few small successes, the majority of musicians are doing the same thing, meaning more competition.

    Yes, practice is good, but don’t burn yourself out. Instead, focus more on your personal goals. That is what will keep you going forward and striving to be the best. In other words, have the desire before putting anything in full swing.

    2. Showcasing Unique Personality

    Are you wondering why, after 5,000 hours of guitar practice, you still aren’t performing on stage alongside world-famous successful musicians? Knowing how to play an instrument can only take you so far. What really matters here is your unique personality and creativity. In fact, you don’t even have to be a master at your craft if you can showcase your personality in a way that steals people’s attention. What sells your music isn’t really how well you play it, but how unique it is from everyone else’s.

    3. Not Afraid to Take Risks

    Many musicians fall into the trap of believing that luck, money, and skills play a role in getting anyone famous. Although that may be true to a certain extent, believing in that will only cause a musician to play it safe. Remember, playing it safe won’t get anyone anywhere.

    What separates those who are still practising at home to those playing live in front of thousands is boldness and willingness to take risks. Your next gig isn’t going to show up by itself, but it is up to you to grab opportunities by the throat and not let go.

    Of course, we won’t blame you for being afraid of losing everything when taking risks, but what if we told you that everyone felt that at some point? It is a scary feeling, but it is one you’ll have to overcome. What will put you on top of the rest is blood, sweat, and tears, and a little bit of risk. In other words, persistence and courage will bring you close to your dream goals, not staring at a wall waiting for luck to play its part.

    Got what it takes to become a Successful Musician?

    In conclusion, the painful truth is that, the harder the road is, the less the competition. Yes, practice helps, but something else matters more: your personal goal. What do you want to become? Is it a dream that seems impossible, yet you can never imagine not attaining it? It is those kinds of a dream that keep the engine running, the fire burning, and the musician striving to be the best. It is that same drive that brings character to your music, making it one-of-a-kind, and speaking more closely to your audience’s heart.

    Struggling to do all the work yourself? That’s what we’re here for! If you need help communicating your music updates to your followers, give Promo.ly a try! We are a music promo delivery system for artists, labels, and PR agencies, helping you maximize your current mailing list. We’re a music PR service that delivers music to your mailing list, get in touch to see how we can help today.