For the independent artist, marketing your own music has never been so easy. With only a click on a button, you can reach millions of potential fans and hope that your single goes viral. However, in the same society, just clicking a button, doesn’t suffice anymore. It takes more than just posting your music links online to get people to actually listen to them.

In this article, we will break down some of the most common mistakes that independent artists often make when it comes down to marketing their music.

Not having a marketing plan

The number one mistake, when it comes down to music marketing, is not to have an actual marketing plan in place. Many artists think that by once in a while boosting posts and paying for advertisements will help them in reaching more of an audience.

Marketing, however, is much more than just boosting a post in a while. A marketing includes goals, objectives, strategies, tactics, a market analysis, project timeline, metrics, and projections.

Targeting the wrong audience

What kind of music do you listen to? You probably have a very specific taste. Much like everyone else in this world. This means that your music also is perhaps not for everybody. Music fans who listen to Beyonce, often don’t listen to a band like Cannibal Corpse.

Targeting the wrong audience is a waste of your time, effort and money. In order to figure out what your right target audience is, you need to test your music on different people and find out if there is a pattern.

Not balancing offline and online marketing

Some musicians hardly use social media to promote their music, others use only social media. The way for fans to discover new music nowadays, however, is still diverse.

You can only reach a fraction of your entire audience when you exclusively promote your music online or exclusively promote it offline. The key is to use a mix of online and offline tactics.

Not using video as a promotion tool

Video allows you to build a personal connection with your fans. You can give them a sneak peek into your world, behind the scenes of your band. Having your own YouTube channel can not only improve your SEO, but it also can help you to gain more visibility.

Create single previews, album trailers, video diaries, and music videos. Use video also to interact with your audience, by for example hosting live streams, and Q&A’s.

Not having a website

While it is true that most people are nowadays on social media, a website still is a central hub for your fans to connect with you. If you invest in a website that includes your bio, music, tour dates, etc. you will get better results.

Not promoting at concerts

Not promoting your music at your own performances is a missed opportunity. The best way to connect with people and build a loyal fan base is to be present at your shows. Along with putting on a great show, don’t forget to make some time for your (new) fans to hang out at the merchandising stand, where you can take selfies with them. This also, most likely, will make them buy more products on your merch stand.

Bad timing

Timing is also a very important part of your marketing. Mostly because it takes time for your marketing efforts to generate results and build a buzz. This is why it’s important to plan everything months in advance, from the beginning of recording an album, up until the finished product.

Avoid releasing your music during times when the big names of your scene are releasing an album, to prevent being overshadowed by their new material.

Not thinking about your personal branding

If you think that your band is the only platform where you will need to decide on a voice, what kind of message you have, you are mistaken. You, being part of the band, are also an important part of the image of your band. As a direct consequence, whatever you post publicly on your social media will reflect on your band.

Final Thoughts

If you take these 8 common misunderstandings and mistakes into consideration, you will be able to create a successful marketing campaign for your newest release.

If you want to learn more about how you can do a successful marketing campaign for your band, or release and what you can do as an artist to get the best out of it, subscribe to our newsletter. We only send one e-mail per month to keep you in the loop and don’t spam you with useless information, we know your time is valuable.