How to promote Music
Blogs
As I was researching the EPKs I decided to further research into some blogs that I could send the DJ group's music into if they wanted me to. I used "Music blogs that want your music" for general research on different blogs and this helped me find 2 blogs that I thought would be best to further my research and that I could send music to.
Sending music to blogs will increase an artists exposure, the point of music blogs is for music reviews and interviews. There is a need to do research before sending press kits or music to the blogs as they need to be right for the artist. There also needs to be a personalised pitch that will catch the bloggers attention so there is a greater chance of the blogger following up.
One thing to remember is there should never be a group email, this could ruin more networks than it would build. Spend time looking into each organisation to see what music it specialises in, there is no point sending the music to a place it doesn't belong.
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I have researched into a select number of blogs to see if there are any matches for the artists I am working with, many of the ones that I looked into were instantly out of the question due to the layout and professionality of the site, this is what I have found:
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A&R Factory is a worldwide known music blog for unsigned artists that want to make a name for themselves and get discovered by a wide range of music industry professionals. It has 6 pages that you can access on the header of the website, the home, submit music, artist development, lockdown interviews, subscribe and finally contact. I have recently contacted them to find out more about the organisation and I am looking to possibly work with them. Social media links are put in the header bar which makes it clear for people who want to see other platforms.
Their website is very professional and has a nice colour scheme of red white and black. Red is a powerful colour, it symbolises passion and adventure which I think makes it the perfect colour for their website. Their website allows upcoming artists to be discovered. Their website is split into 6 different pages, the home page, submit music, artist development, lockdown interviews, subscription page, contact page.
The home page consists of awards, blog posts that are updated daily (16th March was 9 posts) and an about us section which explains their wide reach of readership and what they do. It has a great look that is professional and it's inviting for a person to read. There is also a ‘tags’ section of the home page that highlights the extensive range of music genres they work with. I find that this is really helpful as I now know if my artists press kits can go here, the submission page has a form this could mean there is a possibility that they might not accept a press kit and they are looking for tracks and simply a musicians biography but this means I could send their music here and get reviews that I can include in the press kits that I will send to the other organisations.
An artist development page is included which shows their willingness to help upcoming artists, it invites artists to join their team and they promise to help with perks such as getting places in playlists and music publications to widen thier streaming. There is also an ad about their partnership with an organisation called Tunecore which helps new artists to sell their music online, getting it onto Spotify, Amazon music and more, there is a price involved which varies. It is $49.99 a year for albums, $9.99 a year for singles and $19.99 a year for ringtones, in my opinion it is a bit pricey but it is always something to consider.
Their lockdown interviews section is an embedded YouTube video playlist of 5 videos, personally I think there could be more on this page but I think that they’ve done well with embedding the playlist on their website. It looks very professional but I think there should be more.
A subscription page has been added so they obviously have an email list for newsletters, there is a section on the form where you need to state your profession, for example an artist manager, this suggests that their email list is for the people looking for artists, to get a feature would be great because the artist would most likely be in the newsletter and more music industry workers would be interested in signing the artist.
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Cut the Pause looked very promising at first, they had a nice layout for the website which included a playlist bar and a featured bar, however as I looked into the blog further I noticed that there was an imbalance for the posts that they were making, on some of the reviews there was only a sentence whereas on others there was paragraphs on the song and the artist, I understand there is sometimes not a lot to say about the song but they should have written more for the artist’s sake. To me it doesn’t look as professional and it doesn’t give me the same level of dedication as A&R Factory so I am going to look at other blogs to send the kits to, I want to achieve the best for my artists but I will keep this as a possibility as it might be good to get the music out there.
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Other ways of promoting music
As another part of my research I have decided to look into the best ways of promoting music online, this is because in order to successfully promote my artists I need to understand the ways in which you do that. I used the website, "Ways to promote music online" to do my main research and then I branched out on each section to gain a better understanding in those areas.
A website
The website that I used for this research was "The importance of having a website"
This should be your first priority in creating your name or your artists name because it is an official site where fans and professionals will go to get all the latest information if they don’t use much social media and when a certain platform fades it means that you still have an online presence to fall back on while you work on a different platform. Having a website creates a sense of professionalism that will make people take you seriously, it gives them the impression that you are taking your career seriously and that you are passionate about what you do. A website is where you can store all of your information, this includes past performances and future ones that you are booked for, you can also use it as a way to keep all of your social media in one place which makes it easier for people to find the information that they need about you.
An Email List
The website that I used for this part of my research was, "The Importance of having an Email list"
Now this might sound old fashioned but this is one of the best ways to get what you need out to your followers, by having a subscription page on your website you can get an incredible reach to all of the fans that you get and this way you know that the information will be sent directly to the people that you need it to be sent to. It makes a better way of advertisement than other platforms due to it not being run by an algorithm so you don’t have the possibility of your ad not making it onto your followers pages.
Blogging
The website that I used for this part of my research was, "The Importance of Blogging"
Blogging is a great way to develop a connection with fans and it gives you a chance to not only show people that you know what you’re doing but it also gives you an opportunity to write about your personal struggle and successes in your career, you could even give some advice to those reading on how you have got to where you are and what steps they could take to achieve success. People don’t normally view blogging as the way to connect to a wider range of people but it is one of the best ways to increase your web traffic as well as increase your reach to new fans.
The website that I used for this part of my research was, "How to use Twitter effectively"
Twitter might be an obvious choice to promote your career but it can become a burden if you’re unsure on how to use it, you need to learn how to use it properly if you want it to work effectively. Good features for engaging with your audience include a Q&A section that you can host, a poll posting to find out more about your audience and you can also use the platform as a way to post setlists, real time updates while in the studio and converse with likeminded people about collaborations. When you set up your account you should try to follow people similar to you as well as journalists or record labels so that you can keep up to date with the current trends. Don’t overload your tweets with information, try to keep it simple and to the point as the platform is usually a short and snappy way of updating people on what you’re doing that day.
The website that I used for this part of my research was "How to use Instagram effectively"
Instagram is one of the biggest grossing platforms to date and this makes it the perfect way to promote your music or whatever you are doing. It has many features available that you should take advantage of, including stories, IGTV and the newest feature reels. A good way for you to get started is by doing research on artists similar to you and finding out what content works best for them, just remember people want originality and they don't want to see you copying other people but there is no harm in using similarities. Things to remember while using Instagram as a way of promoting are: people like quality over quantity, people like a variety so you need to post personal as well as professional, you should engage with comments on your own posts as well as other people’s posts and finally, always remember to check your analytics to find out who you are reaching and who your audience is.
YouTube
The website that I used for this part of my research was "The rising importance of YouTube"
Everyone knows about Youtube and most people use it as well, it is great for music discovery and can definitely benefit if you have a channel. You still need to be able to use it properly to get the results you want from it. Add variety to your videos by posting different versions of the same video, such as a lyric video as well as a music video, and you should think about posting behind the scenes content as most people like to see the set up for the video and they like to see your personalities in the video. You need to make sure that the title allows you to be searched for by name, an example is (one that I have taken from the website I have used for research) “MY NAME - My Song(official)” and this will make it so that you will be found through the search bar ect. Always include full credits in your videos and in the description and always create a playlist of your music so that people can hear your music and not the YouTube algorithm's choice of song.