Free and members only online music promotion websites have revolutionized the music industry. From Reverb Nation, to You Tube, to i-Tunes, you and your band are expected to know a few things about basic marketing before marketing your music to the masses. Follow these tips below to create a great online band portfolio.
1) Have a vision and set a goal.
Who are you? What does your band stand for? What is your niche? Are you rock? Are you jazz? Are you hip hop? Find out who listens to your band and find out where they are. Do they frequent coffee shops? Do they hang by the beach, the basketball court, colleges, or the kitchen? You do not need to appeal to everyone to be successful. In fact, when you appeal to everyone, then you just begin to sound like elevator music.
Find a vision for your band and set a goal. For example, when in grad school, I set a goal to have my music travel internationally, instead of just regionally. By the time I earned my degree, my music had traveled from North America, to Europe, Asia, Australia, and Cuba. Is your goal twice as many concerts, higher attendance, more CD and merchandise sales? Set your goal and then focus on achieving the goal.
2) Read all the legal information.
Always read all the copyright and legal information before setting up any of your music for promotion. Some companies will not allow you to promote your music through different distributors, some might ask to use your music for free, or perhaps infringe on your copyright. Read everything.
3) Have all materials read in print and internet format.
Have ready: Photos, Album Cover jpg, MP3 versions of your music, press releases, etc. for promotion. Hopefully you or someone in your band will be able to help you with this. The good thing about the internet is that the low resolution of the images makes even amateur shots look good.
4) Be ready to dedicate time to promotion.
While many online music promotion tools are free or inexpensive to use, they require time to set up an account, upload music and media, and time for regular updating. There is no purpose to being on a social network site to promote your band if you do not network. So be sure to calculate which sites are worth the most of your time.
5) Share your music.
You can find many ways to share your music online. Include it on any social networking sites, blogs, vlogs, or even set the sites up as a byline on your e-mails.
