The Modern Rules of Advertising Your Music with Social Media
Are you an artist or musician just starting out? Are you anxious for your music to be heard by others, but don’t know how to get it out there? Well, in this article I am going to give you some tips and advice on how to get noticed on Social Media!
First let’s talk about social media platforms that you can use to advertise your music. Great examples are Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat, Vine, YouTube, Soundcloud and Spotify.
Soundcloud or Spotify: You can create your own profile on either application. You can then upload multiple songs you have written or covered. Personally, I think having a Soundcloud or Spotify is very important, because you can link your profile on other social media apps.
Instagram/Facebook/Vine/Youtube/Twitter/Tumblr: Above, I talked about Soundcloud and Spotify. Now, in your social media profile you can put a web link to your Spotify or Soundcloud music profile. You can post videos or audio of your music for your friends/followers to see. If they are interested in hearing more, tell them to go check out more of your work on your Soundcloud or Spotify, which will be linked on your profile.
Snapchat: You can send small video clips of you playing music to your friends, and if they are interested send them the link to your Spotify or Soundcloud.
Now let me give you a few tips on how to have more people interested in hearing your work.
- Listen to others music!
If you have an Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Vine etc., dedicated to your music, follow other similar artist accounts. If they follow you back, message them and ask if they could listen to your music and you’ll listen to their music as well.
- Try to perform in local places.
Go around to restaurants or places that may allow you to play your music for a night. Post on your social media that you are performing there, and encourage people to come see you. It’s a win-win situation for you and the restaurant or place you are performing at. More customers for them, and it will help you and your music get ‘known’. Hand out pamphlets with your social media information and your Soundcloud or Spotify so they can check out more of your music online.
- Make your own website.
Make an artist website, all about your passion for music. Post videos of you performing, post when and where you are doing a gig, even blog. You can link this to other social media outlets as well.
- Have conversations with your friends/fans!
If people give you feedback on your music, or compliment it, thank them for listening to your work. Being genuine and pleasant to fans may encourage get people to tell their friends about your music as well. Also, if you are playing out somewhere, ask them what songs they’d like to hear. Being interactive with fans is important.
- Don’t make EVERYTHING about marketing your music.
Although it’s great to promote yourself, don’t make that your only priority. You need some balance between personal content and marketing content. There is general rule called the 80/20 rule. That means that 80% of your posts should be personal, humorous and entertaining. Keep it social and enjoyable. That leaves a good 20% for promoting and marketing your music career.
Overall, I think the most important rule is to be yourself!
Why We Love YouTube Marketing and Some Tips
Why We Love YouTube Marketing and Some Tips
YouTube today has become a regular destination for all the music and video lovers around the world. Today it is very common for people to set up their channels on YouTube and the user base is growing at a fast pace. With a little technique and tips, it can turn into an ultimate marketing strategic partner for your music.
With the lightening speed of internet and advent of smart phones in every part of the globe, YouTube is one amazing way to broadcast your music videos to each corner of the world.
Thinking about a YouTube channel already? Well. All you need to do is sign up on YouTube with a Channel Name and specify the Account as ‘Musician’ while creating an account. Your account is ready to be customised as per your needs. You can make it attractive with different options available for colours, designs, linking options etc.
The artists can use this account forum as a platform to channelize their vision of music as it can send the message across very quickly. In addition to this, YouTube Channel can be made consistent with your special artwork and websites. This will help you connect the parts easily. Make your page well readable with the required information available while adding the optimum number of sections only.
You can use the channel to provide information about yourself and the brand. Include the website links and add the images for your music albums or videos if available.
Once you are through with this process, you can start uploading your videos. While uploading the video, use the song title with the musician and company name. Add the appropriate information to describe the video a little. Once the video is uploaded, start tagging and make it searchable.
Effective Social Media Marketing for the Music Industry
Effective Social Media Marketing for the Music Industry
With the growing penetration of social networking in our day to day lives, it has become the fastest growing marketing tool in the field of music industry now. Any music company or recording studio-small or big can find its marketing strategy and strengths in Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing if it uses to these techniques to their full potential.
Social Media can turn an artist into a star overnight and the music promotion can include promoting the production, talent and continuous promo works. As Social Media has become a significant part of our lives with the growing technological advancement, there are millions of music lovers using social media outlets like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc. While social networking gives the musicians an ideal technique of instant promotion, these websites give the customers and fans a voice for showing their love as well.
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Here the major ways that will help you a great deal in making the social media marketing effective for promoting your music:
• Facebook Leads and Ads: The biggest range of social media advertisements is through Facebook offers or Facebook leads and ads along with the regular upload. Facebook helps in keeping the music fans updated to the launch of the latest tracks and videos.
• Twitter: Tweeting the promotional links and sharing the details of the latest music releases helps in instant connection with the audience. You can make your marketing effective by using Hashtags making your tweets interesting and eye catching.
• YouTube, Facebook Pages and Twitter Lists are other two methods for reaching out to the fans effectively. An insight into the music trends and tastes can be provided with these media networks.
• Pinterest and Instagram can be used to connect with the fans personally by keeping them hooked regularly.
• One effective strategy for improving your marketing effectiveness is to use maximum number of images, video ads and demonstrations in order to creating awareness in the most efficient way.
• Social media helps you to effectively measure the overall buzz for your releases along with the marketing of new tracks.
If you keep these tips in mind, social media marketing can give you an incredible platform for reaching your audience.
Exceptional Apps for Musicians, Singers and Artists
Exceptional Apps for Musicians, Singers and Artists – Last week’s blog post, I talked about social media formats that can aid you in boosting and advertising yourself as a musician. Today, I want to talk about some unique applications for your musical needs.
Sing! Karaoke by Smule: The app is aimed towards those who enjoy singing. The app provides you with lyrics and karaoke to various popular songs for you to sing, and record yourself. You can even sing with other people around the globe.
CoachGuitar – Guitar Lessons for Beginners: In school, did you consider yourself a “visual learner”? This app is for visual guitar lessons. This can be super helpful if you are confused or new to music theory and chords.
Chordbank – How to Play Guitar Cords: This app also teaches you to play guitar if you are also a new-be, but with cords and scales. It’s a less visual and pictorial app. Although, it takes you more into truly understanding the cords and scales.
Guitar Tuna – The Ultimate Free Tuner: This is the best stringed-instrument tuner I could find in the app store. It works with electric and acoustic string instruments.
This app is so convenient because you don’t need any cables, just your digital device’s microphone! It will help you teach your musical ear.
Songsterr Tabs & Chords: Songsterr has thousands of chords and tabs for guitar, drum and bass. If you just love to play music but from time to time wonder to yourself “what should I play?” download this application to instantly gain access to countless chords and tabs.
Rhymers Block: This app is primarily used for making raps or poetry. When you start to write, you’ll get suggestions as what to write next. I personally think can also help you out with song writing too.
There are numerous music applications. I can only tell you about a few in so many words. Go into the App Store for yourself, and look up the few applications I listed and see if any grab your attention. You can even browse through similar music apps for yourself, because I promise you’ll find a lot of fantastic ones!
The Modern Rules of Advertising Your Music with Social Media
The Modern Rules of Advertising Your Music with Social Media
Are you an artist or musician just starting out? Are you anxious for your music to be heard by others, but don’t know how to get it out there? Well, in this article I am going to give you some tips and advice on how to get noticed on Social Media!
First let’s talk about social media platforms that you can use to advertise your music. Great examples are Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat, Vine, YouTube, Soundcloud and Spotify.
Soundcloud or Spotify: You can create your own profile on either application. You can then upload multiple songs you have written or covered. Personally, I think having a Soundcloud or Spotify is very important, because you can link your profile on other social media apps.
Instagram/Facebook/Vine/Youtube/Twitter/Tumblr: Above, I talked about Soundcloud and Spotify. Now, in your social media profile you can put a web link to your Spotify or Soundcloud music profile. You can post videos or audio of your music for your friends/followers to see. If they are interested in hearing more, tell them to go check out more of your work on your Soundcloud or Spotify, which will be linked on your profile.
Snapchat: You can send small video clips of you playing music to your friends, and if they are interested send them the link to your Spotify or Soundcloud.
Now let me give you a few tips on how to have more people interested in hearing your work.
If you have an Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Vine etc., dedicated to your music, follow other similar artist accounts. If they follow you back, message them and ask if they could listen to your music and you’ll listen to their music as well.
Go around to restaurants or places that may allow you to play your music for a night. Post on your social media that you are performing there, and encourage people to come see you. It’s a win-win situation for you and the restaurant or place you are performing at. More customers for them, and it will help you and your music get ‘known’. Hand out pamphlets with your social media information and your Soundcloud or Spotify so they can check out more of your music online.
Make an artist website, all about your passion for music. Post videos of you performing, post when and where you are doing a gig, even blog. You can link this to other social media outlets as well.
If people give you feedback on your music, or compliment it, thank them for listening to your work. Being genuine and pleasant to fans may encourage get people to tell their friends about your music as well. Also, if you are playing out somewhere, ask them what songs they’d like to hear. Being interactive with fans is important.
Although it’s great to promote yourself, don’t make that your only priority. You need some balance between personal content and marketing content. There is general rule called the 80/20 rule. That means that 80% of your posts should be personal, humorous and entertaining. Keep it social and enjoyable. That leaves a good 20% for promoting and marketing your music career.
Overall, I think the most important rule is to be yourself!
How Listening to Music Helps Us Concentrate
When we’re feeling stressed out by deadlines or simply need to boost our productivity, many of us reach for the headphones and whatever our particular flavor of mood music happens to be that day. But does music really help us concentrate? And if so, how?
Feeling Better Means Working Better
The first aspect is very simple: music makes us happy, and when we’re happy, we’re more productive. Specifically, listening to melodious sounds triggers the release of dopamine in our brains, which brings about feelings of contentment and tranquility. It’s the same as receiving a pleasant sensation from any one of our senses — like smelling a rose, eating a delicious pastry, or looking at a beautiful scene.
Our memories are also quite powerfully linked to the music we love. Listening to songs that we connect with positive memories of loved ones or great experiences we’ve had creates a personal sense of happiness that helps bolster our mood while we work. Especially if what you’re working on is repetitive or uninteresting, it can keep the other parts of your brain busy so that you don’t focus on all the things you’d rather be doing.
Blocking Distractions
While some companies don’t permit using headphones at work because it’s considered a distraction, research indicates that the opposite is true. After all, no workplace on earth exists in perfect silence. You may not be distracted by your music, but you’ll almost certainly be distracted by someone else’s conversation on the phone, the noises of the copier or printer running, the gurgling of the coffee machine, horns honking on the street outside, the clacking of your coworkers’ keyboards, etc…
These are the sounds that truly prevent us from focusing on our work, and some people are much more sensitive to these minor sonic distractions than others. Especially in an open office space with no barriers to block the spread of noise, listening to music can be a necessary escape from the hectic sonic landscape around us. Of course, it’s important to wear headphones and keep the volume controlled so that your music doesn’t become distracting to those around you!
Choose the Right Tunes
Music in and of itself isn’t a magic cure-all to all problems of focus, boredom, and straight-up laziness. And in some situations, listening to music won’t help at all. If your work requires your brain to be actively engaged or to be learning something new, listening to music that’s heavy on the lyrics or complex melodies will only inhibit your ability to focus. Getting lost in the lyrics can be great if you’re doing manual labor, but if you’re attempting to write an article or study new
information, it won’t do you any favors to be splitting the focus of the language center in your brain.
On the other hand, something mellow, with a low-key beat and ambient vocals, if any, can certainly set the mood you need to be creative and maintain your concentration. It also helps to listen to music that you already know and love. Research shows that when we listen to a song for the first time, our brains will struggle to predict what happens next in the melody or the beat; when it’s a familiar tune, though, we can relax and enjoy it.
So go ahead and make yourself a playlist for your next big project — and, if necessary, make the case to your boss that it’s necessary for your concentration. Science is on your side!
John Morabito is a recording artist and contributing author at Rivington Music, where he supplies the music blog with recording tips. When he’s not writing, John can usually be found jamming at the Rivington rehearsals studio or exploring his hometown of NYC.
Elements of Songwriting
Inspiration for writing a song can happen anywhere, at any time. You could be walking through the park or driving down the highway when an idea pops in your head. Whether it be a melody or a catchy lyric, you’ve created a snippet of a potentially rockin’ song. The problem is, most of the time these ideas never get put on paper. If you’re becoming more serious about your songwriting you have to understand that sometimes it’s a process.
The Melody
Although a catchy line came to mind in the car, a catchy melody is just as important. Even if you aren’t familiar with the melodic side of writing yet, you can get an idea of how you want the melody to go by humming or trying out vocal runs. It’s also a good idea to listen to music you’re inspired by to get an idea of what kind of sound you want your song to have. The melody might change during the duration of the writing process-but that’s okay! Your song is developing into its best form.
The Story
It may seem like a simple concept, but establishing the storyline of your song is such an important element. Make sure that once you know what you want your song to be about, you stick with it. Keep it on the same track so your song doesn’t become messy and seem unorganized. Is your song going to be narrative? Will it paint a picture? Do you want it to be a fun party song or an emotional ballad? These are a few decisions that need to be made early on. Be picky about you’re the vocabulary you’re using for your song.
“Good songwriting I think knows what it’s audience is, and knows how to speak to that audience.” Said Nashville songwriter J. Morris
Keep in mind who you’re talking to. This is where vocabulary plays a huge role. Although narrative structure and vocabulary seem simple, they are critical elements when it comes to great songwriting. Be sure to know your audience and what they’re looking for.
Co-Writing
When it comes to a co-writing session be sure that you don’t show up with a blank page. It can be anything from an initial melodic idea to a song title, but there needs to be some sort of direction you’re bringing to the table. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable with the person you’re writing with. Some of the best songs come from genuine moments and feelings. Too many times writer’s produce songs simply because they think it will sell. Whatever genre or audience your selling to, being genuine in your writing is what is going to have your audience relate.
Online Resources for Artists
The following are must-have sites for artists who want to promote their songs, tours, and other media to get in touch with their audience.
Sites to promote music
Online music players
There are numerous online music players that you can choose from if you want your listeners to hear your music. Among these players include the following:
Sites for Copyright Management
There are also websites that you can seek services to take care of your copyright concern. Among these websites include BMI. It collects fees from radio and streaming sites that play your music.
Touring Promotion
If you are planning a tour, you have to take care of announcements about forthcoming events. The following websites will help you do it:
Is Spotify a great resource for Artists?
Is Spotify a great resource for Artists?
Internet and social media have changed the way how songs reach song lovers and music enthusiasts across platforms. Moreover, it opens another wide door for musicians to make their songs known to their fans in many parts of the world. However, it also stirred an argument among fans and artists themselves about how online streaming such as Spotify become a great source for artists today.
To explain both views, well the majority of them, you have to weigh each opinion. Here are some points in the debate.
It is FREE music
People love anything that’s FREE. Why would you pay for something if there were an option to get it for free? Spotify is a free app that you can use whenever you want, wherever you are – as long as you got your internet connection with you. If you’re a singer, you will prefer this to better reach for your target audience.
Making money with Spotify
Spotify is not only a great avenue for artists to be heard but also an open opportunity for them to earn money from their music. When people know about your music through Spotify, they will play it over and over again, and a certain percentage for every download or play back will be credited to the singer. For a better return, people get to know your songs and it allows them to buy your album from music stores.
They say it degrades the value of music
Remember when only privilege people have access to high quality music? Those were times when music is only available to those who have the penny to buy records. Today, you can listen to your favorite music whenever you want, wherever you are.
Does it really threaten other musicians?
Some artists think that Spotify threaten their success in music industry because it becomes a fad that fades away over time. But if people really love music, they will listen to it whenever possible. As a result, it does not threaten your success as an artist. Do you think music sharing will do? Of course not! Music sharing allows more people to hear your song, and there is nothing threatening about it. It’s free promotion actually.
Starting At Home: Tips on Recording
It can get a little pricey going from studio to studio to record when you’re starting out. If you’re a beginner in the music business and looking to record outside a professional studio, it might be smart to invest in some home recording equipment. Home recording is a great way to get some of your music started and a great way to become your own producer. If you’re not sure how to get started recording your awesome music at home, here are a couple tips to help you out!
What You’ll Need
First things first, you’re going to need to purchase some recording equipment in order to get started. Although some of the equipment may seem pricey, home recording software is essential in order to record and mix your own tracks. There are several different types, even Apple’s Garage Band will do. Other software includes Pro Tools, Reaper, Studio One and Cakewalk SONAR. Feel free to do some research on which recording software will work best for what you’re wanting to do.
Although it’s possible to record through the speakers of your computer, it’s not ideal. Purchasing a microphone will give your home recording’s better quality overall. Along with your mic, be sure to grab a mic cable too! Headphones and studio monitors are equally important to get the good quality you’re looking for.
The Room
Make sure to set up your new studio equipment in a room with good acoustics. The dynamic of the room you’re in will affect the sound of anything you’re recording. Try to refrain from recording in a room full of clutter or large furniture-this also has the potential to affect the acoustics. Be sure to keep your new home studio organized and neat! This will be beneficial once you start tracking and mixing. Labels will be your best friend!
It may be intimidating to get started, but it’s worth the investment. Creating a studio in your home is a great way to get started and increase your skills. It’s convenient and available during any of your inspirational moments and can even gain revenue if you decide to let others record there. Be sure to keep in mind that you can still head to an outsourced studio for any of your larger projects!
For more detailed information on recording from home, check out our friends at rivingtonmusic.com. They have a rockin’ blog with a helpful and free e-book available on how to start recording at home from one of their latest posts!
Inside Moving to Nashville for Music
Moving to Nashville to pursue your music on a professional level can be scary. There’s a lot of talented artists on a similar pursuit and it’s easy to become disheartened. Being famous in a small town is cake, but what about when you get to the major leagues? Investing your time in pursuing music in Nashville can be tricky. Here are some things to know before moving to the city that can help the new transition.
Community
From the outside looking in, Nashville seems like the Los Angeles of the south. It can be intimidating knowing that other musicians have come to Music City to make their dreams come true, just like you have. Despite common belief, Nashville has a small town feeling with great community support. There are plenty of people willing to lend a helping hand and connect you with people who can assist in your music endeavors. There are also a ton of different venues throughout the city that you can meet with in order to begin playing shows and getting your name and music out there.
East Nashville
East Nashville is a great place to get started. This part of town also has strong community and awesome venues. With a little determination, you’ll be able to meet other artists and start getting involved in writer’s rounds. Connecting with other musicians can open the door for co-writing opportunities and might even lead to an awesome hit. It’s important to be patient in this process, however. Keep in mind there are a lot of talented musicians who’ve lived in Nashville for longer and have a similar goal.
Humble & Kind
Because of the amount of talented people pursuing music in Nashville, it is important to stay humble throughout your journey. “Making it” will take a lot of hard work, but will be incredibly worth it if you do. Don’t be too good for sacrifice in order to make your dream reality. Be kind to everyone you meet, because you never know where the connection will take you. Continue to be yourself, because staying genuine is what will stand out.
Don’t be afraid of the transition to Nashville. Although it can be challenging to get your career where you want it, the possibilities are also endless. Do your research, be patient and don’t get too hurt when things don’t work out the way you expected. Music City is an incredible place to enhance your career, if you’re courageous and dedicated and you’ll be just fine. Be sure to reach out to us at The Record Shop for any recording services or social media strategies you may need to get the ball rolling. We’re here to help!