We all just want to make great music that gains traction on its own. But for most indie artists, that’s not how it works. So much of building a music career involves music promotion.

Ever notice how artists that you think stink get so much fame and success? Yeah, it’s because they had great marketing.

So if you’re serious about having a career in music, you need to spend time promoting your music.

If you’re a small artist trying to grow your fanbase, you should follow the 50/50 rule: spend 50% of your time making music and 50% of your time on music promotion (and music business in general).

It may not be what you imagined a music career would look like, but it truly is like running a small business.

What you’ll find, though, is that you won’t mind doing the music promotion because…

1. You’re excited about the music, and
2. It’s furthering your career

There are a lot of predatory people and companies preying on uneducated and naive musicians. So here are some tips to avoid music promotion scams…

Before paying a music promotion service, research them extensively. Look for reviews, testimonials, and experiences from other artists who have used their services. A legitimate and reputable service will have positive feedback and a track record of helping artists.

Be cautious of services that make extravagant claims, like guaranteed fame, millions of streams, or instant success. Success in the music industry is a gradual process and depends on numerous factors.

Some services promise to get your music on popular playlists in exchange for payment. But never, ever, ever pay anyone for guaranteed placement on a playlist – this is always a scam and against streaming platforms’ terms and conditions. Your music will be removed from Spotify etc.

Legitimate promotion services should be transparent about their methods and pricing. If a service is vague about their approach or doesn’t provide clear information about their fees, it could be a red flag.

If a promotion service claims to have contacts with major industry players, try to verify these connections independently. Be cautious of services that cannot provide verifiable references or contacts.

Be cautious of unsolicited messages or emails from unknown individuals or companies offering music promotion services. Legitimate services typically don’t reach out to artists out of the blue.

Some services offer social media promotion but use fake accounts or bots to inflate numbers. Look for genuine engagement and real interactions with their posts before committing.

Before you sign anything, always read the terms and conditions of any service or agreement carefully. Be aware of cancellation policies and refund options, should you need to terminate the service. This is your music career, take it seriously.

If possible, seek recommendations from fellow musicians or industry professionals about reputable music promotion services they have used and had positive experiences with.

If something feels off or too good to be true, trust your instincts and proceed with caution. Take your time to make an informed decision rather than rushing into a potentially harmful situation.

Here’s a checklist you can go through with each release. It will set you up to make the most of your single, EP, or album, making music promotion so much more natural and effective.

This is not so much music promotion but it ensures you collect all the royalties owed to you.

First, register your songs with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO), which collects and distributes royalties generated from the public performances of songs.

Here are the top PROs you can register with:

• BMI or ASCAP in the United State
• SOCAN in Canada
• PRS in the United Kingdom

Next, register your songs with SoundExchange, which collects digital performance royalties for “non-interactive” streams. This means the listener can’t choose the music, so this would be on platforms like Pandora, SiriusXM, and Beats 1.

Lastly, register your songs with the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which collects mechanical royalties. You could instead register your songs with a publishing admin company that partners with the MLC.

Fortunately, artwork is very easy to create these days. You can use services like:

• Canva
• Adobe Express
• DALL-E

Go through a music distribution company to deliver your music to Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

Deliver your music to every streaming platform available — being everywhere is part of good music promotion.

Create a video that’s just the cover art with the song playing behind it.

This is for your YouTube, your website, and to post on your social media profiles. You can use iMovie (Apple devices only) or Lightworks.

A Spotify Canvas is a short, repeating video that plays while you stream a song. And having Canvas increases a song’s shares by 145%.

Upload your song(s) to SoundCloud and Bandcamp and set them as private, then publish them on release day.

Also, upload the video with the cover art to YouTube and schedule it to be published on release day.

Getting on Spotify playlists not only gets your music in front of new people, but it also tells the Spotify algorithm to feed your music to more people. 

Here are some ways to get on playlists:

• SubmitHub (see below)
  
• Groover (see below)
  
• Find playlist curators via hashtags (like #songrecommendations, #underratedsongs, #musicdiscovery, etc.)

Sync licensing is when you give permission to third parties to use your songs in a TV show, commercial, movie, or video game – and you get paid a fee for it.

Not only can the upfront payouts be in the 5 to 6 figures, but it can also be great exposure.

Email marketing is still a thing, and people still hear about new music from artists they follow through email.

Some of the top email marketing services include:

• MailChimp
• MailerLite
• Kit
• Klaviyo
• Bandzoogle’s email service

Make some posters and stickers using a QR code that leads to your website, preferably a page with your most important links.

Then hang those posters and slap the stickers in places where you think your fans will see them.

For example, if you make acoustic/folk music, you could hang these up at coffee shops, libraries, and out in nature (like along a hiking path or in a public park).

Right now, short-form content is the best way to get your music in front of new people.

This is because the algorithms these days feed your content to everyone who may be interested in it, not just your followers. 

How do you know what type of content to make?

Look at artists who make similar music to yours that also do well on social media.

Then pull inspiration from the type of content they make. Borrow their content ideas, but make them your own using your artist voice. 

Then you can run your video through YouTube Ads, boost it on Instagram, and run a Facebook campaign.

Collaborating with other musicians can be an effective way to get in front of new people.

When you release a song with another artist, it’s cross-promotion. Your name, voice, and vibe get in front of the other artist’s fans, and they get in front of your fans.

Here are just a few music promotion services that seem reliable. But remember, do your own research. Make sure they’re a good fit for you.

In my experience, SubmitHub has been the best way to get my songs on Spotify playlists and get blog write-ups.

The way it works is, you pay to submit (this is not pay-to-play) your music to playlist curators, music bloggers, radio stations, and even indie labels. Then curators accept or reject your music based on their taste and preference.

Groover works pretty much the same way as SubmitHub. It even has a similar price.

Spotify is the biggest streaming platform in the world in terms of listenership. The per-stream payout is terrible, but music promotion is all about finding fans who will not just stream your music but also come to your shows, buy your merch, and become your patrons.

And Spotify offers some free and paid tools to get your music in front of more people:

• Spotify Marquee: ”a full-screen, sponsored recommendation” for new releases. You know that pop-up you see sometimes when you open the Spotify app? That’s Marquee, and it has a minimum spend amount of $100.
• Spotify Showcase: a banner that appears on the homepage of the Spotify app. This option is for any release in your catalog and requires a minimum budget of $100.
• Discovery Mode: doesn’t cost anything upfront. It’s an option where you tell the Spotify algorithm to push your songs to more people who may like your music. It will then prioritize your songs on Radio, Autoplay, and Daily Mix. In exchange, Spotify keeps a 30% commission on all streams that come directly from your Discovery Mode campaigns.

One of the most effective ways to spread your music is through your fans.

When a person you respect recommends an artist to you, you’re probably more likely to check them out.

So ask your fans to share your music. Sometimes all they need is a little nudge.