How To Promote Your Music Independently In 2024

Last updated: 29 July 2024

The internet has enabled artists to take control of their own destiny and grow at their own pace. It provided a space for artist-friendly tools and services to flourish. These tools and services empower artists to balance the artistic and the business aspects of their careers, without having to become full-fledged professional marketers. 

Here at AmplifyYou, we’re passionate about helping independent artists amplify their careers. Here are a couple of tips on how to promote your music independently in 2024, level up your game, and succeed – without relying on a label and a big team to do so. 

What is music independence?

First off, we need to establish that music independence is a spectrum that depends on six fundamental principles. The cornerstones of music independence are data control, financial clarity, financial agency, distributive autonomy, open education, and artistic sovereignty. Each component is a scale (from 0-100) that isn’t mutually exclusive. 

How to promote your music independently

Distribute your music

In this day and age, having your music on streaming services and digital music stores is essential. Through DSPs, your music reaches global audiences and enables you to develop a strong online presence.

Distributing your music to platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and Deezer is easy. By signing up with a digital distributor such as AmplifyLink Pro, you simply need to upload your music and let us handle the rest of the distro process. 

Sign up for an admin publishing service

Whenever we’re discussing publishing, it’s important to mention that publishing deals with a song’s composition. Unlike traditional publishers, admin publishing companies don’t own your copyrights. They work with local PROs to track down royalties from all across the globe, earn a commission, and pass the rest of the money on to you.

Working with admin publishing companies such as Songtrust and Sentric is beneficial for independent music and musicians. They enable you to rest assured that you’re getting paid every time your song is played on the radio, in an establishment, in a live setting, and so on. 

Use Amplifylink

AmplifyLink offers a wide variety of services to independent artists and DIY labels like you who want to up their game and promote your music. Features include release links, bio links, Livestream links, merch integration as well as an advanced analytics tool. AmplifyLink’s analytics tool empowers you to check metrics such as your fans’ geographical location, unique views, and engagement, making it an important tool to add to your arsenal…especially when crafting hyper-targeted marketing campaigns.  

Create an EPK

Think of an electronic press kit (EPK) as your CV. It’s the document that you present and send over to those individuals in the industry that you want to impress.

You need to make sure that your EPK includes all the important bits of information that will make you stand out from the thousands of queries these individuals receive. An EPK should include your artist bio, press photos, reviews, links to your music, social links, performance calendar, and contact info.  You also need to update it every time you release a song and promote your music.

You can use AmplifyLink to create an eye-catching EPK. Simply use your artist profile to create a second bio link that functions as your EPK. It only takes seven seconds to make a first impression, so make this one count. 

Use social media to engage fans

You need to be “social” on social media. Instead of posting a constant stream of promotional material, you should invest in creating a social media calendar that stimulates conversation and piques your fans’ interest.

TikTok has become the prime marketing channel for artists and has made household names of unknown artists. TikTok’s algorithm is artist-friendly, and enables complete unknowns to go viral by championing music independence. Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Sam Ryder and Raye are just some of the artists who had their big break on TikTok.

Get playlisted

The changing nature of the music industry has resulted in the rise of playlists as music fans’ favourite way to consume music. According to Vox, “artists generally see a boost of 50 percent to 100 percent once they get on Spotify-sponsored playlists; even after those spikes wear off, the artists often see a 20 percent increase in their streams.”

Landing a spot on Spotify’s highly-coveted playlists isn’t the only way to increase your streaming numbers. Algorithmic playlists, such as Release Radar and Discover Weekly, are a good way of reaching people and undoubtedly a great way to promote your music. You can secure a spot on these playlists by uploading your songs early and engaging with the platform on a regular basis.

You can also submit your songs to Spotify’s editors using Spotify for Artist’s submission tool. For the editorial playlists of other DSPs, you need to work with a distributor that has a direct relationship with their editorial teams to increase your chance of landing an editorial playlist spot.

Encourage your fans to pre-save your songs, add you to their personal playlists, and share your music with their friends. Having fans support you is a solid way to reach even more people. While it takes time, you’ll be playing the long game and reaping long-term success.  

Build your mailing list

Email is still one of the most effective marketing channels out there. There are 4.2 billion email users around the world, and 72% of people would rather receive marketing materials from brands through their email than via ads on social media.

Building your mailing list might take time, but it reaps a lot of rewards. The people on your mailing list are engaged fans who are interested in your journey and the independent music scene.

You can make sure that people don’t opt out of your mailing list by adhering to data laws and standards, and offering value to your audience. To keep your audience engaged, write about what you’re doing, what your upcoming touring plans are, and offer a sneak peek of upcoming songs.

Use analytics to your advantage

Analytics enable you to gain deeper insight into audience perceptions, motivations, and needs. Data such as geographical location, number of unique visits, and rate of engagement enable you to back your marketing efforts with cold, hard facts. 

AmplifyLink offers next-level, real-time insights from combined sources. It allows you to understand your audience without having to waste precious time and energy collecting data from different platforms.

Final notes

As you navigate the dynamic landscape of the music industry, embracing the principles and strategies of music independence that we mentioned in this article is crucial to take your music career to the next level. Thanks to artist-friendly tools like Amplify, independent musicians can now effectively manage their artistry with their business endeavours, without having to rely on third parties like labels to do so.