What is the Best Way to Promote your Music as an Indie Artist?

Silhouette of woman with microphone singing on concert stage in front of crowd - Indie Artist

Promoting music and gaining popularity is not easy in a country such as India, where you have to face tough competition, and there are few resources for artists. Nobody is saying that marketing is easy. However, with digital platforms as a marketing tool for an Indie artist, it was never smoother and more enjoyable. 

The digital world has opened up numerous opportunities for an Indie artist. An artist in India has to go through quite a long process with traditional music distribution companies, and that too has no promises of audience reach. The digital medium has allowed independent artist to promote their music on a larger platform and reach an audience at minimum or no cost. The best part is that a digital medium has no political boundaries. It has a reach to almost most parts of the world. 

How to promote music as an independent artist?

So, if you are an Indie artist, have great music to offer, and are struggling hard to market your music, here are some tips for you so that you can promote your music as an independent artist. 

  1. Building a website

Building a website is easy and can be done with the help of the how-to guides available across the web. The exciting part of having a website is that you own a tiny portion of the digital world through a website. It is the one and only online property that is exclusively yours. Uploading your work on your own website is always a better option instead of somebody else’s for an Indie artist. 

  1. Blogging regularly

Keeping your site updated with fresh content shows your commitment to your work. Regular posting of a blog might help you build up a sustainable set of audience. Regular communication with your fans will help you keep them updated with your work, and in that way, no work goes unnoticed. You can build up an email list through a subscription form on your blog. Also, through the best implementation of SEO techniques, you can get a fair amount of exposure in the digital world. 

  1. Using social media marketing

Social media is an excellent place to market anything. From toilet paper to space rockets, it can advertise anything and everything. Before you try to sell an album, try building up a community if you are an independent artist. A strong community will help you gain the maximum exposure required as a beginner. You need to keep your followers engaged with your content. Use some fun-related ways to grow your brand and a robust fan base. Once you know that audiences are waiting for you, you have successfully used social media marketing and sold your music as an Indie artist. 

  1. Increasing your email list

Building up an email list provides you with a loyal fan base. While you may lose your social media fan followers in no time, an email list tends to give more truthful audiences for an Indie artist. Sending individual emails to them might lead to more actions over other mediums. You can include anything in your email list from your website content, social media accounts, your shows, and much more. Once you have given the push to the list, it starts growing. Keep them engaged with regular updates. 

  1. Live performance

Playing live is the best promotion mode and helps you gain instant audiences and that too at a large scale. If you are one born to perform, you must go for it. You can promote your live performance over social media, your email list, your website, and a banner would be great for the purpose. If you don’t like going out or are an Indie artist who is just a beginner and wouldn’t get much sponsorship, you can go for digital platforms like Deliver My Tune. You can find ample opportunities here that will help you showcase yourself with minimum to almost no cost. In fact, you can market your talent for free. As music distributors, they ensure to circulate your music through online music streaming apps such as Spotify and Wynk.

  1. Sell exclusive merchandise

Merchandises serve both as a revenue stream and an exclusive promotional tool. Wearable merchandise is a free promotional tool that works like a walking billboard. 

A t-shirt is an excellent option over a badge or hairpins In India. You can strategically plan out the image you want for yourself and design your merchandise. 

For an Indie artist, it is easy to get the reach of a doodler to design the merchandise. 

  1. Promoting music through YouTube

If you are confident with your music track, nothing can go wrong with YouTube promotions for an independent artist. YouTube is a location where digital viewers spend more time than any other medium. Videos are pretty popular among virtual viewers, and thus making a music video and releasing it on YouTube can never fail you to gain an audience. Along with music videos, you can upload vlogs, podcast episodes, interviews, announcements, and others. It’s ok if the video’s production level is not a high-class one, but you need to maintain the quality of your content. 

  1. Employing a popular music blog

You can always take advantage of an already popular music blog over your new one as an independent artist. You can share anything you want from your experiences to showcasing your music. You can write about your promo story or anything related to you. Or your music and reap the benefits of an already built audience base. 

An Indie artist can use other ways like pairing up with a music distribution company, learning the latest trend through Google Alerts, making short videos, subscribing to music marketing tips, and so on. You can also register on platforms such as Deliver My Tune and shoulder upon them the responsibility of marketing your talents and your labels.

There is no hard and fast rule for a creative profession. Some might click instantly, and some may take a longer time. An Indie artist must focus on producing likable content because Indian audiences get attracted to good quality music.