How To Promote Your Music in The Digital Age

Let’s set the scene. You’ve been to the studio and produced a song that you’re extremely proud of.

You have a great product, the melodies are strong, the lyrics are meaningful, the hook is catchy, and you’re sat there full of excitement knowing that this song could do wonders for your career as an independent artist.

Everything is locked in via your distributor and a release date has been set. But then you realise, what on earth do I do know, how do I get people to listen? Well, let us tell you.

Spotify For Artists Pre-Pitch

Many artists often overlook the power of the Spotify for Artists pre-pitch form. This is a surefire (and free) way to get your new release directly in front of the editors. You should aim to submit this pitch around 4 weeks prior to release date and ensure that you craft the best pitch possible as the competition is fierce. Here are some best practices:

• Tell them your hometown and current location, this routes your pitch to the correct editor team

• Choose your genres wisely, aim for the main umbrella term i.e. ‘Pop’ and one directly related sub-genre if applicable i.e. ‘Electro Pop’. 

• Think carefully about the songs style, music culture and moods, this allows an editor to search using these parameters for a fitting song for their playlist i.e. we want a Pop track that’s acoustic and chill.

• Describe which instruments have been used on the production of your track, if you’re a EDM producer this is more than likely going to be ‘samples’ & ‘synthesisers’, however, if you’re a four piece Indie-Rock band, then make sure you physically select ‘drum kit’, ‘bass guitar’, ‘electric guitar’ and anything else that is relevant – again, editors use these selections to find the perfect fit.

• Make sure you select the correct options for remix, instrumental, live or studio and the song language, these will further define your releases category and ensure that it sits in the correct place.

• Lastly, write a killer pitch and we don’t just mean ‘this song is really good, it’s real, it’s a Pop banger and I produced it in my bedroom, please listen’. In this section you are essentially selling the release to the editors. You should include the meaning behind the track, how it was written and produced, any relevant influences, current or expected support including any teams you or notable persons you worked with to create it. in addition, you should mention your plans to promote it and if applicable, the PR company that you are working with to market it. Finally, you should also suggest suitable editorial playlists i.e. ‘perfect for your New Pop UK and Fresh Finds Pop’ editorials.

Since 2019 our team at Now Listen PR have helped our independent artists secure over 350 editorial playlists such as New Music Friday, New Noise, All New Rock, Fresh Finds, New Pop UK, Dance Revolution, The Crib and more. You can see some of our clients’ editorial lands on our Instagram page.

BBC Introducing Uploader

This is another very powerful tool that can add huge artist credibility; if successful, you can literally get your track played on radio for free! We suggest that you upload your new song 7 days prior to the release date. This gives producers time to listen and if successful, programme your track for their upcoming BBC Introducing show. Below are a few elements to think about when completely your upload:

• Make sure you have selected the right regional team; this should be the team closest to where you’re based i.e. if your hometown is Nottingham this would be ‘BBC East Midlands’.

• Select the right genre for your release, this is extremely important and helps pre-select the relevant National radio team i.e. ‘Country’ would pre-select BBC Radio 2 and ‘Rock’ would pre-select BBC Radio 1 (Alyx Holcombe’s Rock Show). This ensures that your song is sent to both the regional and national team for consideration.

• Craft a killer bio and song pitch, think about your ties to the local area (important for the regional team) and why your song is special. Describe the feel, any relevant PR support, and the meaning behind it. The more detail give you can give, the better.

We’ve helped our artist’s gain spot plays on their local regional radio station, secure track of the week and even national airplay on the likes of BBC Radio 1 ‘Rock Show’ and ‘Future Pop’.

Social Media Marketing

Eye-catching content is key. In a word where our attention spans last no more than three seconds and social platform content flows endlessly with every scroll, standing out from the crowd is crucial.

Social Media Marketing must be broken down and understood as two key areas:

Organic & Native Posting

This is where you as an artist utilise the free side of social platforms, i.e. story posts, reels, shorts and feed posts on social platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook. We like to refer to these platform posts as your ‘shop window’.

When thinking specifically about this area you should note the key factors which are: Cool Content x High Output = Growth & Visibility. Remember, video content also works on average 10x better than pictures or stills.

We have tailored strategies for our roster of artists and usually tell them to batch create cool content, roughly around a month’s worth of videos in one sitting if feasible. This could take anywhere between two and four hours. By carving out a few hours to film content, you will find that you don’t run out of content halfway through a week and the task of daily posting doesn’t become overwhelming or too time consuming.

Prior to filming, you should think about your genre, artist message, branding and target audience, all of which are key elements that our team use to formulate our tailored artist marketing & content plans. Once you have a batch of videos that you are happy with, you should use a video editor to ensure they are synced and colour-graded correctly and begin to think of clever copy and description ideas, alongside relevant hashtags to feed the algorithm.

A point to note, utilising social media as a platform to promote your music isn’t posting a picture of your artwork and saying my new single ‘X’ is ‘Out Now’, this doesn’t work.

Digital Ads

This is the paid side of social platforms, here we’re talking Meta Ads (Instagram & Facebook), TikTok ads & YouTube / Google ads.

Running a well-targeted, social media advertising campaign using laser focus ads and cool, eye-catching content can make or break a release, and you must be aware that this isn’t the same as ‘boosting’ a post on Instagram. Our team have spent years studying the advertising dashboards of the major social platforms and have successfully harnessed the power of paid digital ads to:

• Discover super fans

• Grow our artists social followers across Instagram and Spotify

• Trigger powerful algorithmic playlist such as Discover Weekly, Radio, Release Radar & Mixes

• Collect rich, insightful data for re-marketing

• Create sustainable growth and visibility for artists projects and releases

• Grow subscribers and views on YouTube

• Attract large numbers of targeted playlist followers

• Sell tickets to headline shows via mailing lists 

Independent Playlisting 

This one can be extremely valuable but must be approached with caution.

As you can read in our blog around sustainable growth for independent artists, the wrong independent or self-curated playlists can be harmful to algorithms and the authenticity or your release, resulting in all kinds of headaches. However, when done in the right way, can unlock powerful new listening audiences, globally.

You must ensure that the playlisters you reach out to use only organic methods or growing their playlists. This could either be via targeted ads on Meta (Facebook & Instagram) or TikTok advertising. You will usually find a contact method for independent playlists inside their Spotify description or bio, such as an Instagram handle and you can check the authenticity of specific playlists prior to pitching for inclusion using free tools such as artist.tools.

Our team’s network of independent playlisters has been vetted heavily and we request evidence of how playlist saves and followers have been achieved before partnering with any new curators. In addition, we also have spent a long time carefully crafting our own genre and mood related playlists which have been grown organically over the past six years, such as Morning Coffee & You.

The right independent playlists can help your music reach new audiences, achieve organic streams and in some cases new follower growth as a result of passive listening.

Digital Press & Music Magazine Pitching

This more traditional method of music PR and music marketing can provide a valuable digital footprint for your artist’s name and song title. For example, if you type your artist name into Google, what do you see? If the answer is ‘not a lot’, then this is where glowing features and solid reviews within the right music blogs and music magazines come in. These handcrafted press articles can do wonders for your projects SEO and promote online authority.

Some of the independent, DIY & tastemaker press outlets you can pitch your music to include QuipMag, Vents Magazine, Music-News, Chalkpit, Unheard Gems, FVMusicBlog and Alpha Sessions.

Remember, a strong, unique pitch is key to attracting editors’ attention in this space, so make sure every word counts. 

The Now Listen PR Blueprint

So, we’ve covered, Spotify playlist pitching, BBC Introducing, Social Media Marketing, Digital Advertising & Music Press which are all undoubtedly some of the key pillars in the music promotion and digital music marketing journey. 

Here is how our team can help tie all of these key music marketing elements together:

• A 360-Degree Plan: We don’t just send random emails or deliver quick fixes. We create an integrated and bulletproof music marketing plan where press outreach, playlist pitching, social content, and advertising all work together to tell one cohesive story. We ensure that all platforms are activated at the right time and that no stone is left unturned when it comes to your music and artist project.

• Focus on goal orientated campaigns: Whether your goal is to get your first 1,000 followers, create hype around a new single or sell out a hometown headline show, Now Listen PR builds campaigns with clear, measurable objectives.

• Leverage our personal relationships: We help your music reach the right people via our own personal pitching routes to create traction and meaningful lands, whether this be playlist curators, magazine editors, radio producers or in-store music playlist designers, we have the trust and the ears of industry professionals. 

• We’re part of your team: We are experts in this field, we eat, sleep and breathe music pr, music marketing and music promotion. We have the experience, know-how and energy to get the best out of our artists and alongside navigating the twists and turns of the music industry, we’re here to be part of your team, your network and to guide you through your artist journey.

Ready To Take Your Release Beyond Just Uploading?

Whilst our aim here is to give you a deep insight into the inner mechanics, key platforms and best practices of marketing your music effectively post distribution, we also understand that the music marketing space is complex and at times, can feel extremely overwhelming to navigate.

That’s why our team at Now Listen PR handles the complex puzzle of effective music promotion for our artists so that they can spend their time focusing purely on thing they love the most, creation.

A well-built music PR campaign is the strategic layer that makes all your promotional efforts more effective, we can help you turn short-term wins into long-term fans. Therefore, if you’re looking to make your next release more than just an upload, get in touch with us to see where we can help.