How Record Labels Promote Singles

By Promo Panda Staff

Want to promote your music like a record label? This article will give you some tips for promoting your music like a professional.

Here are some things you can do to improve your chances of getting noticed by more people.

Learn what your strengths and weaknesses are, which means you have to learn your strengths and weaknesses to use them effectively to your advantage. Spend some time figuring out how your passion influences your craft and what your music needs to achieve.

Then prioritize your talents. A little bit of crafting knowledge can go a long way, but it can also be overwhelming when you first start.

A good tool to use is Notepad++. It’s a free program that can help you organize your thoughts.

Develop your online presence. Be proactive about marketing your music by blogging, participating in online forums, and even putting yourself out there with an audience-building social network.

And be sure to turn on your video recorder!

Make friends in the music industry. Getting exposure is important, but knowing what to say and how to say it is critical.

Consider working with an independent publicist who specializes in pop or alt-pop. Their job is to find the best fit for you.

Learn how the industry works. Every industry has its own politics, and you need to learn to navigate them.

Read up on contracts, learn about the pitfalls of getting played on pirate radio, and make sure you know how the major-label system works.

How record labels promote albums

How record labels promote albums

If you want your music to get played by enough people, you have to make it available to the right people. The best way to get your music to the right people is to make your album available to the right people.

Have it distributed

A record label's primary way gets your album to the right people is to have it distributed by a third-party company. A good record label will work with a variety of distributors, and the best one is Amazon.

You can find a list of all Amazon distributors by clicking here.

Build up buzz

When your album is ready to go on sale, make sure to spread the word on social media. Make sure to use the right hashtags to make sure the right people hear your music.

Create a website, like About.Me.us, to help connect with your fans and build your audience.

Set up a website to link to from your Amazon link.

Publish a press release and set up a publicist. Your press release should be fairly short and to the point.

Some ways to incorporate press coverage into your press release:

  • Write a summary of your music and story.
  • Offer some exclusive content.
  • Do a giveaway. Make sure to promote it on social media.
  • Don’t just do one press release. Use a combination of press releases and promotions to get the word out.
  • Book a music video for your single. Make sure it’s exciting, engaging, and allows you to feature other musicians.
  • Release your album.
  • Publish your album.
  • Make your first Spotify play. This is important because Spotify selects what it plays on its playlists based on the popularity of music made available.
  • Put your album on a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray. Then take it to the music store to see if it’s any good.
  • Book an indie music showcase tour. The album should get you played at various indie music showcases across the country, which is where a lot of new artists are discovered.
  • Take your press releases and blog posts to social media, along with the press release that Amazon sent you, to help get the word out.

If you do end up touring, try to use an outdoor bus tour to increase your exposure. If you want to take it to the next level, take a multi-city tour that goes across the country.

Create music for the right people

Create music for the right people

To get the right people to hear your music, you need to figure out what the right people listen to. One way to figure this out is to make sure that the right people are using your music.

Check out some of your favorite musicians’ music.

Don’t use iTunes or any music management software. Try to find music managers who specialize in indie artists.

If you get many “likes” on your Facebook page, and those likes are from people in your area, you may want to create a business page there, which is how people hear about you in your area.

Another way to figure out what the right people listen to is to make sure that you’re using the right software, such as SoundCloud, Spotify, or Apple’s iHeartRadio. Don’t use iTunes or any other popular music management software.

If you use iTunes, you’ll have no control over what your music is being used. If you use Spotify, you can’t put your music on playlists unless you pay a fee.

Even though it’s sometimes more work than it’s worth, you can turn your followers into your fans and market your music for you.

Once you build up your subscriber list, work on your SEO. To do this, you’ll want to do the following:

  • Make sure your profile has a picture. Add a short bio that showcases what you do.
  • Add a link to your website if you have one.
  • Add a link to your SoundCloud account if you have one.
  • Add a link to your YouTube page if you have one.
  • Add a link to your Amazon account.

Your videos should be entertaining. Have someone take a few of them and upload them to YouTube. You can also use stock footage and music you upload yourself to your videos.

Make sure that you use free stock footage and music.

Be consistent

Be consistent

Once you have a growing email list, you want to make sure that your fans get your emails consistently.

Build relationships with your fans. You’ll want to answer questions and send out free content to your subscribers. Make sure to interact with your subscribers regularly.

Work on your branding and image. Work on having a clean profile on all the major social networks.

This helps build a relationship with your followers and can also help you make connections with other artists.

Target your audience. To know what they listen to, you’ll need to have a clear target audience so you know what to create for them.

Create original content. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box.