There are many ways to gain attention for your songs and very few ways to get discovered. So, this article will try to cover all the common ways to get noticed as a singer-songwriter.
It may sound obvious, but it’s true that getting enough attention for your music is a challenge.
This is a time-intensive and expensive process and many singer-songwriters fail at it because they don’t know how to get noticed. Don’t let it be you.
If you are new to music publishing and/or are a solo singer/songwriter and want to have your music professionally recorded, played on the radio, and/or performed in a live theatre or band, read on.
There is a wide range of songs an artist can get famous for. Perhaps you are a songwriter and you already have an arsenal of songs. This is great but remember that perhaps if you do a cover before you release your own songs you'll have a higher chance of getting noticed.
Either way, you'll need to pick the song that best represents you and your art and professionally record it.
Before you do that, however, ask your friends and family on their opinion of the song. Which song impresses them the most? Which song of yours (or a cover) do they absolutely love and ask that you play again?
You could always do a home recording, which is fine. But ultimately you are going to want to go into the studio and see how it sounds professionally recorded.
Record the song!
The cost of recording a song in a studio will vary from country to country, but will most likely be about £200 – £300 (USD$310-$425) and up, (everywhere). The same applies if you want to have a song professionally recorded by a recording artist.
The British music industry has an entire industry geared to the needs of recording artists, who will write a song for you, produce the recording, promote it and book the band for gigs.
The producers are usually taking a percentage of the band’s profits. Other artists with more prestigious and “riskier” reputations will cost even more, in some cases as much as £100,000 per album.
However, if you don't have a producer behind your project, you can still record a great quality song on a moderate budget!
Also, think about investing in a VIDEO for your song. A video is likely to get much more interaction than a song, so if you can invest in a video of you playing the song in the studio it will work to your benefit.
The most important tool in the singer songwriter’s arsenal, if used correctly, is PR.
A proper PR plan is not just for gaining publicity, but for also branding your own career. PR simply means building relationships and open up communication between two parties, two brands.
Make the world you want to live in available for you. Most importantly, make yourself available for the people you want to do business with.
Your industry may not as glamorous as say, film, because it is a multi-million dollar with a huge fan base.
If you don’t have a big fan base, you need to spend as much time as you can building your relationships with the industry. When you get in there, you have to make things happen, and do so with PR.
Our company, Promo Panda, is an online PR firm that helps artists get coverage on their music from influential blogs all around the world! Use our service and you'll get your music promoted in magazines with HUGE readerships.
The internet offers many ways to advertise your music. Here are just a few of the different ways to get your music seen and spread.
It's often a hassle to get on these sites or books. A simple song without the right promotion can be overlooked. This is the first thing you should put your money into if you want a chance at playing live.
There is of course social media, and you should have a handle on that. However, there are some other ways that you can get your songs out there.
Social media is an excellent way to promote your music. By playing up to people’s senses of romance and wistful nostalgia they will find your music far more interesting. But if you’re not on Facebook or Twitter you can’t really reach out.
So work out how to get yourself listed on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube etc, and that way you will have at least one place to broadcast yourself, and build a presence.
Use social media to establish good relationships with industry professionals — don’t just do it by spamming them on Facebook.
Try to find common ground and connect with them personally.
You have to respect them in order to build a successful relationship.
Also, don’t just be like one of the bands in the videos, try to make your music interesting. Post interesting things about your career as a singer-songwriter.
