7 Ways to Promote Your SoundCloud Music

7 Ways to Promote Your SoundCloud Music

Published on: May 12, 2022
Last Updated: May 12, 2022

7 Ways to Promote Your SoundCloud Music

Published on: May 12, 2022
Last Updated: May 12, 2022

There is nothing that you are more passionate about than music. If it were completely up to you, you would spend all day and night writing music and performing it. However, if music is your business, at some point you have to leave the recording studio and think about how you’re going to promote it.

If you are determined to be taken seriously in the world of music, then you might want to think about how to market and promote it properly, especially when it comes to SoundCloud.

Let’s take a look at what we think are the best ways to promote your SoundCloud music.

1. Come Up with a Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan

With any kind of business, it’s really important to begin by figuring out your goal and identifying a target market. Once you’ve done this, you can begin to start developing a product that fills the needs of that target market, so that you can ultimately reach your goal.

As a musician, this approach is just as important for you as for anyone else out there. First, you need to understand the personalities and habits of your target fans.

Do they go to music festivals or clubs? Are they more introverted and prefer to hang out at the local bar, or even enjoy listening to music in the backroom with a few friends? Do they prefer to listen to music while exercising at the gym, hanging out with friends, or simply relaxing?

As a musician, there’s a good chance that you listen to your music in similar ways to how you would like your fans to listen to it. Either way, it’s important to answer questions like the ones above, so that you can figure out how best to target your fans when you release your music.

There are a number of different ways that you can get to know potential fans. The first is that you can attend shows put on by other artists within your industry or study the profiles of those artists on Facebook and Instagram.

If you’ve already managed to accumulate a small fanbase, then survey your listeners to figure out a little bit more about them, and maybe even ask how they came across your music.

Check out forums comprised of people that like music similar to yours and join in on the conversation. Also, you’ll want to explore YouTube videos of bands within your industry, to see what people are saying in the comments.

With this approach, you should be able to develop what is known as a marketing persona. This is an organized template that profiles the average listener of your music.

You need to be as detailed with this as possible, because ultimately you are trying to build a fictional fan. Once you have figured out who your target market is, you can begin to target them.

2. Know Where Your Target Market is

Target Market

This segways nicely into our next point: where is your target market located? Are they located both online and offline? Once you know more about your potential listeners, you can get a good gauge on where they are looking for music like yours.

You probably already know that there are a lot of different places online to find potential fans. From SoundCloud to YouTube, Reddit, and 8racks, you’ve got a lot of platforms to explore.

One of the best parts of looking online is that the platform is often a social one, which means that you can not only figure out what your potential fans are into, but also where they’re located, what other activities they do, and how they use the Internet. Make sure to dig around for data like this, because the more you have, the better you can target your potential fans.

3. Explore Your Data

SoundCloud’s Pro

If you are trying to target people in a specific area, then you need to go to that area and look around. If you’re doing so online, this can get a lot more complicated, and this is where data and analytics come in.

We think that the easiest way to accumulate the right data on SoundCloud is to switch to a Pro account. SoundCloud has limitations if you’re using their free account, one of these being that you can’t access any data. If you sign up for a Pro account with SoundCloud, you will get more upload time as well as traffic and usage data.

Considering SoundCloud’s Pro subscription is reasonably affordable, we think this is a great investment if you want to really get to know your target market.

If for some reason you don’t think that you can afford to spend money on SoundCloud Pro, or you are trying to access your data another way, then we suggest you look at analytics dashboard for Google Analytics or even YouTube. YouTube is only going to give you data related to your YouTube channel, but this can also be valuable, as it will show you what else your fans are listening to, and how much of your songs they’re hearing.

When it comes to Google Analytics, this is definitely one of the most powerful free data programs out there, and if you set it up with your website, you can get unlimited access to the insights. Google Analytics can tell you everything from where your listeners are located, to their age and their interests.

Of course, this data is valuable if you are planning something like your next tour or release, but the only downside is that Google Analytics can only help you on your website, and not elsewhere. Over on Facebook and Twitter, you’ve got similar analytics platforms.

If you are fairly familiar with social media networks in general, then you can make the most of data analytics on each of them. This is how you can target more people, gather more data, and at the end of the day be really effective when figuring out your next move for your music.

4. Promote Your Music Online

Promote Music Online

Once your promotional material is ready for your fans and influencers, it’s time to take it online. While there are multiple ways to promote your music online, one of the most common and effective right now is social media. However, it’s all about getting the balance just right, and with this in mind we don’t think that you should be on them all, but we also don’t think that you should just be on one.

Make sure that you pick two or three options where you think the majority of your fans are located. One thing that we really like about SoundCloud is how friendly it is to use, especially when compared to other social media platforms out there.

SoundCloud makes it really easy to link to your website, as well as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tumblr. This way, you can continue to be active on social networks, while allowing your SoundCloud profile to be the main base for your music.

One of the biggest reasons why you want to be on social media to promote your brand is to drive engagement. Ask your community questions about your music, make polls asking what they think your next album should be titled, make jokes, and ask them to share, repost, and retweet your content.

Grow some organic buzz around your content with pics of what’s going on behind the scenes, as well as hashtags. You’ll also want to make the most of discounted merchandise, free downloads, tickets to gigs, and other incentives to get people in the door.

You could think about offering these in exchange for email signups, so that you can increase your lead list. The best way to think about it is if you were your ideal fan, how would you want to be interacting with your favorite artist?

As you can see, social media is a great tool for online growth. It gives you a way to talk directly to your fans. If you keep it up and remain consistent with it, the more people you talk to online, the more fans you will get.

5. Use a SoundCloud Marketing Company

SoundCloud Marketing

You’ve done a lot of planning around your music and have started creating an online buzz. This is great! However, before you get too far, you will need to boost your credibility with a few numbers.

It’s really easy for a high-quality musician to drown in the sea of social media because they don’t have an existing following. The downside to this is that it definitely doesn’t mean their music isn’t good, it just means that they’re not being favored by the social media platform’s algorithm, and not that many people are checking out their content.

Another reason is that when people come across SoundCloud profiles that don’t already have a lot of engagement on it, they are less likely to interact with them. This is where a SoundCloud promotion or marketing company can come into bat.

Companies like SidesMedia are experts themselves in helping their clients boost their online credibility, and they do it all naturally, so that you keep your reputation intact. One of the things that we really like about SidesMedia is that they can help you across all different social platforms, not just SoundCloud.

SidesMedia

This means that you can grow your fans and followers online exponentially, and really give your music a good chance of being seen by the right people.

Don’t worry, there are many musicians that have gone before you and used companies like this.

SidesMedia when compared with hundreds of other companies out there is definitely one of the best, because they not only are going to help you with effective, authentic engagement, but they are going to keep your social media networks safe while they’re at it. We don’t recommend trying to find the right one yourself, as there’s a good chance that they will be a scam.

6. Reach Out to Success Stories

Success Stories

So far, we’ve covered all the ways that you can build some hype around new music online by yourself. However, especially when it comes to the music industry, no person is an island, which means that most musicians have found their way up the ladder through networking with those that have gone before them.

In fact, most artists that make great music have been picked up by someone. That someone is either a producer, a DJ, a YouTuber, or a blogger. The good news is that just being online gives your music a really good chance of being picked up by somebody, and as you can see, these people fall into many different categories.

With this in mind, we recommend being proactive on your end as well, and reaching out to potential connections that you think would be valuable based on your industry and niche.

While you might experience some initial rejection, this certainly doesn’t mean that you won’t get picked up by someone at some point, and that someone can end up being the perfect person to plug your music.

7. Work on SoundCloud a Bit More

SoundCloud Music

Even when you are miles ahead of where you first started, at no point should you forget about SoundCloud.

Your online music presence starts and ends with SoundCloud, which means that you can’t ever neglect it, no matter how big you get. Once you have discovered your niche and figured out how to grow it, it’s time to use SoundCloud to your advantage.

We suggest that you start following others who are either fellow artists, or fans who you think might follow you in return. When you do follow someone, make sure that you leave a comment on their content, and join groups of similar artists.

Remember, SoundCloud is just like any other social media platform out there and is made up of a community of people who are looking to interact with one another. The more you play the game, the more you are going to stand out and gain recognition as a music artist.

Final Thoughts

While it can be hard to be successful with music these days, it’s not impossible. As you can see, it just takes a little bit of know-how, and a bit of work.

By following the tips that we have talked about above to promote your music on social platforms like SoundCloud, you’ll be able to grow your presence both on and offline.

Remember to create a solid marketing plan that can see you through to achieving all of your goals, and don’t be afraid to rely on a SoundCloud marketing company like SidesMedia who can take care of some of the boring day-to-day stuff.

The bottom line with promoting music on SoundCloud is that the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it. Good luck!

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Written by Jason Wise

Hello! I’m the editor at EarthWeb, with a particular interest in business and technology topics, including social media, privacy, and cryptocurrency. As an experienced editor and researcher, I have a passion for exploring the latest trends and innovations in these fields and sharing my insights with our readers. I also enjoy testing and reviewing products, and you’ll often find my reviews and recommendations on EarthWeb. With a focus on providing informative and engaging content, I am committed to ensuring that EarthWeb remains a leading source of news and analysis in the tech industry.