There are many ways to market your music. In this video, I am going to share 8 creative music marketing strategies with you. Although, some of these may sound a little far-out, they also have potential to be great strategies if you can implement them properly. Therefore, let’s get the show on the road…
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Creative Music Marketing Strategies #1: Make a Custom Song For a Social Media Influencer
This may sound a little bit far-out, but think about it for a second. There are various different types of songs that you can make. These include the following…
Audio Logos
In the world of stock music licensing an audio logo is also known as a bumper, audio ident or sting. It is basically a seven-second ditty that is used on the intro or outro of a media production such as a YouTube video.
Music Beds
The purpose of a music bed is to give the influencer a piece of background music that they can use in their YouTube videos. It is just without the catchy bits that draw people’s attention away from the influencer. Therefore, this is ideal background music.
Looped Versions of a Song
A looped version is what it says on the tin. It is a seamless piece of music that can be looped over and over again. Therefore, it is ideal for multiple videos of different lengths.
Maybe you can give the influencer all three of these.
Why Approach an Influencer?
Social media influencers are the ideal people to approach because they have influence over a large number of people. You are best to target social media influencers on a social media site such as YouTube, Instagram or Facebook.
Creative Music Marketing Strategies #2: Send Music to Multiple YouTubers
This would require you to do the same kind of thing as you did in idea number one. However, you should now send music out to as many people as possible. You should also bear in mind that different YouTubers will have different audiences. Therefore, you need to target those whose audience aligns and identifies itself as the fans of your music.
You also need to get these YouTubers to credit you in the description of their videos. If they don’t credit you and you don’t get a mention, this whole exercise would be pointless.
Creative Music Marketing Strategies #3: Clip Some Memes and Change the Audio
I didn’t know what memes were, much less how to pronounce the word. I mean, is it pronounced me-me or meeme? Anyway, it is funny clips where people share funny little accidents on purpose. If you can make a video of such an incident with your song in the background, that is what Pat is trying to get at here.
With this strategy, you search for some Memes on YouTube. You can do this in the same way as I explain in this post. However, you have to change the audio to your song. People can then find your music and the fact it is a meme makes it altogether more sharable.
Changing the audio is quite straightforward if you are using a software such as Camtasia. Just click on the section of video in the timeline and select, “Separate Audio and Video”. You then delete the original audio and add your song to it instead.
Creative Music Marketing Strategies #4: Create and Share Some Memes
I didn’t know what memes were, much less how to pronounce the word. I mean, is it pronounced me-me or meeme? Anyway, it is funny clips where people share funny little accidents on purpose. If you can make a video of such an incident with your song in the background, that is what Pat is trying to get at here.
Pat recommends making tonnes of different meme videos and adding your music as the background video. Therefore, there is more chance of them being shared. That is also why meme videos are so popular to YouTubers – because people love to share them. I am leaving a meme video below to show you the kind of thing these people do. Maybe you can do something similar.
Creative Music Marketing Strategies #5: Giveaways
If you have something that you don’t want, especially if it has a lot of value, you can use that to build presaves on Spotify or anything else that you want your fans to do for you.
In the video, Pat talks about giving away a Nintendo Switch. It doesn’t have to be an expensive games console. Instead, why not give away an autographed copy of an album that is one-of-a-kind. By this, I also mean that you only make one copy of this album. Could you imagine how much someone would value a on-of-a-kind album from someone like Elvis or a band like The Beatles. Even lesser-rated artists could do this and the album would be worth something – especially if your music made you some fame and fortune.
Give Away a Completely Unique CD or Record
All you need to do is to go to Kunaki.com and put something together for your fans. I tend to do this for Christmas. I give my family and friends some CDs that I make for Christmas. This is a great gift. This is because it is so unique. If we made it in the industry and became more well-known, these Christmas gifts could increase in value.
Creative Music Marketing Strategies #6: Make a Cover Song
You need to be careful here. That goes without saying. This is because you don’t want to invite any legal disputes over plagiarism. You also don’t want to be known as a cover artist. This is because it takes away your personal artwork. If people consider you to be a cover artist, they will only expect you to make particular songs. Therefore, it takes away your ability to express yourself artistically.
What is Great About Doing Cover Songs?
If a song is popular and has been successful with its original artist, people will be more likely to take note of your version. For instance, we have produced a few cover songs from completely different artists in the past.
The first was Hot Butter’s Popcorn hit from the early 1980s. This was in the earlier dance music scene and is well-known by a certain age group. Here is my version…
There was also a cover of Paul Hardcastle’s 19. This track is another 1980s dance anthem. It has an altogether different meaning though. I think Paul was trying to share the message that these veteran soldiers from the Vietnam War had PTSD and were basically forgotten about. Here is the version of 19 that Everhald produced for Krannaken…
Getting the Originals Vs Covers Balance Right
The right balance for covers and original music would be 30-40% covers and the rest should be original. This makes your music more popular. However, it is better to be known for your own music than as someone who copies other people. Therefore, you should keep covers to a minimum.
Creative Music Marketing Strategies #7: Make a Music Video From a Strange Place
Pat explains that this is his favourite strategy of all of them. Basically, you get something that resembles a microphone. This could be a children’s toy, your mobile phone or an ice-cream cone. You then go to a really strange location and film yourself performing in that location.
Which Location Does Pat Suggest?
Ok, so suggested locations are in the middle of a busy road, in a rubbish bin or in the boot of someone’s car. The first of these is a bit silly. You may be hit by a car or worse. It’s not a good idea.
It kind of reminds me of one night around 25 years ago. My best mate and I were going to my Mum’s at 3 o’clock in the morning. We had just travelled 30 miles, but missed our last bus. We decided that we were going to walk down the side of the motorway at 3 am to get back to my parents place. This was a walk of around five miles, but we got people’s car horns blaring as we went. It was one night I am not going to forget too soon. Anyhow, it’s good to reminisce. What crazy stunts have you pulled like this?
Creative Music Marketing Strategies #8: Offer Your Music as Background Music to Video Creators
Seeing as most video creators will pay for good background music, they would be more than happy to accept and consider your music for free. Plus, you are also getting your music into the minds of everyone who watches these videos. This can be great for YouTube, IGTV, Facebook, etc.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this post about 8 creative music marketing strategies. I hope you are able to implement them in your own day-to-day activities and share your music with the world.
If you have any time left now, why not choose another of my recent posts to read from the list below…
These are some out of the box suggestions, which is great! Anyway that we can get our music in front of others in a creative way is a GREAT thing! Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
Thanks for the feedback Vox. Most appreciated 🙂
As a music lover, I’m always excited to see new posts about how musicians can use marketing strategies to get their music out there. This post is no exception! There are so many great ideas in this article. I liked the idea of using different platforms for different types of content, such as creating blog posts and YouTube videos.
That’s great Tony. Thanks for the great feedback 🙂
Thank you, this is a big help! In order to become a successful music artist, having an effective music promotion is important. Thank you for sharing this valuable article, I hope many aspiring music artist could come across this. I also recommend trying out a music management tool to help you promote your brand, grow your audience and give your music the attention it deserves.
Thanks for the feedback 🙂