How to Promote Your Music on Spotify – Tips for Beginner Musicians
For beginner musicians, learning how to promote their music on various music platforms around the internet is a must. It opens the possibility to have your music out in the open and grow your fan base. One of those platforms is Spotify, the biggest digital music, video and podcast streaming platform in the world. Spotify has over 200 million monthly users and has become one of the most used avenues for artists to share their music with people from all over the world. But on a big platform, like Spotify is, it can be quite easy for your tracks to fall under the radar. Fortunately, there are some ways you can promote your music and increase your chances of having a successful career.
Get Your Artist Profile Verified
We live in the era of technology which means anybody can go online, create a Spotify account and start telling people they are artists. Unfortunately, this is why people are often reluctant to believe some Spotify users are actually musicians. But there is a way to let people know you are a genuine artist and establish trust within your potential fanbase – getting your profile verified.
Having that blue tick right next to your name is like getting a verification badge that shows the world you are a legitimate artist. You can do so by signing up to Spotify for Artists, which will get your account automatically verified and provide you with the verified artist badge that will make your profile look more professional. This will also raise the chances for Spotify to pick and promote your songs throughout their users’ playlists.
Having a verified account will also provide a deeper look into your stats, to determine where your fans are and which of your songs are more popular. You can also add a bio and all sorts of promotional images to complete your profile.
Be Active and Consistent
In today’s music industry, if you don’t keep a constant presence in the online, you can easily be forgotten. Ever heard about one-hit-wonders? Those are the artists that gained a lot of popularity with one song, but went into oblivion once they stopped creating new music for their fans. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, you’ll have to maintain a regular releasing schedule, so your fans can know when you are going to be posting something new. Be careful not to overdo it and keep in mind to always post high-quality content. The Spotify algorithms will also be influenced by how active you are and how engaging your content is and will help you gain more popularity.
When a new follower finds your Spotify channel, they will most likely be looking at how active you are, how much followers you have and how often your songs are played. If your songs have a high number of plays, people are more likely to check your music. Spotify also ranks its tracks based in the total number of plays and their frequency. To build a consistent base, especially if you are new to the industry, you can also buy Spotify plays, to give you a boost at the beginning of your career.
Make Use of Spotify Playlists
Spotify relies a lot on curated playlists, which are customized to fit various moods or occasions. Getting a spot on one of those playlists could get you thousands of new fans, as they are not just a collection of someone’s favorite songs. Some of the most popular playlists are controlled by important people in the industry, such as Sony Music (Filtr Playlist) and Universal Music Group (Digster Playlist). One of the best ways to get your music featured is by getting in touch with the curators and pitch your music to them.
Another way to promote yourself through playlists is by creating them yourself. Invest some time in creating some good playlists, but make sure they fit your audience’s interests. Include your tracks and other artists that are similar to your music, to get the attention of their fans. If you want to, you can even contact some of them to ask for a collaboration and build your relationship with them. Chances are, they will be willing to include you in their playlists as well.
Make Use of Spotify Tools
Spotify also offers a variety of resources that you can use to promote your music:
Spotify Ad Studio: gives you the possibility to create 30 seconds audio ads that users can hear during ad breaks between songs. Ads also contain a clickable image that links to a URL of your choice.
Spotify Player: if you have a website or blog, you can embed a Spotify player and allow visitors to listen to your music. It works with any website that supports HTML editing, by just copying and pasting a short code.
Spotify Code: this is a QR scannable tag that you can include on flyers, posters or business cards. They can then be scanned using the Spotify app and lead to your profile.
Don’t Forget About Social Media
Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, are still one of the best ways to promote your music and Spotify knows that. The streaming platform gives musicians multiple options to share their music, from Spotify, directly on social media. This can be extremely helpful, as you can move your social media followers a way to discover your Spotify profile as well and even share your music, to help boost your fanbase and even go viral.
In addition to constantly sharing your music on social media, don’t forget to keep your followers engaged by constantly posting relevant content. Share articles related to your music genre, news about artists that you admire and even some bonus codes from time to time. This way, your followers base will continue to grow and become more loyal. Don’t forget to answer to their comments in a polite manner and take the pertinent suggestions into consideration. This will show your fans that you genuinely value their opinion.