Marketing and Distribution

Music marketing is essential if you want people to be actively listening to your music. While there are options to pay for people to do your marketing for you, it can be quite costly, which may not be in your budget if you are an upcoming musician. There are plenty of other options to consider.

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ELECTRonic press kit

One form of marketing is an EPK (Electronic Press Kit). The goal of an EPK is to invite promoters, booking agents, media journalists, record labels, fans and other professionals to learn more about you as a person and an artist. An effective EPK will help to get you noticed within the industry.

What should be included in an EPK?

• An EPK should provide links to your music. Since people will rarely listen to an entire album or EP when discovering a new artist, it is best to provide links to your best work.

• A small biography is essential to an EPK. people want to know more about you as both an artist and personally. Keeping it short and simple is the easiest way to attract more readers.

• Professional photos are ideal for publishers, as they can use these in articles and flyers.

• Any shows and tours you may have done. It is vital to show what experience you have within the industry.

• Obviously, you will need to include contact details. Media journalists and other press will need to know how to contact you for possible interviews etc, so providing an email or social media account is extremely necessary.

(RORY PQ, 2020)

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Social media marketing

Marketing on social media is one of the most common forms of marketing for independent musicians. Mostly because of its ease, but also because of the many different ways you can reach a large audience. There are around 1130 Million users on Instagram alone, so with the right technique it is extremely easy to reach a huge number of people with very little effort.

• One way to market your music on social media is joining groups specific to the genre of music you are releasing. Build some relationships with big influencers within the groups, and those who are able to help with promoting the release of your music.

• Contact radio shows or YouTube channels who play similar music, or music in the same/similar genre.

• Create good impressions. Don’t be too big headed. The last thing people are looking for is a musician with a big ego.

(Letang, 2022)

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Marketing offline

While there is a lot of space to promote your music on social media platforms etc. There are also many other things you can do offline to get your music out there. Some examples include;

• Performing live at venues. If you perform at venues where your target audience are likely to be, it gives you the opportunity to not only gain experience in performing, but also promote your music to those who may listen to it.

• Handing out flyers to local music shops. This is an ideal way to get people to stop and read about your music. Providing links to where your music has been published is a great way to attract an audience. It may be ideal to include a QR code which takes you straight to any music platforms or social media, so people are able to check out your music quickly and easily.

(Letang, 2022)

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Building a brand

It is important that potential listeners know who you are as a musician. This could include what you stand for as an artist, down to the representation of the genre of music you’re releasing.

• It is absolutely key that you know yourself as a brand. As a musician, you should be able to describe yourself and your music within a 5 minute pitch. Focus on who you are as a musician, what the intentions of your music are, your goals and aspirations and what your music represents.

• Think about who you are to others. You are in control of your own reputation as an artist. Therefore, what you say you represent needs to be shown within your online and offline presence as a musician. Therefore, understanding how others see you is important, as then you know whether or not your brand is being represented correctly.

• Understand your target audience. Who would you like to showcase your music to? What demographic and psychographic do they fall into?

(Ivy, 2022)

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Theme

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distribution

In order to get your music released on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, you have to go through a distributor. There are many different distribution companies out there, so before choosing one it’s best to go through the pros and cons of each one, and decide which is best for you as an artist.

You can also distribute music physically rather than digitally through the sale of CD’s. However, due to the rise of users with digital streaming platforms, physical sales are declining rapidly.

Digital Music Aggregation

Digital music aggregation is the process of delivering music to online stores. Aggregators make money through charging upfront fees to artists or labels, or they may take a percentage of revenue/royalties earned from releases. (Littleton, 2021)

Most aggregators will need the track(s) as a WAV or MP3 file, with additional information such as:

• The title of the song
• Any artwork created for the song
• Lyrics
• Artist name
• Genre
• Any songwriters who helped with the track
• Names of any featured artists

(Littleton, 2021)

AWAL

Distrokid

DistroKid distributes songs to more than 150 stores. They have several different plans, the cheapest starting at $19.99 per year. (Littleton, 2021)

cd baby

CD Baby covers both digital distribution as well as physical distribution. (Herstand, 2020)

Ditto

costs and distribution speed

	AWAL	CD Baby	DistroKid	Ditto
Sign up Fee	$0	$0	$0	$0
Distribution Fees	$0	Single = $9.95 Album =$29	1 artist = $19.99/year 2 artists = $35.99/year	1 artist = $19/year 2 artists = $29/year
Payment Threshold	$30	user set minimum	$0	$25
Spotify Distribution Speed	4 weeks	1-2 days	2-7 days	1-3 days
Apple Music Distribution Speed	4 weeks	1-2 days	1-7 days	3-5 days