It may feel impossible to gain those first few thousand diehard fans who play such a huge role in building a sustainable music career, especially if you are just starting out.
There are so many ways to gain more fans for your music
There are dozens and dozens of ways to get more fans for your music, but it all comes down to commitment and persistence, and from there, find the right balance of tactics that works best for your personal music career strategy.
If you follow through with the following you’ll be well on your way to fame!
1. Create Your Identity
You MUST know your brand before you do anything else. Take time to really discover who you are and how you are wanting to represent yourself to the world (both in person and online). This will be crucial to how you relate to your fans. What’s different about you? What are you wanting to convey through your music? What’s your story? Stay authentic!
2. Communicate With Your Fans
You must maintain an online presence if you want to keep your fans forever. Stay interactive with them if you want to maintain and grow your following. It’ll require consistent effort on your part to keep reminding them that you are their favorite. Deepen relationships and history and ultimately create superfans who will help promote you and support your career in the long run.
3. Keep Your Fans In The “Know”
In order to hold the attention of the music fans, you must be consistent across all of your communication channels. Whether it’s your email newsletter, social media pages, or new music releases, you have to give your fans something to expect and look forward to on a regular basis.
4. Use hashtags
Hashtags are a great tool to make it easier for music fans to discover you. Search trending hashtags on Instagram and Twitter, and use them to connect with niche audiences and topics of conversation that are relevant to you.
5. Giveaways!
Everyone loves getting free stuff! Offer a download of an exclusive track in exchange for an email address, or run a merch giveaway on social media. If you can incentivize your existing fans to share the giveaway with their friends, you’re likely to earn new fans of your music in the process.
6. Press Release
Get the word out! Reach out to different PR companies that will feature your music. Even a little bit of traction on websites like those will help tons of passionate music fans find your stuff.
7. Streaming and Playlisting
Get your song featured on a popular Spotify playlist. This can be very effective at creating buzz for your band. Curated streaming playlists are how most fans discover new music nowadays. With the right pitch and timing, you can strike gold with a playlist feature.
8. Post YouTube covers
YouTube is usually the first place people will search when trying to find a specific song, Along with uploading your original music to your official channel, posting cover videos will improve your chances of appearing higher in search results, and will make you more accessible to new fans.
9. Charity Events
Booking gigs, especially at charity events is always a win-win. Events are a gateway to new fans and followers of your music. Start with your own network – surely someone you know has an upcoming wedding, party, or corporate event that could be made better with live music! GigSalad is a great tool to use to find these types of events.
10. Partner With Other Bands
Just like with playing charity events, partnering with fellow musicians, especially with bands that have more of a following than you. This brings massive exposure. You could trade support slots on upcoming shows with a band that’s similar to yours, or collaborate on a cover video.
11. It’s All About Who You Know
This is easier said than done, of course, but as you already know, relationships are everything in the music industry. One tweet from an influencer with a big following could be a game changer for your music career.
If you’re brand new to the music business and you have zero contacts, try going out to networking events, conferences, or local industry meetups. There are also plenty of online communities and Facebook groups you can join to build up your network, as well as websites like Fluence that give you access to people who can help promote your music to a bigger audience.
12. Press Campaigns
If you’re touring for the first time or releasing your first album, you’ll want to start a campaign to advertise. Use SEO — keywords make a huge difference when it comes to Google and other search engines on the web. Once you begin to gain significant traction, I recommend hiring a professional music publicist to manage your campaigns for you.
13. Release great music!
When it comes down to it, if your music and shows are anything less than remarkable, you’re going to have a really hard time gaining true fans. Focus relentlessly on building up your songwriting and performance chops. If what you’re doing is really unique and amazing to your target audience, you’ll turn them into superfans who will gladly promote you to their friends and followers.
