Music Marketing Blog | Playlist King

Playlist King has taken their industry leading expertise in Spotify Promotion, and is helping musicians get heard on another platform, Tik-Tok. This is a tricky world to traverse, so don’t try it alone. We have influencers with high engagement, and know just how to get your music heard via our tik tok promotion service.

It is logical to assume that a high follower count is the key thing to look for. This is an inaccurate assumption. There are many metrics that impact how well an influencer marketing campaign may help promote your brand, or in this case, your music. Some aspects may include geography, age demographic of followers, personal style and taste of the influencer and more.

It is easy to mess up a big budget spend here, as you may neglect some key details. You might want to ask yourself things like ‘How am I going to ensure it converts?’ The problem here is, most musicians and their managers, are not marketing geniuses. There is a relatively low conversion rate to other sources, such as Spotify, where you can retain these fans and earn royalites. Leave it to the pros. Playlist King.

Spotify has announced that they are removing listener count from playlists on an artists profile. While this may make it more difficult for some artists to figure out which playlists are getting high numbers, it doesn’t prevent an artist from tracking his or her stats after landing on the playlist. Artists can see this on the Artists app, available for IOS and Android.

For our clients- don’t worry, we will still be able to provide you top-tier Spotify promotion. Your stats will not change, and the deliverability of superior music promotion is still available.

Playlist King is having a black friday sale with 30% off your cart with orders of $124 or more! Use code “playlistking30” at checkout!

We are proud to announce that we have partnered with AMY Network , one of the world’s largest musician networking apps. AMY (Action, Motivation, You) is what we see as a Linked-In for musicians, where over 120,000 musicians come to make connections, create, and share.

Some of their prime features include geo-targeted user experiences such as finding nearby artists and services such as recording studios, and booking appointments right through their app. The best part? It’s FREE. Download and try it yourself here through the App Store and Google Play: https://linktr.ee/amy.network

https://linktr.ee/amy.network

Music Promotion

In the last artist tip newsletter, we discussed strategy. This time we will expand on that. Measurable goals and concentration of efforts will get you a long way. Think and act like you are a record label. We have a finite budget. Where should we spend? Read more about how to think about music marketing properly.

If you are new to the artist game.. read this. if not, skip to the fourth paragraph.  It’s time to realize that some artists are doing well for one reason. You might be better artists than they are. Think Kodak Black… he might be absolutely terrible as far as lyrical ability goes, but he is signed to Atlantic Records.

How did he do so well? Two components- Luck, and strategy. He took his work seriously and invested in himself. Invested in his product and marketing. Those who think like business people have a much better chance of making it big-time in the music industry. 

Concentration of efforts: you cannot be scattered and be succesful. Good managers are organized. If you are a single act artist without professional management: you are your own manager. 

Learn about the best areas to focus on in music marketing. Unless you have money falling from the sky, you won’t be able to promote a video, your Spotify, have billboards (get yours here) along highways, and still have money to pay the bills all at the same time. 

A little money here and there into different areas may seem like a good idea. But it’s not. Figure out where to best allocate your money, and what then measure the results of it. A good metric would be ‘Did this spending help get me farther toward my short term goal?’

Why we advocate Spotify: Spotify allows measurable results. It’s the best platform (in our opinion) for growth of an artist, and furthermore, allows for royalties in return. We also know that is has a higher conversion rate than other forms of music advertising. Think about it: your links are all right on your artist page, you are given room for a professional bio (your fans get to know you), and they are already ON SPOTIFY LOOKING FOR MUSIC! Where can you find a better platform as an artist? (Get organic playlist promotion here)

From our experience: videos are very costly, and unless you already have a big fan base, can result in very little gain. Once you get signed, leave it to the label to pay and market it.

Recap: pick one or two areas where you are going to spend, and make sure you do it well. It takes money to make money. Do not expect profit right away, but keep working toward your goals, and keep growing. Numbers are power! 

How to maximize your music marketing campaign

Defining goals is of the most importance to an artist. It is extremely important to know the current digital marketing landscape, and if you aren’t a professional, you will need assistance. You need to realize that all of these other artists in your genre are your competitors. Sure the pot is large, and everyone can have a little slice, but think about this- when it comes down to record label rosters, there are many interviews, and very few slots.

It takes money to make money. Remember hearing that? It’s true. Very few artists have an abundance of capital lying around, but every spare dollar that you make, should be invested right back into the business (your music).

Lets prioritize the areas of spending through a basic cost-benefit analysis- Areas that a musician will likely spend during their initial growth stages (pre record deal) :

• Production & equipment
• Marketing
• Touring

Lets try to clear up a few things- Your music all depends on it’s quality. If you don’t have a great, professionally packaged product, it won’t sell. Luckily, it doesn’t take much to get a high quality recording. A decent microphone, Interface, and DAW should do the trick, if you have a fairly well acoustically treated room. Mixing and mastering should be professionally done, but great engineers can be hired for a few hundred dollars (versus spending thousands at top studios). Tip: Record at home and send out to the engineer for mixing to save money. Make sure all your takes are exactly how you want it, as sending things back and forth (revisions) often add extra costs.

Now that you have this beautifully done single/album, you plan on releasing it. It won’t do a bit of good if no one hears it, so this is quite possibly the most important element next to making the music. This is where we are going to get more granular.

Some possible methods of marketing are: Banner Advertisements, Editorial PR, Playlist Promotion, Newsletter Campaigns, Influencer Marketing, Search Optimization, Music Videos and promotion, TV/billboard ads and more.

So now start thinking: what is going to get me the most benefit (refer to goals) for my buck. This metric could be measured in clicks, likes, streams, follows, downloads, shows, whatever your goal may be. Out of those prior examples, there are some which are more complex than others.

Banner ads often get you a good return, the cons are you may not have these set up in the right places, and may be targeting the wrong audience. If you do not have experience doing this, it may be hard to do, and you may need a graphic designer to format your ads

Editorials can be a hit or miss. Depending on which sites/magazines you land in, you can end up paying a fortune, and not get much of a return, unless you work with Music marketing professionals that know how to get you prime placement, and which sources are a good fit.

Playlist Promotion (our favorite) gives you returns quickly. It is measurable how much of a return you can get, and builds buzz and proof right away. It is a direct method of connecting with possible fans, and provides royalties (return on investment directly)

Newsletters: every artist should have an email campaign set up. This is a reasonably inexpensive way to keep your fans updated directly, and every pro musician has one.

Influencer Marketing: Can be great if you know the right people, and if their audience is very similar to yours. This can also be very expensive, depending on what you are asking for. A post or story usually doesn’t do much good. An active campaign endorsed by a big celebrity may be beneficial.

Search Engine optimization can help when people are searching for your work on Google or other engines. Can be very costly and should be a later priority if you have capital to spare.

Videos– Usually a poor investment. There are so many to compete with, and platforms such as Youtube aren’t focused directly on music.

Touring can be quite expensive. Unless you are positive you can sell say, 100 t-shirts, it may not make sense to have a bunch of merchandise made (usually there are minimum orders). Travel is expensive but necessary. Even artists signed to major labels (not the Taylor Swift and Drake types) often find themselves packed in a low cost van.

Recap: Set your budget on priorities. A good rule is: Production as 1/4, marketing 2/4 (half your budget), and touring 1/4th.

Artist tips – Tip Series on how to market your music

This will be a short post, but an important one nonetheless. We have a FREE artist tip series only available to our email subscribers. These are tips from music industry professionals, which encompasses numerous key areas that may help support our artists.

Some areas covered are: Music Marketing , Strategy , Music Business , Investment, Rights and Licensing , and Production

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