I have been researching music marketing for the past 2 or 3 years at this point because a few years ago I started writing music and wanted it to be heard. So I have developed a sense for how to grow and maintain an audience from something small to something larger. However, I always felt like I was missing something regarding getting started at square 1 with no audience. It is either that, or I don't want to do what is necessary to start from 0. Luckily for me or unluckily... depends how you look at it, I have not had the means to record full songs (ie a band). I have spent the past few years just writing music and recording quick demos which I intend to take into a band setting to record with them. I have a group of friends with whom I will be working. The issues are primarily tied to everyone having various commitments as well as COVID putting restrictions on what we can do or at least what our parents are comfortable with us doing, and not to mention, college. Because I haven't had any opportunities to record full songs, I have had the time to develop my skills in playing music as well as songwriting and writing lyrics. The unfortunate part is that I simply haven't been able to release much aside from a shitpost that I did almost all on my computer for instrumentation in FL Studio.
What have I spent my time doing for my music?
Now that it is my winter break I can get to work on some of that but I am not certain I can get much traction. I also will have the opportunity to finally get together with my friends and do some recording. I want to make the most of this time and I am looking for some advice for my situation in particular. My goal is to record my songs with my friends, promote them, and release them. I have very little confidence that I can do this successfully without some further preparation beforehand. I know it would be best to document the process to have content for social media so that there is a story involved. You can't really go off of just "here is the music" and then expect anything. I encourage anyone who reads this to ask any clarifying questions to be able to give me a better sense of what to be focusing on as well as allowing more directed advice to be given.
Essentially, I would like to know: what are the very first steps to take in order to effectively promote and release your first releases when starting out if you have songs in the pipeline? What else should I be doing? What should I do on Instagram and YouTube to provide value to an audience? Should I use any ads on those platforms for something as early as a first release when I don't have really any social currency? Could you provide a general calendar template/outline for what you did for your initial release strategy? If you repeat to me the same things you can find in YouTube videos regarding music marketing, that is fine. It will be like some psychology trick type beat. I don't internally respond too strongly to anything that isn't personally directed towards me so if I get anyone telling me directly what they suggest, then I would greatly appreciate that. Ideally, someone can provide a bit more of an in-depth explanation for how to approach the release than just repeating what is found easily online, but again, if there are any repeats, that is fine.
What have I spent my time doing for my music?
- writing music and lyrics
- recording demos
- posting demos on the YouTube channel for the band (14 subs)
- sending them to friends for feedback
- posting occasionally on social media (23 followers) regarding whatever is going on with what I am doing (some random things like little bits of playing or updates on a project that I'm helping a friend with)
Now that it is my winter break I can get to work on some of that but I am not certain I can get much traction. I also will have the opportunity to finally get together with my friends and do some recording. I want to make the most of this time and I am looking for some advice for my situation in particular. My goal is to record my songs with my friends, promote them, and release them. I have very little confidence that I can do this successfully without some further preparation beforehand. I know it would be best to document the process to have content for social media so that there is a story involved. You can't really go off of just "here is the music" and then expect anything. I encourage anyone who reads this to ask any clarifying questions to be able to give me a better sense of what to be focusing on as well as allowing more directed advice to be given.
Essentially, I would like to know: what are the very first steps to take in order to effectively promote and release your first releases when starting out if you have songs in the pipeline? What else should I be doing? What should I do on Instagram and YouTube to provide value to an audience? Should I use any ads on those platforms for something as early as a first release when I don't have really any social currency? Could you provide a general calendar template/outline for what you did for your initial release strategy? If you repeat to me the same things you can find in YouTube videos regarding music marketing, that is fine. It will be like some psychology trick type beat. I don't internally respond too strongly to anything that isn't personally directed towards me so if I get anyone telling me directly what they suggest, then I would greatly appreciate that. Ideally, someone can provide a bit more of an in-depth explanation for how to approach the release than just repeating what is found easily online, but again, if there are any repeats, that is fine.
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