How to promote your music in 2012

A couple of decades ago, it was unlikely that an aspiring musician would have the opportunity to record their own music. If you were in a band and wanted to record an album with a proper sound, you would have to sign with a record label that would pay the advance to make an album. Advances in digital recording in the last decade have made it possible for musicians, even on a modest budget and with the right skills, to do something worth listening to. While it’s great that musicians now have the ability to record in the privacy of their own homes, it has saturated the market with a glut of music on the internet that would take endless hours to analyze. Fortunately, if you’ve recorded something worth listening to, maybe there are a couple of ways you can rise above the masses and make your music heard.

1.Music streaming services

Nowadays, more and more people subscribe to different online music streaming services like Spotify, MOG, and Pandora. Many musicians may not be aware that submitting their music to these online services is often a very simple process. For example, to submit your music to Spotify, you would have to license your music through an artist aggregator like CD baby or Ditto. Services like this also allow you to send to other digital services like Itunes or Amazon at the same time. The process for submitting your music may vary for each streaming service, but from what I’ve researched, I haven’t found one that is too difficult to pull off.

2.Social networks

If you haven’t already, it’s critical that you join as many social media outlets as possible. Everyone knows Facebook and Twitter, but there are other sources, like Pinterest, Bebo, Netlog, that could be a valuable way to promote your music. There are many interesting ways that you can market your music through social media. For example, take a video camera to your band’s recording sessions making a new album, then post the videos on YouTube, and then go to Facebook to tell all your friends.

3. Radio stations

Don’t forget the power of radio stations. The good news is that there are many small independent radio stations on the Internet that you can send your music to. Services like shoutcast and live365 have thousands of radio stations that you can try to send your music to. Obviously you want to send to stations that suit your genre and have a decent number of listeners. Sirius radio has over 20 million subscribers, so be sure to send them your music.

4. Soundcloud

If you haven’t heard of Soundcloud yet, you should start taking advantage of these services. Soundcloud is a service that is dedicated to allowing people to distribute and listen to sound files. It is unique in that it allows artists to have their own distinctive URL which they can then embed on their own website. It is also very easy to integrate with Facebook and Twitter. If you are a paying member, you are granted more hosting space and can distribute it to more groups.

5.Review

Hopefully other people will appreciate your music as much as you do. That is why it is important to submit your music to different magazines and websites. Little mixing tapes, drowning in sound, and the av club are just a couple of places you should send your music to.

These are just a few of the things you can do to get your music heard. There is a lot of competition, but if you make quality music and use the methods that are at your disposal, they will surely listen to you.