It’s no earth-shattering news that the
internet has basically changed the music industry for good. Technologies
like file sharing, social media and eCommerce are giving artists more
opportunities to expose their music to larger audiences and increase
their fan base . But with so many websites and communities available,
choosing the right online venues to promote your music on can be
challenging. To help you make good choices, we put together a list of 10
great places to promote your music online today. It reviews the most
popular, most effective online hangouts you should join (do let us know
if we missed something!).
Wix
First things first, any serious musician needs a website where they can show off their art. Like the album art of days gone by, websites are the first place that your fans turn to to get to know more about your music, your art and your personal style. The only website builder designed with musicians in mind, Wix offers a variety of fully customizable free website templates that allow you to show off who you are and what you’re all about. Wix also makes sharing your music incredibly simple with fully integrated music streaming apps, that put the music sharing services you already use on the forefront of your own site.
Spotify
A rapidly growing mobile and desktop app
that takes the listening experience to a whole new level. Spotify has
almost every recorded artist on their libraries, so you would absolutely
want to be there too. With their super-amazing Discover tool for
finding new artists, your channel might get connected with bigger names
that play similar music.
The homepage of the underground, Reddit
is arguably the biggest thing on the internet. You may not know this,
but many of the viral things you see online made it to Reddit first, and
that’s why musicians need to familiarize themselves with the Reddit
Music thread. The grassroots-style community for content sharing allows
musicians to get a genuine feel for how their music is being perceived
by audiences, but be careful, the hardcore users can be harsh on noobs.
Just be respectful and authentic and you’ll make it just fine.
Last FM
Once you upload your tunes to Last FM,
their smart radio knows where to play them and how to match them with
the musical tastes of their users. You get a targeted audience that is
keen on discovering new sounds. They also have a Royalty Program that
guarantees you actually earn with every listening.
Rdio
Rdio is not just an online radio – it has real power in the music industry. Real enough for the Pet Shop Boys to first release
their latest album to Rdio users exclusively. Like Spotify (in fact,
they are competitors), Rdio caters to a user base that is truly
passionate about music and about constantly discovering new artists –
and that’s why you want to get on that train.
Earbits
Considered one of the highest-quality
music streaming platforms right now, Earbits is very kind to both
musicians and listeners. They have a “social currency” system that
encourages users to share the music they hear on Earbits and rewards
them for it. They currently have more than 100,000 tracks available –
big enough to bring in a lot of users, but not yet too crowded so your
tunes can still stand out.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud players reach 200 million
listeners worldwide. To put it simply, SoundCloud is way too big for
any aspiring musician to ignore. The beauty of this platform is that it
lets you stream your music and share it very easily on almost any
interface. For instance, you can add a SoundCloud player to your Wix website and stream your tunes to your site visitors.
#Music (Twitter Music)
The front page of all things breaking,
Twitter’s music discovery tool allows users to find our what’s trending
on the music scene. Twitter Music works with other players (iTunes,
Spotify, Rdio), so in order to have your music playing to Twitter users
you will need to upload it to other servers at first.
MySpace
This once dead platform has been revived for a new following
of music lovers to share and discover the next big thing. Under the
guidance of Justin Timerberlake (yes, that Justin Timbelake), the
newly re-branded MySpace is focusing on music as one of its core
highlights, providing a space for both musicians and music fans alike to
explore and exchange with one another. Hey, if it’s good enough for Kanye West, it couldn’t be that bad for you too.
Instagram Videos
Instagram has always been a fabulous platform for musicians, if only because musicians usually have cooler photos
to share. Now, with Instagram playing video clips, the added value is
tremendous. Sure, you only get 15 seconds to exhibit your talent, but
it’s more than enough to get people interested. Madonna can show you how.
You may also
like:
No comments:
Post a Comment