Commit to these ten daily habits in 2022, and watch your music blow up!
It's the start of a new year, and if you're committed to getting serious about marketing your music, here's ten things you can be doing every single day for FREE!
1. Respond to all incoming emails, DMs, and social media comments. Keep inbox zero every day, and respond to all comments to keep your engagement level up! This will ensure more people see your posts and contact you in the future. Every single one represents a human paying attention, so don't waste it! Make the most of every connection.
2. Follow 10 social media accounts per platform of people in your genre or niche. These could be other artists who make music similar to yours, music journalists who write about your genre, diehard fans, relevant record labels, blogs/magazines, or industry professionals who share helpful tips (ahem). Again, don't waste these! Following random accounts for no reason won't help anything, but building a meaningful community is everything.
3. Leave 10 substantial comments on others' posts within your genre/community. By "substantial" we mean "5 words or more"; just leaving an emoji isn't enough to tell The Algorithm that you want to stay in each other's orbit. This is a great way to make yourself known to people you newly follow!
4. Read 1 music blog/magazine feature in your genre and take note of the author.
If you want to get featured in the music press, then you should be reading it, too! And you should get familiar with the music journalists who cover your genre. Here are a few of my favorites to get you started:
General/Top-Tier: Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Earmilk, NYLON, Paste
Rock/Indie/Alt: Alt Press, FLOOD, DORK, The Line of Best Fit, Kerrang!, Glide
Pop: PAPER, Atwood Magazine, Ladygunn, C-Heads, FLAUNT
Hip-Hop: Complex, Uproxx, XXL, Vibe, Essence
Country: The Boot, Open Wide Country, Taste of Country, CMT
And don't forget your local music scene! Local journalism is a dying gem.
5. Find one relevant music journalist's contact information. If you do this every day, then by the end of the year, you'll have compiled a list of over 300 press contacts! See, you can do your own PR :-) NOTE: Pay attention to any instructions they may leave for how to pitch them. Most journalists prefer to get pitched to their work email address, NOT in DMs or personal emails, but there are some exceptions. A few ways to find their work email address are:
Blog's About / Contact / Masthead page
Twitter bio
Facebook About page
MuckRack
Google their name for other blogs/websites they have
Instagram mobile app might have Email button
6. Pitch your most recent single to at least 3 independent playlists. You can find these by poking around Spotify or Apple Music yourself and reaching out to the users who compile them, or you can use a database like PlaylistMap.com (I recommend it!) The closer to release date, the better - most playlists are based on what's new and fresh, so if your song has been out for more than a month, start looking ahead to your next one.
7. Create one social media video or graphic design. Commit to upgrading your content creation this year by making at least one post per day; you'll always have something ready to go! Here are some ideas on promotional videos you can create for free from home.
8. Write one band story or anecdote for your email series. Speaking of always having something ready to go, make 2022 the year you maximize your email list by sending purely informative/entertaining stories in between promotional emails. You can't just ask all the time, you have to give freely sometimes, too! Sending stories will help people get to know you and feel connected to you as an artist; that's how you get them to CARE when you have a new single or album you want them to listen to later. Learn more about how to write an Email Nurture Series here.
9. Learn one new thing from a music industry how-to blog or podcast. Aside from the blog you're reading right now, there are several others I HIGHLY recommend for learning the ropes of DIY music promotion. Here are a few super helpful blogs and podcasts every indie artist should learn from:
The Cyber PR Music blog
The Crafty Musician blog
The Set Up Series podcast
The Music Biz Weekly podcast
10. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Okay, this isn't exactly a publicity method (but if you play outside, you never know who might hear you!) I'm including it because it's the single most important thing you can do for your music career every day. Nirvana's music wasn't the most intricate or complicated, but they played it so tightly and perfectly every time because they known for practicing every single day, no matter what. It doesn't matter how much you publicize or promote; if the music itself sucks, people won't come back. So renew your dedication to your craft this year, and let's reach our goals together!
