Top Ten Social Media Sites to Promote Your Music

You already know that clearing creative blocks and writing great music is difficult enough. Add in the difficulty of promoting it and you have a recipe for Stress with a capital S. However, in the following post I’m going to show you how you can use the power of social media promotion to transform from a ball of stress into a social media savvy, well, Rockstar.

The Internet has opened up many possibilities to promote your music. ArtistRack works with many great musicians and uses different social media channels to spread the word about their music. Social media presence increases your chances of getting booked.

Following are the Top Ten Social Media sites to promote your music on and use to gain a new set of fans.

10. YouTube

YouTube is a great outlet for any musician to reach a large number of viewers or listeners. Almost every band has a presence on the site.

Today, for a band to have an active YouTube page, it is more than just recording music and uploading it for others to hear, enjoy and comment on. Production, behind the scenes, personal and performance videos are all ways you can create more than just musical content and grow a community of subscribers.

Joining YouTube’s Partner Program is also a great way to receive ad revenue with your music and videos, but you’ll need 10,000 public views to apply.

9. Twitter

Twitter offers the simplest way to reach out to others and promote your music. With a quick and catchy 140-character tweet, you can let your followers know what is going on! This is a great way to craft a catchy sentence that will grab your followers’ attention.

Networking on Twitter is easy. Create an account, make your profile look great, and tweet often! Mention other industry accounts and engage with other musicians and music executives. You never know who might read one of your tweets and check your music out.

In addition to networking with previously inaccessible industry insiders, Twitter is a great place to keep your fans up to date on your tour dates.

8. Periscope

While Twitter is great for following famous artists or having followers of your own, Periscope is great for reaching that same audience with live video. Similar to how Facebook has Facebook Live, Twitter has their own live video avenue.

Twitter owns Periscope so it works in conjunction with your Twitter account. When you go live, your followers can receive a notification letting them know you are live. Viewers can even interact with you in real-time. It is a quick and easy way to let your Twitter followers hear you live.

7. Reddit

Reddit on its own might not be the greatest way to promote your band or music, but when used with other social media sites, it is a great hub for all your musical content.

Creating your own subreddit lets your fans share your social media links, videos, articles, or anything else about your music. Fans who have a Reddit account can talk about anything posted with other fans.

6. Musical.ly

Musical.ly is both a social media site and a creative editing tool. It is great for beginner musicians to create basic music videos and share it with other users.

With over 60 million users, it is a great way to talk to fans, other musicians, and share your videos to other sites.

5. Twitch

When many of you see Twitch on here, your mind might immediately think of gaming. While gaming is Twitch’s primary focus, they have expanded to cover different arts.

Twitch has dedicated categories for art, cooking, and music. Twitch is a great way to live stream practices, writing or editing sessions or live performances.

With enough followers, you can join the Twitch Partners Program and have fans subscribe to your channel with actual money, which also makes you some extra income when promoting yourself.

4. SoundCloud

If you want to get noticed by people looking for fresh faces and new sounds, you need to have a SoundCloud account.

SoundCloud is popular for being the indie band hangout, but it has grown to feature large and small artists from every genre.

People use SoundCloud to hear tracks and sample artists before buying their music. Putting a few music tracks on the service will help get you fans who are looking for something new – giving you an easier audience to impress.

3. Snapchat

Snapchat is about putting out quick bits of info to fans. Sending or opening a snap can be so quick that it rarely feels like marketing or promotion. It allows you to be more personal with your fans and followers.

If you want to reach out to a younger audience, Snapchat is what you need. 77% of all college students use Snapchat. Snaps only last a few seconds so they are great for wetting the appetite of people watching and hearing your music.

2. Instagram

Instagram has a great blend of features that make it a must-have for any musician. Instagram has continued to improve its social media platform and offers endless options for someone looking to promote their music – from photos, videos and ads.

While it does not have the plethora of options Facebook has, Instagram is easy to use, easy to connect with others, and lets you show off your creativity. Use your hashtags well to get others to notice you.

Sharing snippets of your music and photos from your personal life is a great way to get a great following.

1. Facebook

Facebook is still the undisputed king in the world of music promotion. After claiming the social media throne from Myspace, they are still the best way of effective promoting your music.

Facebook offers you the most ways to connect with your fans and get new people to hear your music. With live streaming, video and photo sharing and the largest number of users, Facebook offers you a wide variety of options to promote your music.

The list could continue with the amount of great social media sites available to you to promote your music, because the opportunities are endless. If you are new to the music industry, social media is your best friend.

If you want to get the maximum number of eyes and ears on your work, you need to be on most or all the available sites. Trying to gather a following online and working to promote yourself can be difficult, but with the tools offered by these social media sites, it gets that much easier.

So there you have it- promoting your music via social media need not make you into a stressed out, basket case. Do you have a favorite platform that we didn’t mention in the article? Let us know in the comments!