In 2022, we are constantly exposed to new artists. Existing ones make history with chart topping albums because of marketing. When there are more ways to promote an artist, album, or tour than ever before, it begs the question, how important is marketing to an artist in 2022? Marketing and music are inseparable from each other and to make your garage band stand out, a marketing campaign is necessary.
For a work of music, an album, single or tour, to be successful, promoting these works through all available channels is the way to gain the most success. With multitudes of artists clamoring for attention, a brilliant marketing strategy is needed to help bring the artist the success they crave. The first thing a good campaign needs is to have a good music promoter.
A music promoter is an individual who promotes your music or publicizes it in a press release. To get music heard on streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music, music will be promoted in three simple steps. These steps include prerelease, pitching and post release. These steps have the desired effect of making music more accessible to wider audiences within the established genre.
Pitching is what happens when you talk about what you want to see from the experience working with an artist. When pitching, think of what your employers also want from this event. Keep in mind the cost as well as the potential rewards. A prerelease strategy helps build support for product awareness prior to the official launch. Think of the Blues Brothers promoting their show by driving around town and getting the attention of anyone who is willing to hear it. Post release includes announcement of tours, listening parties and public appearances to talk about the release.

Jonah Hill pitching a comeback tour in Get Him To the Greek
To market music to a specific audience, the artist needs to know its genre, who its music is targeted to, why you make music and why your music is something that they need to hear. Marketing is about getting your listeners to know and trust your brand. The way music is marketed is personal to the artist. For example, Lana Del Rey would not advertise her style of music to Norwegian Black Metal fans. She would cater to pop, alternative, and new wave fans as this is the target audience of her specific sound.
As for why marketing your brand is important in the music industry, the question comes down to a few factors. The first is that it allows you to reach current and new fans within seconds. Whether it is posting a song snippet on Facebook, or teasing a marketing helps you get the attention of thousands upon millions of fans. A good marketing campaign can be the difference between having someone go from being a casual fan, to listening to their music daily and attending multiple shows.
In the 21st century, mobile devices are everywhere, with everyone glued to their screens, it makes for effective marketing. Using the power of the mobile phone, marketing can help an artist’s career in unexpected ways. Using a song through Tik Tok could be a way to help boost the popularity of an artist through usage in fan made videos. Despite the plethora of ways to do marketing right on mobile devices, there are ways to do it wrong. In 2014 U2 released the Songs of Innocence record on everyone’s mobile devices, without a way to delete it. This caused a negative effect towards the trust of U2 for how they release records and caused negative stigma towards the band.
As mentioned in a prior blog, a music video is a way to market your band or brand to others. If the video helped evoke an emotional reaction, then it did its job of reaching you. This helps your viewer establish an emotional connection and makes you want to come back for more.
What was the best marketing campaign you have ever witnessed for an artist?
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