Building a Fan Base for Your Music! How To Get Started In Your Career!

Building a loyal fan base is a critical aspect of becoming a successful artist or band. Your fans are a lot more likely to buy your music, promote it and bring other fans into the fold. While making great music and growing organically can work, the music industry has become so competitive that you need to actively work to gain fans. Here are some effective tips that can help you grow your fan base quicker.

Build a Brand

There is so much power in branding and this is one of the reasons why the most successful musicians in the world are seen as brands. Your brand as well as the story behind it, you, and your career go hand in hand, and will largely influence how successful you are. Your brand will also dictate your marketing and messaging strategies, in addition to the way you present yourself and your music both online and offline.

To build your brand identity, you need to identify what is unique about you, your music and your artistry. Only then will you be able to build a successful brand that attracts fans and helps your career grow. The type of brand you build will also determine whether fans will be drawn to you as well as the type of fan base you can build.

It could be that you use a Guitar Looper to create a unique sound, or you use an unusual instrument for your backing track. Whatever it is it will become part of your brand. 

Get Featured on Spotify Playlists

Spotify is arguably the biggest music streaming service in the world right now. Because of how many people use the services as well as how wide its reach is, it remains one of the best places to grow a fan base, promote your music and discover new musical influences. Getting your music featured on one or several Spotify Playlists is one of the best ways to introduce your music to a large group. Also, a lot of people now discover artists through streaming playlists.

To get your music featured on a playlist, you need to create a Spotify for Artists account and then submit a few unreleased tracks to the editorial team for consideration. You can also submit music to independent curators for consideration or even directly ask playlist curators to add your music to a playlist.

You can also create and share playlists that feature music from artists you like. This way, fans who love artists who play similar music to you can discover the playlist and your music in the process. Do not forget to ask your existing fans to play your playlists, follow you and listen to your music.

Run Competitions and Giveaways

Offering incentives helps you leverage your existing fan base so they can provide referrals to other fans while also helping promote your music. These promotions work as indirect referrals and an introduction to fans who would otherwise not have heard about your music.

Creating an extended play (EP) record gives you a few songs that you can use for your giveaways and competitions. There are lots of ways to use these songs to promote the EP while also gaining fans along the way. The most common way of doing this is through social media.

You can leverage your existing fan base to promote the EP for you by offering a free song download for every 10 shares of a tweet or Facebook post. This way, your fans help spread your music far and wide so lots of people get the chance to hear your music. This is a great way to promote your music and the EP while also gaining fans in the process.

If you already have a few songs and do not know how to make an EP, Pirate.com has a great guide on how to do that as well as how to release it so that it has the widest reach and helps with your growth. Pirate.com has amazing and affordable spaces for rehearsals, recording, and collaboration so artists who do or do not know how to make an EP can work on their projects without breaking the bank. Get access to some of the best drum practice, guitar, music practice and rehearsal, voice-over, and writing studios that come with all the equipment and instruments you would need to complete a project.

Get Featured on a Music Blogs

There are a lot of people who depend on reputable music blogs to discover new artists. This means that when your music gets featured on one or several of these blogs, you will increase your exposure significantly and earn a few fans in the process.

It is challenging to get your music featured considering there are so many emerging artists all the time. The two best ways to get featured are to have great music and to keep pushing. Great music helps you stand out from all the other artists who might be trying to break through. It allows people to be interested in your music and to talk about it, which increases exposure.

Being persistent means contacting the blogs with your music and getting them to at least give it a listen. Do remember that being persistent does not mean being annoying as that will turn people off and they will not give you a chance. You can get in touch with the relevant people through a few channels to increase the possibility of them seeing your message. Also, check if they have any submission requirements and follow these requirements to give your music the best chance of reaching the right people.

Work with a Music Distributor

There are so many streaming services and music platforms that it would be impossible to distribute your music on all of them and check out how your music is doing. Since the best way to get your music to reach more people is to have it playing on these platforms, working with digital music distribution companies is a great option for independent artists.

In addition to helping get your music on these platforms, these companies also give artists the tools and resources to prepare, market, and sell their music online so that, in addition to gaining new fans, they can make money off their music.

Gaining new fans remains one of the best ways to ensure the success of your music career. However, reaching new fans can be challenging, especially for new artists. Implementing the strategies discussed above will go a long way in helping you get discovered, reach more people, and grow a sizable fan base.