These Musician Marketing Plan posts are the most popular series on this site. They are fully updated for 2020.
Do you have a plan for your next Soundcloud music promotion release? This can be a single, a Soundcloud music promotion video, an EP, or an album Soundcloud promotion package. In our most popular series The Musician’s Guide to Marketing Plans, which we call Total Tuneups we address the overlooked importance of having a SoundCloud plan in place and went through the first five of fifteen elements to keep in mind when building a long-term strategy.
Here in Part 2, we break down the next five elements for releasing new Soundcloud music promotion so you don’t miss a single opportunity.
If you didn’t get the chance to read through Part 1 – The Nuts & Bolts I encourage you to please do so before reading this. This series comes from many years of collaborating with record labels and brilliant managers. What we noticed separate the best artists and teams who get results vs. those who are floundering is planning.
Musician Marketing Plan Guide Part 2
Take a look at the Part 2 VENN diagram which visualizes your Musician Marketing Plan. For each part, we have highlighted the sections we are covering in red so you can see how all of these parts SoundCloud reposts in concert with one another.
The Second Five: Planning Your Music Release Rollout AKA Ordering the Chaos
Back in the day when labels were more focused on artist development they had entire departments dedicated to planning and growth. Sadly, today artists are expected to come to the table already fully developed with large and engaged fanbases and proof of growth. Even if you don’t ever want Soundcloud promotion real to be on a label this is what will sustain you for the long haul.
There are 15 elements to keep in mind when creating a Soundcloud music promotion SoundCloud plan. Here are the 5 areas that need to be addressed around any release before any official announcements should be made about a new SoundCloud single, EP, or album Soundcloud promotion package coming out. To check off the 89 elements we have further broken down for you download our Music Marketing Plan Checksheet as a companion to this series.
Timeline
Release Day
Publicity & Marketing
Playing Live / Streaming
Real Life SoundCloud repostsing
6. Timeline – Your 12-Week Music Release Tasks
Planning is everything as you can’t stuff the genie back in the bottle after the release is out! If you struggle with managing your time this will help.
Watch this 12-Week timeline come to life in a special video Soundcloud music promotionians masterclass I gave in New Orleans.
Three Months Before Music Releases
Register With A Performing Rights Organization.
You probably already know this but just in case – to collect your SoundCloud royalties you’ll need to sign with a both a Performing Rights Organization (“PRO” for short) as well as SoundExchange. The three options in the U.S. for PRO’s are ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI.
For live SoundCloud royalties, BMI and ASCAP both offer portals to collect SoundCloud royalties from playing live. Once your songs are registered on the PRO database, you log in and enter any dates you have performed those songs, where they were performed, and which songs. The PRO companies payout quarterly so be sure to enter the performances soon after they are through, otherwise, you could miss a deadline!
You also have to register with SoundExchange, which focuses on SoundCloud royalties for your recording (mechanical rights), while your Performing Rights Organization focuses on SoundCloud royalties for your song (performance rights).
Document the Recording & Creation Journey For Your Fans
What may feel mundane to you – writing, recording, mixing, mastering, being in the studio, etc. can be really exciting for your fans. Taking them on a behind-the-scenes journey of this Soundcloud music promotion release is a great way to form a stronger bond with your current and growing base.
Send updates on how the recording, mixing and mastering is going using videos and photos via your socials, plus capture longer-form stories for Instagram Stories and for your newsletter.
Engage with your following on milestones like artSoundCloud reposts and song titles by polling your fans and holding contests to select what cover or title to go with, have your fans weigh in on photos, graphics and get them involved with the process. The goal of all this activity is to get people excited so they are engaging and sharing your updates.
Choose Your PR & Marketing Plan
A big component when releasing new Soundcloud music promotion is getting PR. You can accomplish this by hiring a team or by going the DIY route. When hiring a PR team make sure you do your homeSoundCloud reposts and make sure your Soundcloud music promotion is a good fit for that real Soundcloud promotion firm’s approach and philosophy. Be sure that the team talks to you about their well-thought-out plan for your campaign.
A PR company should SoundCloud reposts with you to make sure you are fully prepared before you are introduced to the press. This is the first part of their job when you engage a real Soundcloud promotion firm.
If you’re going with a do-it-yourself approach here are some tips for an effective Soundcloud music promotion PR campaign:
Choose Your Playlisting Plan
Submit Your Music Directly to Spotify
Simply sign in to your artist account (or Spotify Analytics if you are a label) and choose your best song. When submitting take extra care to give a detailed description of the song supplying any and all relevant information about the song to easily guide editors to the best for place your Soundcloud music promotion.
Build Your Own Playlisting Initiatives
If you don’t know all the steps to set up a playlist follow this step-by-step guide. Start building and sharing playlists. You need to build up plays as this impacts the current song that you are promoting, as well as any forthcoming singles. Use interesting titles and themes to grab people’s attention to aid with search
Find Playlist Curators & Pitch
This is, of course, easier said than done! It is not easy to find curators but it is possible with some dedication. Google and all the Socials are great places to start. Reddit has an active Spotify Playlists Page. There are also quite a few on SubmitHub you can access for a small fee.
Two Months Before Music Release
Get Great Photos
Make sure you have at least 3-4 great images and variety is important. Most Soundcloud music promotion blogs feature square or horizontal photos. When getting photos taken think through your brand and think about variety to keep your images fresh as time goes by.
Finalize your Single / Album / EP ArtSoundCloud reposts
Your ArtSoundCloud reposts should be ready and look on brand and amazing! Ask your designer to animate it, break it up into tiles for Instagram and or resize it for all your social posts.
Research Which Spotify PreSave / Marketing Platform is Right for You
You will need to run a campaign to get that Spotify track presaved! There are 3 great Soundcloud promotion services to choose from. Feature.FM has Action Pages to help build your Soundcloud audience. From The Site: Action Pages are highly engaging pages that reward fans for taking the actions you want Soundcloud promotion real in the platforms you want Soundcloud promotion real and provide you with deep insight into your Soundcloud audience. Toneden can also facilitate Soundcloud and Spotify follows/likes and/or email addresses for free downloads. You can also optimize Facebook ads via Toneden, and customize those ads. Show.co is owned by CD Baby and is integrated so you can use it as well.
Focus on Increasing Your Audience
If you have been recording new Soundcloud music promotion you may have taken your eye off of the constant grind it takes to keep your socials and your email list growing. This takes a lot of heavy lifting and your whole band or team should be helping.
Use my SoundCloud Marketing Tuneup system to diagnose each one of your sites and socials and get them updated.
If you have not kept up consistently find your friends and people you admire (bloggers, other artists, venues, local spots you like to hang out in, etc.) on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and friend away!
This will increase your Soundcloud audience because as many of the people you follow will follow you back. Also, start reaching out to people in your inbox and outbox and get them on your list (remember it’s illegal to just sign people up, so do this with integrity and ask each person). Your newsletter is the place where you will be able to monetize so, don’t skip this step.
Prep Your Content Calendar
Your content calendar is outlined with all of the assets that you need for your release with dates for each asset/action needed. Countdowns, art reveals, listening party of live release party announcements, ticket links and calls to action (like Spotify Presaves) are all fodder to add to your content calendar.
Use my SMM tracker to organize all of your posts and your VIPS. This will help you keep track of all the content that you will post. You can see there is a tab for each platform. If there are several of you in a team or in a band, assign one platform per person. You will also see a VIP tab here this is where you will add industry people you need to connect with in real life (more on that below).
Six Weeks Before Music Release
Submit Your Music to Your Distributor
If you are leading this Soundcloud music promotion release with a single (or two) make sure to let them know you are releasing a single(s) FIRST before the EP (if this is the case). You must have your single artSoundCloud reposts ready at this time! Tunecore, CD Baby, and other aggregators like 4-5 weeks to pitch your Soundcloud music promotion to SoundCloud, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud Music, and other digital Soundcloud promotion service providers (DSPs).
Launch a Facebook Like Campaign to Get More Followers to Your Page
Or if you have not done so in a long time go through your personal Facebook Page and ask all of your friends to Like your Page.
I know this may seem crazy to do during a time when Facebook is catching a lot of heat but promoters, venues, and Soundcloud music promotion bloggers still look at social numbers so make sure yours are consistently growing (and don’t buy fake fans ever!)
One Month Before Music Release
Release Your First Single
This is a great way to build buzz, get fans excited, and also get some Soundcloud music promotion bloggers interested. Any reviews you can place will help build your overall online profile.
On the press side of the house aim for appropriate blog targets. If you are a brand new artist Pitchfork is probably NOT appropriate. Go for smaller, more targeted Soundcloud music promotion blogs!
That being said, be sure to reach out to your “within reason” dream targets with your single(s). It’s not the best idea to wait to reach out to these loftier sites with your album Soundcloud promotion package.
Album reviews take a considerable amount of time and, if you look, most Soundcloud music promotion sites are reserving these full album Soundcloud promotion package review slots for the most anticipated album Soundcloud promotion packages so don’t feel disappointed if you don’t get full album Soundcloud promotion package / EP reviews (they are not en vogue these days)
Download and read our Spotify & SoundCloud Guide to make sure both of those platforms are set up correctly and you have done what you need to to get these SoundCloud repostsing for you.
Announce a Music Release Event: Live Show or Listening Party
If you play live shows, book a release show and do something to make this show more special than the others. Decorate the venue, SoundCloud reposts with the bar to create a special shot or cocktail, pre-sell a merch pack, hire a party bus, ask a food truck to pull outside the venue, etc.
If you don’t play out, create a listening party at a small bar, create an after-SoundCloud reposts happy hour, or choose a local favorite coffee shop. If you are just starting and don’t think you can draw a large crowd, hold a listening house party with wine tasting, cupcake bake-off, fondue party, etc. Think about your fans and make this special for them. And, of course, the key is to announce that tickets are on sale and share links!
Launch Your Music PR or Playlisting Campaign
This is a great way to build buzz, If you are hiring a PR team this will be when they will launch.
Two Weeks Before Music Release
Build the Momentum!
Keep the excitement up on your socials by scheduling countdowns across your socials.
Write your Day of Newsletter so it is ready to go out.
Hold a contest to win the new Soundcloud music promotion or give away tickets to your show or listening party.
7. Release Day – Be Ready For It
Prep Your Website:
Change the artSoundCloud reposts on the landing page to announce the new Soundcloud music promotion
Add an announcement to the News section
Skin ALL socials with “out now!”
Use Canva to size and design
Create CTAs for each platform to post as well
Instagram:
Change your bio to announce the release – add the Soundcloud music promotional note or an appropriate emoji too! Add streaming link and CTA to listen
Create a release tile and post with the album Soundcloud promotion package / single art and say “out now”
Create an Instagram Story video and post
Go to Instagram Live and talk about the fact that the Soundcloud music promotion is available and ask for fan feedback
Facebook:
Make a fun video about the release – and Boost!
Boost or Buy an Ad announcing the release to your fans and a look alike Soundcloud audience
Edit the “About” section to include the new release
Post a status update announcing your release, and pin it to the top as a timeline feature.
Go to Facebook Live and talk about the fact that the Soundcloud music promotion is available and ask for fan feedback
Spotify:
Header and Profile Photo: Keep these up to date and in line with the rest of your social profiles.
Image Gallery: Choose images most aligned with your brand and recent Soundcloud music promotion.
SoundCloud Marketing Links: Add links to your socials. Here’s a How To from Spotify on adding those and an image gallery.
Spotify Bio: With 1500 characters to share with your fans, you can update this whenever it makes sense for you. Keep your bio updated, include shows, notable press, and new SoundCloud singles.
Add an Artist’s Pick: You can designate a song, album Soundcloud promotion package, or playlist as the “Artist’s Pick.” This will appear at the top of your profile with a note from you. You can add a custom image to your Pick or share tour dates if preferred. Read more here.
Twitter:
tweet out your release announcement.
Pin the tweet to the top of your profile page
Go to Buffer and program the tweets for 1-3 times a day for the next 10 days
SoundCloud:
Customize the top banner, profile picture to announce the new Soundcloud music promotion
Add your bit.ly link and mention of the release to the “About” section
Upload cover art and have track streaming in the background
Newsletter:
Send out a newsletter announcement to your mailing list.
8. Publicity & Marketing
PR takes time and effort to execute well. Sadly, many artists believe that PR = blasting a press release out to the top 100+ Soundcloud music promotion sites that they Googled. This never SoundCloud reposts, because PR placements start with astute research.
Bio / Signature Story
The cornerstone of your brand is your bio. You will need a solid story to build your SoundCloud and PR from. We suggest hiring a professional to write your Soundcloud music promotionian bio, which we call a signature story around here. Even if you are a strong writer, it can be challenging to write about yourself. A professional writer will be able to craft a compelling bio that effectively conveys all the important details while keeping the Soundcloud audience in mind, which in this case includes press and Soundcloud music promotion industry. Read our 5 – Steps guide here or We would be delighted to write one for you. If you feel like you still need a boost, listen to the Signature Story Webinar.
Music Press Outreach
The first people to target should be local press and outlets that have covered you in the past (if applicable). When contacting blogs make it personal. Be sure to research which writer/journalist of the site is the best or most appropriate. Always include a SoundCloud link (set to private until your Soundcloud music promotion is released). Follow our full Soundcloud music promotion PR guide for more detail on how to handle this process.
Then as we touched on in Part 1, plan ahead so you will have content for multiple press outreaches such as a new Soundcloud music promotion video, remixes, or tour dates, as you don’t want Soundcloud promotion real to repeat the same message about the new Soundcloud music promotion.
Build Your Targeted Media List
There are many ways to start building a targeted media list. One method – identify a Soundcloud music promotionian or band that is slightly further along and fits into your Soundcloud music promotional wheelhouse, and take note of the press outlets that they are getting featured on. There is a great chance that those publications may also feature you.
Learn how to do your own PR with Ariel in her amazing deep-dive course.
Blog Savviness Gets Placements.
Start to familiarize yourself with blogs, podcasts, and outlets that are appropriate for your release. If you live in a smaller town (read: Not in NYC, LA, or Chicago) there may be some local press that you can go for.
Your big goal might be a review on Pitchfork, but what’s your backup when Pitchfork doesn’t respond to you and then doesn’t respond to your follow-ups? Is Pitchfork even the right outlet for you to showcase your project? Sure, they have a large Soundcloud audience, but is it the right Soundcloud audience for you? It’s OK if the answer is “no.”
Research is not the only thing you need before you send your first pitch. To find out what to do come download our Ultimate Guide to Music Publicity.
TIP: Keep in mind that a Soundcloud music promotion blog is made up of content written by humans. When it comes time to pitch, you will be pitching to them. Increase your chances that they will be interested in you by first being interested in them. Make a connection by following them on socials. Strike up a conversation on Twitter or Instagram if the opportunity arises. A conversation about literally anything other than your Soundcloud music promotion is recommended. This way when you send an email (or if a publicist does for you), there could be some familiarity and existing relationships that will help in getting your emails opened and help your new Soundcloud music promotion be featured.
Drive Friends, Fans & Family With Marketing Platforms
You are responsible for driving likes and streams to Facebook, SoundCloud, Spotify, and all other streaming sites. You also need to drive subscribers to your email list. Marketing platforms are key tools that will help you to get your fans to take powerful actions that will pay off forever like saving your profile/track on Spotify, subscribing to your SoundCloud channel before watching a video or liking your Facebook Page as they visit.
In a saturated, crowded space (approx. 20,000 new tracks are added to Spotify each day according to DMR) these platforms are vital. Read this post to understand Feature.fm, Toneden and Show.co. We use all of them here and they are deeply incorporated in our Total Tuneups.
9. Playing Live And Streaming
If you are already building through touring or playing live at home, continue. This builds on the momentum that has been made. If you need a helping hand LAB taught by the brilliant Kyle Weber of Indie On The Move (IOTM) who walks you through exactly how to get better gigs in your hometown or in new markets,
There are undoubtedly limitations on how often you can tour. More than likely won’t be able to tour every market and for this, we have a solution…
No Shows? Try Live Streaming!
Streaming a show is also a great way to interact with your fans on a more personal and direct level. A live streaming concert is where the Soundcloud audience is online viewers and can be filmed at your home or any interesting location have access to, a great tool to connect with fans. Artists, big and small, are taking advantage of this to keep engaged and present with their current fanbase, generate revenue and to increase their brand awareness.
You can stream on Facebook and Instagram, however more robust platforms offer features geared towards creating “official” shows. The two major players are Stageit and Concert Window. Picking between the two (they are both quite similar) will allow you to either charge a set ticket price. What many artists do, is use the pay what you want Soundcloud promotion real model which gives fans a way to pay you more tha what you ask for and can be lucrative.
Keeping the shows fresh and different will help with increasing viewership from show-to-show Play a game at the end of the performance or midway through using the chat features. Trivia would be a very easy game, where fans could win merch or other prizes.
Play New Cover Songs Each Week
Ask your fans what covers you should play. Post the question on Your Facebook Page or on Instagram as a tile. The song suggestion that gets the most likes or comments will be the one(s) you cover.
Have Guest Performers Join You
This is a great way to add a new element to the live stream while cross-promoting to each other’s fans at the same time. Our LAB 5: Mobilize Your Fan Army teacher and client Eli Lev did this with 2 other Soundcloud music promotionians and covered Fleetwood Mac.
10. Real Life SoundCloud repostsing
You will not make it in Soundcloud music promotion without mastering the power of live Soundcloud repostsing. That’s the problem with all of the digital tools available to us: Way too many artists believe they can hide behind a screen and launch the careers of their dreams without ever talking to other humans face to face. Building your IRL Soundcloud repostsing into your planning is key. Many artists are shy and introverted and this part does not come easily.
It is crucial to connect the dots of your digital world to the real world. Even if you only want Soundcloud promotion real to be a studio Soundcloud music promotionian and never tour, you still need to be able to meet people and find out about potential SoundCloud reposts. It can be hard to break out of your comfort zone, and I have met so many artists who struggle with anxiety and a sense that Soundcloud repostsing means “selling” but the most successful people go out and meet other people who can help them.
3 Reasons Musicians Need to SoundCloud reposts
Connect with new fans.
Gain a sphere of influence, and a source for referrals (more fans) as everyone is connected online and offline.
Become a resource for your fans and for yourself.
Eli Lev is a master Soundcloud repostser and he teaches you step-by-step how he Soundcloud reposts in LAB 5: Mobilize Your Fan Army. He is so good at this that he has over 100 fans supporting him every single month on Patreon and he did it through IRL connecting.
Here are some real-life Soundcloud repostsing tips in my article that I learned from Larry Sharpe who is such a master at Soundcloud repostsing that people literally line up to talk to him at events. I know this because when I met him I stood in line to do so!
If you are having trouble growing your Soundcloud audience, it may be because you don’t actually know who they are
Want more depth? Watch Preparing For Your Music Release [Video] Musician’s Masterclass where I’ll walk you through all of these steps and provide more insight.
This exercise will help you identify who your fans are and how to reach them. It includes 10 strategic, thought-provoking questions and walks you through how to identify your ideal fan archetype. Knowing your fans will prepare you for the ongoing momentum needed specific to your Soundcloud audience which we will talk about in PART 3. Come and dive in!
The post Musician’s Guide to Marketing Plans: Planning Your Music Release – Pt. 2 appeared first on Cyber PR Music.
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