How can I market my debut album? Suggestions, pointers, websites that worked for you?

[TristezaOrange]

After working on several tracks for about five years, I am finally releasing my debut album (I have released another oner but that one is a soundtrack so it doesn't count! ) and I'm wondering about the various ways I can market it. I am not looking to make a big profit from it or anything but I'd certainly love it if a lot of people got to hear it and (hopefully) enjoy it.

I was thinking about these:

1. I have created redeem codes on Bandcamp and I'm gifting them to people I know (or at least think) will appreciate the music. I have posted some in the Music Cafe, I have sent some on Facebook and I plan on printing the rest to give to various places around my town.

2. I have a Facebook page which only has about 30 followers, so not a big audience. I update it with news but it's nothing special. Similarly with Twitter, I have about 40 followers so it's not a great resource.

3. I am thinking of contacting the local municipality with an e-mail which will say something like "Here's an album by a citizen of the municipality" or something. Sounds weird but there's not really a lot of creative output in Larnaca so it might not be a bad idea.

4. I think it'd be great sending some music to blogs for review. I just don't know of any blogs that do that. I'll have to check.

I don't want to go around spamming forums I'm not a regular of, so I'll just limit my posts about it here, at kara-moon and the TIGSource music forums.


Do you have any more ideas? What have you successfully (or even unsuccessfully) done? Is there anything that works a bit reliably? I don't mind spending some money for promotion but I'd prefer if it wasn't pay-to-play.

So?

[TristezaOrange]

Any suggestions?

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

how about sending CDs to radio stations, including internet radio stations?

[TristezaOrange]

how about sending CDs to radio stations, including internet radio stations?

That sounds good, I should probably do that. Maybe it will work better than sending e-mails to local stations.

I'm also thinking of sending e-mails to the local press in case they can announce the release.

[SampleScience]

Make yourself a media list for press release and send promo CDs. A couple of years ago I did that on a small scale and got many reviews and airplay. Here's the results of that promotion I did at the time:

http://www.indieville.com/reviews/aug08 ... cience.htm
http://www.chaindlk.com/reviews/?id=4520
http://graveconcernsezine.com/reviews/c ... kdisc.html
http://www.vitalweekly.net/630.html
http://nightwaveswebsite.tripod.com/id16.html

While this might look useless (or too underground), it got me a distribution deal and my small CD was sold in boutique record stores in Canada. My music got air play too, mostly in North America and a little bit in Europe where I had the chance to make a live mix for a radio show called the MusicBox.

Also, from what I know, a nice looking sleeve for the CD, even if it's just for promotion, get you attention you wouldn't have otherwise. This was one of the mistake I've made at the time, ugly artwork!

[TristezaOrange]

Make yourself a media list for press release and send promo CDs. A couple of years ago I did that on a small scale and got many reviews and airplay. Here's the results of that promotion I did at the time:

http://www.indieville.com/reviews/aug08 ... cience.htm
http://www.chaindlk.com/reviews/?id=4520
http://graveconcernsezine.com/reviews/c ... kdisc.html
http://www.vitalweekly.net/630.html
http://nightwaveswebsite.tripod.com/id16.html

While this might look useless (or too underground), it got me a distribution deal and my small CD was sold in boutique record stores in Canada. My music got air play too, mostly in North America and a little bit in Europe where I had the chance to make a live mix for a radio show called the MusicBox.

Also, from what I know, a nice looking sleeve for the CD, even if it's just for promotion, get you attention you wouldn't have otherwise. This was one of the mistake I've made at the time, ugly artwork!

Thanks for the pointers and the great reply! This may sound stupid but how do I make a media list for press release? I'm totally oblivious when it comes to this kind of thing!

[SampleScience]

There's no easy way for this. That's why there's many promo companies that will do the work for you by seeking any media outlets that covers the genre/type of art you're making. Personally, I used Google and compiled a list myself. But it's time consuming if you don't know where to start!

[4damind]

Buy a marketing bundle from some of the big distributors like Mondotunes (think about $90). Buy a Facebook marketing campaign to get more fans (you can buy this directly from Facebook or you can use Reverbnation, they providing such bundle and building such a campaign is very easy (I expect there are also others providing such service, I have only experience with Reverbnation)
Think about $50 to promote a campaign for a week or so. You can also buy plays for a internet radio (eg Jango Radio)...

I would also try to get some plays at bigger internet radio stations, like Digitally Imported, SomaFM etc. but you need very good stuff, excellent quality and it must fit with some of the stations music style.. this guys are very picky!

Is your album always available at Amazon, iTunes, Spotify,...? Bandcamp etc are only additional ways (self marketing) because you can sell songs and albums directly. It's also easy to integrate this stuff in a Facebook Fanpage... but this works only if you always have a bigger fan base. This time see it more as an additional way to host songs (if you don't have a own website).

[aegean]

A friend of mine asked me something about this and I told him to put things on YouTube - don't worry about a "music video", just have some footage or interesting background for the music. YouTube probably has the biggest audience.

Anyway it seems like there are great tips in this thread already, maybe I should be taking notes.

[4damind]

Btw... I saw your Bandcamp page... I'm not sure if this pre-order setup is a good idea. I would make the complete album available for selling, so the user can preview all songs and there is a buy button available for every track. This pre-order stuff is more working if there is always a large fan base so there are lot users for instant buys/pre-orders also if they don't have an idea about the whole album.
You are better off avoiding pre-orders at this time and use this more to build-up a fan base.

[wavephonic]

online is a grain of sand in the ocean.
go to the local radio station in your hometown with your cd, one packaged and one open, and your artist press kit. in a perfect world you shake hands with one of the dj's and leave it with him or her, but even if you just say hi and drop it off, I've found they're willing to listen or at least have a look.
then do the same at the university or college in your city, its easier to actually meet the radio people there. I ended up getting a late night interview on air and a couple song snippets. I didn't make full rotation but part of one of my songs ended up back ground muze for the morning show.
one other thing I did was go to my local pub that had live entertainment. they play random music while the band is off, hand the cd to the music guy. of course, if theres something you can do live, even better.


build up your online presence around those local things 1st, then try and grow it from there. theres nothing like real face to face stuff 1st, before the pig in a poke internet world.

good luck!

[TristezaOrange]

Buy a marketing bundle from some of the big distributors like Mondotunes (think about $90). Buy a Facebook marketing campaign to get more fans (you can buy this directly from Facebook or you can use Reverbnation, they providing such bundle and building such a campaign is very easy (I expect there are also others providing such service, I have only experience with Reverbnation)
Think about $50 to promote a campaign for a week or so. You can also buy plays for a internet radio (eg Jango Radio)...

I would also try to get some plays at bigger internet radio stations, like Digitally Imported, SomaFM etc. but you need very good stuff, excellent quality and it must fit with some of the stations music style.. this guys are very picky!

Is your album always available at Amazon, iTunes, Spotify,...? Bandcamp etc are only additional ways (self marketing) because you can sell songs and albums directly. It's also easy to integrate this stuff in a Facebook Fanpage... but this works only if you always have a bigger fan base. This time see it more as an additional way to host songs (if you don't have a own website).

Wow, so much good advice here!

I distribute my (previous) albums on iTunes/amazon.com etc via TuneCore so it's not just Bandcamp. I had no idea about Mondotunes and their marketing bundle though, that sounds great!

I already have a Facebook page for my band but as you've said if you have no pre-existing fanbase you just can't get people to "like" you or get involved with your posts. Hmmmm... maybe I could do that too. I have already bought plays on Jango!

My music is more acoustic, jazzy pop so Digitally Imported is out. SomaFM could be possible, if I figure out how to submit my music to their radio stations.

Seriously, those were some great pieces of advice. Thanks! I'm not looking to make a lot of money from this album (though I hope that I can fund a new laptop for DAW purposes with any profits) but I have worked on it a lot and I'd like it to get out there and in the ears of people that could appreciate it. Even if I lose money but find a tiny, niche audience that'd be great.


I have to go but I'll return later!

[4damind]

Wow, so much good advice here!

I distribute my (previous) albums on iTunes/amazon.com etc via TuneCore so it's not just Bandcamp. I had no idea about Mondotunes and their marketing bundle though, that sounds great!

I already have a Facebook page for my band but as you've said if you have no pre-existing fanbase you just can't get people to "like" you or get involved with your posts. Hmmmm... maybe I could do that too. I have already bought plays on Jango!

My music is more acoustic, jazzy pop so Digitally Imported is out. SomaFM could be possible, if I figure out how to submit my music to their radio stations.

Seriously, those were some great pieces of advice. Thanks! I'm not looking to make a lot of money from this album (though I hope that I can fund a new laptop for DAW purposes with any profits) but I have worked on it a lot and I'd like it to get out there and in the ears of people that could appreciate it. Even if I lose money but find a tiny, niche audience that'd be great.


I have to go but I'll return later!

SomaFM needs only Dropbox, you must invite them (share the folder), this is described somewhere on their website.
If you always bought some plays on Jango, this needs a bit more work IMO.
The average "engagement" rate of all users is pretty low at roughly 10% (this includes ALL positive interactions with your profile) - I got this info from the Jango support guys. So, for every new fan it makes sense to write personally a message and invite him twice to like your Facebook page.
Facebook campaign is more efficient, because fans for similar artists will have a banner displayed. So if you setup as a similar artist eg. "David Guetta" Facebook will handle this so his fans will see your ads (you can setup 3 similar artists). Success and new fans depends on the style, the similar artists (should be fit the own style) etc.

[TristezaOrange]

A friend of mine asked me something about this and I told him to put things on YouTube - don't worry about a "music video", just have some footage or interesting background for the music. YouTube probably has the biggest audience.

Anyway it seems like there are great tips in this thread already, maybe I should be taking notes.

You know, I have heard this so many times it must have an element of truth in it. I am making YouTube videos with static pictures of my art for my record to post around (like this one: ). It's not much but it's the track and a background picture of the "single" cover.

[TristezaOrange]

Btw... I saw your Bandcamp page... I'm not sure if this pre-order setup is a good idea. I would make the complete album available for selling, so the user can preview all songs and there is a buy button available for every track. This pre-order stuff is more working if there is always a large fan base so there are lot users for instant buys/pre-orders also if they don't have an idea about the whole album.
You are better off avoiding pre-orders at this time and use this more to build-up a fan base.

Hello Frank!

The only reason I have the album up for pre-order is because I was looking forward to having something on Bandcamp while keeping the promised release date which was the 12th of June. It's not up there to create hype because there is not hype to be created!

Thank you so much! Your help has been invaluable.

PS. I have also created an account (premium) on musicclout.com to submit music to various "opportunities" they offer. I'll let you know how that goes!

Hmmm... it would be a good idea to collect all this info in another thread (which will not specifically be about my music) to help other people with their promotion services and maybe ask a mod to make it a sticky! Coming soon!