Online Promotion:
Online promotion has fast become one of the most popular types of promotion for many independent artist, as it’s completely free and very effective. The growth of social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter has meant people can have a mass of people in their networks to promote to. Better still, this network can be increased all the time. You can focus on and add what ever type of person you want, and when you post a message it appears to all your friends. Ideal for letting people know when your latest release is out or how they can get involved in what you’re doing. You can learn more about how to promote your music online via that link.
Another good way to promote online is through forums. These are like chat rooms which everyone can see, which is beneficial as you want as many people to know about your music as possible. The best way to use forums are by finding some that are relevant to your type of music (There’s no point posting say rock music in a hip hop forum, no one there would be interested in it and you will have wasted your time) and posting a topic on your latest release. Make sure you reply to other topics in these forums though, as people generally don’t like people coming along and just promoting without trying to be part of the community. So reply to other topics and get involved.
In your forum control panel, make sure you set up a signature and input your website and release details. This signature is attached to the bottom of all your posts, so you’ll be indirectly promoting yourself even when you’re talking about another subject.
Radio:
While not as popular as it once was, thousands if not millions of people still listen to radio, whether it’s legal, internet, or pirate. Getting your music on radio and played alongside other good acts will gain you new fans. Having your music played on radio is effectively giving people a sample of your product without making it feel like you’re selling something. Because of this, people are very relaxed when listening to radio, so are more likely to buy your product if they enjoy your tune.
You can get your music on legal radio by submitting them the track. You’d most likely have to include a press pack which includes a release date, a video, and details of any other promotion you have done / things you have achieved in your music career (Check each radio station’s website for full details).
Another option is to appear on radio yourself, maybe for an interview or live performance. While not possible on legal radio unless you’re a big artist, you can realistically get on internet or pirate radio. Try ringing up these stations asking every relevant DJ how to send them your tracks. As these stations are run differently, there probably won’t be one central address to send your material for everyone to hear. You’ll have to ring up each DJ that plays you type of music (They give out the studio number during their show or have a online submission form which you can contact them via), although most of them use the same studio line so save it and contact each new DJ as they come on.
Once you build up a good relationship with each DJ, you can ask them if you can have a guest appearance on their show. Provided they like your music and you have a good relationship, many of them will let you. Tell the DJ you’ll get your fans to lock into the show, as if they think they’ll get new listeners from having you on they’ll be more likely to agree.
Word Of Mouth
Word of mouth promotion is a type of promotion you don’t have full control over, but can go some way to influence and encourage it. Word of mouth of mouth promotion is when people speak about you and / or your product, giving you free promotion to their friends and whoever they tell. Now of course, you can’t force people to talk about you product, but you can influence it. If you have a website, you can ask your fans to spread the word about your product. While some people may do this anyway, some people wouldn’t think to do it unless they’re given the idea to, so give them the idea.
Another way to encourage word of mouth is by offering rewards for people telling their friends about you. You could offer them a free download if they get say ten of their friends to sign up to your mailing list or if they get involved some how.