Before we get started, download the Music Release Checklist here. It has all the things you need to do to market and promote your new release. It’s like a cheat sheet!
You’ve finally finished production and recording on your newest song and now it’s time to release it to the public. What’s the best way to release it? How much time do you need to spend on social media promoting it? How much content can you generate from one song? How do you generate buzz and keep it going even after it’s been released? These are all questions any respectable musician should ask about releasing music. We’ve written a post about all the ways you can promote your new music release here. So if you haven’t had a chance yet, read that post. Today, we’re going to dive a bit deeper and talk about all the ways you can generate relevant, news-worthy, and interesting content for your new music release on social media without sounding like a broken record, pun intended.
What’s Your Story?
The first and most important thing you’ll need to consider when it comes to promoting any type of art is that there needs to be a compelling story. This is the story you share to pique interest in the song. That way when people are first introduced to your new tune, they have a reason to go and listen to it. A story can be anything from your Mother’s annoying pet hamster or how you got through a tragedy in your life. One of my songs, “On a Dime and a Dream” came out of a conversation I had with a friend who told me about her recent achievements in getting a certification in family counseling in spite of a lack of funding and personal tragedies. I asked her how she did it all, and she said it was on a dime and a dream. By the way, listen to On a Dime and a Dream here. There, see how easy that was?!? Feel free to steal this formula for your new release promo.
Every song has a good story, otherwise you wouldn’t have had a reason to write it. Figure out how to tell it in a compelling way and use that story to introduce your song.
There are so many ways you can use the story behind your song for content. Blog posts, pictures, memes, inspirational quote images, and video are just a few. Other ideas include personal interviews with you and others who share similar experiences and “Did You Know” FAQs about you and why you wrote the song.
Why should they listen?
Another way to generate highly engaging content about your new music release is to explain why they should listen. Is the song a response to recent events in the news? Is it an anthem about social justice issues? Are you experimenting with multiple genres? What makes this particular song special and why should they care to listen? If you can answer this question, you’ve got yourself a plug not only for social media content but for blogs, music critics, and other media representatives. If you haven’t already come up with a compelling reason why people should listen to your new song, you’re missing out on valuable Music Release Promo tools that can help you master the art of promoting your new release.
Go Crazy With Song Lyrics
Lyrics can provide a wealth of good and consistent content for promoting your new release. This method is so easy, you could probably do it in your sleep. Just take the lines from your song and post them one by one. Try varying your posts by creating Lyric Image Art. Use a free platform like Canva to showcase your lyrics as an image.
Here’s an example of a lyric image. Just pick a background image, a color, and include your lyrics as text over the image.
Lyrics can be used to inspire and motivate or intrigue people to listen. You can use it for #MotivationMonday or to pique interest in your song any day of the week. Be sure to include a link to your song on the image itself or in the caption so people know how to listen.
Share the Technical Details
A song is multi-faceted. It has so many different aspects to it. One of the things you can talk about is how your song was made…you know the technical stuff. What instruments did you use? What Digital Audio Workstation did you use? Did you record the song at your own place? Or did you record it at a professional studio? What was the recording process like? Do you have any pictures from that time? Did you travel to the woods to record it? Did you feature any other musicians? These details about the production of your song are really neat to share with your audience. Plus, it gives you something else to talk about when promoting it.
Make it Interactive
You can do a lot of fun things with a new song release that engages your audience. One idea is to create a Fill-In-Your-Info Chart. These are fun to do and they are proven to generate engagement. The way it works is you create an image that asks a question. In order to answer that question, the audience has to answer a few details about their lives. For example, a birth month, favorite color, and first letter of their first name. Each of these elements correspond to a pre-written answer. Once they plug in their information, the image gives them a series of terms that would answer the initial question. Here’s an example….
So for my song “On a Dime and a Dream” linked above, I could ask the question, “What is your secret dream?” Ask the audience to provide their favorite color and first letter of their first name and create a series of secret dream fantasies that they would find hilarious. People love participating in these fun exercises. You could do something similar with your song. The beauty of this approach is that you can do it about any topic. Just be creative and remember to cater to your fans’ sensibilities.
Another way you can engage the audience while promoting your new song is through contests. Contests are a great way to generate a buzz, get people engaged, and get them excited about what you’re doing. Asking your audience to participate in a photo contest or sign up to your email list to enter the contest are great ways to grow your mailing list or generate awareness about your song. Figuring out which contest to host is all about your end goals. Do you want to generate awareness about your new release, or do you want to grow your fanbase? Or both? Or do you want to gain more followers on a specific platform. Identify what your most pressing needs are with this new song release and plan your contest accordingly. For help with building a contest that gets results, check out How to Run Social Media Contests that Convert from Sprout Social’s Blog.
Promote Your Achievements and Other Mentions
Are there any interviews you’ve done or playlists your new song is on? Do you have any press coming up about your new release? Now is the time to share it. The more dialogue you can have about your song, the better. Any mentions, press, accolades, or features should be included as part of your ongoing promotions efforts. When you post about these features, be sure to tag and @ mention everyone involved so they can engage and share as well which gives you even more exposure.
Sharing where your song has been featured, even if it’s on an obscure playlist lends you even more credibility.
Don’t forget to highlight what people have said about your song. Have you received any positive feedback about your song? Highlight that. Responses from real people showcase the impact your music is making on your community. Do you have any write ups from bloggers or music reviewers? Even from a Song Review, you can get tons of content from the feedback received.
What is a Song Review? A Song Review is market research where you ask a population of people to listen to your song and give you their honest feedback. You can ask general questions like “What did you think of the song?” and “Would you listen to it again?” Or you can ask specific questions like “What type of people do you think would be most receptive to this song?” and “Do you know of any playlists, blogs, or publications that would be interested in featuring this song?” The great thing about getting your song reviewed is that you’ll be able to assess what the audience response might be before actually releasing it. Plus, you can repurpose and share all the positive feedback you receive as social media content. We offer an affordable Song Review Service here on this blog. Click here to learn more.
Don’t Forget About the Artwork
The artwork you do for your new music release is a visual representation of your song. Whether it’s a promo shot of you with text or it’s an artist’s rendering, the artwork for your song says a lot about the song and it has a story in itself that you can generate tons of content from. If your artwork is a promo shot, talk about the photographer (even if it was your cousin) and the location of the photoshoot. Are there any events or funny things that happened during the photoshoot? Who was involved? What are their credentials? Why did you choose that location? Can you share some of the photos that you didn’t like and why?
If the artwork is more of an illustration, talk about the vision behind it. Talk about the artist and the process of creating it. Do you have any preliminary sketches you can show? Is there a story behind the illustration? Did it come out exactly how you envisioned it? What are some surprises that came out of the process?
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These are all great things to talk about when promoting your new song. The artwork of a song provides a wealth of content you can use on social media for a long time. In fact, you can even introduce new merchandise to accompany your song using the artwork. This gives you another way to promote your song, but it also provides another avenue for you to earn money with your new release. If you’re looking for a great way to promote and sell merchandise without having to buy or store inventory, check out Printful. They have tons of products that you can easily add your artwork to and they handle the fulfillment and shipping. All you have to do is create the artwork and add it to your store. Printful handles everything else.
Plays and Streams: Where is your song available?
One very important aspect of promotions and exposure is distribution. Where is your song available? We recommend including your song on every available platform so that virtually anyone can listen and share it. For example, iTunes and Spotify are great places to start, but not everyone uses those platforms. Adding your song to additional platforms such as Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Noisetrade gives your song more chances of being heard.
Don’t forget to include the song on your website, along with a full set of lyrics and a link to purchase the song as well as any connected merchandise.
+Related: 10 Must-Haves to Include On Your Artist Website
YouTube is another very important platform to showcase your music. There are many ways you can include your song on YouTube. An easy approach would be to create a lyric video. You can get one made from a seller on Fiverr for as low as $10 or you can make it yourself. Here are 24 Best Lyric Video Services on Fiverr. Plus, check out Chris Robley’s lyric video tutorial here for some great inspiration.
You can also go the classic route and record yourself playing your song and upload it to YouTube.
You can also have your fans create a video and upload it to their YouTube channels as part of a contest. This will give you even more exposure and plays.
Video marketing is a great way to establish your brand and there are countless ways to use video to market your new music release. You can do a video talking about the song and why you wrote it. You can play a snippet of the song and share a motivational message. You can produce an official music video. You can share bloopers from the music video. You can also interview other people regarding their thoughts about your song.
Promoting a new music release is fun and exhilarating because it gives you a chance to raise awareness about your music and build your fanbase. But it can quickly become overwhelming if you don’t have a solid plan in place to guide you through the process. The ideas and thoughts in this article should help you come up with a content strategy to promote your song on social media. However, that’s only half of it. You still have other options for promoting your new music release such as working with the media, pushing it to your newsletter, promoting it on your website, hosting virtual launch parties, working with bloggers and podcasters, getting it on radio stations and more. If you need help coming up with a promotions plan to release your new song, try our Music Release Strategy Checklist. It will help you identify everywhere you can and should promote your song and get the most exposure possible.
More Resources
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These are great tips on how to make a splash with your latest single using social media platforms. Thanks for sharing, Anitra!
Thanks Rob! I come to this article every time I’m releasing a new song! It’s a good reminder of all the things you can do to promote! 🙂