IOTM Blog
Posted: Jan 10, 2023
Category: Social Media
social media facebook twitter youtube marketing instagram tiktok linkedin symphonic distribution
**Guest post originally featured in the Symphonic Distribution Blog.
"If you’re an active social media user, then you don’t need to be told how important accurate image sizing is on socials. Social platforms change their preferred image sizing and formatting every year, so make sure to update yours accordingly! To help you out, here are the updated requirements for 2023..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 23, 2022
Category: Promotion
social media twitter promotion spotify marketing plan blogs newsletters music album release publicist instagram google submithub industry resources cyber pr
**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Here, in How To Be Your Own Music Publicist Part 2, we will go through the 5 things that need to be addressed before you can start pitching to music blogs and publications. 1. Research Music Blogs 2. Prepare Your Target Lists 3. Get Your Email and Newsletters in Order 4. Determine Your Ideal Release Schedule 5. Prep Your Visual Assets and Social Media Posts" View Full Article
Posted: Sep 13, 2022
Category: Online Presence
merch facebook twitter website improvement youtube metadata seo keywords bandcamp bandzoogle calendar listings instagram biography photos bandsintown wikipedia google videos lyrics tiktok
**Guest post written by Wes Walls of Bandzoogle.
"Once you have created a music website, you can take your online presence a step further by optimizing your band's ranking in search engines. This is called SEO for musicians, and it makes it easier for your fans to find the information about you that they want. Whether you want to discover the best SEO keywords for musicians, or just start making your songs, social profiles and events show up in Google, this checklist will help you to get started."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 13, 2021
Category: Promotion
twitter spotify google playlisting music discovery submithub modern guitar hub
**Guest post written by Andrei Kryssov, founder of Modern Guitar Hub, a site that publishes concise guitar-related articles and lessons for guitar players who have busy schedules. A guitarist for over 20 years, Andrei has recorded and performed with various Rock and Jazz bands.
"For an indie artist, Spotify Playlists are a very effective way to increase awareness of your music and grow your fanbase. As a musician with limited recognition, I've found getting added to Playlists on Spotify to be one of the best ways to promote my band's music. Remember, placement on the right Playlist could change your music career! But how do you start? How do you find these Playlists? In this post I’ll discuss four tactics that you can use to find Playlists on Spotify that are accepting music submissions." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 18, 2021
Category: Marketing
cyber pr social media facebook twitter amazon youtube pandora marketing marketing plan newsletters music streaming services distribution online presence soundcloud bandcamp instagram branding apple music
**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"In this ever-changing landscape, we see the same issue consistently: A vast majority of musicians don’t create long-term marketing plans. Artists skip this vital part of their music careers. Plans used to be the responsibility of the record label when artist development used to be a thing or a great management team but very few artists are lucky enough to have either (or in many cases, they don’t want a label). This leaves a void in today’s new music business...You work so hard on new music, dedicating hours practicing, writing songs, not to mention spending large sums of money recording, mixing, mastering, creating visuals, and album artwork only to rush the release with no marketing plan in place." View Full Article
Posted: May 10, 2021
Category: Promotion
live streaming social media facebook twitter youtube promotion newsletters instagram bandsintown facebook events create videos artist collective contests banners clubhouse
**Guest post written by Leonard Patterson of Artist Collective AKA @ac_leonardp. This is an excerpt from his new book, 365 Livestream Ideas For Musicians.
"13. Schedule a Facebook Premiere 14. Create an Event 15. Join the Club(house)..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 30, 2020
Category: Live Performance
live streaming touring twitter youtube stageit spotify call-to-action instagram persistence house shows gigging paypal craigslist facebook live the legit musician teach fiverr venmo soundbetter
**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"I wanted to come up with a few ideas for you if you are dealing with lost revenue from a gig being cancelled. I also wanted to make this post more universal than just for this latest pandemic. My hope is that you can use these ideas for a cancelled gig under any circumstances."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 9, 2019
Category: Social Media
social media facebook twitter marketing influences instagram persona know your audience content facebook live data targeted advertising timing the music career guide
**Guest post written by Wassim Awess, founder of the Music Career Guide.
"Understanding the importance of social media in this day and age is not enough to take you to the next level. It’s very much about testing, seeing what works out for you when you use the platform and how you use it. Here are 8 tips to help you maximize your efforts with social media marketing..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 3, 2019
Category: Fans
facebook twitter pandora marketing spotify fan engagement soundcloud pinterest analytics apple music data megaphone agency
**Guest post written by Jordan Gates, of Megaphone Agency.
"In this digital age of music streaming and social media, it is easier than ever to objectively measure an artist’s reach and influence. Whether you like it or not, every social media site and music streaming platform is collecting loads of data about their users. This information can be used to your advantage to draw powerful insights about your audience."
Posted: Sep 11, 2018
Category: Fans
social media merch facebook twitter website improvement youtube spotify music business relationships with fans newsletters soundcloud instagram gigging blogging ariel hyatt cyber pr survey
**Guest post written by Ariel Hyatt, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"This post focuses on how to energize and connect with Community 2 – Engaged Fans. These fans are your Active Online Audience...They know who you are but they may not know you very well (yet)...In Community 2 contribution is critical but engagement is even more vital." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 7, 2018
Category: Social Media
social media facebook twitter promotion marketing plan instagram cyber pr videos hashtags captions timing
**Guest post written by Ariel Hyatt, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Instagram — the most popular visual social platform has experienced a meteoric rise. As of today, there are over 700 million active Instagram users, and 95 million photos shared every day...We hear from artists all of the time that they love Instagram the most because of it’s ease of use."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 29, 2018
Category: Marketing
ask fans facebook instagram know your audience marketing merch relationships with fans social media survey survey monkey the legit musician twitter
**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"Find out what your fans want by asking them. I learned this little tip by following online guru Michael Hyatt. He does a reader survey every year, and he learns how to run his business from the results. Don’t be afraid to ask your fans what they want. Most of the time, they will be excited to share this info with you. It will make them feel more connected to you as well."
Posted: Dec 4, 2017
Category: Social Media
facebook fan engagement instagram keys to success know your audience marketing plan social media twitter zing instruments
**Guest post written by Ged Richardson of Zing Instruments as featured in the Ultimate Guide To Social Media Marketing For Musicians.
"The commonest mistake that musicians make is not to consider who they are trying to reach with each platform. That’s right. You need to think who are you trying to reach. And the complexity doesn't stop there. People you’re trying to reach don’t all use the same social media channels either..." View Full Article
Posted: Feb 6, 2017
Category: Social Media
be patient consistency facebook marketing midi lifestyle networking newsletters online presence promotion social media spammer twitter
**Guest post by Doug Beney, lead editor of MIDI Lifestyle.
"You've been improving your skills for months, spending countless hours slaving over your DAW, perfecting every slight detail in your mix. Finally happy with your track, you publish it on Soundcloud, sit back, and.....Crickets...What I hope to provide you with today are some quick, practical improvements you can make in how you promote your music that will actually get you results..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 3, 2017
Category: Marketing
bandsintown dailymotion distribution dozmia facebook gigging instagram marketing newsletters pinterest promotion reddit social media songkick stumbleupon twitter vimeo youtube
**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright of Dozmia.
"Succeeding in the music industry is hard work. You're competing with literally millions of people crawling their way to the top. However, most of these people don't know how to effectively market themselves or their music...Instead, set yourself apart from the crowd by learning all you can about different music marketing tactics, and treating your music career as a business. Here's a list of 50 music marketing strategies to get you started..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 18, 2016
Category: Social Media
facebook grassrootsy hashtags know your audience promotion relationships with fans social media twitter
**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
"What’s the deal with hashtags? Some of us have never hated the pound (#) sign more than we do right this minute. Some of us love it! Still others of us have no clue what it means or how it’s used in the world of social media. Well today we are going to explore the hashtag. Think of this as Hashtag 101!"
View Full ArticlePosted: May 16, 2016
Category: Marketing
call-to-action drop track facebook fan engagement free downloads marketing platform newsletters social media the diy musician twitter
**Guest Post by Paul Loeb, founder and CEO of No Ego Records and DropTrack. Originally featured on The DIY Musician.
"It’s hard to believe it’s been over 12 years since the launch of Facebook. Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. That’s good news for marketers, musicians, and entrepreneurs. You have this incredible platform to reach every one of those followers you painstakingly cultivated. Or do you?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 7, 2015
Category: Marketing
consistency crewfire facebook fan engagement incentives marketing promotion relationships with fans social media twitter word of mouth
**Guest Post written by Alan VanToai, Co-Founder of www.CrewFire.com (turn your existing fans into your Facebook and Twitter ambassadors).
When you think visionary brands, who comes to mind? Probably Apple, Red Bull, or Nike… right? Well, how about we add one more to the mix: The Grateful Dead...Long before social media or digital marketing ever came into play, they employed viral marketing, social networking, and word-of-mouth marketing...50 years later, the game has changed – but the principles are the same. And word-of-mouth remains one of the most powerful marketing strategies out there.
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 17, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
emotion facebook music streaming services musik and film record labels social media songwriting twitter youtube
**Guest post by Stephen Wrench, CEO of Musik and Film.
"I recently had the pleasure of pitching a very talented well produced artist to major labels...They never listened to it [the music] because their social media numbers were not good enough?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 30, 2015
Category: Social Media
following graphics online presence promotion relationships with fans social media splashflood stay connected twitter
**Guest post written by Frederic Sahyouni of SplashFlood, a mobile app that rewards musicians for their talent.
"So you started a new band or a new solo music project and, as you absolutely must, you want to set up your online presence on all the typical social media platforms available...Here is a list of things you should and should not do in order to kickstart your social media presence on Twitter..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 18, 2015
Category: Social Media
charities facebook fan engagement get personal google hangouts marketing plan scatterradio social media twitter
**Guest post written by Melinda Lewis of ScatterRadio.
"The evolution from simply surfing the internet on a computer to consuming content on mobile phones has put a growing emphasis on social media. And, the pressure to be “good” at social media has never been stronger...Your audience may be inundated with the same messages from different people and the quest to stand out oftentimes seems like an uphill battle. Instead of focusing on the quantity, cultivate quality..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 2, 2015
Category: Promotion
artistdata bandsintown big whiz bang! blogs craigslist discount codes discount tickets ebay eventbrite affiliates facebook flyering newsletters podcasts posters social media songkick stubhub twitter video marketing
**Guest post written by Phil Johnson, as featured in his blog, Big Whiz Bang!
This is the continuation of last week's post "33 Gig Promotion Strategies (And Which Ones Actually Work!) - Part 1", but rather than focusing on Offline Promotion, Phil talks about his online promotional efforts and their successes/failures.
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 9, 2014
Category: Online Presence
bandzoogle call-to-action direct to fan facebook google+ newsletters twitter user experience web presence website improvement
**Guest Post from David Dufresne, from Bandzoogle.com.
"The Internet is a big and scary place. When you're a musician and your focus is to practice, write and perform, figuring out where to spend the little time and money you have left for an "online strategy" can be confusing. Many bands we've met tell us that they see it as a real challenge. Here are some reasons why I think [owning your own .COM] is necessary..." View Full Article
Posted: Mar 31, 2014
Category: Online Presence
backlinks blogs facebook forums google adwords instagram keywords marketing pinterest seo social media twitter youtube
**Guest post written by Brandon Swift, musician and creator of Yovigo.com.
When marketing a band online, a musician should create a website that lets the band accept countless payment methods, establish numerous pages on the social media networks, encourage people to write positive reviews about the group and consistently post ads for the band in local directories. So how do you do this?...
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 30, 2013
Category: Online Presence
bandcamp facebook fan engagement keywords localized marketing marketing online presence seo soundcloud twitter youtube
**Guest post written by Brandon Seymour, musician, SEO analyst, web designer, and social media marketer.
What I find really interesting though is that some niches act as if they are immune to the constant pressures of the modern day marketer. In my experience, one of the biggest offenders is the music industry - specifically independent artists. I've been working in SEO and inbound marketing for about four years now and since I've always had a passion for music, I wanted to take some time to discuss some simple, highly actionable steps that musicians can take to start marketing their band like a boss.
View Full Article