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What Makes Music Go Viral (2) (3) (4)
How To Make Your Song Go Viral by shinx91: 9:02pm On May 14, 2016 |
1) Talk to people and create a
connecting point.
If you wanted to get popular in school
you would find out who the cool kids
are and befriend them. If you want to
get popular on a social network, look
up the top personal users. Contact
them and introduce them to your
music. Befriend them. Take an interest
in them. Create reasons why they
should spread your music. Use
incentives when needed. Reward the
people who are on your side.
The same idea works for the
blogosphere, the mainstream music
press, the podcasting world, college
radio, or any other area of the music
industry. There are people who set up
platforms for the same reason you
picked up an instrument; for the love of
music. They’re reachable, and the
connecting point is always the music.
Did you love a recent review you read
on the new Janelle Monae album?
Would that writer possibly enjoy your
upcoming jazz/soul full-length
release? There are connecting points
everywhere if we’re perceptive.
2) Use what works on you.
When you scour a music website or
magazine looking for a new band to
add to your iPod playlist or CD
collection, only a select few will stand
out to you. Why is that? Is it their
artwork? Their promotional photo (an
often overlooked piece of the puzzle)?
The promotional language used to
describe the band? The reviews or
press listed (did they impress you with
“social proof”)? Was there something
shocking? Some mystique?
Rearrange your own press materials
and advertising if necessary to emulate
(within reason) what looks effective or
appeals most to you. You will be
marketing to people who relate to you,
remember.
3) Be there. Where? Everywhere.
Make sure you’ve prepared the
necessary elements to go viral. Part of
this is simply being there. The process
is nearly endless, and doesn’t cut short
once you’ve posted your new album
for your social media friends. If your
music is only on a few networks, or
sitting in a custom player on your
homepage, it has no wings. Your
music must be spreadable and fully
optimized on Soundcloud, Bandcamp,
Youtube (upload your separate tracks
with album cover), Reverbnation,
Sonicbids, Rdio, Vimeo, Last.fm (acts
as a mixture of Wikipedia and online
radio for music), Facebook, and Twitter
as ground zero/your starting point.
Join podsafe/podcasting networks
such as the ones listed below:
Music Podcasting
Free Music Archive
Podsafe Music Radio
Podcast.com
Music Alley
For music discovery, try:
Pandora
Spotify
Rdio
Earbits
Mixcloud
This Is My Jam
Reddit Music
Live 365
Grooveshark
Jango
The same goes for licensing libraries,
music blogs, magazines (in and
outside of the specifically music
realm), podcasts, internet and college
radio…to optimize and create
maximum potential, all of these outlets
should be professionally and
personally approached with your
music. Talk to individuals when you
can as opposed to going through the
main channels.
4) Use your current allies.
Make a list of everyone who is on your
side. Keep track of their names, roles
(family, radio dj, blogger, fan, etc), and
email addresses on a document such
as Microsoft Excel or a custom
program. Keep them in the loop at to
what’s new with your band and how
they can help you. Make it worthwhile
and treat them well. Whenever you get
played by a new radio show or get
covered by a new website, add them to
your list of allies. Once again, use
cross-promotion, incentives and thank
yous to keep them on your allies list.
5) Multiply your allies.
Yes indeed. Ask your current allies if
they know anyone else you can
contact for airplay or press. This can
go on forever, as it’s recommended to
ask your new contacts the same
question as you get to know them. You
may be surprised what comes up. Ask
if you can tell this new person that you
were referred by them. They will
usually be delighted to give you a few
names.
Plus, approaching someone new
saying “John Smith highly
recommended your radio show for our
band and suggested that I get in touch
with you. John recently interviewed us
at his Rock Star Nation website. Would
you be interested in a review or
interview?” gives you a much better
chance of getting coverage than
approaching on your own. By helping
you, they see themselves doing a favor
or coming through for a friend. Their
ego is stroked just by knowing that
someone recommended them. Most
people will want to come through in
this type of scenario.
Make your marketing plan your own
social network. Multiply your allies to
build your army. Pretty soon you will
have enough press to rival a major
label act. It’s all about image.
6) Randomly reward people.
Word-of-mouth is not always created
by set-in-stone freebies and
campaigns. What does this mean to
you? Well, it’s a very good idea to
randomly reward people. Go above
and beyond.
If a new person signs up for your street
team, mailing list, or buys your CD,
why not send them a personal email
letting them know you’ve sent them
digital copies of 2 of your albums to
say thanks. Most people would be
thrilled to be contacted personally by a
member of the band, and on top of that
be given free stuff, they would surely
tell a few friends. Be generous on a
person-to-person basis and you’ll be
surprised at the word-of-mouth this can
generate about your band.
7) Use psychological appeal
Ask for advice. This may sound like a
simplistic tip, but it’s actually a highly
effective way to create real movement
in your path. Did you know that it’s
been scientifically proven that people
are far more likely to want to help when
they’re asked for their advice? It’s even
better to ask for their expertise.
Why? We all love having our ego’s
appealed to. If we’re just asked for
help point blank, we may think “Why
should I help this person?” There is no
relationship building. However, simply
foregoing the begging part and
approaching an industry professional,
no matter the level, and telling them
your situation, then asking for their
expertise or if there is anything they
can recommend, can have lucrative
results. They may send you to one of
their contacts. They may take you
under their wing. They may advise you
on something you’re doing wrong and
help you with the next steps. Just be
sure your request is concise and
nothing close to a sob story!
Everything at the same time
If you’re an independent artist you
most likely have an issue with timing,
and it’s directly related to finances as
well as the feeling of being
overwhelmed. If this is the case, save
up for longer before launching your
product, because in order to even hope
for direct competition with other artists,
you need everything to happen at the
same time; your album release, your
tour, your music video launch. You
need to be busy all the time.
This is especially effective when
you’ve built up a huge contact list of
allies who are loyal to you. Send them
your new music video and press
release along with a personalized
message all at the same time. Dozens
of blogs posting about you at the same
time can really catch the attention of
outsiders, and that’s ultimately what
you want. A post here and there can
still have effect, but it’s tough to build
the momentum.
9) Don’t worry about profit quite yet.
The idea alone will hold you back.
You’ve got to launch this thing in a big
way before you focus specifically on
profit. The CD orders will eventually
become a positive by-product of your
viral campaign. Be very generous.
Create reasons for your band to have
an inside circle. Does your website
allow people to log in? Are there
member benefits such as extra free
downloads? Are you providing a good
incentive for those fans who are
signing up for your mailing list or E-
team? When someone does buy your
CD, are you giving them something
else as well such as a digital copy of
your previous album or a previously
unreleased track?
If it’s digital, it doesn’t cost anything.
One common mistake that
independent bands and musicians
make in this day and age is being
overly stingy and paranoid about their
music. Here’s a tip: If your band
records a CD, sets up a website with
30 second previews of each track and
waits for the fans to come swooping in,
it’s simply not going to happen.
Bands spend a lot of time asking
“Should we offer this track for free? Will
that be too much? But we won’t make
any money!” This is the indie band’s
paranoia.
Remember that a digital product is
infinite. When someone downloads
your song, you have a new listener.
Period. Yes, they may have
downloaded it for free, but you have no
less stock. Now that we are beyond
dealing with physical products, you
don’t have to worry quite as much
about running out of product and
potentially giving away too much stock
for promotional purposes.
Beyond that, you should actively be
looking for potential virus carriers to
send free music to! Tell them all you’d
like in return is that they post it
somewhere or send it to someone
else. Tell them to treat your music as a
virus. They will most likely get a kick
out of the idea and be appreciative of
your modern attitude. It’s this attitude
that is going to get your music spread.
Don’t waste time on the old school way
of thinking – if you do that you may as
well be a record label going out of
business.
9) Advertise
There are plenty of quality ways for
artists to advertise, and I don’t mean
paying insane rates in major indie
publications, something I typically
don’t recommend. After all, you’re
paying their rent. Niche websites with
more reasonable pricing, ironically,
tend to be more effective than massive
indie titans. If you’re a desert rock act
or a dream pop group, sometimes it’s
best to start where your particular
niche is – reach out to the medium
level publications who cater
specifically to it.
Facebook is great when you keep an
eye on it, test, and optimize. If you
don’t want to take the equivalent of an
advertising course, you can always try
out Reverbnation’s “ Promote It” app for
your Facebook advertising needs. Be
sure to report to us how things go!
Check it out here. Another set of
potential ground rules have been
outlined by Gen Y Rockstars. I love
their approach to the descriptions,
although my personal choice tends to
lean towards pay-per-click advertising.
Props to them for their approach.
Advertise with hyper-targeting on
Google through their main option,
Google Adwords, which provides
pretty much every focusing option
you’d ever need to reach your niche
audience. They also have a free
customer service line to guide you
through the many options.
Another avenue that I’ve used with
some success is Blogads.com. They
offer a very easy-to-use advertising
system that enables you to advertise in
music publications such as The Deli,
Obscure Sound, and Short and Sweet
NYC among others. Try their pay-per-
tweet advertising, as that’s what was
most effective for me.
To cover organic Twitter growth, I
recommend Andrew Muller from The
Real Musician. He’s who I hire for my
own Twitter promotion and the growth
has been tremendous. Also, I use his
services for all my artist packages and
campaigns. |
Re: How To Make Your Song Go Viral by Hundreddegrees(m): 9:11pm On May 14, 2016 |
Modify your work |
Re: How To Make Your Song Go Viral by Kentura(m): 9:28pm On May 14, 2016 |
so I should read this long write up I'll pass bro |
Re: How To Make Your Song Go Viral by Austinblake: 7:46pm On Nov 30, 2016 |
lol.... |
Re: How To Make Your Song Go Viral by Austinblake: 7:54pm On Nov 30, 2016 |
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Re: How To Make Your Song Go Viral by Austinblake: 12:28pm On Jan 04, 2017 |
|
Re: How To Make Your Song Go Viral by Xclusivezion(m): 3:58pm On Sep 02, 2020 |
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