For the past two years, I have been working hard to hone my craft as an independent musician. During these years, I have realized that the most difficult challenge that any independent artist will face is finding creative ways to promote their music. While many artist have their own unique way of promoting music(flyers, free music, word of mouth), using the internet as an outlet for music promotion is definitely at the top of their list. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been known to bring in some success for artists, but ReverbNation.com, an online music site for independent musicians, is designed to not only help artists promote their music, but also take full control of their career. I have been using this site to promote my music for the last two years, and I have seen some great results.
What is ReverbNation?
ReverbNation.com is an online musical outlet that allows artists to upload their music and connect with other artists and music listeners. ReverbNation.com offers many different ways in which artists can promote their music such as customized song players, press kits, a music store, and an email service.
Ways to Promote Your Music
–Upload Mp3s- As soon as I decide to release a new song, I immediately upload my mp3 to my homepage. ReverbNation allows artists to easily upload their mp3s to their homepage directly from their computer. As soon as I upload my new track, ReverbNation automatically sends a status update to my homepage to promote it.
–Create Press Kits-A press kit is a portfolio that allows artists to create press by taking their music, photos, biography, and other information and sending them to music opportunities provided by ReverbNation. I use this feature to send my best music to music executives and music journalists to increase my chances of exposure. This feature allows music executives to interact with the artist by downloading their music, looking at their photos, and reading comments posted by fans.
–Sell Your Music in the “Music Store”- I really enjoy using this feature to promote my music on reverbnation. I can upload single songs, mp3s, and even whole albums in the music store. What is so great about the music store is that it is entirely created by the artist. I have full control to design the template for the store as well as pick the price I want to sell my music for. This allows me to market my music and keep most of the profits from my sales.
-Email Fans Directly-Email marketing and promotion is essential for any independent artist. Therefore, I take full advantage of the FanReach feature on reverbnation. With FanReach, fans can sign up for their favorite artist’s email list so they can receive updates and receive regular emails from the artist. I email my fans bi-weekly to keep them up to date on when I am releasing new music or videos. Also, reverbnation allows me to check which fans are actually reading my emails. This gives me the opportunity to see how I am relating to my fans and how I can possibly reach a wider audience.
–Promote It! Campaigns- Promote It! Campaigns are very beneficial to artists because they allow artists to reach potential fans through ads. These ads appear on popular sites like MTV, Pandora Radio, Yahoo! Music, and many countless other websites. Artists control how long they wish to run their ad campaigns and also how much they want to spend for their ads. I recently launched a 4-day campaign for only $25.00. Within four days, my ad made over 26,000 impressions across the internet and my music was even downloaded. I was able to reach nearly 30,000 new fans in less than one week.
ReverbNation is the top leading independent music website that allows artists to connect with fans, promote their music, and most importantly, advance their career in music.
