My predictions and hypotheses for tactics & elements of a successful new music release strategy.
As I begin this new journey of exploring music marketing, I want you to help me with a test.
I have a few ideas of general strategies that could work for releasing new music and singles. These ideas are based on my observation of the market, and my experience in digital marketing. If you are an artist and you’d like to test any of these ideas with me, reach out to me at naima@ayonaima.com. I would love to find artists to work with and develop marketing strategies for their growth.
Note: I haven’t tried any of these ideas yet.
But most of these are easily testable, optimizable, and if one doesn’t work – try something else. To me, testing, failing, optimizing, and trying something new are the keys to successful marketing.
I also included some simple goals these tactics could help you achieve. Even if you are creating strategies and tactics based off of observation and intuition – it must always align with your goals as an artist. If a tactic doesn’t support your goals, it isn’t the best use of your time. Or at least, that’s how we do marketing in corporate.
Here we go:
1. Make shorter songs.
Goal: Increase number of streams by x%.
We’ll start this list off with… a stretch. So if you keep reading at this point, I know you’re serious about exploring these strategies and tactics.
I’m an avid replayer. Obsessive replayer. Snobby replayer. I don’t care. If the song is good enough, I’ll keep it on loop for an hour. *shrug emoji*
Because most of of the consumption of urban (rap / r&b ) music happens via streaming, short songs could mean more streams.
Source: NYTIMES / Nielsen.
If most of your engagement happens via streaming, having a shorter song could help with stream numbers. Do I have numbers to support this hypothesis? Of course not (yet). If a song is short, yet addictive, your audience could keep replaying & replaying & singing outloud until your tongue gets sore. Sometimes, you just HAVE to repeat a short song when it’s damn good.
Think about it. How many times did you replay James Joint on Rih’s Anti? Summer Walker’s album had only 3 songs over 3 minutes, and you can listen to her album twice in the same time it takes you Anti to finish once. It’s an interesting strategy, and I’m a big fan of leaving your fans wanting more. It’s worth a try?
2. Give us deep cuts with the main.
Goal: Increase total stream count by x%.
Our attention spans are too short for a single song release, in my opinion. There are too many things begging for our attention and consumption in the digital world – in and outside of music. Giving the people too little can leave you forgotten. Drop a few deep cuts with the single.
Summer Walker and Sabrina Claudio had two of my favorite releases this year, and they both had a similar release. Summer was a newcomer this year, so along with her smash “Girls Need Love”, there were three other deep cuts released on her music profiles new fans can enjoy. So, after discovering her, you can stay in the Summer Walker world for a while. These deep cuts eventually rolled into the final album, but it gave us fans something to chew on while learning this new artist and waiting on the full album.
Similarly, the “Cancelled” Sabrina Claudio teased two singles in April, before releasing all new music in August. Micro-releases and pre-releases and street buzz EPs aren’t new at all, especially in internet music. It keeps the audience engaged, satiated, and excited for new music. Today, it’s also valuable because it can help keep you relevant when time seems to move faster than ever before.
3. Post the lyrics and stop being stingy.
Goal: Improve/establish your band/artist’s presence on search/Google.
What is it with you beautiful writers not posting your song lyrics to your songs post-release?
Okay.
Here’s a scenario:
Sammie* is known on IG for her amazing taste in music. She posts stories regularly of the songs she’s currently listening to, and posts fire selfies with mysterious song lyric captions.
Note: this is not Sammie.
One day, she posts a story of her lip singing to a smooth, bassy alt&b ballad. The IG streets go crazy. Everyone wants to add this song to their late night playlists. They search the catchy lyrics of the hook on Google.
But nothing comes up.
They search a few different variations. Nothing. Hmm, maybe I can try…
*bzzz*
New Message: Girl 😩 Kylie Jenner just went sky diving with the damn baby. Travis is narrating everything in auto tune. Call me NOWWW
And just like that, your new fan is gone forever. The Kardashians work entirely too fast for your single to not be Googlable by lyrics. A potential opportunity for conversion after initial music discovery was missed.
Song lyrics have been captions and statuses since Myspace. Lyrics have been integral elements of tweets, Facebook statuses, and IG captions for over half a decade. Song lyrics can be a fundamental part of deepening audience connection, ESPECIALLY if you’re a lyrical artist.
Your lyrics must be searchable. Google & Genius worked out their beef from a few years ago, and Genius plays a big role in digital urban music. Get your lyrics on Genius by the time your music is released, and widen the opportunity of new music discovery.
*Sammie is make-believe, obvs. Wow you forgot about her already, didn’t you?
4. Alexa, play my song. Shazam, who is her?
Goal: Increase number of new monthly listeners by x%.
Speaking of searchable, voice search is no longer the future. It is the now. I mean, it’s a meme. Not sure what more proof you need. It’s good to ensure your single is can be found Shazam or played by Alexa. If music licensing is a part of your strategy, voice search optimization is a requirement if growth is your goal.
The most popular use for Alexa is for playing music, especially for adults. Shazam is an app that can listen to a bit of a song and capture the song’s “fingerprint” to aid in music discovery. Appropriate distribution and metadata can help with ensuring your song is voice search optimized. You could even create Alexa Skills or help train other machine systems that support apps to learn your band or song.
If you’re interesting in learning more or working with me on a strategy for this, reach out at naima@ayonaima.com.
5. Ads.. maybe?
Goals: Increase conversions by x%.
Ads on Twitter, IG/FB, and Youtube can come cheap. But depending on your content and your budget, and current engagement, it may not be the best use of your budget unless you have a very clear journey you want to take new fans through. In digital marketing, we are “taught” you need to hit someone with 5 to 7 ads for them to convert. That can get expensive for an indie artist. If you have money to blow? Test IG and Twitter ads, but I do believe the best way to to advertise yourself on social media = influencers.
6. Influencers – required budget line item
Goal: Increase monthly listens by x%.
Micro-influencers on IG should be singing and/or dancing to your song. If there is a sexy dancer in your city, see if they can dance to your single. If there is a popular DJ that does live shows, ask if they can drop or promote the song in their stories. Models love a good lip sync in the car, child. Influencers are how a lot of people discover music on social media, so interesting it in your strategy can be critical.
Promoting via micro and macro influencers doesn’t necessarily start at DMing ppl to sing your song for a few. Think outside of the box for creative ways you can use micro and macro influencers in your strategy – from exploring other incentives outside of money or creating contests.
7. PLAYLISTS ARE LIFE, hunny.
Goal: Increase monthly listens by x%.
Create playlists for your fans of your favorite songs.
Ask your fans to put you on their playlist.
Pitch for playlist placement with influencers, curators, blogs, magazine, other artists, and DJs.
I have a post on playlists coming soon, but people continue to increasingly enjoy curated playlists. There are various ways you can include playlists in your marketing strategy to help increase streams.
8. Merch FTW
Goal: Increase total revenue by x%.
If it makes sense with your budget and audience engagement, merch is more important now than ever. Before digital music, the experience of opening a new record, running your fingers on the sides, and playing the fresh print for the first time. New music was tribal; we gathered around together to experience the newest drop on the radio together.
Experience with music is different now. Though it is still very social, the experience is more private than before. The experience also has the potential of having no physical aspect to it at all. The joy of clutching that tape close to you as you wait impatiently on the ride home. The sound of ripping the shiny cellophane wrapping from ’round that new CD. The smell of fresh pressed vinyl. These physical interactions are all gone from our music experience. Our other senses are no longer significant parts of our music experience. Merch helps stimulate some of those senses, recreates that physical and sometimes tribal experience with an artist.
Unwrapping a package and you realize it’s a band tee you ordered? Omg did Smino breathe near these socks?! You can reintroduce more physical into the digital experience and stimulate other senses that deepen the fan artist connection with merch. And that might mean more now in this digital first world where most experiences – from banking to dating – are no longer physical.
Anytime I wear artist merch, it’s a conversation starter. This is a tribal experience in a sense. My Abra “Crybaby” shirt has a lot of fans in the office, and I hope my (blue!) Make Azealia Great Again hat has made a few haters go within and redirect that hurt. Merch is a status symbol, point of pride, and turns normal fans into advocates for you.
Plus, having another stream of income to support you and your dream is a good idea for any creative.
Abra, Crybaby. Go stream PRINCESS everywhere.
9. Own digital streaming.
This is a no brainer. Your music needs to be on ALL streaming platforms. Yes, including YouTube if you can (and Deezer whatever that is.). YouTube is the second largest search engine in the US after Google, and is a leading tool for music discovery.
10. Be authentic, but read the room.
Cardi B isn’t Cardi B because of how amazing she (and her team) can rap. Cardi B is Cardi B because she resonates with the emotions of the audience. She came on the scene with an attitude that was authentically true to her and filled with life. Speak authentically in your music. But don’t forget to find a way to connect it to the environment and atmosphere of society to truly resonate with the most people. Use social media to learn more about the landscape of society, gender struggles, popular phrases and moods, and in general what people are feeling and what they need. Resonating with the status quo, and being authentic could be amazing ways to grow even if the music ain’t that fire yet (even though I’m sure it is 🙌🏿).
11. (BONUS) Get Drake, Cardi, or Bad Bunny on your song.
I mean duh.
I actually could go on.
Brainstorming growth strategies is the easy part. Testing, implementing, and optimizing your strategies can be overwhelming especially if you are doing a lot of the heavy lifting yourself. If you would like help developing marketing strategies and plans for your music goals in 2019 – contact me at naima@ayonaima.
What are some other strategies would be essential to a modern digital music strategy?