In the music business, creating the music is just half the battle especially here in the Nigerian music industry, where its hard to get recognized by top record labels. likes of Mavin, Starboy Ent, DMW, Chocolate city, and lots more but still you have to find a way to let people know about your music and listen to your music without the help of record labels and promoters in Nigeria.
At this stage, it's time to treat music like a business. If you feel you have a product people would enjoy, create a music promotional plan to let customers (listeners) know about your recordings, performances, and broadcasts. The key to promoting your music successfully in today's Nigerian music industry is to try new things, learn from the promotion strategy you run, make changes, and fine-tune them to your unique career and grow your fanbase.
The internet has also helped in countless ways to promote your music, which allows you to experiment with your promotion strategy and let your creativity run wild.
Let's consider the best ways you can promote my music in Nigeria for free as a standalone artist or upcoming artist/upcoming musician.
How to Promote Music in Nigeria For FREE
1. Identify Your Audience
You can go broke when trying to market to everybody. You need to identify your "Clan," the people who are most likely to appreciate the music you are promoting, and people who listen to your online music. Go to venues that feature your kind of music and pay attention to who is in the audience. Try to examine websites that offer similar music and determine who their advertisements are geared toward.
Create a profile of your ideal fan base. Include age, gender if applicable. Decide where they would most likely live, how much money they might earn, and what their goals may be. Some of this comes from your instincts, and some of it comes from asking people detailed questions. Talk to people who like the kind of music you plan to promote, it could be family or friends and see how you can market your music to those audiences.
2. Skip the Advertising
Advertising does very little to get people to listen to a new artist especially in Nigeria, Although, it's a good way of creating awareness. But your promotion plan should focus the money you would have spent on advertising to hire a street team (promoters) to promote live performances.
A street team is a group of people who hand out flyers to the public and tell people about an upcoming performance. If performing your music is not part of the promotion plan, set aside a budget for producing a video. This will allow people to hear and see the performance online at a free video promotion site. Your promotion strategy should list all of the video sites you plan to upload the video on.
3. The Free Download Issue
Your plan must explain whether or not you will offer free downloads of your music. Many Internet users in Nigeria expect to listen to an artist for free and will be unlikely to buy music they've never heard especially from an upcoming artists. Free downloads do not cost you money, but they do only deprive you of income.
Your promotion plan should include how you intend on marketing your music out for free download especially when you really want to sell your song. For example, you could offer a free download of the first song, and then sell downloads of additional songs. This could make up for the loss of income from the download, this can be done on streaming services like SoundCloud Plays and lots more. But don't bother too much about making sales from your music, rather make it a priority to entertain your listeners.
4. Email Database and Social Media Contacts
Your music promotion should explain how you will get fan emails. For example, you can have audience members enter their emails on a sign-up sheet at live shows, or you can ask for email addresses when listeners request a free download online, especially if you have your music brand (create an artiste website if you don't have one).
In addition, your plan should include the kinds of email notices you intend to distribute. You should know what kinds of messages you want to put out, and how often you will send them. Your plan should include ways to obtain social media contact information as well. You can send out messages through social media to supplement your email campaign.
Many artists in Nigeria don't apply the "get fans emails" as it helps you get connected with those that find interest in your music. Begin by getting fan reviews for every of your song. You should also apply social networking on platforms to promote your music online as it's a way of treating your song as music business.
5. Social Media Promotion
Been active on Social Media should be one of your priorities as an artist, Get started by creating an account on platforms to promote your music online such as social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram which enables you to associate with your fans. Always update your profile consistently with intriguing pictures and recordings of you from studio recording. Pictures from occasions you attend and performed, pictures of you at the studio, and lots more.
With these, you can get fans from Nigeria as well as everywhere throughout the world on social media. Try to focus on getting high-quality followers who are interested in your music and not just a bunch of creepy large followers. You can contact a social media promotional company to help with this.
6. Branding
Your unique style, look, and approach to music must guide your music promotional plan and how you market your music online. Include details in your plan about how you are going to remind people of your brand. For example, decide if you will have posters made with the same image as your CD cover. Determine if you will pay an artist to develop a logo for you.
Plan for any promotional strategy that will help people remember your brand, such as giveaways of free items with your name on them. it could be in a form of wrist-band and this can be done at occasions in Nigeria by distributin g it at the entrance even if it's not your occasion, but make sure if it's acceptable by the organizers. As this is a great way of growing your fanbase in the Nigeria music industry
7. Niche Promotions
Think about whether your music can be easily associated with people who have interest in specific genres and the top artist in that category,to name a few niche interests. You can promote to the target audience by passing out flyers at events or by posting articles about your music where these specific people go to participate in their niche community (Nigeria). Your plan should not limit but try all possibilities for promoting to such audiences.
8. Attend Shows Regularly
As an artist you must be aware you have a product - Music, which is similar to promoting a physical product. Attending varieties of shows be it Club, Weddings, University Shows, Radio Shows, Birthday parties can help enhance your music coverage and also build you as a brand. While attending shows regularly, try to make sure you perform at each occasion and endeavour to dish the right track (music) for each show.
Submit your songs to DJ's you meet at a show even though you are not opportune to perform, the DJ is more likely to play your song at other occasions if its a nice track, even if you ain't present at the show. This is one of the free ways to promote your music, by attending shows regularly, as you would be able to connect with people and expand your audience.
9. Promote Songs on Blogs
Music blogs are a great way to promote your music, try to promote on popular music website by uploading your songs on those promotion sites as they tend to generate high traffic on a monthly bases which is of course a good place to begin. Most music blogs in Nigeria offers interview while some don't for upcoming artist, try to focus on music blog site that accepts interviews and also offer to promote your music on their social media platforms. You can begin by placing your songs on top music blogs that also offers interviews. We can get you these at TAGET Media. Promoting your music on radio station can also help grow your fanbase
10. Following Trends
Are you just seeing trends and not using them to your advantage? Following trends that suit your kind of music is a big plus for your music promotion and can boost both you as a brand and your music. No matter if you are an upcoming artist, you can participate in trends, just pick the right trend and you would get people to listen. Top artist in Nigeria also follow trends and this has increased their popularity even internationally and has made them more relevant in the music industry. Remember to treat your songs as a music business
11. Create an Artist Website
Many artist fail to understand that having a branded artist website can help promote your music easily and can save you little cost in promotion like music blog placement. With an artiste website you would to do the following - send people to download your song right from your website, you would also be able to sell your music on the website and collect your money and sell branded T-shirts (merch).
Basically you want your fans stopping by your website as often as possible. To begin creating an artist website, visit our services
12. Collaborate with Other Musicians
Collaboration is an often overlooked aspect of music promotion. It's a great way to get your music in front of a new group of people and grow your fan-base. It's not always necessary to collaborate with top artist, you can begin with a rising upcoming artist. but make sure you collaborate with musicians whose fans would appreciate your music.
Work with artist in a similar genre or with similar fan-base demographic. Remember to give each other shout-outs on social media.
Conclusion On How to Promote Your Music For FREE
As an upcoming artist or fast-rising artist in the Nigerian music, don't get frustrated if things take some time to come together, remember from the onset, we said its time to take your music as a business, so your music promotion strategy is going to be something that you refine over time.
The most important thing is to take advantage of all the different music promotion tools you have on this blog post rather than sticking one just one thing. You could inquire from music promoters in Nigeria on how you can forward your music ahead, even if it might cost you a few.
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