Digital Marketing for Musicians: Creating Your Virtual World

Building a loyal audience of true fans is key to the success of every aspiring artist and band, making digital marketing an essential tool for independent artists. Whether you're a solo artist or part of a band, mastering the art of digital marketing is hard work, but it will help you amplify your personal and professional messaging that transforms a casual follower into a financial supporter.

Now, if this is the first article of ours you're reading, you might want to check out Music Marketing vs Music Promotion: The Reason Behind Why Fans Do Or Don’t Care About Your Music, so you can learn the difference between marketing and promotion and then read Marketing Strategies for Musicians: Building Fan Connections to learn our recommended strategies for building and nurturing your connection with your audience.

In this article, we'll explore the tools to create your online presence and channels where followers transform into fans. Meaning, we're going to discuss the virtual spaces where you'll actually be marketing you and your music.

Creating Your Virtual World aka Creating Your Online Presence

Your online presence is the virtual space where you'll attract and engage your potential and current fans. It's comprised of online channels like your social media pages and website, as well as digital tools, like email and livestreams. When properly set up, your online presence form what is known as a Customer Funnel, which is designed to attract, engage and monetize your audience. To learn more about The Importance of a Customer Funnel When Building Your Fanbase, check out our article and video. Now, with that in mind, lets jump in!

Official Website:

Your first music marketing tool is your artist website and it's the cornerstone of your online presence. It acts as a centralized hub for any and all information about you and it includes things like your artists bio, show dates, press articles, music, photos, music releases and more. It's a space where you get to have 100% control over what you display and there's zero algorithms blocking you from engaging with fans. Overall, it let's you tell your musical story with no restriction on character length and let's fans take a deep dive into who your are as a person and artist, making it an essential space to market yourself. Your website also acts as your professional calling card, because it houses your digital portfolio known as your:

Electronic Press Kit aka Your EPK:

Your EPK is the ultimate marketing toolkit - a one-stop-shop for media, industry professionals and promoters to get an immersive look into who you are as an artist. Think of your EPK as your musical resume and promotional hub rolled into one dynamic package. It showcases your brand, story, sound, visuals and key selling points in a clean, easily digestible format. A great EPK opens doors to press coverage, booking opportunities, sponsorships and more. And all those things tie right back into growing your audience.

Social Media Platforms:

Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok allow musicians to engage with fans, share updates, run polls, etc., essentially anything you can think of that will help you learn about your audience and grow your connection with them. This is why social media is an important marketing tool. That said, even though we recommend having social media accounts on every platform to secure your artist name, you don't need a music marketing plan for each one. Start by focusing on creating a solid social media presence on your favorite platform, then slowly expand to the other digital platforms.

Email + Newsletter:

Your email list allows direct communication with fans, which makes it an important marketing tool and one of the best ways to engage with your audience. Think of it as your fan club where you can talk with true fans who are interested in the details of your new album and where you can send out updates, exclusive content and announcements about new releases or upcoming shows. That said, email also allows you to send private messages to fans where you can work 1-on-1 to transform a fan into a financial supporter. So be sure to keep collecting email addresses because they are the starting point for transforming your target audience into loyal fans.

YouTube Channel

YouTube is a mix of a social media channel and a streaming service, but it operates like a search engine, which is why we're gonna talk about it separately. Now, you may hear how it's getting harder to build an audience on YouTube, but in my opinion, statements like that only apply to people looking to be YouTubers. Musicians aren't YouTubers. As a musician, it's nice if someone on YouTube organically finds you, but you don't need to rely on that, you can provide people you meet with direct links to your channel. Then use your YouTube channel and it's ability to host music videos, vlogs, etc. to create a marketing experience that introduces fans to you and your music by showcasing your covers and original music with a personal message included to viewers as an endnote. Additionally, in the description of any video, you can post links to your website, mailing list and more.

Virtual Events and Livestreams:

Virtual events and livestreams offer a convenient way to engage with people online, as we all learned during the pandemic. Just about anything you can do in person, you can do via livestream, including hosting a virtual album release party, Q+As and of course live performances. Plus performing online makes it easy to direct people to the rest of your online channels.

Online Communities and Forums:

Any place you can make a friend is a place where you can make a fan. Our musicians have gain fans through Facebook groups, discord channels and Meetup groups. The trick here is to join groups you're truly interested in either personally or musically. Your goal is to meet people that share your interests and what better way to do that by joining a focused community.

Podcasts and Interviews:

Appearing on podcasts or participating in interviews for blogs or other types of media outlets is a great way for musicians to share their story, discuss their music and connect with new listeners. For independent artists, it can be difficult to get on a podcast, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't explore the possibility. I've seen some of our artists do it and it was a great experience for them.

Music Streaming Platforms:

I read an article the other day that said, services like Spotify and Apple Music are crucial to building a music fan base. I couldn't disagree more. Yes, they're a convenient way for fans to listen to your music, but helping you to build a fan base? No. At most, they're helping you build followers. Unless you have a way to have a conversation with an actual person, build a relationship with them and turn them into a repeat customer, you are not going to create a fan that's going to have a meaningful impact on your career. Most people will probably disagree with me because they believe getting massive amounts of people to hear your music is the fastest way to grow an audience, but in my opinion, that way of thinking is outdated, reserved for a time when musical acts 'got discovered' and people listened to music on terrestrial radio.

On that uplifting note, I recommend exploring the different channels available to you to see which ones fit best you and your music. Then start developing a marketing strategy specifically for the platform. And if you want to learn how to build a sustainable music career then I encourage you to check out our online artist development program.