28 steps to grow your fanbase and your profile as an upcoming musician

Have you wondered how other musicians seem to get their songs played in the street, events and get bookings even before their songs are on radio or TV exposure?

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Have you wondered how other musicians seem to get their songs played in the street, events and get bookings even before their songs are on radio or TV exposure?

What you might or might not know is that they follow a particular strategy to get their brand out there. They follow a particular strategy, which is what we will share with you in the following 28 steps. These 28 steps cost next to nothing:

Before the release

  1. Join social media groups with similar types of music genres that you make. These groups should be active groups that share and consume music regularly.
  2. In the social media pages and/or groups, request email and phone numbers of those who would like be part of your WhatsApp group and email list for the intended release. Indicate any other purpose the group is going to serve.
  3. Announce to these social media groups when you intend to release your music. Make sure that you also indicate the platforms where your music is going to be released, the number of tracks you intend to release, and the size of the album in megabytes.
  4. Create cover art for your project. The front cover should contain the name of the project, your name as an artist or group, the year of the release. The back cover should contain the name of the songs, the people featured, and the duration of the songs.
  5. Create a WhatsApp group and an email list mostly made up of your fans who have provided their details to you, ensure that you always communicate with these fans. Obtain and action their feedback. This is important for building a relationship with them and for your growth.
  6. Request video shout-outs from those that are your fans already. Ask them to post about your upcoming album release on their social media pages and ask them to tag your page. The video shout-outs could take the following form, “Hi this is X, look out for the release of artist’s name album on the date of release”.
  7. Ensure that you post their video shout-outs on your WhatsApp status and social media pages to ensure that you create anticipation of your single, EP, or album release. Do this, at least 3 times before the date of the release. Caption it with the countdown to the date of release, for example, “3 days before the release”.

Release day

  1. Upload your music to the free download platforms that will assist you in building your profile. These platforms should be able to assist you to count the number of people that downloaded your music and the location from where they have downloaded it.
  2. Test whether the download links work properly before sharing.
  3. When the time of release arrives, share links to your songs on your social media pages with your fans and other music sharing groups that you would have joined. Also include the WhatsApp groups that you would have created.
  4. Encourage your fans to share the links with some of their contacts who could be interested in your project.
  5. Go on social media, request contact details of those that have not been able to download the album so that you may send it to them. Indicate to them upfront that you will add them on the mailing list.

After release

  1. Choose various songs and mix them with some video clips preferably of people dancing to create dance challenges for these songs.
  2. Request your fans to create video challenges of their favourite songs from your project.
  3. Observe the statics on the download page to determine which songs have been downloaded the most in the case of individual songs. Identify the physical areas where your songs have been downloaded. Do this for a few days.
  4. After 5 days of release and downloads, choose the most downloaded songs and create your own dance challenges from those songs. Ensure that you have dancers that are readily available to assist in creating the challenge.
  5. Request your fans to assist you with the video challenges. Share these video challenges on your social media pages and groups. Request your fans to share the dance video challenges on their pages. Repeat this for at least a week. Ensure that for every song that a video challenge is created, you include the download links.
  6. Ensure that you collaborate with the local DJs. You should have provided them with the music on the day of the release already.
  7. As a start, write to community radio stations and request short interviews. Submit the most downloaded songs for airplay. You must ensure that your songs have been registered with the relevant body.
  8. Based on the statistics obtained from your download page, start making friends with the DJs in the areas where your music has been downloaded. Ensure that they also have the project.
  9. Whenever they have events in the area, arrange to make guest appearances to perform a song or two. They will appreciate this. Ensure that you are always presentable. Do not perform for free more than 3 times for the same DJ.

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