According to a global survey by Nielsen, a leading marketing research firm, digital music listeners and consumers tend to have certain habits, and being savvy of these trends can help the independent artist aid in their music marketing. In 2010, after surveying roughly 25,000 people, Nielsen found digital musical trends that can help you best utilize your band’s website to engage your online audience.

The digital age is a mixed blessing for independent artists when it comes to music marketing. On one hand, marketing your music has never been easier and more convenient, and on the other hand, because of this ease of use, it’s easy to get lost in the fold with thousands of other independent artist.

Your website is the launch pad for your music, sending visitors to music distribution sites such as Amazon and iTunes to purchase your music. According to the Nielsen study, 18 percent of digital music consumers buy from these music distribution sites by accessing direct links from the band’s website.

This makes your website very important. Promoting a new tour or performance or to generally keep your band’s online presence engaging is also paramount. There are a few ways to best utilize your website for effective music marketing.

Direct Links from Your Web Page to Your Band’s Social Network Sites

The core digital music consumer is aged 21-34. Incidentally, this is also the largest demographic of avid social network users. Being connected in a social network from your website is ideal for independent music marketing. It can be used to make short announcements, build an online fan base, offer videos and overall help lead people back to your website. It is the Pied Piper of sorts for the website. Nielsen also found that 35 percent of music consumers listen to music or find out about a new band first through a social media network.

Keep your Website Visual

This idea is not exclusive to music marketing, but a well-thought and clean design can make or break your website. Your music should reflect the aesthetics, or visual integrity of the website. Think of it as album cover art for your website. Videos, whether staged, live or both, are also important to a website. The Internet has definitely filled the void for music videos.  According to the study, 57 percent of digital music listeners consume music through videos primarily, and 44 percent watch videos multiple times a week.

Press and live performance pictures should also be integrated into the website. Again, it’s not just the music, but it’s the content associated with the music. There’s a level of intimacy between you and your audience that can be found by offering pictures.   If possible, include links with the pictures.

Regular Blogging

Blogging on band’s website is almost a standard nowadays. Press releases have their place in the right circumstance, but blogging is another method to not only offer that level of intimacy with your audience, but also to effectively market your actual website. By writing informative and engaging blogs, you can both talk to your audience and also market with outside links. You can link to your music distribution sites, link to an upcoming venue or link to other bands. The more links you have, the more engaged you are outside of your website, and the more likelihood your website will enjoy links from other places, helping your site’s search rating.

Overall, there’s one major idea to keep in mind for effective music marketing through your website. You are not just marketing your music, you are marketing, as actively as possible, content associated with your music.