Today, let’s talk about that dirty word… marketing. Few musicians enjoy the promotional end of things (although it helps if you do), but everyone’s gotta engage in some music marketing if they want to stay in the game.

The good news here is that self-promotion is far easier online than it was in the pre-Internet days. Even in the 90s, performers needed a promoter or manager to even get out of their local area. Today, the sky’s the limit.

Cheap and Effective Online Music Marketing Strategies

1 – List your own studio in Google.

This is definitely cheap (in both senses), but it should work in many situations. Call your workspace -even if it’s your garage- a “studio” or “label” and list it as a business in Google with an associated webpage. It’ll give a big marketing boost to any web-searches relating to your name, band, or music in your city.

Put a little work into the webpage and you might even make your act look considerably better than your real-life setup might suggest. Fake it ’till you make it, as they say.

2 – Release plenty of free tracks.

Most artists end up recording more material than they’d release on albums. This material, once “B-Side” fodder, is now perfect for giveaways. Releasing the occasional free track to your fans on social media is virtual guarantee of positive buzz and new people hearing your music.

3 – Monitor your fanbase locations.

Services like Hootsuite make it easy to track discussions of your act on social media. Once you get popular enough to have fans outside your local area, use these tools to figure out areas with a lot of listeners. Now, you have tour destinations that are more likely to sell out a venue!

Online Marketing Is Cheap And Easy

There are numerous online music marketing strategies you can deploy, and virtually anything that increases awareness of your music will pay off in the long run.

Also, are you listed in all the major online music stores? If not, look into how easily you can increase your retail penetration!