Taking on the music industry alone can be a daunting and difficult task – but that’s not to say that it cannot be done, nor that it hasn’t been done before. Plenty of big names out there are self-made and demonstrate how a label isn’t necessarily the only way to commercialize your musical success.
There are a lot of factors to consider in this venture though, so we’ve outlined three major ones below for you to think of in your journey.
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Building the Perfect EPK
An EPK is an electronic press kit and essentially refers to an online portfolio for musicians. Traditionally, these portfolios existed as PDFs, but with the growth of technology, EPKs have become much more multimodal and versatile. Often, artists will have a whole webpage – filled with mixes, snippets, biographies, videos, and more – dedicated to their musical venture.
If you’re looking to get noticed, building your own, all-inclusive musician EPK is a must. Utilizing free software like Sonicbids or Bandzoogle is an easy way to get your first EPK developed. You can then use the link to this page to distribute your EPK to labels, producers, agents, or anyone else that you want to see your stuff, which could be your route to the top.
Setting up your Spotify for Artists Profile
If you’re looking to share your music for digital streaming, a standard listening account on Spotify won’t cut it. Instead, you’ll need to set up your account with Spotify for Artists. With this, you can enable your account to be managed as an artist, meaning you can publish music and add a biography section, as well as all the other cool stuff that artists get to do. Heading over to their website and linking your existing account is the first step: from there, Spotify guides you through the process nicely.
Should you want to be successful in music in the modern age, utilizing streaming services is an absolute must. Long gone are the days of selling CDs out of a backpack!
Getting Added to Playlists
Having your music featured in Spotify’s own playlists is a sure way to grow your numbers – your track is added to a collection of similar songs and then recommended to the millions of Spotify users that browse the app every day. To do so, you can fill out a playlist submission form prior to the publication of your music. Using your Spotify for Artists dashboard, navigate to your upcoming music and fill out a form appropriately, giving as much information as possible. The Spotify team can then review your submission and hopefully get your music added!
If you’re truly looking to make it big with your music, then there is no limit to the number of avenues you can explore when marketing yourself. Above are three major paths toward successful self-promotion as an independent artist that could be crucial to your success, but the list is by no means exhaustive. It may seem arduous but keep at it – if you believe your music is worth it, it should eventually stick somewhere.