We Picked The Best Online Resources When It Comes To DIY Music Marketing!
5 of the most influential people in music marketing offer free advice, tips & tricks to kick start your promo campaigns!
You don’t realize how much effort you need to put into promoting music until you get your hands dirty with this job. Cleaning up the artist profile on all streaming platforms, updating them with the new release info, preparing an attractive EPK, reaching out playlist curators and radio playlist managers to present the fresh stuff, setting up ads on youtube, Meta and TikTok, creating the appealing and future-viral content for social media, doing a bit of community management while nurturing your relationship with fellow musicians (one hand washes the other, you know?). And this is just the tip of the iceberg. And we can tell you from our experience: each element of the wider promo strategy requires its own effort, time and specific know how.
If you like the DIY approach, then you need to DIY (do-it-yourself) from ground zero. And that means you should start a self-learning process right away. The good news is there are a gazillion podcasts, youtube channels and blogs about music marketing. The bad news: 99.99% of them are trying to sell you courses, handbooks and consultancy hours that would only give you access to generic and basic information. And you actually need real examples and helpful hands-on guides.
Assuming you know what a hammer and a nail is and how to use them, but you still trying to figure out how to use them effectively, here’s a list with a couple of podcasts, blogs and youtube channels from experienced people willing to offer support for independent artists, both emerging and established.
Jesse Cannon - Musformation
You should all start with Jesse and his massive pool of free resources you could find on his youtube chhannel. This guy worked with The Cure, Limp Bizkit and Animal Collector among many other bands and artists, so we can trust him he knows what he’s talking about. You can start from Musformation, his youtube channel that an overwhelming number of over 500 videos. Scary, right? Lucky for us, Jesse seems like a super organized guy, so head on to the Playlists section where you can find anything you’ve wished for: from TikTok growth time tested strategies to guides on how to release your music more effectively. Jesse also released this book: The DIY Guide To The Music Business (updated in 2023), but there’s a big chance that the information is outdated, so skip and stay true to his youtube channel.
Damian Keys - Music Business Academy
A BBC accent, some cool shirts and a typical British charisma would be enough to convince you that you really need to follow Damian and his 300K+ subscribers youtube channel? Well, Damian does know what he’s talking about and he does it in the most extensive way you can think about. Lots and lots of nicely explained videos. All you need is enough time to digest the information. By all means, there’s also a paid training for a 20 USD monthly subscription. There’s also a common sense release plan, spread over 25 days. General stuff mainly, but will get things organized on your side. Following Damian will surely keep you updated with the latest algorithm changes for major DSPs and some tips and tricks that would make a difference in time.
Tom Dupree III - Music. Marketing. Mindset
If you’re more confortable with a classic American approach, the Tom Dupree III is your guy when it comes to music marketing. One Hollywood smile, a Tom Cruise vibe and a laid back set of videos and guides focused more on branding. With a 15 years experience as a touring musician, he knows pretty damn well how does it feel to release song after song with zero streams. Until he found the perfect recipe of community, advertising and branding. It takes a lot of work, but it’s a rewarding journey. His youtube channel is filled with short episodes that break down on each element as part of a bigger marketing strategy for promoting fresh music.
Andrew Southworth - Genera Studios
An actual musician, Andrew started to run META ads to promote his music on facebook and instagram. After many A/B tests and thousands of bucks “burned” in ads, he gathered enough skills and knowledge to launch a youtube channel dedicated to promoting music with META ads and beyond. His videos tend to get pretty technical, some of them are outdated due to changes in META algorithms, country restrictions and privacy issues added over years by the social media platforms. Videos are spot on, from how to grow from zero to 100K views on Spotify in 3 months with META ads to how to get 100K views on youtube with just 170 USD.
Ari Herstand - Ari’s Take
“The poster child of DIY music” - Forbes gave Ari the best characterization, following the massive success of How To Make It in the New Music Business, a best selling book that is now being taught in over 300 universities in the US and has been translated into multiple languages. A good starting point is his award winning podcast, The New Music Business Podcast, where he deconstructs strategies and tactics with A-list guests, from Billie Eilish’ tour manage to Tor Hermansen, a songwriter that has worked with Katy Perry, Coldplay and Beyonce. Listening to Ari’s podcast feels like connecting directly to the source of success, so be sure to subscribe to it.
A DIY approach is frustrating. It requires a lot of effort and sleepless nights. It’s a stingy and infuriating journey sometimes. But it’s rewarding. It keeps things on a low budget. It helps artists understand the importance of a good marketing strategy. These 5 resources above will kick start your marketing efforts. All you need now is patience, persistence and consistency.
