How To Get More Music Fans And Promote Your Music To More People

by Tom Hess

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“How do I get more fans to hear my music?”

“What can I do to promote my music to more people?”

“Where can I find more new fans?”

These are the questions that I am asked about on a regular basis by musicians looking for advice on how to improve their music career.

Building your musical fan base is about reaching 3 important goals:

1. Getting your music heard by more people.
    
2. Getting your fans to support you (by buying your music, coming to your shows and buying your merchandise).
    
3. Transforming your fans into raving fanatics of your music who tell all their friends about how awesome you are.

To reach these goals, it’s important to think creatively and strategically instead of taking actions at random.

This helps you grow your music career much faster compared to most musicians.

Here are simple strategies that help you expand your fan base and promote your music:
 

Strategy 1: Find a band that is about to record an album in a style similar to yours. Pay them to release one of your songs as a bonus track on their album.

The band should be more known than your band, but not so huge that it’s impossible to contact them.

Tip: be selective about the musicians you select for this idea, the same way you would be when finding musicians for your own band.

Here is how this helps you:

1. You have an opportunity to promote yourself to the fan base of another band (who already like music in the style you play).
    
2. You build a relationship that can lead to other opportunities later. For example, you may be able to also buy onto a tour with the larger band who already knows and trusts you. This means you get an opportunity to play your music in front of their fans.
    
3. You use other people’s music career resources and success to grow your career.
   
   Imagine if one of the artists involved on the compilation album becomes hugely successful. This helps your career grow as well, because you are associated with that artist through your compilation album.
   
   You benefit from everything that artist has done in the music industry without doing any extra work or spending any extra money. This is an example of leverage. Using leverage is one of the biggest secrets to growing your music career as fast as possible.

Question: “Tom Hess, what’s the benefit of spending money to buy onto a tour with another band?”

Answer: You are paying for the privilege of promoting yourself (and your music) to the fans of another band. A tour buy on is a massive shortcut to getting touring experience when you are not very famous yet.

This is no different from coming into someone’s store and advertising your product to the customers of that store. You are paying for the opportunity to be in front of new potential “customers” (music fans) you would normally not have access to.

It’s also a lot cheaper(and less risky) to buy on to a tour than it is to organize your own tour from scratch.

Strategy 2: Release A Compilation Album With Other Musicians.

A compilation album is a record that features music by multiple artists. You can either have each artist contribute 1 song to the album or have fewer artists contribute several songs each.

Here is how a compilation album helps you get your music heard by more people:

1. You can share the costs of recording, manufacturing and distributing the album among everyone involved. This means you can release the album a lot faster compared to doing it on your own.
    
2. You promote your music not only to your own fans, but also to fans of every other musician featured on the record. For example: if 10 artists are involved, you increase the number of people who hear your music by up to 10 times.
    
3. You use other people’s music career resources and success to grow your career.
   
   Imagine if one of the artists involved on the compilation album becomes hugely successful. This helps your career grow as well, because you are associated with that artist through your compilation album.

You can either sell the compilation album or give it away for free (as a bonus) when someone buys a copy of your album. This is a creative way to get your fans to buy your music. You can also give it away to anyone who buys a concert ticket to see you play live.

Your goal isn’t to make money directly from the sales of the compilation album. The objective is to use the album as a promotional tool for other aspects of your career.

Question: “Tom Hess, what’s the benefit of spending money to buy onto a tour with another band?”

Answer: You are paying for the privilege of promoting yourself (and your music) to the fans of another band. A tour buy on is a massive shortcut to getting touring experience when you are not very famous yet.

This is no different from coming into someone’s store and advertising your product to the customers of that store. You are paying for the opportunity to be in front of new potential “customers” (music fans) you would normally not have access to.

It’s also a lot cheaper(and less risky) to buy on to a tour than it is to organize your own tour from scratch.

Tip: Be selective about the bands and musicians you select for this idea. It’s to your benefit to work with people who are ambitious, like-minded and who are already on their way to big success in their careers. Follow the same approach you would use to find musicians for your own band.
 

Strategy 1: Give Your Fans Irresistible Offers

One way to increase your music sales is to offer your fans something they really want & can only get if they purchase your music. This should be something that cannot be copied or distributed illegally (like digital products can).

Examples include:

• Backstage passes,
   
• Fan party tickets
   
• Merchandise items (that a fan gets only after buying your music)
   
• Memorabilia from gigs or recording sessions
   
• Opportunities to get front row seats at your shows

Question: “But Tom Hess, I want my fans to buy my music just because they like it! How can I increase music sales without bribing fans with gifts or bonuses?”

Answer: You cannot directly control if someone likes your music enough to pay for it (because liking something is subjective). Anyone can buy your music at any time for any reason.

This idea doesn't stop people who like your music from buying it. It simply:

• Gives more value to anyone who pays for your music.
   
• Helps you make more money from your existing fans without spending more money or time to do so.
   
• Allows your fans to build a deeper relationship with you (or your band).
   
• Helps you stand out from other bands in your area who haven't thought about this idea (or haven’t implemented it).

You can use the same idea to get your fans to come to your gigs.

Strategy 2: Grow Your Mailing List Of Fans

Build a mailing list with the names and email addresses of every fan you have. This makes it easy to contact your fans at any time and let them know about your upcoming shows and projects.

Your mailing list of fans is your greatest power in the music industry.

Use every opportunity to grow your list as much as possible. (For example, ask people to get on your mailing list at every show you play).

Note: Buying fake likes and friends on social media accounts is worthless… and that won’t fool anyone in the music industry, so don’t do that.

Tip 1: Avoid storing your entire fan base on social media. Anything can happen to your social media accounts at any time to make you lose access to your fans. This can be devastating for your music career. You need to fully own and control access to your mailing list.

(It’s ok to use social media to promote yourself, but do not rely on it exclusively.)

Tip 2: Segment your list of fans by different cities, states and countries as much as possible. This becomes very valuable when your career grows outside of your local area.

Tip 3: Contact your fans regularly (but not too often), so they don’t forget about you.