If you haven’t noticed, music officially lives on the internet now. Even the old guard have gotten with the times and are discovering new and innovative ways to establish a presence online. While paid downloads are still popular, the new kid on the block is streaming and its threatening to take over in a big way. In fact, if you want your music heard these days, a presence on services like Spotify is essential.

To find out how bands and artists can achieve this, we decided to get together with Sarah Hamilton, who works as a Client Manager Australia over at Ditto Music, who provide the gateway for many musicians to enter the world of streaming. With Ditto currently servicing over 55,000 artists across the world, we reckon she knows a thing or two about this whole streaming business.

We also managed to get a few words from Spotify Label Relations Manager Marcus Thaine. For those still playing catch up, Spotify, which launched in 2008, is one of the world’s most recognisable and largest streaming services, boasting over 40 million users and 10 million subscribers, quickly becoming everybody’s go-to for instant access to music.

Have A Solid Release Plan, And Give Yourself Time

Sarah: “We recommend uploading your material approx. Four weeks before your release date. You are then able to make use of the iTunes pre-order option (It’s a good idea to have the pre-order available on iTunes two-three weeks before your actual release date).

This gives you a few different points that you can market your social media around (as well as any other PR strategies). Having your release available for Pre-order also helps if you’re trying to get into the charts – as all sales/orders during the pre-order period will be saved up and counted on the actual release day. This causes a spike on your day of release and helps give you a chance of getting onto the iTunes charts or ARIA charts.”

Prioritise Your Outlets

Sarah: “Decide where you want to release your music first, second, third etc and then follow your plan. i.e;
– Do you want to release on Soundcloud first, and then iTunes?
– Or have a two week pre-release on iTunes before it goes live on Spotify and other streaming platforms?

Think about these options and come up with a plan of action so you can streamline your marketing and PR around this.”

Research Stores And Services

Sarah: “Research the stores and services that will best suit your music. Are you an electronic artist? Where do fans of electronic music buy their music? Beatport? Make sure you are there!

Also take advantages or services like Shazam – now one of the biggest ways that people will discover new music. Ensure that you get your music on all of the stores where your fans (and potential listeners) will be. This could be a combination of Soundcloud, download stores like iTunes and Amazon, streaming sites like Spotify and Rdio, Shazam, and Bandcamp. You have the control and choice to select what you want.

Take advantage of the information you can get from the stores. These days you have access to your trends and sales from iTunes pretty much straight away, so you can monitor this, and see how your marketing activities are going. Create an artist page on Spotify, and use everything available to you. Did you know you can sell gig tickets through Spotify? And now also merchandise? Utilise everything that’s available for you.”

Artwork Is Vital

Sarah: “Make sure you have professional cover art, professional press shots. Even though your cover art is a tiny version of vinyl artwork on iTunes and other online stores, it’s still important that you represent your music as best you can. Releases with good cover art will more likely be chosen for features and promotion.

Have press shots and information ready to go – if you’re selected for iTunes single of the week for example, you need to have some good press shots that the store can work with for banners. This all matters.”

Audio Is Also Vital

Sarah: “Have good quality, mastered audio files. Yes, they will be compressed by some of the stores, but it’s best to have good quality audio and put your best foot forward.”

Once Online: CHECK, check again…and then check one last time

Sarah: “Check your release before you pay for it and send it. Most (all) aggregators will send through exactly what has been uploaded to the system, so if you make a spelling mistake, the stores will have a spelling mistake. Check your release before submitting.

Also be aware that you can’t add tracks to a release after it’s been delivered, so don’t create a single, thinking you can turn it into an EP when you get those remixes back. Wait until your release is 100% ready, perfect, and complete before sending to the stores. Changes are possible, but it can take time to do this and for these changes to reflect on the stores, so it’s best to just get it right the first time.”

Get Verified

Marcus: “By verifying your account you are able to combine both your discography with your own listening activity on Spotify. This allows for you to create playlists under your artist title, helping your followers to understand you as an artist, and giving you a larger, more engaged audience to promote music to. ”

Keep Your Fans And Followers Updated

Marcus: “Getting fans to ‘follow’ you on Spotify effectively signs them up to an internal mailing list – only rather than getting emails, users receive a little red notification in the top right corner informing them every time you release something. Spotify can also be embedded as a player (for albums, singles and playlists), so anywhere you can host this will again grow your Spotify audience.

Spotify is linked with both Songkick and Bandpage, respectively displaying your touring dates and you merch. Make sure your dates are on Songkick and that you’re signed up to Bandpage to most of these services.

Don’t Forget To Keep It Social

Marcus: “An important thing to bear in mind is that Spotify it is a social music service. Both your listening habits, and your fans can be shared on Spotify and through channels like Facebook and Twitter, so do let your fans know your music is available on Spotify. Just as the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter icon sit in the bottom corners of your website, so should the Spotify icon. Directing users to your Spotify profile is an immediate way of having fans immediately interact with your music and your artist page.

Although it can initially be tricky to build a strong playlist following – it is a great way to add a new dynamic to you as an artist. Whether it’s an inspiration, exercise or tour bus playlist – playlists always make for interesting content.”

Sarah: “Getting your music online and available worldwide is the easy part. Getting people to know that it’s there and to buy it, or share it, is still the hard part. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because it’s on iTunes people will care. You and your team still need to be promoting and pushing your music, playing shows, and doing everything you can offline so that the online community will buy, stream, or share your music.”

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