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Taking a leap of faith to release your own music can be a stressful task. There are so many unknowns, and some things take time to learn. One of the biggest areas artists struggle with is building an initial following for their music. In an era full of fake streams, followers and paid promotions, it can be easy to mask how big someone’s following truly is. But, in my experience as a musician and leader of a PR and digital marketing firm, I’ve found one thing to be true: You need to build an organic following if you want to be successful.
An artist can have a huge online presence, but if they don’t have a true cult following when it’s time to go on tour, no one is going to show up. So how do you avoid stepping onto the stage only to look out at an empty crowd? I’ve put together four different steps any artist can take to build an organic following online, especially in the early stages of their career. You can read my take below:
Step 1: Release High-Quality and Cohesive Content
The key to gaining and keeping a following is the quality of your content. You want to post things that people can connect with and are interested in. You need to take the time to produce good content. You want to keep your audience engaged and give them the highest quality of content possible. This might mean, for instance, investing in a photoshoot for some new pictures.
It’s also important to think about what kind of music you are releasing and how that can relate to the type of content you are going to be sharing with your peers. Do the best you can to align your image as an artist to your music appropriately — all the way from your wardrobe to the set of your music video. The more cohesive your content and branding are, the more powerful they’ll be. This is your opportunity to get creative and think outside the box.
This also means taking the time to make sure your music sounds the best it can be. Don’t ever rush a project; just make sure the finished product is exactly what you intend it to be.
Step 2: Collaborate With Others
Another great way to build an audience at any point in an artist’s career is to collaborate with other artists. When you do this, it allows your sound to be heard by new ears — the other artists’ followers and fans. Today’s biggest artists use this method, often trading verses between each other.
When thinking about who to collaborate with, it’s important to size up the audience of the other person. It’s always best to collaborate with people who have bigger audiences than you, but that might not always be the case. So collab with someone whom you feel comfortable working with. It never hurts to be heard by new people.
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?
Step 3: Share Your Music With Others
You know the classic image of that annoying artist walking around downtown somewhere handing out hard copies of their CD to listen to? Yeah, you need to think like that, but instead of handing out CDs (people still do this actually and it does kind of work), apply that kind of hustle to the now-digital era.
I know it can be uncomfortable at first, but you should send your music to some friends or people who you think might enjoy just listening to it for fun. Make sure you release your music on all digital music platforms so whoever is listening has options of where to listen to your song. This is also a great way to get feedback that you can apply to make yourself even better as an artist. You need people to see that your music is out even though it might need to be scary at first. People can’t listen to something they don’t know about.
Step 4: Play Gigs
Another amazing way to get more exposure to your music is to play at shows and events live. Playing live shows allows you to be seen in person; there very well could be people at the venue who will like your music. The more shows you play, the easier it’ll be to perform.
It’s important to get good at performing. Most artists make most of their income from touring compared to paychecks off streams. Not only could you get paid for playing your music, but you could easily sell merch and dive into other such business ventures. A good opportunity as an artist would be being able to tour with an artist bigger than you. That would be ideal because your music would be exposed to that artist’s fans.
As much as we would like it to be, those types of opportunities aren’t always available. So, take any chance you get to perform — even if it’s in front of a couple of people. I’ve seen plenty of videos of famous artists playing in front of no more than 10 people before becoming famous. Showing up to an open mic is another great way to play for other people and meet others in your community.
Final Thoughts
Focusing hard on your content, sharing your music with others, collaborating and playing in-person shows are all things any artist can be doing to grow an organic audience.
It’s important to share your work with others, otherwise, no one will be able to appreciate your work. You worked hard on your craft — it deserves to be listened to and appreciated.
