4 Common Misconceptions about Music Marketing

Marketing is fundamental to building and maintaining a music career. 

If you’re not part of a record label that can handle the marketing side of your business, you’ll have to do it yourself. 

And though that might initially feel like an overwhelming challenge, it means you have full control over everything you do and how your artist brand is presented. 

A better understanding of marketing–especially within the music industry–will help you be effectively equipped to handle the beast. 

And to better understand the industry, we’re going to debunk some popular myths. 

Common misconceptions of music marketing 

“All the budget has to go to one area of the project”

Many artists spend their entire budget on the production of their music. You might assume that if everything has gone into polishing the final piece, not much marketing will need to be done. 

In reality, including marketing in your budget is just as important as mixing and mastering. People aren’t likely to stumble across your music accidentally, you need to invest in marketing to get it in front of potential listeners and fans. 

With a solid promotional plan, all the hard work that has gone into your music could be well-spent. 

“Ads are perceived as spam”

It’s no lie that badly made and poorly targeted ads can come across like spam. And ads like this can certainly harm your image. 

However, if done with thought and care, ads can work wonders and can contribute to your artistic proposal. Ads allow you to reach a wider audience, attract new fans, and generate buzz around your new work. 

“You only need good music” and “You only need social media”

As mentioned above, some artists believe that good quality music will be successful no matter how little promotion it’s given.

On the other hand, there’s also the belief that a constant social media presence can alone make a project successful. 

Both of those beliefs are wrong.

To create a successful campaign, both elements need to be balanced. Having good quality music is your foundation. Blend that with a strong social media presence and you will boost your music exposure. 

The best part is, you don’t need to be an expert content creator or filmmaker. Creativity and authenticity are enough to get people interested and connect with a growing audience. 

“Marketing is expensive” 

This isn’t exactly a myth as marketing can be expensive. But in the same way, a T-shirt can be expensive. There’s always a cheaper alternative that does the same job.

Throwing a ton of money into your marketing will make a greater impact, but if you’re not doing it correctly, it’s not going to do what you want it to. 

Big companies are an example of having major budgets they can utilise to make themselves appear everywhere as often as they like.

But, marketing can be adapted to be effective for all budgets. There are several tools available for you regardless of your budget. 

• For playlisting campaigns, DailyPlaylists offer plans that allow you to submit your music to playlists and curators. 

• For community growth, SymphonyOS can help you create a website, collect fan emails and access a dashboard with streaming analytics. 

• For content creation, Canva allows you to create and edit visual content including access to templates, fonts, and design types. 

• For social media scheduling, Buffer is a platform to schedule posts and create your promotional plans. 

All these platforms have both free and paid plans so no matter your budget, you can take advantage of the tools available. 

Why demystifying music marketing is important 

Hopefully, we’ve helped you understand that not every music marketing rumour is true. 

In the internet age, so much misinformation can be spread and taken as gospel so easily. A lot of what you hear simply isn't the case. 

Awareness of fundamental truths can help you optimise your marketing efforts in ways you might not have considered before. 

Not only that, knowledge is confidence. Confidence can help you make better decisions and be more optimistic about them. 

Which misconception had you heard the most? 

Hopefully, we’ve put that worry to bed.