A 4-Step Music Producer’s Guide To Social Media In 2020

social media

Let me explain first why I think this is such an important issue. I often talk about social media with other producers, and the #1 thing they say, is…

„Good art should promote itself, am I right?“

Yes, it’s 100% required to have good art to succeed and there is a slight chance that you’ll get discovered when you’ll have a great sound. Unfortunately, good art doesn’t have to promote itself. Why rely on luck when you can show yourself and your music to the world?

„Let’s just post my music until I get on a label and have a manager. He’ll handle it for me…“

There are two problems with this mindset.

1. When you just post links to your music on social media, they quickly disappear as social media is so overflooded with content. Your post isn’t just competing with another producer’s post - it’s also competing with a meme and a cat video someone shared. No wonder why the link to your music gets lost in this stream - it’s just not the most engaging post. Even worse if you consider the frequency of releasing your music - many producers release stuff every month. With that frequency when you’re just posting links no wonder why you’re losing.

2. Yes, getting on the best label and having the best manager would be awesome for anyone. However, there is no guarantee that the best manager will handle your social media better than you will. Quoting a social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk: „You need to worry about yourself before you worry about a team“.

As a result most bedroom producers I know (even when they have the best music) just post links to their tracks on social media, don’t release frequently and put up random stuff whenever they feel like it - all while waiting for their project to magically blow up. From my experience, this is very much unlikely to happen.

Now that you know why I’m bringing up this issue, let me tell you the…

4 techniques which improved my social media:

1. Have a schedule for your music releases.

The most successful YouTubers and bloggers all have schedules for their content - why shouldn’t a music producer? Figure out your ideal frequency for releasing music and stick to it. That way people will know when to expect new music from you and you’ll keep your project momentum going. I found that releasing a track every week would be ideal for me and I’m trying to stick to this schedule.

2. Offer your listeners more than just your music.

This is SUCH an important thing. Most creators nowadays pump out new content DAILY. It means that if you’re releasing a track every week you’ll have to keep your audience entertained with something else every day. Of course such frequency is ideal - having a very good post every 2-3 days will probably do the job too. Just figure out something (let’s call it microcontent) that you can give your audience while working at a new track.

Here’s a few ideas for good microcontent for music producers:

• Sample something and make a short simple video out of it. If you’re a music producer then you definetely have a skill for this, just get creative and tell a story around it! I recently made a video which shows how I sampled a piece of paper and some spray in my new track. People love that kind of creative videos. Something even cooler you can do is remix a viral or funny video - there are lots of such on Vine.

• Tell a joke. Look at Dillon Francis - the guy just makes funny snapchat stories and uploads them everywhere. Make sure to check them out here for inspiration. If you have a sense of humour I’m sure you can figure something out.

• Take a viral video and put your music to it. This is such a simple thing you can do, and it works so well! Check out this video for inspiration, it’s hilarious.

• Record a cover of a known song. If you’re a music producer chances are that you can play an instrument. Use that skill to show it to people and shoot a quick cover of a track which everyone knows!

• Edit your photos in a creative way. Many music producers are graphic designers at the same time - if you can make artwork for your tracks, you probably can edit your photos, right? With this skill you can turn your boring photos into funny, engaging pictures.

• Talk about your track and make a „Track breakdown“ video. Why not just talk about your new tune that you’ve made? If you’re excited by it, just tell your listeners the story behind it and how you made it. Here’s what a guy called Chooki makes on YouTube for instance.

• Record a DJ Mix. What about even a live DJ mix? Just an idea - make a livestream on facebook, and then upload the mix to Soundcloud. You can talk about the music you like meanwhile - you can have your own radio show! Just make sure it’s entertaining - otherwise putting work into mixing 2 hours of music isn’t worth it.

• If you’re playing shows or travelling, record a vlog. More and more producers record this kind of videos to entertain their audience. Check out San Holo’s or Flume’s tour vlogs.

• Get creative. I’m sure you show the world more than just your music - these are just a couple of ideas to get you started, figure out what good you can give your audience and what your audience likes and do that.

Remember to stick to a few platforms when doing this. You can easily fall into the trap of trying to manage 5 social media channels from which none you’re doing right. At the beginning, choose just one platform - Facebook is great for this as almost everyone has it - and make sure you’re active enough there. When you’ve got it covered, you can focus on other platforms - Instagram, Vine, musical.ly and even Soundcloud audio are awesome. A cool idea is to do a track breakdown on Soundcloud if you’ve got a large following there!

Once you offer your audience more than your music, it’s time for the third step, which is…

3. Document your journey.

This is what Snapchat and Instagram Stories are good for. You can document making your main content (tracks), your microcontent, and even your morning run and your work. I’ve just documented writing this article. Gary Vaynerchuk says you should be posting 15 to 25 Instagram/Snapchat stories per day. The only way you can do this is just…

Don’t be fancy about it.

Don’t try to create 25 meaningful pieces of content every day. Document over create. People are more interested in what your day looks like than you think. Document your journey from being a bedroom producer to whatever your goal is.

4. Have a direct relationship with your listeners.

A cool thing about social media is that you don’t always have to act on scale. In fact, talking to your listeners directly can sometimes give much more value than a post dedicated to all of them. Dedicate time to respond to comments, make Q&A sessions and make livestreams. You can even talk to people around your music genre on Twitter - here's a tip.

Thank you for reading this tutorial. I hope my ideas are useful and will help you improve your social media. Good luck!

To stay updated with more quotes like this (and daily tips as well) go follow @productionmusiclive on Instagram. Good luck with your music production!