Being an indie artist comes with a unique set of challenges. One of such is weighing the pros and cons of music promotion. At a point, you’ll find yourself wondering if music promotion is worth it and if you have the resources to get a good result.
The independent music industry has grown to the point where you don’t necessarily need the backing of a label to run music promotion. It has become easier to release your music and build the necessary hype around it. No one could have thought of this about two decades ago.
While you may find being an indie artist exciting, it’s no fun running a music promotion on your own. This is why it’s necessary to look at the pros and cons of music promotion.
Pros of Music Promotion For Indie Artists
1. Improves Your Visibility
There’s a lot of people that your music will make sense to if you push it through music promotion. Regardless of the medium, you choose to promote your music, your visibility will be improved.
If you choose to promote your music, you’ll need to overlook whether the pros outweigh the cons. You have to think of music promotion as a marathon rather than a sprint.
2. Build Trust and Relationship With Your Audience
Every artist has a target audience, and you should aim to forge a relationship with them by all means possible. By creating a long and lasting relationship, you’ll turn them into fans who will improve your music’s fortunes.
Ensure that the music promotion medium you use is one that allows you to interact with your audience.
3. Increase Your Reach
The idea behind music promotion is to take your music to where it won’t have been noticed. There are still many people out there who are yet to feel the gospel of your music and ensure it reaches them.
You may not have noticed, but today’s most prominent artists still engage in music promotion because there are still many minds to be captured out there.
4. There’s a Lot Of Competition Out There
Without music promotion, your music may be unknown forever. There’s a lot of creative indie artists out there who are doing all they can to get noticed.
You may not have noticed, but for every second you are pondering on music promotion’s pros and cons, new music is being released. These music are competing for the same attention you crave.
5. It’ll Be on Your Terms
Being an indie artist, you’ll be able to decide the dimension you want your music promotion to assume. No one will have to push you around and tell you what is on your marketing calendar.
You decide the marketing calendar and the pace you want the music promotion to move. No demanding limitations that record labels will throw at you, the ball is in your court.
Cons of Music Promotion As An Indie Artist
1. Music Promotion Comes at a Huge Cost
One reason many artists opt for record labels relates to the enormous cost of music promotion and marketing. There’s a huge bill you’ll have to foot in the course of marketing your music.
You’ll have started music promotion as an indie artist before realizing the effect it’ll have on your meagre independent music budget. The financial burden of music promotion isn’t for the faith hearted.
2. Do You Have The Contacts?
There’s a stack of contacts you’ll need to pull through a successful music promotion campaign. Usually, record labels have these contacts on speed dial, making it easy for record label executives to run a music promotion campaign with a snap of their fingers.
Not every indie artist will have access to such enormous marketing resources. It will not matter if you have the financial acumen to run a music promotion campaign if there’s no contact in place.
3. There’s a Difficult Learning Curve
You may find yourself indulging in trial and error in your effort to run a music marketing campaign. That’s when you’ll start to reconsider the pros and cons of music promotion.
This will even be difficult if you lack the necessary industry experience. Much time will be lost to trying to figure out what works.
Final Thoughts
That’s it about the pros and cons of music promotion for indie artists.
It’s all in your hands to decide if it’s worth it to give your music a push. Just know that you are at a point of a disadvantage if you fail to take action.
