ARTIST GROWTH HACKS
A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with my good friend Jonah (@thankujonah), about the reasons independent artists like ourselves have such trouble growing despite our best creative efforts. After about two hours of conversation, we came to a few conclusions, and while in hindsight they feel kinda obvious, at the time, it felt like a breakthrough.
Promoting primarily to your insta/twitter followers is useless
Anyone that follows you already, is already either going to check your music out, or ignore you completely, so solely promoting using your story, posts, or tweets is already selling yourself short.
Finding another outlet to promote
I’m sure you’re already sick and tired of people giving you the “start a TikTok” piece of advice, and while there is merit to that advice, simply starting an account doesn’t guarantee a blow up. Before diving in, ask yourself a few questions: what kind of content do you already enjoy? Do you enjoy being in front of a camera? Do you enjoy long, elaborate content, or do you prefer short and witty content? After you’ve answered everything, think about the platforms that you could contribute to with the tools you have at hand, is it TikTok? Youtube? Or something else.
What are you providing for your potential audience?
See this is the point I really wanna get into. Not everything you post is going to be a hit, especially when you’re creating solely for yourself. It’s rare that people see a clip of an artist performing their song, and think “wow I wanna be a fan of them,” unless you’re supplying something incredibly unique, and interesting everything single time, and realistically, that’s not sustainable. What audiences really want is someone that’s willing to provide them with something valuable. You can promote yourself using elements like comedy, tutorials, or if you’re really creative, flashy visuals (but this I feel has a smaller success rate).
Ultimately, growing as an artist comes down to two things: are you likable, and are you providing value. Me and Jonah have both seen the hints of success that come from providing the internet with music tutorials, on youtube and tiktok, and it’s a definitely a path we’re still learning about, but If you wanna learn more from the perspective of other independent artists, we recorded a full podcast where we talk about a bunch of other hacks and growth tools (linked below).
Artist hacks on youtube:
HYPERTALK: thankujonah (advice for artists, life as a content creator and more)