Album promotion in the past decade has stepped up to another level. There are just so many ways to do it which has its pros but definitely also has its cons.

The internet has become an integral part in music promotion and with the pandemic, it has become an even more crucial element.

Musicians have to produce songs remotely, sell their albums or band merchandise on online stores, learn to wisely use social media platforms to promote their songs…the whole nine yards.

Aside from online, let’s not forget the classic ways to promote music offline.

See? So many!

Without further ado, here are the twenty five ways you can try to promote your music album the right way in 2022:

Table of Contents

#1. MAKE SURE TO WRITE A PRESS RELEASE OF YOUR ALBUM

A press release containing information about your upcoming release is something you need to have ready before the release date of your music album.

After writing and finalizing your press release, you can then send or submit this to free press release sites.

Its release date already depends on you. If it’s a big release and you have pre-orders then it would be best to at least release it a month or more before the intended release date.

If it’s a lowkey release then you can release it a week or more before the release date.

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#2. SEND AN EMAIL TO YOUR MAILING LIST

Most musicians already have this list prepared, but if you’re a new one then I suggest you build it right now.

Your mailing list will greatly help you reach out to people who are obviously interested in you, your band, your brand, and your music.

You need to send at least two emails to fans on your mailing list. The first one should be sent before the release or together with your press release to inform your fans of the upcoming release.

The second one should be sent on the release date or one day after the release to inform them that your album has already been released. Make sure to write it in an engaging way to persuade them to check the album out.

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#3. PREPARE TEASERS TO RELEASE

Before the actual release or D-day, it would be better to have teasers released.

This would keep your fans engaged and excited for your upcoming release. Moreover, they’ll have something to look forward to everyday before the release.

You can post either teaser photos or videos that might spoil the concept of the song/s, spoil a line from your song/s, a portion of your song/s, and even your music video (if you have one).

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#4. POST ON EVERY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT WITH ACTIVE FOLLOWERS

Social media platforms have many users and there are fans that prefer one or two among them.

Before you post on any platform, I suggest you find out first of your active followers and fans there so that you can save both effort and time.

Post everything to do with your album release on every platform which you have active followers on. This will help fans from different platforms be on the loop.

And when I say post everything, I mean everything. Post your music or lyric video link, your photo or video teasers, your press release, song links, pre-order links, and more.

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#5. CREATE A HASHTAG FOR YOUR ALBUM RELEASE

When you create a tag, it would be best to have your fans trend it.

Trending a hashtag can catch non-fans attention and they might click on the tag if they’re curious.

I suggest using your hashtags when you post on your social media accounts.

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#6. RELEASE YOUR MERCH LINE FOR THE ALBUM

Merchandise is an exceptionally useful promotional tool.

They can either be worn like custom band t-shirts, displayed like custom vinyl records, or attached to anything like custom button pins, which helps in marketing you and your album.

The best custom band merch to have are the wearable custom merch items. They’re like walking advertisements when they’re worn by your fans.

If you have great designs, then I’m sure passersby would be attracted and get curious.

In addition to being a great help in promoting, it also helps musicians financially. Apparently, most musicians get the bulk of their revenues from this pandemic in merch sales.

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#7. HAVE A PRE-ORDER PERIOD

If you’re releasing a merch line for your album release, I suggest you have a pre-order period for them.

It’s a great way to gauge the number of copies or items you’ll have manufactured.

If you have less then you can opt ordering on-demand or short-run manufacturing instead of bulk ordering.

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#8. OFFER FREEBIES OR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

You can offer freebies or exclusive content to your fans who pre-ordered or ordered your merch.

Let’s say that you will give free tickets to those fans who bought the box set of your merch line containing all merch items for that release.

Or maybe offer people who buy your music album online exclusive content like maybe a video recording of you recording your songs or unreleased scenes from your music video.

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#9. POST AN ALBUM UNBOXING ON YOUTUBE

If you released your album on physical formats then this is a must.

This will help entice people to buy your album and listen to your music.

When you post your unboxing video on youtube, be sure to post the link to your other social media accounts.

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#10. READY YOUR EPK

EPK stands for Electronic Press Kit which contains all the important information on you and your music, in short a musicians’ digital resume.

This can be sent to bloggers, podcasters, bookers, and the press.

It will surely help you create buzz for your album release.

Related Articles:

Six Examples Of Band Press Kits That The A &R Reps Will Surely Love

PRESS Kits Are Meant To ImPRESS

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#11. SUBMIT YOUR ALBUM TO BLOGGERS

You can send your album to bloggers before the actual release of it.

This will help give the bloggers time to listen, review, and create a blog about your album and the songs it has before the actual release.

This will result in more hype for your album because they might release their blogs on or after the album release.

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#12. PREPARE MUSIC AND LYRICS VIDEOS

Fans love watching music videos, moreso with lyric videos.

If you have your own lyric videos like Taylor Swift, many people would get to discover the songs within the album. Thanks to Youtube’s algorithm, one click on a lyric video will suggest the other lyric videos from you.

For your music videos, make sure that you make it beautiful, interesting, and engaging. You can try making a story that relates to the song or have easter eggs that fans can connect to your other music videos.

Fans love watching music videos that feel like a mini-movie. And they love it even more when they can connect these music videos together, and make a mini-series out of it.

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#13. CONTACT WELL KNOWN REACTORS OR VLOGGERS

If you decide to have a music video released for your album’s title track, then you can try contacting well known vloggers or reactors on Youtube and have them react to your video.

Reacting to videos has been a rising trend in that specific social media platform.

Moreover, these channel owners’ viewers would watch it and might just discover you and your music.

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#14. SEND IN YOUR ALBUM TO RADIO STATIONS

Another way to widely promote your album is through sending them to radio stations and requesting them to play it.

Many people, with varying demographics, still tune in to radio broadcasts and if you secure radio plays for your tracks then it will reach various audiences.

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#15. DISTRIBUTE YOUR ALBUM ON ONLINE STREAMING SITES

We are in the “Digital Age”, a time where everything is almost digital, and music is no exception.

Most people nowadays listen to music on online streaming platforms that offer digital formats of their favorite artists’ music.

Even if you are selling physical copies of your album, it would not hurt to put them on streaming sites like Spotify, Pandora, Youtube Music, iTunes, and more.

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#16. REQUEST SPOTIFY TO PUT YOU ON PLAYLISTS

After deciding to put your songs on Spotify, you can then start requesting to have your tracks put on their playlists.

That would take time though since there are probably thousands of other songs being submitted to playlists editors.

Additionally, playlist editors will have to screen through your pitched tracks and deem them appropriate for a playlist before they decide to add it.

An advice, send the request even before your release, this way editors will have time to listen and add before your release

Related Article:

How To Get Playlisted On Spotify

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#17. BUY ADVERTISEMENTS

If you have the money to buy advertisements, then why not?

If you plan to, the best sites to buy from are Spotify and Youtube. Spotify offers you audio advertisements while Youtube offers you video ones.

Unlike Facebook or Twitter advertisements, Spotify and Youtube advertisements are far more superior for music promotions.

Musicians can put a snippet of their song or music video just to entice other Spotify and Youtube users.

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#18. SHOOT BEHING-THE-SCENES VIDEOS

During the creation of your album cover, the photoshoot (if you ever had one), the shooting of your music video and interviews and more, I suggest you shoot their behind-the-scenes.

This will help keep your fans engaged and connected to you since they can see you behind the acting and all.

This can also be one of the things you offer as exclusive content.

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#19. GO ON INTERVIEWS THAT ASKS FOR AND ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR BRAND

If you get a call requesting you for an interview, then don’t think twice and do it.

It would be a great exposure for you and your music especially if many people follow or watch their interviews.

Additionally, it is another way to show your fans and the people what kind of person and musician you are with how you answer questions thrown at you.

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#20. DO LIVE STREAMS

Since the pandemic is still ongoing, there are still a lot of restrictions when it comes to mass gatherings.

To satisfy your fans’ want to see you perform and your own desire to perform in front of them, you can try performing your news songs on your own live streams.

You can do live streams through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and even Twitter.

For Twitter there’s another way to do live where you can just let your fans hear you. If you want to just talk with your fans about your new release then you can do it with this new twitter feature.

The newest feature I’m talking about is Twitter Space. It’s much like a radio broadcast.

The difference it has from all the other live features is that you can literally talk with your fans by making them a speaker for that space.

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#21. HAVE A LIVE COUNTDOWN WITH YOUR FANS

Many fans love welcoming new releases from their fave musicians so why not join them through a live stream. That would be a very meaningful countdown for them, since you’re with them.

If you plan to live stream your countdown, you can just talk to them and answer questions they have for you and your new release. Before doing the live stream though, it would be great if you give your fans a heads up.

Another way to show your counting down the hours with them is to post pictures with captions counting down the hour. It’s much like teaser photos counting down the days before release.

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#22. ORGANIZE AN ONLINE CONCERT OR PARTICIPATE ON ONLINE FESTIVALS

You can also invite your fans to an online concert or online festival.

There are many artists at present that are organizing their own online concerts where they get revenues from and I’m sure fans would love it if you do the same.

Moreover, traditional festivals like Coachella are being held online.

It’s another great way to promote your album. You will be performing at an online festivals where not just your fans are watching but also fans of other artists.

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#23. PLAN A TIKTOK CHALLENGE FOR ONE OR MORE OF YOUR SONGS

TikTok Challenges are very much a trend right now so it would be great if you have your own TikTok challenge.

Fans would also love to do a challenge for your songs, but that depends on your fans demographics too.

You don’t need to have choreography for your challenge though most prefer doing those. You can also have the lip sync type or outfit change.

Related Articles:

Is TIKTOK Really Worth It For Musicians?

Why Musicians Should Use TikTok (Hear Us Out Before You Judge!)

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#24. POST A SNIPPET ON YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT

You can also try posting a snippet of your song on Twitter.

Don’t make the mistake of posting almost the whole song, maybe fifteen to thirty seconds would be enough.

It’s much like the advertisement you buy from Spotify; the difference is there’s no video. Then you can ask your fellow artists as well as family, friends, and acquaintances to like and retweet so it will spread.

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#25. CHANGE YOUR WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT LAYOUTS AND BIOS

After the press release is posted, you can update your website and social media accounts. You can change your layout, just like Taylor Swift’s Twitter account.

She has informed her fans of her new release and so has changed her layout to promote it.

Moreover, you can change the bio of every social media account you have. You can add lyrics or a link leading to the pre-save of your album or to your own website.

These twenty five ways of promoting your album are not the only ways, but remember that not every type of album promotion is the right way.

It would be best to gauge your audience to know if they’re suitable for the type of promotion you are going for.

It will save you both effort and money.

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James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD/vinyl and merch company in LA.

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25 ways to promote your album the right way