There’s one thing I know for sure about music promotion: it’s difficult. Especially for me. I don’t like to sound like an advertiser or a PR person.

So I’m always looking for ways to share my music without being super annoying.

When in doubt, I try to just be myself. That’s actually a good way to do music promotion. Don’t be fake, people can see right through that. Just be open and honest.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being hyper-focused on “my brand.” If I’m my brand, then I’m just going to be myself. Plus, people are drawn to those who are unapologetically themselves.

Ultimately, you should be the most excited about your music. No one else will be as pumped as you about the songs you worked so hard to create. You’re not annoying people by posting about it a bunch of times. And if they get annoyed, they’re not really your fans.

Okay, with all that said, let’s talk about how you can promote your music. You don’t need a background in marketing to do these things. These are methods that you can do without being annoying.

I know you know this one already, so just consider this a reminder. Great music will make ripples on its own.

When I discover an artist whose music resonates with me on a certain level, I can’t wait to tell my music aficionado friends about them. The artist didn’t persuade me to share their music. They didn’t provide some sort of incentive.

It was just fantastic music. So, naturally, I had to share it. It would be wrong not to.
Before you get into any of these promotion tips, make sure your music is that great.

There are two general types of Spotify playlists: individual’s playlists and Spotify’s official playlists. They can work together to get your music in front of new people.

The Spotify algorithm that recommends songs to listeners keeps track of “every time people save your music to their queue, library, or their own playlist.^1“ So the more playlists your song is included on, the more likely it will show up as a Spotify recommendation.

So how do you get on these playlists?

Well, you can submit directly to the Spotify editorial team through your Spotify artist profile². In my experience and hearing from fellow musicians, it’s very rare to land a playlist placement this way. “However, pitching your song to the editorial team at least 7 days before the release will get that song on your followers” – Release Radar.

The other route is to submit to playlists run by music curators. I’ve had the most success with SubmitHub, a website where you submit to playlist curators, music blogs, influencers, and record labels. You get a certain amount of free credits, which I’ve used to get on playlists.

However, you can also pay a small amount of money to submit, which moves your song to the front of the line, ensures the curator actually listens, and guarantees feedback. This is NOT pay-to-play, which is against Spotify’s terms of service. This IS paying to get in front of curators. From there, they choose to promote your song purely based on whether or not your song resonates with them.

I’ve also gotten on some playlists by using the “@gmail.com method.”

Go to the Spotify search bar and type “[your genre/mood] @gmail.” This will bring up playlists that have the curator’s email listed in the description.

Lastly, you can search TikTok and Instagram Reels for playlist curators. These curators make videos recommending music to their fans. Find these curators and you find their submission guidelines.

Try searching these hashtags to find curators:

• #songrecommendations
• #underratedsongs
• #musicdiscovery
• #songsuggestions
• #songsilike
• #spotifyplaylist

Speaking of playlists, you can promote your music by creating your own playlist.

First, create a playlist with a theme. It could be “Summer Jams,” “Relaxing Tunes,” “Pick-Me-Ups,” or whatever.

Then after you’ve chosen the songs, find some of your own songs that fit the playlist theme. Add your songs throughout the playlist, especially in the top 20 songs.

This is a great way to share music you love and get free exposure for your own.

Every time I play a show, without fail, a fellow musician comes up to me afterward and talks to me. And I don’t even play out that often!

If you play shows regularly, think of how many chances you have to meet people, both fans and musicians.

In my opinion, nothing will ever replace live music. There’s something special about watching people create music right in front of you.

I know I’ve become fans of local bands just by seeing them live. They wouldn’t have jumped out at me if I heard them on a Spotify playlist, but I stream their music because I saw how talented they actually are inn-person.

This then leads to people looking you up on Spotify, signing up for your email list, and getting to know you on a personal level. These are all things that grow your reach.

Keep in mind, this is free music promotion. In fact, you’re probably getting paid. It’s promotion for which you’re getting paid. If you’re a performing musician, don’t overlook your biggest and maybe most effective way to get your music out there.

A lot of musicians don’t even think of this, but guest blog posts is a totally free way to get your name out there. I’ve gotten a lot of visits to my website from doing this.

Just to be clear, this is not why I write music advice articles. I do it because I love helping my fellow musicians. I like sharing what I’ve learned.

But a lot of websites include an author bio at the bottom of your article and sometimes you can include a link to your website.

So let’s say you’re a Producer looking to get your music out there. You can pitch article ideas to different music production blogs. If they want to work with you, you’ll be able to share what you know through your writing and maybe direct some people to your work. (Plus, blogs sometimes pay you for your work).

Another free and super fun way to get your music in new ears is to collaborate with fellow musicians. You can do a co-write, do a joint show, remix each other’s songs, or whatever fits your skills.

Picture this: you and another Producer decide to remix each other’s songs. When you release these remixes, your remix will get in front of their fans and their remix will get in front of your fans.

It’s a win-win. It’s cross-promotion. It costs nothing and it’s a ton of fun.

I don’t know about you, but I love free stuff. And I’m not alone — that’s why email marketing is so effective (if you do it right).

The idea is to give something away in exchange for someone’s email address. This could be a behind-the-scenes video of your recording session. It could be a never-before-released song. You could even give away VIP tickets to your next show.

What you get in return is a fan’s email address (and possibly their name and zip code if you ask for it). This is a direct-to-fan type of promotion. There’s no middle-man algorithm getting in the way.

And if you do email marketing properly, this is a fantastic way to connect with the people who love your music.

Okay, now that you’ve got some ideas for free music promotion, let’s talk about some free tools you can use.

Show.co comes out of the CD Baby arsenal, so to use it, you’ll actually have to be a CD Baby customer. But if you are, it’s free for you.

This tool lets you create a Spotify pre-save campaign, which is where you get your fans to pre-save your upcoming release. So when your song or album does come out, those fans will automatically see it in their library.

You can also run a similar Spotify campaign, but instead of pre-saves, you ask for follows. And the more followers you have on Spotify, the better your chance that your music will show up in people’s recommended music.

Using this same method, you can also run an email-collection campaign.

Canva is a pretty amazing tool. It’s a free online platform that lets you design images and edit photos. It’s a simple drag-and-drop tool and they offer a bunch of free templates and design elements.

You can use it to create your next album cover (I have), a social media graphic, or a design for your website.

It’s a super-easy way to promote your music. And it makes you look professional.

If you want to give away stuff for free in exchange for an email (like we talked about earlier), MailerLite is a service that lets you do that.

You can set up a campaign that automatically emails new subscribers their treat once they sign up. So you don’t even have to think about it. Set it and forget it.

They offer a free account that is great for smaller indie musicians, but they do have different paid tiers that have more features.

I post on TikTok regularly, ideally about 5 times a week. Every video features one of my songs, whether it’s a live performance or the official audio. I then download my TikToks without the watermark and repost them on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

The number of views, likes, comments, and shares varies widely, although TikTok is the most consistent. But every time I post these videos, I get multiple new followers and likes from people who haven’t heard of me before. And many times, people leave comments saying they like the song, they’ve added it to their playlist, or something along those lines.

I’m not going viral. But every video brings in at least one new fan. Based on my experience, I highly recommend making short-form content to share your music.

Just to reiterate, the music is the most important thing. It can actually be its own form of promotion. If it’s amazing, it will spread naturally.

That’s not to say your music isn’t great. In most cases, it just takes some effort to get your music out there. And the free music promotion tools and methods we’ve covered should be a good start.