In the age of the internet, promoting your music is no longer just about playing the local bars to boost your following. Now, what seems to be even more important than struggling among the local nightspots is building a strong presence online. One of the most powerful tools of online music promotion is YouTube. Artists’ videos with less than a hundred views can grow to a million overnight. But, not everyone is that lucky. The most likely outcome is that you will struggle to get views. Sorry, it’s the real world. But, if you are as creative in your marketing as you are in your songwriting, then there is no reason you can’t use some creative tricks to boost your views. Here are some of the clever promotion ideas many successful YouTube artists have figured out.
1. Recording Covers
YouTube is packed with users scouring the search engine to find their favorite new song. If you take this route, then oftentimes users will stumble upon your video rather than the original. Or, you may just find someone looking for a new version or a new face. No matter what, when it comes to recording covers for YouTube, there are three simple rules to follow:
Record A New Song Before Anyone Else Does
If you are good predictor of trends or oftentimes find yourself saying something along the lines of “I listened to that song before anyone else,” then grab your instrument and press record on your video camera. If you are one of the first to have a cover of that new hit song up on YouTube then chances are you will be the one users click on when searching for that song. Keep your ear to the street because it may be your way to some views.
Find A Song With Little Competition
If you look hard enough you are bound to find great songs with very few people that have already taken it upon themselves to cover it. This is an untapped market where you may just be able to take the lead. Little competition means more views for you as you will be higher up in the search results. But it may also mean less of a reward since the demand is not that high — but hits are hits.
Quality
There is no substitute for the best. If you are blessed with an incredible voice, amazing instrumental abilities, or just a stylish new take on an old song then you are one of the lucky ones that can attack any song you want. The cream of the crop always rises to the top, and if you can record the best cover of something on YouTube — no matter how many covers there already are — it is highly likely you will spread like wildfire. Keep recording the song until you are 100% happy with it; once it’s on Youtube, unless you decide to pull it later, it’s there forever.
2. Collaborate
Much of the success of YouTubers has come from their knowledge that collaboration is a way to share viewer bases as well as combine talents for maximum creativity. Writing to your peers on YouTube can open up doors to new friendships, as well as possible collaborations. Create a video concept and pitch it to a fellow YouTuber. If they like the idea, the great thing about the internet is that ideas and content can be sent back and forth quickly until you have a product ready for the world to view — on both of your channels.
3. Write for Popular Search Terms
If you upload a music video to youtube, of course searchers in youtube may see your song in the search results. But did you know that youtube videos are now showing up in Google’s web search search as well?
Knowing this, you can name your song, or include specific words and phrases in your youtube description, that are popular search terms. Then, your video may show up one an unsuspecting Google searcher’s results page.
Just how do you know what people are searching for? Use your common sense and be aware of what is popular. When you feel you have an idea of what might be good, use Google’s Keyword Tool to see how many people search for a particular term.
4. Post About A YouTube Celebrity
Another great way to get views is by making videos about other famous YouTubers. Often times this will allow you to show up in related videos of the person you have made your video about or gain searches from others looking for the subject of your video. Once you have posted your video, it is smart to write your subject and let them know you have done this. If it is not an insulting video, many times they will favorite your video and promote it to their subscribers. A video that made use of this strategy was “YouTube Girls” (as shown below). Many of the famous YouTube girls mentioned in this video helped promote it by favoriting it and sending it on to their subscribers, as discussed.
If you are aggressive and take advantage of some of these YouTube strategies, then there is no reason you should not be increasing your views. But remember, you can strategize all you like, but nothing will ever take the place of making good quality music. People pass along great. It’s that simple.