Music distribution giant SoundCloud have been an industry leader for over a decade, and have given life to the careers of thousands of DJs, producers, rappers and live artists, including Chance The Rapper, San Holo and Post Malone.
The companies Director of label relations Julia Killer and Director of artist relations Joe Armenia came to this years Brighton Music Conference to host a presentation and discussion on how independent artists can best use the platform to push their sound.
Focusing heavily on the idea of good music and accurate data, combined with SoundCloud’s community driven tools, independent artists can increase their chances of success.
Julia Killer advised that fan engagement can be one of the most effective methods to market your music, direct messaging your fans, replying to comments, posting teasers, and live Q&A’s are all excellent ways to connect with your fanbase on a 1-to-1 basis, something Julia labelled as ‘social signals’.
Combining these social signals with your profile data will allow you to fine tune your efforts so you maximise the effectiveness of each engagement, paying attention to play counts, top listeners, top cities and top websites will let you identify who your audience is.
Julia and Joe closed out the session by holding a discussion with Cornwall DJ and producer DNMO, the 16 year old emerging talent has remixed Zeds Dead, was listed as one of SoundCloud’s ‘ones to watch in 2018’ and has millions of plays across his uploads.
DNMO mentioned how networking is important for growth, especially in the early stages “I was really working at meeting new artists on the platform, artists of a similar size, maybe similar music, gaining support is essential, and supporting other artists as well.”
Stream ‘DNMO – Do It Better’ below.
