In the current day and age, social media is a frequently used method of self advertising and personal branding. In the music industry this is especially significant. Whether you want to be a performer, manager or music journalist, increasing your popularity through social media is a vital strategy.
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are successful and common social media platforms. However, when it comes to the music industry, audio streaming applications should also be used to the musician and their team’s advantage.
Giving listeners the opportunity to stream music on multiple platforms allows for an increase in audience. Both of these platforms have their unique attributes.
Here’s how to keep your social media game rocking on the ones and twos.
- Spotify currently has more than 100 million monthly active users, 30 million of those are paying subscribers. Spotify allows streaming for free, however there are a few minor setbacks. Every few songs the music will be interrupted by an advertisement, and when used on a mobile device, you can only shuffle playlists or albums and cannot choose specific songs.
For the more avid users, Spotify premium is available for $9.99, $4.99 for college students, in the US. By joining premium, customers are guaranteed higher audio quality, uninterrupted playback and the option to download tracks for offline listening.
Spotify’s most appealing characteristic is the plethora of listeners. When artists put their music on Spotify they are immensely increasing chances of reaching new listeners.
- Even though most SoundCloud users do not register, there are still 40 million registered users on the site. The website reaches 200 million unique listeners around the globe through the Web, mobile devices and social-media sites.
Similar to Spotify, SoundCloud’s most appealing characteristic is their massive audience. However, SoundCloud is more beneficial for electronic dance music. When searching on SoundCloud for music that isn’t electronic, you are likely to come across remixes rather than the original song.
So get your music out there, and maybe we can stop listening to “Closer” by The Chainsmokers every 10 minutes.
Written by Julie Cogert, Lead Editor