Understand Your Genre and Its Audience

While you want to avoid pigeon-holing yourself, have a clear understanding of what genre(s) your music falls into. This will give you a starting point for discovering your potential audience. Research the typical demographics, interests, and values of people who listen to your genre. Ask yourself:

• What are their ages, genders, locations, income levels, etc?
• Where do they hang out online and offline?
• What else are they interested in besides the music itself?
• What motivates them to support certain artists?

For example, EDM fans tend to be younger and favor festivals and nightlife. Country fans skewer older and rural. Classical music fans are often older and appreciate fine arts. Of course, there are always exceptions, but look at overall trends.

Get Specific About Your Personal Fan

Generally targeting “rock fans” or “hip-hop heads” is too broad. Beyond your core genre, dig deeper into the specific type of person who would appreciate what you bring to the table as an individual artist. Go beyond demographics and imagine their personality, quirks, dreams, and values. What specific life experiences might resonate with your music and story?

Really get descriptive and make your ideal listener a full person in your mind. Give them a name, face, and personality. This will help you better understand how to uniquely appeal to them.

Reflect On Your Own Personality and Interests

A significant portion of your fanbase is likely people who simply vibe with your personality, interests, and passions beyond just your music. Reflect honestly on who you are as a human being outside of being a musician. What are your unique interests, quirks, and perspectives?

For example, are you a huge sci-fi nerd? An athlete? A pop culture junkie? A book worm? A visual artist? A retro video game obsessed? A fashionista? A foodie? A political junkie? Whatever your non-music passions and angles are, these things often resonate with your ideal fans.

Lean Into Your Authentic Self

Be unapologetically you. The truth is your “tribe” are people who connect with the REAL you, not a fake persona. While you want to be smart about your branding, don’t pretend to be someone or something you’re not. Highlight your true self in your music, aesthetics, content, and messaging. This authenticity will help you magnetize your true fans.

Ask Your Existing Fans For Input

If you already have a small fanbase, engage them! Ask your fans questions like:

• How did you discover me?
• Why did my music resonate with you?
• What interests do you have besides my music?
• What are your demographic stats like age, location, gender, etc?

Their answers can provide valuable insights into who your broader fanbase is likely to be.

Think Beyond Music Itself

Remember that fans connect with artists for many reasons beyond just songs. Consider all the additional ways you could appeal to them:

• Your style and visual aesthetics
• Your personalities and values
• What you post about on social media
• The rest of your content (videos, interviews etc)
• Your live performance style
• How you interact with them
• Your interests and passions beyond music

Explore collaborative opportunities with brands, influencers, and communities tied to your other passions. For example, an EDM producer could partner with a popular gamer if they are both obsessed with the same video game.

Strategically Share Your Music Early

Don’t wait until your music is 100% finished to start sharing it. As soon as demos are ready, strategically share them with specific friends, family, colleagues, bloggers, etc. who are likely to dig your vibe. Ask them for honest feedback not just on the music, but your overall branding. This will help you refine your angle to better appeal to your ideal fans.

Leverage Other Social Groups You’re In

Are you part of any online/offline groups, clubs, or communities outside of music? Tap into them! Introduce your music organically if appropriate. Even if they are not musical, members who vibe with you on other interests are more likely to become fans. Just make sure to genuinely engage first rather than immediately spam people about your music.

Research and Engage Micro-Influencers in Your Niche

Micro-influencers are accounts in the 10k-100k follower range who have very targeted, niche audiences that closely match your ideal fan profile. Seek out and connect with ones who are already reaching your “tribe” organically. Offer to collaborate on content and promotions. This can help expand your reach tremendously versus trying to start from scratch.

Optimizing Your Online Presence

Your online presence, especially social media, will be many fans’ first impression of you. Optimize it to appeal to and attract your target audience:

• Bio – Make sure it clearly communicates your vibe and brand.
• Profile photo – Pick a high quality pic that conveys your personality.
• Header image – Tailor your banner/cover photo to intrigue your ideal fan.
• Posts – Share content your audience would genuinely value and engage with. Mix music promotion with humor, lifestyle, interests, etc.
• Hashtags – Use relevant niche hashtags to join larger conversations with your target market.
• Aesthetic – Ensure your color scheme, graphics, and mood consistently reflect your brand.

Growth Hacking Through Playlists

Playlist promotion is one of the most effective growth hacking tactics for musicians. Target popular user-generated playlists that fit your sound. Reach out politely asking them to check out your song. Offer to promote their playlist in return. If they add your music, engage with their playlist following.

You can also create your own branded playlists on Spotify. Curate not just your own music, but other songs and artists your target market would enjoy. Name, organize, and promote the playlists around specific themes, moods, activities, etc. to give followers even more incentive to follow you.

Pursue Offline Gigs and Events

While the internet is key, don’t neglect real world opportunities to connect with potential local fans. Research venues, festivals, conferences, showcases and other events where your ideal audience is likely to congregate. Find ways to perform, network, or just attend them. Set up a mailing list table or hang merch to collect emails and data of interested people you meet for future marketing.

Superserve Core Fans

Once you start attracting any core fans, cherish them! Prioritize reciprocating their passion and loyalty with value. Follow them on social media, learn their names and details, interact with their content, give them exclusives, etc. Treat them as more than just data points or metrics. This hard core will become your street team who recruit more fans.

Embrace All Positive Feedback

If people compliment your work, engage them! Too many artists ignore or brush off genuine praise. But these people took time to express their enjoyment – that means they are likely part of your ideal audience. Interact and see how else you may be able to provide value to them as a seed fan.

Trial and Error With Marketing Content

Be willing to continually experiment with all types of content across channels to see what your audience most engages with. Try different social media post formats, video styles, blogs, graphics, memes, hashtags, etc. Pay attention to feedback. Double down on what works. Then optimize content around those angles.

Collaborate With Complementary Artists

Working strategically with other artists who have an overlapping but not identical fanbase with yours can help expand your reach. Seek collaborations like featuring on their songs, joint releases, shared playlists cross-promotion, etc. But be selective – make sure their style and brand complements your vibe. Avoid mismatches that may turn off each other’s fans.

Multi-Channel Content Strategy

While social media is essential, fans may consume in different places. Develop a multi-channel content plan tailored to your audience’s habits:

• YouTube: Music videos, vlogs, lyric videos, behind the scenes
• Audio apps: Original podcasts, guest podcast appearances
• Spotify: Playlists, Spotify for Artists profile
• Instagram: Photos, stories, reels, IGTV
• Facebook: Live shows, album premieres
• TikTok: Trending challenges, memes
• Blog: Lyrics breakdowns, gear reviews, listicles
• Email list: Special updates, presales, contests
• Text groups: Polls, chat promos, conversations
• Physical: Albums, merch, flyers

Cross-promote new content across all channels to maximize reach. Repurpose content formats for different networks.

Put in the Offline Work Too

While online marketing is crucial, don’t neglect real world hustle. Physically distribute promotional flyers, network at events, play local gigs, partner with local businesses, etc. to spread the word. An omni-channel approach is key.

Continually Optimize and Evolve

Treat finding your audience as an ongoing process, not a one and done project. Consistently analyze data,