While we make it easy to build a professional website for your music using beautiful, professional (and mobile-friendly!) design templates, you can do a lot more with Bandzoogle.
For over 13 years, we’ve been adding new features and functionality to make Bandzoogle a truly all-in-one platform for your music. This includes countless tools to help you promote your music, and further your career.
Here’s a look at how you can sell and promote your music entirely using Bandzoogle’s built-in tools. Ready to get going? Let’s dive in!
Phase 1: Pre-release
As soon as you’re thinking about going into the studio to record your new music, you can start using some of Bandzoogle’s promotional tools to engage your fans.
[How to decide if you’re ready to record an album]
Set-up a preorder for your music
With our Pro plan, you can set up pre-orders for an album. The quickest way to create a page to sell pre-orders is to use a digital album pre-sale Landing page. Set up your pre-order by populating the feature on that page, and you're good to go.
When someone buys your full album, you’ll get the money right away. On release date, all of your fans will receive the album in digital format after you click the release button.
Want to make things more exciting? Give your fans a sneak peek of the album by offering 1 track for sale in advance. They’ll be able to download that one track right away.
Promoting the pre-order
However you decide to proceed with your pre-orders, be sure to include your fans. It’s essential to get people who like your music involved as early as you can.
Throughout the process of recording, listening, editing and re-recording parts, be sure to compile material that you can share. It can be short clips, photos, or just little bits of stories to tell on your blog.
Your fans will love behind the scenes intel; a peek into how a record is made. Make good use of this material to help you promote your upcoming music in a genuine way, both on your website and on social media.
[15 Ways to Get More Music Fans]
Next, how can you work all of this content into your website and be sure that people buy your album?
Add a Call-to-Action
It’s no secret that even die-hard fans can have a short attention span. Use a call-to-action consisting of text and button to draw their eyes to your pre-order. Make this text short and to the point.
Many of our themes are easy to set up with a call to action - customize the wording, the font and button color, and you’re all set!
Many of our modern themes include this option - check out the Nocturne theme, or the Billboard theme for a stylish call-to-action option.
Display a Video Header
Add a video header to your website that gives an exciting glimpse of your music. It could be a cartoony version of your album art, a peek of you recording, or a snippet of your band performing live.
A video adds motion and interest, and will make your visitors zero in on your website header. Place a call-to-action right over the video for maximum impact!
Updates with a blog
Add tidbits of information in a blog. Be consistent about writing and adding photos, quick video or sound clips, but be sure to preserve your authenticity at the same time.
You’re excited to make this album come to life - share that warmth with your fans so you don’t come across as too salesy.
[How To Promote Your Blog Posts to Reach More Fans]
Smart Links
As a succinct was to sum up everything related to your album, try using a stacked section of Smart Links pointing to everything your fans might want to know about your release. Add album art, links to your streaming services, a YouTube link - the sky is the limit.
[5 ways to use Smart Links to promote your music]
Video Feature
What’s more popular than a video? Not much! Take a quick video in the studio, then embed it right on your page. You can create video updates often, and swap them out, or post multiple videos to your page to promote your upcoming album.
Because the video is also on YouTube, it will come up on search over there. So be sure to include text talking about your album, plus a link to your website in the video description at YouTube.
[How to get More Fans on YouTube]
Mailing List
Send out a few email blasts to your fans with the built-in mailing list tool to make sure they’re aware of your upcoming album. Use some of the content you’ve already cultivated (videos, photos, or a blog post update) to let them know that you’re working on a new album.
Send news of your progress in a timely way, and encourage people to pre-order your album by adding a link to buy your album directly on your website.
Embed a Twitter widget
Another powerful tool to generate updates is Twitter - a quick 140 characters that will sum up your latest work as you reach your goal of finishing up your album. Add images, gifs, and text updates to draw people in.
Don’t forget to make it personal and appealing, and lead people back to your website where they can preorder the album.
[How to Get More Fans on Twitter]
Phase 2: Releasing & selling your music
Now that you’ve wrapped up the recording, the hard part is done, right? Well, only sort of. Now you’ve got to work on releasing and selling that album you’ve just poured your time, energy and soul into creating.
Add your Album online
First off, be sure you’ve added your album with all of the tracks, artwork, and any bonus files like lyrics or pdf liner notes to a music feature. Any sales will be processed right away, and a digital copy of your album will be emailed to your customer.
[The Complete Guide to Selling Your Music Online]
You’ve got lots of options with your album - you can either set a fixed price, offer it free with email, or allow your fans to set the price. All sales are commission-free, meaning you get to keep your hard earned album sales without losing a cut! Plus, for Pro members, sales are reported to Luminate (formerly SoundScan).
[How To Create a Perfect Page to Sell Music on Your Website]
Add a CD or Vinyl to your store
As convenient as digital music is, there are still people who’d love to get a copy of your album in their hands. Add a copy of your CD to the store, and when you make a sale, ship it out to the customer.
You can add different products if you want to offer versions, like an autographed copy at a slightly higher price. If you’ve pressed some vinyl, you can add that to the store as well.
[The Ultimate Guide to Selling Band Merch Online]
Make use of your mailing list
Send out an email to all of your fans once your album is ready and encourage them to support you with a purchase. Try to make the text of your email resonate with those reading it; don’t just shoot off a message saying your album is ready for sale. Add some personal words about the music and your journey in creating this album.
[The Complete Guide to Email Marketing for Musicians]
Update your Call-To-Action
Now that you’re past the pre-order stage, swap out the text in your call-to-action that directly asks people to check out your new album. Use words like “buy now” in the button itself to try to get people clicking (and buying!)
Swap out your video header
Quickly change your video header that appears under your call-to-action for one that focuses more on your album itself. A new header will keep repeat visitor’s interest, and will draw them to the call-to-action as well.
Add a video
Use the full-length version of your video header in a video feature, or try adding a promotional video that coincides with your album. It could be a new song, behind the scenes video from the studio, or just a simple video of you talking about the album.
Place the video neatly within your content on your Homepage for quick viewing, and add a description or a text link to your Music page under it.
Promote to social media
Make the most of your social profiles by adding posts that talk about your music. You can share your tracks to Twitter and Facebook and it will create a player right on the page! This encourages people to click and listen within much effort required of them.
[6 Ways to Promote Your Music Online With Bandzoogle’s Embeddable Players]
Keep sharing the news
Add a blog post about your new album, and be sure to share that to social media as well. This way you can drive traffic back to your website (and include a link to buy your album in the post).
Phase 3: Promoting your album release
Now that you’re all set to sell your music online, you’ll want to be sure to also create a fun and engaging event where you can gather local fans and sell more music. That’s right - you’ll want to put in some time promoting your album release as well.
Add your event details
On your events or show spage, add your CD launch to the Events feature. Be sure to include all of the info to make it easy for people: the location, the start time, and cover charge.
Another nice touch on this page is a poster for the event; place it at the top of the page for attention, or beside your list of upcoming events if you’ve planned a tour to promote your new album.
Make sure you share your event as well by adding the link to Facebook, Twitter, and sending out news to your mailing list (segmenting by location to be sure local fans get the details!).
Sell tickets in advance
Use the built-in ticketing option to sell tickets ahead of time to fill those seats. The more you can get the word out, the more people you can get to come check out your new music (and hopefully buy your album!)
Add a Promo Video
As always, people love the visual interest provided by a video, so keep adding new videos. Make a music video for one of your new songs, or record a live off the floor performance that shows off your new material. You can add this video as a teaser of what your release has in store.
Put the details on your blog
The more ways your fans can notice your upcoming event, the better! Create a new blog entry that discusses your upcoming release. You can flesh out this post in more detail to talk about the songs, the creation of your album, and why it’s all important to you.
Then get to promoting! Add your post to your social networks and draw people back to your website.
[13 ways to promote your music online]
Update your EPK page
Use the preset page option to quickly add an EPK if you haven’t already set up a press kit on your website. Update the text and images to reflect your new album, and your release party date. Then email the link to that page out to music blogs, radio stations, and other media.
If you want to keep your press kit private until your album launches, set it up as a password-protected page. Then send out the link, plus password.
You’re finally ready!
While recording, releasing, and promoting your new album can be exhausting, it’s a labor of love that can be made a bit easier with all of these tools at your disposal.
Make use of your website to really drive your music home with your fans, and you’ll start seeing results that you can be proud of. Good luck!
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