The Importance of Influencer Marketing for Musicians:

Social media has changed the game when it comes to the music industry. It wasn’t that long ago that streaming completely disrupted it, either. Now with platforms like TikTok and Instagram introducing reels and TikToks, trendy music is more important now than ever. 

But as social media and platforms continue to develop it leaves a lot of room for continuous change. This moment in time feels somewhat similar to the Golden Era of rap, where tracks could be sampled, and technology made it easy to bring in new waves of sound. 

Ultimately, this showed diversity in culture and music. Here we are today, looking at something similar. Let’s talk about how. 

What Is Influencer Marketing and How Does It Affect Musicians?

Influencer marketing can be widely seen across social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc. This is when someone who has been dubbed and influenced because of their mass following promotes products online to their audience. We have most notably seen it with products and services. But now, the music industry is tapping in as well. 

Partly it was an innocent introduction as social media platforms began to add the ability to combine music with photos and video content. Then we saw something interesting happen. Saved audio became a desirable feature because many app users wanted to create their own version of popular influencer videos and trends. 

Now we see both old songs becoming trendy again, referred to as “that TikTok song,” and new audio being discovered because of its association with an influencer or a dance. Either way, it has paved the way for musicians to take advantage of several opportunities. 

Undeniable Market Growth Opportunity

The first big awareness that any musician should have when it comes to influencer marketing is that there is an incredible opportunity to get discovered. Before social media and online platforms, it wasn’t as easy to get picked up by a record label. There were a few reasons for this. 

1. You either needed connections to someone in a record label. 
2. You needed some good fortune and luck to get a chance to meet with a record label. 
3. You need money to be able to produce your own quality recordings and audio. 

Now with social media, there is an opportunity to go viral from your own account or, thanks to the help of someone who already has quite the following. 

How Does It Work?

There are no specific rules or guidelines for how influencer marketing goes with music, as it is constantly evolving. Having said that, it’s treated similarly to a product deal between an influencer and a marketer. 

The relationship is something you may need to navigate. And to begin with one should be aware of avoiding copyright issues on Instagram, Tiktok and other social media platforms when working with musician’s work and distributing it for different collaborations.

Some influencers may want total creative control because they are the ones with the hollowing and want to stay on brand. 

Other influencers may accept the terms that if they are marketing your product, you want some say. Normally, it’s the former because you are trying to take advantage of their audience. 

Depending on the size of their following and, more importantly, their engagement from their audience will set the price an artist will pay to have their music featured. 

Streaming Is Changing

We’ve mentioned that music is associated with trendy TikTok dances and videos. But it’s begun to get even a little more complicated than we discussed above. The question lies, where do the big media giants fit into this? 

For instance, Sony and Facebook made a deal to let artists upload their content straight to Facebook, capitalizing on royalties from views. This is different from back in the day selling CDs and even just now making money off of streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. 

This throws out an entirely different option for artists as music has started to take off on online social media platforms. Just remember, the money is where the audience is. 

So for artists, this may even impact the way that they make music. Music on TikTok and Instagram is trendy and must go with something that will go viral. It’s shorter and maybe a different thought process for an unknown artist. 

Taylor Swift will trend because of who she is but new artists may need to think they will trend because of what they make. 

Understanding Followers Is Not the Main Metric 

For an artist that wants to jump on board with the approach that they will team up with an influencer to help boost their own brand and music, there are a few things that should be considered. The most important one is that a big following is not always the focus. 

• Sometimes these followings are fake and loaded with bots, so this is something to be aware of. 

• A niche following is often more powerful than a large one because they may follow that influencer, especially for their brand and taste. If your brand is similar, then you may find it easier to convert followers to your own brand. 

• Engagement numbers are the metrics that matter. The more involved an audience is with their content, the more likely they are to pay attention to your music and product. An inactive audience is a waste of an investment. 

• Since you are investing money, it is worth talking about a game plan with your influencer. Ask them what creative ideas they think would work and help make the project successful. 

• Look for influencers that do music reviews. Reviews are something popular on social media platforms because fans want someone else to do the homework for them. You can co-collaborate with someone by offering your music free to them for an honest review. Product producers and manufacturers do this all the time. 

Embracing the Change

The most important thing for an artist to understand is that the change is coming, and in many ways already has come and that this is the way the music industry works. 

Taylor Swift vetoed Spotify to start out and is now one of their most-listened-to artists consistently. There is no doubt that the music industry will continue to evolve and change so artists can better position themselves by changing with it. 

This is especially true for artists that need to make a name for themselves or need to stay relevant. Bonding with a younger generation that knows their music from social media platforms is the way to take advantage of this cash cow.