The complete guide to selling your music online

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The complete guide to selling your music online

Updated by

Melanie Kealey

on Apr 23, 2020

in:

Selling Music Online

Posted on Jan 16, 2017

Whether you’re releasing a new album, EP, or a powerful single, you’ll want to have a plan in place to optimize your music sales.

You might be wondering: where and when exactly do I sell my music online? There are countless options, and it can seem a bit overwhelming trying to navigate them all.

In this comprehensive guide to selling your music online, we’ll break things down into manageable pieces. The key is to create a strategy to engage your fans, use a mix of services to sell music online, then focus on your website and your mailing list to maximize revenues.

Making new music takes time and care. If you put in the same effort to sell your music online, the love you’ve put into creating your songs will show through, and result in more sales from your fans.

Let’s dive in!

Where to sell your music online

There are two main places you will want to

sell your music online

. This first is your own website, and the second is online retailers, like Bandcamp and Apple Music.

Your own website

Yes, you need your own website, and yes, it is a great place to sell your music. It might seem like a lot of work uploading your music, maintaining your narrative, and promoting your pages. It’s well worth it though, for a few reasons.

A website gives you a little slice of the internet that you own and control. Regardless of which social media platforms come and go, if you create

a dedicated music page

on your own website, your fans will always be able to find it.

With streaming on the rise, it’s more important than ever to

maintain your own music website

. Fans who want to truly support you will be able to buy direct from your website store, and you’ll make more money this way (all sales through Bandzoogle are

commission-free

More importantly, you will own the data and the emails you collect with the sales on your website. This is crucial for the long-term success of your career, as you will use those emails to stay in touch with (and sell music to) your fanbase.

Build a professional website in just a few clicks where you can sell music and merch commission-free!

Online music stores

While your own website is important, you’ll also want to release your music far and wide so that it reaches as many ears as possible. Factor this in when you think about where to sell your music.

Bandcamp

is a free service where you can sell your music directly to your fans, as well as collect the data and email addresses. They do take a cut of sales (15%), but there’s also an emphasis on music discovery. Bandcamp actively recommends music to fans through their blog, app, and the Bandcamp Weekly podcast. Plus, many music fans gravitate there to find new music.

In addition to selling your music through Bandcamp directly, you can

use the Bandcamp integration

to embed and sell that music on your Bandzoogle website.

Music download sites: iTunes, Google Play, Amazon

Although streaming platforms are undoubtedly on the rise as a popular way to consume music, you will also want to sell your music online through digital retailers like iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.

Many music fans will want to buy new music from a store they know and trust, where they already have a credit card on file, and they know the platform is compatible with their music library.

To make things easy, upload your music through a digital distributor like

CD Baby

TuneCore

. They’ll take care of the heavy lifting, sending your music across 150+ download and streaming sites worldwide. This includes retailers like iTunes , Google Play and Amazon. This way, people will be able to locate and listen to your music in their preferred way.

Streaming platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music

Many music fans will only listen to music on services like Spotify and Apple Music. While the amount an artist might make from streaming is often small, don’t ignore these platforms. They can be crucial when it comes to music discovery.

Getting your song on a Spotify playlist

can make a DIY career, and result in more sales over the long term.

SoundCloud

has a large community of users and curators on the platform, so including your music here can be a good way for your music to gain newfound visibility. Although not a sales platform, Pro users can

edit or add a ‘Buy’ link

into track metadata to let fans purchase the track from another site.

When to sell your music online

Once your music is ready to go, making your songs available for sale online is the easy part. The real trick is creating a strategy including when to sell your music online, and what tools to use to maximize revenue.

Before we get into the details of how to sell your music, create a strategy first. This way, when your music is ready, you have something to follow through with.

To make things a bit easier, decide on a few

phases of selling your album or single

. You’ll want to build anticipation for your new music, strengthen your relationship with your fans, and raise money in the process. It might look something like this:

Engage fans

Launch a crowdfunding campaign

Set up a pre-order

Album or single release

Music sales follow-up

Once you’ve sketched things out, prepare all of the communication, photos, and videos, as best you can. Things will start to move quickly, and organization will be key to make sure you maximize your release.

Phase 1: Engaging your fans

You’ll want to engage your fanbase right from the start. You likely have the music in your head already, or demos ready to be recorded. This is the time to start making sure people know you’ve got music coming on the horizon. It’s the beginning of a journey that they can, and should, take with you.

Do some research on

how to market your music online

, and be sure to use some promotional ideas that feature your new songs. Add video snippets and teasers to Facebook and Instagram, and reach out regularly to your followers with photos to document the process.

Phase 2: Launch a crowdfunding campaign

Think of crowdfunding as the ultimate way to set up pre-orders.

Create a crowdfunding campaign directly on your website

(so you

keep 100% of the crowdfunding pledges sales

). Adding perks not only funds your album, but also gives you a good idea of the numbers of CDs or other items you’ll need to produce. It will also rally your community around your upcoming release.

For tips on crowdfunding your release, check out:

Crowdfunding your album: 11 dos & don'ts

Phase 3: Pre-orders

Whether you’ve crowdfunded or not, it’s still a good idea to get your album up for presale in the weeks leading up to the release. This will give you another announcement to make (“album available for pre-order in these stores”), and allow you to invite fans to purchase who did not participate in the crowdfunding campaign.

You can

set up a simple pre-order option

on your website. Those

sales will be reported to SoundScan

(Pro users), plus you’ll collect email addresses for your mailing list.

Since you’re still engaging your biggest fans, drive pre-sale orders to platforms where you can not only maximize your revenues, but also collect email addresses (like with your own website or Bandcamp). With iTunes, for example, you’re making less money, and they’re not sharing valuable data and customer emails with you.

In the pre-release stage, you can explore other options such as

releasing your music early to Spotify

, or using a service like

Show.co

to create Spotify pre-save or audio ads. Research a few

ways to release a single

, and see what works for you.

Phase 4: Album or single release

Once your album or single is ready, release it to the fans who pre-ordered. Then, make it available for sale on your website, and in popular online stores and streaming services.

This should coincide with a series of email newsletters, social media posts, and

other music promotion tactics

. Add each of your new songs to your YouTube channel for discovery (music videos, or even simple lyric videos, with a buy link leading to your website in the description).

Even though your album will be available through popular online stores, your website should still be where you drive your fans to purchase.

Make sure your Homepage contains updated details about your new music. On your Music page, offer a direct-to-fan purchase option front and center, then include links below for where to buy and/or listen on other platforms.

Here’s a detailed look at how to set up the Music page on your website:

How To Create a Perfect Page to Sell Music on Your Website

Step 5: Music sales follow-up

After the dust settles from your release, take a breather. Then jump back right into the final phase of selling your music: following up.

Keep your music top of mind for your fans by scheduling social media posts and email newsletters designed to drive traffic back to your website.

You can do this by celebrating milestones (your album has been out for a month, you fulfilled all of your pledges, and so on). Then you can create buzz by bundling items and offering discount codes for your full catalog of music.

The complete guide to selling your music online

How to sell your music online

Throughout the journey of creating music, sharing and selling it with the world, you’ll want to make use of as many tools as you can to get the word out. Once your new music is ready for purchase, use these same tools to get the word out and generate more sales.

Mailing list

The most important tool you have to drive sales is your email list. It might sound a bit old school, but

email lists are more important

than ever before.

A big reason for this is that you own that database of fans. No matter which

mailing list tool

you use, you can always download your list of email addresses.

Most people check their email every day, and read, click or at least sort it.If they’ve opted in to your list, either to receive news or by downloading music in the past, chances are they would welcome an opportunity to support you.

In comparison, not everyone checks social media every day, and even if they do, low organic reach may mean that they never even see your posts.

You should absolutely announce your album release on social media, but the first thing you should do is send a dedicated email blast to your fan list with a link to buy your album.

Social media

Make use of your social media platforms to create content that will encourage people to buy your music. Driving them back to your website directly is ideal (that way, you make the most money, plus they can browse for merch or other items), but you can also send them to purchase at any of their preferred platforms.

If those are your two main tools to drive sales, how exactly will you do that? This might vary depending on your style or music, and whether you are selling an album vs a single. The important thing is to be sure to offer options to fans of every level.

After you’ve sent out initial blasts to make sure your fans are aware and able to buy your music, follow up. As time goes on, keep adding incentives to get more people to buy your music. Here are some e-commerce options that can help you increase your sales.

Pay-what-you-want pricing on songs

Try offering your songs using the pay-what-you-want pricing model. Some people might very well take the music for next to nothing, but there are definitely some fans who are willing to pay more, so why not let them?

If someone is really excited about your music, they might give you much more than the standard $1/song or $10/album. You can use Bandzoogle’s

music players

to allow fans to pay what they want, and even set a minimum price.

Offer physical and digital bundles

If you decide to release a CD or vinyl version of your album, you should definitely be bundling those with a digital version in your online store.

You can also bundle together other merch, as well as older albums, with a digital copy of your new album to help drive up overall sales.

Digital back catalog deal

After you release your new album online, consider offering a deal on your back catalog of albums. While you have your fans there on your store page ready to buy, let them know they can get your entire discography in a package deal.

Sale pricing & discount codes

Once your new music has been out for a while, offer a discounted price for a limited time. You could also celebrate the release of your new music by offering a sale on your older albums and merch.

You can use Bandzoogle’s

sale pricing feature

, or send a note welcoming new subscribers to your email list with a discount code for when they shop in your store.

Set up fan subscriptions

If you plan to regularly make new music, or create new content, you could

set up fan subscriptions on your website

. While it’s a different sales model than just selling outright, you could launch your subscriptions area at the same time as your new album. Then follow up your new release with regular updates and content in exchange for a monthly membership fee.

Final thoughts

Make sure you follow a plan for all of these music sales opportunities. Create a spreadsheet or make a list on a whiteboard to keep things on track. Don’t oversaturate your audience by begging them to buy your music day in and day out; keep working on interesting angles and stagger your marketing.

Selling your music online is an ongoing process which takes time and care. The most important things to remember are:

Engage your fans right from the start of the creation of your album

Focus on owned properties like your website and your mailing list to maximize revenues

Use a mix of all services so that every type of fan, from superfan to casual, can pay for your music

If done right, it will help you strengthen the relationship with your fans, drive more sales, and make money to create more music in the future.

Build a professional website in just a few clicks where you can sell music and merch commission-free!

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Comments

Posted by R.D. Aragon

on May 4 2017 11:24 AM

Dave Cool tells it like it is. I'm sharing this with my students Dave.musicoverlord.com

Posted by

Stevie Jones

on May 10 2017 11:41 AM

You have failed to mention that if you don't hit your target with pledge music you get nothing. A major fail in their system. They only work for well established acts or people with cash to spare to bump up the short fall.

Posted by

the Dead Horse Beaters

on May 10 2017 11:48 AM

i like this...will study it further----thank you!

Posted by Bill

on May 11 2017 8:09 AM

While this article is helpful and of course Bandzoogle rocks, you have to put yourself in your customer's shoes. Go through your site and try to purchase your own music. You'll be surprised. I tried it, and hit all sorts of walls and obstacles. Whether it's the type of device your customer might use, or how they prefer to download, store, or stream their purchase. Lots of different ways to sell and challenges that go along with it. Be thorough and always try new things.

Posted by Dousic

on Sep 11 2017 8:48 AM

Amazing post and complete information about selling music online. We deals in social media for artists and provides amazing features to sell your music online.

Posted by LID

on Feb 3 2018 2:50 PM

Great article! Very informative. Thank you!

Posted by Steve

on Feb 18 2018 5:03 PM

I like what this article is telling me. Well written and easy to understand process to follow.Here's my issue: I've never made a single music sale. I am a one man band, I have virtually zero presence on facebook, zero presence online. But I have great music and people are really into it (basically classic rock / metal). I plan to keep slowly generating new songs, like one new piece a month. So my question is, is social media really critical? How about facebook ads? I feel like everything I read is geared toward people who already have a fan base.

Posted by Julia Kater

on Feb 18 2018 6:12 PM

@Steve, having social media profiles is important for audience development and cross-platform engagement. You might like to check out this post about how to promote your music using social media: https://bandzoogle.com/blog/how-to-use-bandzoogle-s-social-media-integrations-to-promote-your-music It's a great tool for growing your audience when used effectively!

Posted by

Tab Costa

on Oct 11 2018 3:14 AM

I like this,it has taught me a lot

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