(R) Marketing and Advertising

Without innovative and well thought out marketing and advertising ideas and campaigns, it would be hard for any musician or band to gain popularity - marketing and advertising could be seen as the most vital part of the whole process. 

There are many different ways that artists and bands can advertise their music, many are listed below:

YouTube

On popular music videos, YouTube feature an advert for another song or album before the user can view the video they initially wanted to watch. In order to draw the audience in, the advertisements aren't able to be skipped - although some can be skipped after five seconds. The thought behind this? That the five seconds that the user has seen of the advert will draw them in enough to carry on watching and then potentially go on to listen to the song advertised or even purchase it. Sometimes, there are even banners underneath the video that users can click on in order to take them to another video or webpage.

Television

Usually when an artist/band has a new album, they will frequently advertise it on television. This form of advertisement is very expensive, however, and is therefore why more popular stars use it compared to less-known artists. The advertisements are usually shown on relevant channels and at relevant times in order to attract the right audience.

iTunes
There are adverts for new albums, upcoming albums and also upcoming tours all over the iTunes homepage, where hundreds of people will see them as in order to download music for their iPhone, iPod or iPad they have to access the iTunes store.

Magazines
Another method of advertising is through magazines. There are many different genres of music magazines just in the UK, so there is plenty of variety and the opportunity to target the right sort of person. Many music magazines feature tour dates, new and upcoming albums, interviews with the artist/band and sometimes offer free items revolving around the artist. Below is an example of an advertisement inside a magazine, advertising Green Day's new single and their album.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways for artists and bands to advertise their music as it's the most cost-effective - it's generally free of charge! Viral marketing is a technique that encourages consumers to pass on a 'marketing message' to other websites or users, which gives the potential of a huge increase in the message's visibility and effect. An example of viral marketing is using social networks (such as Facebook) to post a music video and then people 'like', 'comment' on and 'share' the video so that millions of users soon see the video in a short space of time.