Creating and promoting music has become more accessible with promotion platforms that allow a rise to stardom from the comfort of the home. One of the most prominent platforms is SoundCloud, which gives artists a channel to share their music directly with their peers and fans. However, with so many artists on SoundCloud, getting heard is no walk in the park. Below, we give you 7 common mistakes that you should avoid when promoting your SoundCloud account.

Mistake #1: URL is inconsistent with other platforms

When cross-promoting your SoundCloud account on other social media platforms, you should ensure that the extension you use on the other platforms is identical to the one on your SoundCloud profile. For instance, if the URL to your Twitter profile is www.twitter.com/hiphopmogul, then you should have the same /hiphopmogul extension on your SoundCloud profile. This makes it easy for your fans from other social media platforms to find you on SoundCloud. To edit your extension on your SoundCloud profile, head over to your account settings under “Basic Profile.”

Mistake #2: Not using social media

Nowadays, the most effective way of promoting any kind of content online is through social media. Most people use social media to further investigate a new artist they discover on SoundCloud. In addition, using social media in your promotion gives people alternative ways of discovering you outside SoundCloud. By failing to make use of other social media platforms, you are limiting your chances of being discovered by new fans. The good thing is that SoundCloud makes it easy for you to add to your profile links to your other social media profiles.

As an emerging artist, you are not likely to have a huge management team on your side. Therefore you should just focus on a few relevant social media platforms, for instance Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in addition to your website. It is better to have no social media presence at all on some platforms instead of having poorly managed pages that damage your reputation and credibility.

Mistake #3: Spamming

No one likes encountering spam posted on their accounts or in their comments. Doing this will make you lose followers on SoundCloud. The essence of the comment system is for people to leave genuine comments that offers encouragement or will help other artistes improve their craft. However, by using the comments on other artists’ tracks to promote your own tracks, or worse still, by posting copy-pasted comments, people are going to shun you.

Mistake #4: Uploading Everything

As an emerging artist, you need to demonstrate your full potential and impress your fans. Every artist has some mediocre tracks; it’s part of the game. The problem is, when sampling a new artist, most people just listen to two or three tracks before deciding whether that particular artist is worth their attention and time. If they come across your not-so-great music when they first discover you, they will assume that you are not really a great artist. That will be a potential fan lost. To avoid that, you should only really push your best tracks.

Mistake #5: Uploading unfinished tracks

Just like mistake #4 above, uploading unfinished or work in progress tracks is not the best way to make a good first impression as an emerging artists. Established artists might get away with that since they have already built a reputation and they have a massive, loyal fanbase. However, for a new artist, this is a complete no-no. The benefit gained from getting that live feedback does not exceed the advantage of giving a great impression right off the bat.

Mistake #6: Poorly written bios

This is one very common mistake that most artists and bands make. They fail to provide a short description of who they are as well as some contact information on their profile. Others have very poorly written biographies. Failing to do to pay attention to crafting a strong bio is an instant turn off. Unless you are a chart-topping artist, then you need to ensure that you have a well-crafted bio. Essentially, it should be brief and to the point, user friendly and should be relevant to what you are currently doing. In addition, it should make it easy for people to find you, by having your contact information and links to your other social media pages.

Mistake #7: Write off buying plays and followers

Another common mistake some people make when promoting their SoundCloud accounts is that they don’t consider buying plays and followers based on the assumption that it is a risky tactic. However, it is an effective way of increasing your visibility and discoverability on SoundCloud.

Basically, when you buy plays and followers, it gives the perception that your songs are being played regularly. It positions your music as being popular, which mean there will be more people wanting to listen to it, therefore you will attract more real plays. As a new artist, failing to buy plays before you gain popularity means that your tracks will only have few plays.

Regardless of the quality of your music, people will assume it’s poor quality because of the low play count, without even listening to it.

Risks of buying plays

The reason people fear buying plays and followers is because there are a few risks associated with the practice. These risks include getting scammed, the lack of feedback from bought plays, skewed metrics and a damaged reputation in case your real fans find out. In addition, if SoundCloud discovers that you are buying plays and followers, your account could get suspended.

However, these risks are only associated with plays and followers bought from low-quality providers. These scammy play providers provide their services from bot accounts, which can easily be detected. To avoid these, you should buy followers from high-quality providers, who provide plays and followers from real looking accounts, thereby minimizing the risk of detection.

To learn about where’s best to buy plays for your tracks, check out our reviews of the top 10 SoundCloud plays providers.

Date: June 2, 2016 / Categories: SoundCloud Plays, Tips, / Author: Viv