This blog post is about music promotion. If you’d like some music exposure for your rap, pop, or lofi beat making brand, then read this!
Yes, payola is illegal which is payment to radio stations to give your song or songs spins or plays. There’s a way to get around this though, so let me spit.
Payola is also not allowed on the Spotify platform for their playlist curators. I’m not sure if other music streaming platforms won’t allow payola or payment to playlist curators on their platforms but I’m very sure Spotify does not allow that, but let me tell you this. Playlist curators are allowed to get paid to review your music tracks, and then from there they will decide whether or not they’d like to add you to one of their pop, lofi, or rap playlists. So again, payment for reviewing your track is allowed. Recording artists, lofi instrumentalists, or jazz hop beat makers are not paying for placement in this scenario, but they’re paying to get heard in hopes that they could get placement after they receive an honest review of their music. Even if you can’t get placement a few times, this can still be very beneficial for your brand after getting honest feedback. Feedback makes artists become more aware of the things they need to work on for improvement and helps build tougher skin as well.
There’s a ton of music playlist curation platforms out there on the net. You just have to go get your Google on trying to find playlisters or music curation platforms.
What you do need to watch out for is those music curators who have bots as their audience. If they buy streams, it’s probably more than likely bots that they are purchasing. Make sure that the playlist curators that you use get listeners organically. There’s a few playlist platforms that have a bot detection system in order for you to avoid that kind of thing.
Also, before I head out I would like to discuss sync licensing. A lot of artists don’t have the funds to market or get promotion for their brand when it comes to streaming, so maybe sync licensing might be for you, maybe. With sync, you can generate a lot more money than you would with streaming if your music is used in TV and film. You can sign up with ASCAP or BMI and make yourself a publisher of your PRO or Performing Rights Organization account or find a publisher that looks for sync deals for you. There’s several sync platforms you can use, so just Google them. With some of these Sync platforms it’s not mandatory that you already be signed up with ASCAP or BMI. For more information about sync, please get your Google on.