Give away free music downloads

First, if you want people to download your music, you need to make it as easy as possible for them. Unless they really love you and what you produce, the majority of people aren't going to go looking for your tunes, and if you make them, you'll likely lose them. Millions of people around the world use SoundCloud every day, and you want to be where they are. A second reason is that it's incredibly simple to not only upload your music, but to make it available as a free download.

Millions of tracks can be downloaded at no cost on SoundCloud, and it has become somewhat expected from lesser-known artists now. Those who use the platform often see it everywhere, and you wouldn't want to disappoint them, now would you? Offering a free download of your new song or even an entire collection can be a great way to get people to your website.

Make your offer known via a blog post, your email newsletter, or on social media, and be sure to link them right to the front page of your website, which will hopefully also have details about merchandise, buying a full album, or your upcoming tour dates. If people have already clicked through to download some of your music, chances are they already know you and they may even like you quite a bit.

Once you have them there, don't make them hunt for the free song download, but feel free to route people a little bit, ensuring that they spend a little bit of time taking it all in. If you do it right, you might make a real fan out of someone looking for a freebie. No one will spend time downloading music they haven't heard yet. Offer a preview of your track to entice listeners before they choose to download. Once you decide to exchange your music for social currency, make sure you have a strategy for how you will make money in the long-run.

You could give away a single track, and then direct downloaders to purchase your full album. Or offer a discount on your other music and merchandise to anyone who downloads your free song.

If you plan to make money from merchandise instead, make sure no one else can reproduce it and cut you out of the loop. Just because it's free doesn't mean it should be promoted any less than a paid release, in fact it can give you the tools to market and engage your fan base and build new ones at the same time. Many artists promote the same album for 1 to 4 years, so don't stop promoting your music just because it's been available for a while.

With the rise of Spotify, YouTube and other streaming platforms, it could be argued that almost every artist ends up giving their music away for free in one way or another. But letting your fans download and own your music without charging anything is a different ball-game, so it's worth thinking carefully about.

After you get people to sign up for your mailing list , whether at a gig, or online, give them a chance to download a song that isn't available anywhere else. Again, you can use a "live version", or a song demo. Just make sure that it makes people say "wow! Giving people a free song now and then, especially when it is a great one, makes people feel like they just got a present.

They also tend to respond by reciprocating buying your music and telling others about your music. If you send out post-cards to your fans , make sure to include an action step a special URL from which to download a free song. You'll know how well your mailing works, by looking at your statistics. There are also ways of tracking individual people by giving a secret code to enter, that matches them up in a database.

Sales are dropping every year, and it's only getting tougher and tougher to get somebody to buy anything rather than stream it. That doesn't mean you're going to stop making music, but your focus should shift.

These days, many music listeners — especially younger ones — expect a lot for free, and that includes your music. Many people still want to own music, but few are willing to pay for it, though if you treat them right, they'll give you money in other forms. A giveaway here or there might help you sell more tickets on your next tour, or maybe even an entire album if the one song you offer for free is something they fall in love with.

But how do you actually give a song away for free? You can't exactly email it out to everybody, can you? It's actually pretty easy if you just know where to post it.

You can put it where you like, but here are a few platforms I'd suggest if you want to get your music in front of the most people. One of the world's largest streaming platforms is also a great place for you to offer free downloads of your music for several reasons. First, if you want people to download your music, you need to make it as easy as possible for them.