Plug the sh** out of it: Using TikTok to promote your music as an independent band or artist
Haven’t put the band on the tiktok bandwagon? Here’s why it might be easier than you think to promote your music on the app.
“I post on Instagram. Isn’t that enough?”
In a nutshell, Instagram is not the best app for independent bands to get discovered. Currently, users are even having trouble getting their content seen by their own followers.
In our opinion, Instagram is best for:
Keeping your core audience informed (they have already discovered you, and follow you for a reason)
Pushing your pre-save links (because your folllowers already like your sound)
Promoting your gig dates (because your followers may have already seen you live before and will be more inclined to see you again)
TIKTOK IS BEST FOR:
Getting seen by new people, every single time that you post.
Converting these potential new fans into your audience.
At it's core, TikTok is built on suggested / recommended content, meaning that more so than any other app, you should be getting pushed out to new people for every piece of content posted. Unlike Instagram, you don’t need to worry about sickening your audience with the same video. If you post the same music teaser three times in one week on TikTok, you will not get pushed to all of the exact same people each time - and this is a good thing.
You should however, be pushed to the same audience each time (if the algorithm is doing its job). It's like playing the exact same set at three different gigs, where you know that your audience is interested in you, or are at least general fans of your style. These are potential fans, ripe for the picking, because you have been connected in some shape or form via suggestions, recommendations, and organic discovery.
You can treat TikTok in the same way. Think of every new post on TikTok as a new gig, in a venue you’ve never been before, with at least twenty new people present. You will still give it your all, put on a good show, and hope that as many people as possible leave that gig as a new, active fan.
But does it work?
Unfortunately I’m not in a band, I just promote them, so this is something you will have to test on a proper dedicated band or artist account. Though I do my best to post TikTok teasers and audio clips as much as possible for the bands I’m working with, I wrap up my work after around four weeks, meaning I cannot continuously plug a new single for very long before or after the release, as much as I would like to! However, if you are a band or artist, you can plug your music all day every day, for months on end - it’s a never ending process, and that’s what puts your TikTok posts at an advantage over the likes of mine. On a proper band or artist TikTok profile, you will never “move on” from your releases. Your releases are what make you, you, and you can reuse the same content until the sun doesn’t shine, building hype for months on end, if you’re dedicated enough.
SO, WHAT BANDS AND ARTISTS HAVE DONE THIS?
To prove that using the same content vein on a continuous basis has potential to turn into reward, here are a couple of artists and one band that, for lack of a better term “plugged the sh**” out of one particular original song on TikTok, and have earned millions of streams between them. Two of these acts are still, (from what I can find), independent.
SHANE GUERRETTE
Status: Independent
Song: “Lost Without”
Spotify Stream Count: 3 million plus
Shane Guerrette is a solo-artist from New York who popped up on my TikTok "For You" page, with his song "Lost Without", appearing to be in the early stages of making a buzz on TikTok. However, it was not one single teaser of this song that went viral, it was a combination of videos that performed well, and of which are all in the exact same content vein. More than two years on, Guerrette is still independent, and using his same content recipe to promote his other releases, building up an audience of over 30k on TikTok, and 80k on Instagram.
After liking that first initial video of Guerrette’s that I saw over two years ago, the algorithm continued to push his other videos to me every few weeks, so I never forgot about his release, even though I wasn’t following him at the time. “Lost Without” is a great song, and he made sure that it did not get lost in the fray. The song now has over 3 million streams on Spotify, and I frequently listen to the track, as a converted fan. I also had the pleasure of interviewing him last year, as I truly love his sound.
See the video below to get a feel for the “Lost Without” content push:
RETURN TO DUST
Status: Independent
Song: “Belly Up”
Spotify Stream Count: 2 million plus
Return to Dust are an independent band based in LA. One singular teaser for the song "Belly Up" earned over 2 million views on TikTok in 2023, after the band repeatedly posted the same teaser before the release. The band have since kept the same content vein - videos of playing in their practice space, joking about the struggles of independent bands, and simply sharing some killer music.
Similar to Guerrette, Return to Dust plugged one to two audio clips of the song in both video and photo content, all relatively similar to one another in terms of captions / narrative. They repeated this for weeks, and one finally seemed to crack the algorithim.
See the video below for "Belly Up"'s content push:
SEBASTIAN SCHUB
Status: Signed? (major label)
Song: “Sing Like Madonna”
Spotify Stream Count: 1 million plus
Sebastian Schub is a solo-artist who appears to be signed to Island Records, a subsidiary of Universal. The label is listed at the bottom of his artist site, however he does not appear to be on Island Records UK’s online roster as of October 2024, so I’ll leave his official status as unconfirmed. However, the TikTok content process still stands.
Of course, if signed to a major label, there was most likely a substantial fund going towards social media adverts for his “Sing Like Madonna” single campaign. However, his supposed major-label status didn’t give him a pass on posting repetitive content. In fact, upon checking out his profile, he appears to have been pushing the single’s teaser both pre-release and post-release, for much longer than Shane Guerrette and Return to Dust. This outlines how even major-label artists have to consistently plug the same content too - one viral video, whether paid or organic, is not enough.
See the video below for “Sing Like Madonna”‘s content push:
Other rising signed or formerly signed artists that followed similar steps to support their now “viral” songs include Stephen Sanchez’s (Republic / Mecury Records) “Until I Found You”, and Ashe’s “Another Man’s Jeans”. Ashe was formerly signed to independent label Mom + Pop, but is supposedly now fully independent, as reported by Atwood Magazine. Both Sanchez’s and Ashe’s singles crossed my path via TikTok.
A bit closer to home, an independent Irish band that must be commended for their TikTok dedication is Limerick’s Dylan Flynn and the Dead Poets, who have built up a following of over 12k and 20k+ monthly listeners on Spotify. As a follower, I regularly catch wind of the band’s content, which is centered towards discovering new fans on TikTok and keeping their dedicated instagram fanbase informed, which is what this article is all about.
So if the top dogs are doing it, and the underdogs are starting to see results, then it’s a formula to test and try. For independent bands and artists, plugging your content takes time, dedication and a lot of patience. I am no TikTok guru, but hopefully the musicians and case studies outlined above, bring some evidence to the perspective.
So what CAN YOU DO?
Take any of the artist examples I’ve shared above, and check out their TikTok’s for some content inspiration. Shane Guerrette follows a simple video + short amount of text + key audio clip formula, whereas Dylan Flynn and the Dead Poets focus on photo / gallery-type posts + mentioning their influences + their origins as a band. Take these ideas, brand them to your style, and create a consistent scheduele. It may be easiest to focus your content on an upcoming release, so get those music video teaser and chorus clips out into the world!
Don’t let your release be forgotten.
As a journalist and publicist, I get a moutain of submissions and come across teasers every day, but it’s the bands that post frequently that I remember, and get prompted enough to pre-save. Another shoutout to Galway’s The Rosecaps and Belfast’s Dea Matrona, whose release news never passes me by.
Best of luck on your TikTok journeys ❤️
Have other examples of particularly independent acts that are performing well on the app? Please comment or get in touch and I would love to add to this article.
Cobra Promotions is proudly affiliated with DROP ROCKET
