Whether you're a fan or an artist, you've most likely come into contact with other artist's mixtapes. Mixtapes are often an excellent place for people to discover new music, and so naturally, they can become quite popular pretty quickly if introduced to the right audiences in the right way. One of the best ways to promote your music if you're an artist is to create your own mixtapes.
Mixtapes are a great way to showcase and promote your own creations and those of others and connect to other artists. They can become a valuable tool for you both in terms of promotion or networking. However, there are a lot of different mixtapes out there, most of which aren't successful. What can you do to stand out from the rest?
First and foremost, if you decide to create your own mixtape, you'll need to make sure it's consistent. The most crucial element of any mix is that it happens regularly, thus building a base of listeners and an expectation to always hear the next episode. To produce your mixtape consistently, it's best to have a regular schedule you work with that you can comfortably produce the mixtape in. Don't commit to a schedule you can't keep; it's always better to increase the frequency later once you have the process figured out, as opposed to slowing it down.
Make sure to reach out to other artists and ask for their new music- you'll be amazed at how many artists you'll be able to get in contact with, even if you're just starting out. Promotion is promotion at the end of the day, and most artists understand the value of that. Shoot for exclusives, and put as much love into your mixes as possible. Platforms like YouTube & MixCloud monetize tracks from your mixtapes automatically and send the royalties to each respective artist, which means they get compensated from your mixtape's streaming royalties. When it comes to royalties, remember that a mixtape's main benefits come in terms of promoting your artist brand and that they are not likely to bring in a lot of income.
A good name and brand for your mixtape is essential. Find a theme that you can expand on, and that your artworks and jingles all line up with the theme. Once it all lines up, the listener's experience will become a lot deeper and they will be brought into your world. If your mixtape really takes off, you can turn the brand into much more, such merchandise or even an event. To regularly push your mixtape, you'll need a well crafted social media strategy that you can use and improve over time. Think about how you want to push your mixtape, what kind of artworks you wish to use and when you want to use them. The sky's the limit!
Creating your own mixtape is not that hard, but it's also not that easy. If you put care into every step and consistently push your quality and your networking, you'll find that a regular mixtape has a lot of benefits for your artist brand.
