In this article, the complete guide to music promotion in Nigeria, I am going to walk you through the basic things you need to do if you really want to have an effective music promotion here in Nigeria.
This article will try to cover the following areas that concern music promotion in Nigeria:
- What is music promotion
- Types of music promotion
- How to promote music in Nigeria, paid and free.
- The cost of music promotion in Nigeria.
- List of music promotion sites in Nigeria.
- Top music promoters in Nigeria.
- The aim of music promotion in Nigeria
I believe after reading or studying this complete guide to music promotion in Nigeria, you will be able to have a positive result from your music promotion in Nigeria.
Before we dive into this article properly, I would first and foremost like to inform you that we here @ Taculia Records NG are committed to helping upcoming musicians have a positive result from their music promotion in Nigeria.
And in order to achieve this aim, we charge a very affordable price; just 2,000, to help upcoming musicians in Nigeria upload their songs on a music blog.
If you are interested in this cheap and affordable music promotion in Nigeria, you can chat with us via the WhatsApp link below o call us immediately at +2348132633812, +2348079974193.
Without further ado, let us now jump into the purpose of this article.
What is music promotion?
Music promotion is the process of making your songs available for consumption using several strategies and mediums.
Another name for music promotion is marketing, and for that reason, it is safe to see music promotion as a means of creating awareness for your songs as a product or commodity.
Types of music promotion.
There are basically 2 types of music promotion in Nigeria and they are:
- Online music promotion
- Offline music promotion.
1. What is online music promotion?
Online music promotion is the process of making your songs available on the internet for consumption by music lovers or listeners.
It usually involves uploading and sharing your songs on music blogs, websites, and social media platforms.
How to promote your music online in Nigeria.
There are several means and methods of promoting your music online in Nigeria, and if you want to know all of them you can read a full article on How to promote your music online in Nigeria on this blog.
Meanwhile, let us briefly look at some of those means and methods that are relatively very important.
1. Make good music.
There is no way you are going to achieve effective music promotion in Nigeria if you are not able to make good music.
To however make good music, you must ensure you are talented as well as know how to compose the kind of songs you will be making.
Music composition is however not necessary as you can buy or get people who professionalize in that aspect to compose a song for you.
Once you confirm that you have the talent and are good to go; the next step is to look for a recording studio and producer that will give you quality sound production.
And take note that quality sound production does not necessarily mean your voice and instruments being properly mixed. But it also means making your voice and instruments meet up the standards other established artists in Nigeria are making.
Because sometimes an artiste can blow easily if he or she is mistaken for or sounds like an already established artiste.
But then, considering the cost of getting a good studio and producer to help you get quality sound production; you can set aside a little budget and set up your own small home recording studio.
You can then hire a producer who will spend more time carefully working on your songs in your own studio to give you a high-quality sound production.
2. Upload your songs on music blogs.
There is no way that you will promote your music online in Nigeria without uploading it on a music blog.
Because it is the music blog that will help you to create a listening and download button for your potential music consumers.
However, we have both free and paid music blogs as you are going to learn later in this article.
And the choice then will depend on your budget; that is whether you are going to upload and promote your songs on free or paid music blogs in Nigeria.
Consequently, promoting your music on a paid music blog will give you more advantages than a free one. Most especially, the tendency of appearing on search results when people are looking at your name or the title of a song there.
3. Share your music on social platforms.
Don’t just upload your songs on music blogs and wait for the admin to promote it for you because lack of chance can make them take a long time in doing so.
So while waiting for the admin of the blog you uploaded your song to do his own promo, you should start sharing the links to your music on that blog.
One of the best places to share the link to your songs is social media platforms.
As a musical artiste, you should have an account in at least 5 of the best social media platforms for musicians.
You also need to build your fanbase on these social media platforms so you will have people who will consume the songs you share.
Aside from sharing your songs on social media, you can also use other content ideas to grow your social media followers. And this you must do to get those who will be engaging with your songs anytime you share them.
How to promote your music offline in Nigeria.
There are several ways you can promote your music offline in Nigeria, and some of them are:
Meanwhile, let us briefly discuss some of the basic ways you can promote your music offline in Nigeria here.
1. Perform live gigs.
Whether it’s a local gig in your area or a big concert that parades established artists in Nigeria, you must aim to perform in every gig.
This is because performing in a live gig will help you to physically attract music industry people; or even a sponsor who attends the gig.
Lots of established artists came into the limelight through shows. Moreover, hundreds of Nigerian artists are making so much money from shows.
Whether in Nigeria or across the country, Nigerian artists make so much money from performing live on stage.
For this reason, you must see stage performance as an important instrument to your becoming successful in the music industry.
And utilize every opportunity to perform live on stage.
2. Radio/TV Promo
Most modern-day musicians think that promoting songs on the radio and TV is no longer working because of the internet.
But to me that’s a big fat lie; because it is not everybody that is surfing the internet often.
A greater number of people who go to the internet only do so to get the particular information they need.
Do you remember that so many people are using free Facebook every now and then when they are on the internet, including you?
How about the elderly people who still see the radio/TV they were born to see as the only source of their obtaining information?
And for all these reasons and those not mentioned, make sure you use the radio and TV as one of your means of offline music promotion.
3. Promote your songs through your local DJs.
There is no denying the fact that listening consistently to a particular music can make people fall in love with it.
In fact, I don’t believe there is anything like a song blowing at first play or listen.
People need to listen to particular music again and again before they start to fall in love with it.
And one of the ways that your music can consistently be on people’s ears is through DJs playing it everywhere.
It is likely that your DJ is going to play in a traditional marriage, wedding ceremony, funeral ceremony, child dedication, etc.
So make sure you give your music to all the local DJs in your area and give them a little money that will motivate them to always play your song wherever they are DJing.
How to pay and promote your music in Nigeria.
Promoting music is however not always free as you will sometimes have to pay to promote your music in Nigeria.
In fact, paying to promote your music in Nigeria will often help you to get effective music promotion.
Now let’s see some of the ways you can pay to promote your music in Nigeria.
Promote your songs on music blogs.
Although there are free music blogs in Nigeria that will allow you to upload and share the links to your songs as a means of music promotion; the best way is to use a paid music blog.
This is because the advantages of a paid music blog outweigh that of the free one.
For instance, a paid music blog will help your music to appear on search results when people are searching for a related keyword; either that of your artiste name or song.
An example of this occurred when Burna Boy dropped a single titled “Ye” at the same time Kanye West dropped an album of the same name.
Now when people were searching for Kanye’s Ye, Burna Boy’s Ye will also pop up, and so many people will click on Burna’s.
And they were unable to forgo the song because it was very good.
Therefore, long as your music is good and you promote it on a music blog, and it has a related keyword with something that’s trending; it can increase your chances of becoming a successful musician like Burna Boy.
Ads Promotion.
Ads are the short term for the word advertisement, and it is the process of putting money to boost your products or services online.
The most popular Ads are Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, etc.
Though Google Ads is a bit expensive, if your budget can foot it, it will help you to appear on blogs that are monetized on Google.
Whereas Facebook and Instagram Ads will only help you to be seen by those who are using the respective platforms.
Top 20 ways to promote music for free in Nigeria.
Below are the top 20 ways to promote your music for free in Nigeria:
- Make good music.
- Use high-quality album covers.
- Give out songs for free download.
- Share your songs on social media platforms.
- Upload and promote your songs on Audiomack.
- Use the Audiomack playlist.
- Promote with viral videos.
- Drop free CDs or MP3s in clubs, pubs, eateries, etc.
- Never underestimate your local DJs.
- Perform in live gigs.
- Harness the power of online challenges.
- Use comedy skits to promote your music for free.
- Collaborate with other upcoming artists and share a fanbase
- Reach out to social media influencers.
- Build a team and delegate tasks.
- Get your songs on DJ mixes.
- Use bulk SMS.
- Do street promo.
- Use family members and friends.
- Oral tradition is still relevant.
1. Make good music.
If you want to get the best out of your music promotion, make sure you are making good music.
Avoid making music with a downloaded beat, as well as using a phone app to record the music you are going to promote.
2. Use high quality album covers.
Your cover design is very important when it comes to music promotion.
It’s unfortunate that so many upcoming artists use their phones to make cover designs.
I bet you that no one will look at those scrappy cover designs twice, talk less of clicking to listen to your music.
So make sure you hire a professional graphics designer to give you a high-quality cover design.
3. Give out songs for free downloads.
You should have your songs online for free download.
And since we are dealing with how to promote your music for free, you should look for free platforms that will allow you to upload your music and share the links.
4. Share your songs on social media platforms.
Social Media Platforms are the best places that will allow you to share your music for free.
Though social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc will not allow you to upload your audio tracks directly.
You can use viral videos that have your music playing in the background and add the link in the ye description area.
5. Upload and promote your songs on Audiomack.
Audiomack is a free music platform that will allow you to upload and share your music for free.
You can sign up today for a free account and utilize the platform for your music promotion.
6. Use the Audiomack playlist.
Submitting your songs for trending and playlists on Audiomack is a great way to promote your music for free.
You can follow this link to check the requirements for the submission of your trending and playlisting.
7. Promote with viral videos.
It shouldn’t necessarily be a viral video you shoot by yourself.
The trick is to download any viral video like a comedy skit, or football clips, cut out the audio and add your song.
Then upload the video and caption your song title and name with that of the main viral video and upload it to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
8. Drop free CDS or Mp3s in clubs, pubs, eateries etc.
Mass produce a few copies of your songs on CDs and drop them in all the clubs, pubs, and eateries around your town.
Some of them will require it as MP3, so you transfer it to them or even buy a memory card and give it to them.
You can do this through the DJs or whoever is responsible for the sound in such places.
9. Never underestimate your local DJs.
Your local DJ who plays in events is one of the top 20 ways to promote your music for free in Nigeria.
So go out there and meet them, and promise them a shout-out on your next new song or you can do a DJ skit for free and give it to them.
This will make them more than happy to play your music anywhere they are DJying.
10. Perform in live gigs.
All those shows happening in your locality; especially in festive periods, is a great opportunity you can use to promote your music for free in Nigeria..
You can always print a few copies of your CDs with your contact details boldly printed on them and give them out to people while performing on stage.
So go out there and scout for shows.
11. Harness the power of online challenges.
Online challenge is ongoing every now and then.
So you can make videos that correspond with your song and use the challenge hashtag to make it reach people who might like it.
12. Use comedy skits to promote your music for free.
You can shoot an interesting comedy skit that describes your music and use your music as a soundtrack.
Upload the comedy skit online and add the link to where people can download the full song.
And those who like comedy skits will definitely download and listen to your song.
13. Feature other artists and share their fanbase.
Most upcoming artists have lots of followers on social platforms.
So scout for these kinds and request a promo for promo, and make sure you promote his music as well.
14. Reach out to social media influencers.
Though this technique usually costs so much money there are basic tricks you could employ to attract a social media influencer who can promote your music for free.
You can follow the link to learn about those tricks: How to get influencers to promote your music for free.
15. Build a team and delegate tasks.
You can gather your close friends and family members into building a team and delegating tasks to each member, and this will help them spread the word about your music.
When building the group make sure you apply to everybody’s interest in the group as well as send shout-outs or mention them in your songs; this will make you more than excited to work for and with you.
16. Get your songs on DJ mixes.
In our own days, Alaba int’l was the number one spot where you could put your songs on DJ mixes and increase your chances of blowing into the music industry.
Lots of the big artists from the days of music in Nigeria became popular via this method.
And today, we have several popular DJs who are promoting their mixes online and getting massive plays.
So try to look for and connect with these kinds and talk them into helping add your music to their mix.
Some of them may ask for some money, but shun them and roll with those who will agree to do it for free.
17. Use bulk SMS.
Bulk SMS is another way you can promote your music for free in Nigeria.
The most popular one you can use is Smart SMS.
Using this method will involve you collecting random phone numbers, and sending them notification messages with links to where they can listen to and download your music.
18. Do street promo.
Since you are going to promote your music for free; you will need to avoid renting a car with instruments to go about making the usual noise and do the rag style used by the university students.
Gather your crew, and if you have printed materials let everyone wear them.
Now go out to the streets and start telling everyone about your music and how they can get to listen to and download it.
19. Use family members and friends.
Tell your family members and friends to tell others about your music.
Ensure they have the music on their phones so that they can transfer it to those who will care to collect it.
20. Oral tradition is still relevant.
Oral tradition is the art of telling everybody everywhere about your music.
You and your crew can do this.
Because when a friend tells a friend who tells a friend who tells a friend who tells a friend etc. soon the word will be out everywhere that you have released new music.
The cost of music promotion in Nigeria
There is no actual cost of music promotion in Nigeria, it will all depend on the type of promotion you are using.
However, you need to budget 100,000 (one hundred thousand nairas) to 1,000,000 (one million nairas) if you want to get an effective music promotion in Nigeria.
In this complete guide to music promotion in Nigeria, let’s look at some of the ways and costs of music promotion in Nigeria.
1. USING MUSIC BLOGS TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC IN NIGERIA.
If you want to use music blogs to promote your songs in Nigeria, you will have to budget between 2,000 (two thousand Naira) to 50,000 (fifty thousand Naira).
Music blogs charge upcoming musicians for music promotion based on their popularity; that is how long they have been in the business.
Top blogs like 9jaflaver, 9jaloaded, etc will charge up to 50,000 (fifty thousand Naira) or more to promote one track for you.
But here in Taculia 9Ja, we have made uploading your songs on music blogs cheap and affordable by charging just 2,000 Naira for audio and 3,000 Naira for video uploads.
If you want to upload your songs with us, you can call us on the numbers: +2348132633812, +2348079974193.
If you are on WhatsApp, you can chat with us immediately via the WhatsApp numbers above.
2. PROMOTING YOUR SONGS ON RADIO/TV STATIONS.
The cost of promoting your songs on radio and TV stations will range between 50,000 (fifty thousand Naira) and 200,000 (two hundred thousand Naira).
If you want to go directly through the station’s management, it will cost you more.
But if you want to spend less on radio and TV stations, you have to approach a DJ or presenter.
And once they accept, you can make them connect with other DJs and presenters on the same radio station to also play your music during their program presentations.
3. Press coverage.
Press coverage promotion involves having media houses write about you in their reviews.
And on this complete guide to music promotion in Nigeria, I want you to understand that you can get press coverage on media houses by approaching those media houses directly.
You can get their numbers and call, or get their emails and send them a mail telling them you want press coverage on their platfoRM.
The cost of promoting your song via press coverage will be around 50,000 (fifty thousand Naira) and 200,000 (two hundred thousand Naira).
List of music promotion sites in Nigeria
In order to achieve effective music promotion in Nigeria, you need to have knowledge of the music promotion sites you are going to use.
There are basically two ways of promoting your music through music sites in Nigeria and they are:
- Paid music promotion sites
- Free music promotion sites.
1. Paid music promotion sites in Nigeria.
A few of the paid music promotion sites I want you to know in this complete guide to music promotion in Nigeria are:
1. 9JAFLAVER
9jaflaver is a music promotion platform in Nigeria that provides entertainment services like music, movies, comedy skits, etc.
This platform boasts of having millions of active monthly users, and f their claim is true then you will have an opportunity of getting plays and downloads if you promote your music with them.
2. NAIJALOADED.
This is one of the platforms that millions of Nigerians visit to listen to and download brand-new music, comedy skits, etc.
They have several means and measures of hyping songs of upcoming artists they are promoting.
This platform has been in existence for decades and has boosted 120 million, active monthly users.
You can choose them as your source of paid music promotion services today.
3. TACULIA NAIJA.
Taculia Naija is a fast-rising music blog in Nigeria.
We have several strategies for helping upcoming musicians have effective music promotion here in Nigeria.
There are so many advantages of promoting your music on our platform, and some of them are:
- Optimizing your song to become searchable on Google and other search engines.
- We will give you press coverage for your song across our media blogs.
- We also have other music blogs we will upload your songs in order to increase your presence online the more.
- Your song will also be optimized for easy downloads and plays.
- We will place your artwork as a banner on our popular posts and pages; so that our visitors can link up to your music page and download your song.
- Your song will also appear among other songs we will select as the music of the week that we hype across several blogs consistently.
Moreover, the price we charge for music promotion here in Nigeria is very affordable.
2,000 naira is for audio promotion while we charge 3,000 for video promotion.
You can also call us on the numbers: 08132633812, 08079974193.
2. Free music promotion sites in Nigeria.
Below are some of the free music promotion sites in Nigeria that I want you to know in this complete guide to music promotion in Nigeria:
1. NAIJAPALS.
To upload and promote your song for free on Naijapals, you have to sign up for a free account.
The biggest advantage of promoting your music on this platform is that they have over 2 million Facebook page likes.
And this means you have the opportunity of getting millions of people to listen to and download your music from this platform.
2. MY NOT JUST OK.
This is the subdomain version of mynotjustok.com, and it allows upcoming musicians to upload and promote their songs for free.
Another great benefit of using this platform is that you will avail yourself of the opportunity of using its statistics to watch how many people are playing and downloading your songs.
3. CHURCHBOIZ.
Churchboiz is a free music promotion platform for upcoming gospel musicians in Nigeria.
On this platform, you will have a unique page for every song you upload, and also allow you to see your statistics i.e. plays and downloads, as well as comments.
Top music promoters in Nigeria.
Your music promotion in Nigeria will never be complete if you do not know those who can help you promote your music.
So in this complete guide to music promotion in Nigeria, we are going to show you a few music promoters that can help your music career see the light of day in Nigeria.
1. KENNY OGUNGBE – CEO KENNIS MUSIC.
Kenny came to the limelight as a music promoter in Nigeria after he successfully brought the group “Remedies” to the limelight.
And his biggest achievements so far came when he successfully made legendary Nigerian musician 2Baba to the limelight.
He runs a record label “Kennis Music” which was the key behind the success of top music artists in Nigeria like the late Sound Sultan, Tony Tetuila, 2Face Idibia, etc.
7. OSAGIE OSARENKHOE – M.et.al Management.
She has been notable for managing Wizkid and other EME record artists.
She has also been known to work with big artists like Kel, Sammy, Dammy Krane, Solid Star, etc.
After she ended her management contract with Wizkid and EME Records, Osagie moved on to work with Darey’s Soul Musik where she provides talent services and productions.
AKPOR GBEMRE – CEO 411 ENTERTAINMENT.
Akpor’s 411 entertainment deals in music brands, Public Relations, Iconic Global events, printing, and digital content marketing.
This entertainment company also manages and executes successful promotion programs for both upcoming and top artists in Nigeria.
As a matter of fact, Lasgidi All Stars Concert is an annual show which came to light from 411 Entertainment and is designed to celebrate Nigerian musical arts.
This show has hosted lots of A-Rated artists in Nigeria.
You can read about more music promoters in Nigeria via this article Top 10 Tested And Trusted Music Promoters In Nigeria.
The aim of music promotion in Nigeria.
Promoting music in Nigeria can never be in vain, there ought to be an aim, therefore let’s see the aim of promoting music in Nigeria.
Below are some of the aims of music promotion in Nigeria.
- Create awareness for your music as a product and yourself as a brand.
- To become a successful musician. And as we would say in Nigeria, blow into the music industry.
- Sign a record deal with a big recording company in Nigeria or overseas.
- Make so much money and live the kind of life you’ve been dreaming about.
