As an upcoming artist, you will realize that making your music to go viral will in Nigeria is going to be the hardest part of your music career because it will involve your spending too much of your time and money.
But you don’t have to worry about that hardest part as I mentioned because I am writing this article to reveal to you how to make your music go viral in Nigeria. And without wasting much of your time, lets’ get started with it.
How to make your music go viral in Nigeria.
To make your music go viral in Nigeria, you have to ensure you invest your time and money into promoting it both online and offline. Below is a complete guide on how to promote your music both online and offline in Nigeria.
How to promote your music online in Nigeria.
Below are the things you must do to promote your music onlinein Nigeria:
- Make good music.
- Use social media.
- Promote your songs on music blogs.
- Get press coverage.
- Utilize influencer promotion.
- Get your own official music website.
1. Make good music.
This is always my starting point for music promotion; whether it is offline or online, making good music is always the stepping stone to successfully promoting your music.
Because what’s the use of promoting music people will swear never to listen again, after they first come in contact with it.
And gone are those days when making high-quality music was only possible in record label studios; today most of the tracks becoming worldwide hits are recorded in home recording studios.
So if you have a little capital, you can invest it in setting up a small home recording studio that will enable you to get enough to work on making high-quality music.
Once you are able to make good music, then your journey to a successful music promotion online must begin thus.
2. Use social media.
Social media is the number one online spot for upcoming artists to promote their music, whether in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.
But before you attempt to do so, you must get to understand how the Algorithm of any social media you will be promoting your music works.
Because unless you are able to beat the algorithm of any social media platform, you will never be able to get positive results from your online music promotion.
The use of every social media platform varies extensively, so you must embark on proper research to understand how they work.
3. Promote your songs on music blogs.
Promoting songs on music blogs is one great way lots of upcoming artists have made it to the mainstream.
Some music blogs charge higher, while there are still some whose prices are affordable. You just need to check them out one after the other.
There are also free music platforms you can directly upload your songs, a good example is Audiomack.
Contact us if you want to promote your songs on our music blog 9Ja Freestyle NG.
4. Get press coverage.
Press coverage is one great way to promote your music online.
Unfortunately, upcoming artists in Nigeria do not understand the power of press coverage when it comes to online music promotion.
A press release simply entails online blogs writing about you and your music career.
You can read a complete guide to press releases for upcoming musicians here: How to Blow up An Upcoming Musician In Nigeria.
As well as follow this link to see an example on this our blog.
5. Utilize influencer promotion.
Influencer promotion is a process where a social media user who has thousands or maybe millions of followers mentions your username on their accounts or reposts your content on their social media handles.
Though influencer promotion is very expensive; that is if you approach the influencer directly to promote your music.
But there are various tricks you can employ to achieve an influencer promotion for free.
And one of them is making content that will interest them to the point of reposting it.
And that way you will get a positive result from your online music promotion in Nigeria.
6. Get your own official musician website.
This is one of the music promotion strategies that upcoming artists in Nigeria overlook a lot.
But think about having a website with all your content accessible in one space.
Aside from your content, you will also have your about section that carries your complete professional musician bio, and also a contact me page that contains all your contact details; in case people pick interest and decides to contact you.
If you need a professional website, you can follow this link and contact an online agent that will build one for you at an affordable price.
How to promote your music offline in Nigeria.
Below are the ways and means you can promote your music here in Nigeria:
- Make good music.
- Oral tradition.
- Flyers/Posters and flex banners etc.
- Perform in gigs.
- Form your own musical crew or team.
- Print your cover art on polo, T-Shirts, and caps.
- Promote through your local DJs.
- Radio/TV stations.
- Launch/Listening party.
1. Make good music.
Though we mentioned this point in the introductory part of this article: how to promote music in Nigeria; I think it wise to mention it again here, because if your music is not good enough for public consumption, you are just going to waste your time promoting it.
To however produce good music, you must locate a sound recording studio that is going to give you the best production.
Or you can set aside a little budget and set up your own small home recording studio.
The latter has so many benefits and you can read it here: Benefits Of Setting Up Your Own Small Home Recording Studio.
You can also check the current prices of studio equipment in Nigeria here.
If you are going to produce your music in your small home recording studio, you can read the next article: How To Produce High-Quality Music In Your Small Home Recording Studio.
Once you are able to come out of the studio with good music, then your journey to offline music promotion in Nigeria will be very successful.
2. Oral Tradition.
Oral tradition is still relevant in today’s music promotion in Nigeria, because if you tell a friend who tells a friend who says to a friend; very soon the word will get around town that so so and so artiste in this town has dropped new music.
And before you know it, so many people will be looking out for your music every which where.
When I began my own musical career in 2005, oral tradition was one of the things that made me so popular in my hometown.
My stage name back then was Stranjah, and the title of my first album was “Stranjah done enter da Game”.
So this title of the album was the main oral tradition that was going around town, and people used to address me with that album title as a slogan anywhere they see me.
Therefore, if you can make your musical promotion kick off with oral tradition, you will soon be unable to walk the streets because of how people will be hailing you.
3. Flyers/Posters and flex banners etc.
Secure a good graphics designer in town to design dope flyers, posters, and flex banners you will give out to people, and also post on strategic places in your city.
The design should carry your artiste’s name and song title, contact details, and how people can access the music.
By now you must have uploaded the song to a blog or even Audiomack; put those details on your design so interested fans can visit there and get your music easily.
4. Perform in gigs.
Performing in gigs has been an age-long tradition for upcoming artists to promote their music offline in Nigeria.
In fact, a lot of them have been discovered and either sponsored or signed to a label in this way.
So go out there and look for every opportunity to perform in a gig; no matter how local it might be because you never can tell where a big music sponsor or label owner is hanging out to discover new talents.
5. Form your own musical crew or team.
Your musical crew or team should not necessarily be artists, but people ready to spread the word about your music, accompany you to shows and showcase you as an artiste who knows the game.
While forming the crew or team, let each member know what their benefit is going to be when they become a big artist.
And if you do become one make sure you are not going to betray their trust.
Now make it a point of duty to delegate tasks to your crew from time to time.
You can get some of them to go out in search of gigs, and promise what they will gain if they are able to secure one.
You can provide MP3 for them in order of playing your music everywhere they hang out.
Make sure your crew members seize every opportunity to make your music heard everywhere they go.
6. Print your cover art on polo, T-Shirts, and caps.
Another means of offline music promotion is to print your album cover on polo, T-Shirts, and caps.
You can give this material to all your team members, family members, friends and colleagues, and even the grandmas and grandpas.
Ensure your contact details are boldly printed on the materials because someone might see them and look for the means to go check it out.
7. Promote through your local DJs.
Never underestimate the exposure you can get from your local DJs; especially those one’s who are playing events every now and then and also compile mixtapes.
These DJs are capable of making your music heard a thousand times. And the more people keep listening to your music (if it’s dope) the more they will begin to reckon with it, and even look for ways to get it.
Local DJs will not charge you much; some will even be excited to play the music for free looking up to when you will become a superstar and giving them shout-outs.
And if you eventually do, make sure you make them proud and never regret they promoted your music.
8. Radio/TV stations.
No matter how the internet has taken over the media world, Radio and TV stations will forever remain relevant; because there are scores of people; especially the elderly, who do not have time to surf the internet but will prefer listening to their radios and watching their TV stations.
So you use these mediums as a promotional tool to make your music reach out to these kinds.
9. Launch/Listening party.
You can also arrange a launch/listening party to create awareness for your music.
When doing this, don’t make money or rather gain from the launch/party as a priority, rather focus more on getting people to listen and like your music.
And when you become more popular and arrange the next launch, you will gain times three.
The launch and listening party process is simple; just print envelopes and invite as many people as you can.
And that’s how to promote your music offline in Nigeria.
