Running a high impact campaign for your EDM music is much more than simply dabbling with various promotional endeavours in a haphazard and ill-timed sequence of events. Timing is crucial, as is having the right mindset when you’re putting yourself out there and (hopefully) making those valuable connections.

Contrary to popular belief, an effective PR campaign doesn’t have to cost the earth for promising EDM artists that need to get in the right golden ears. Yes, there are plenty of sharks out there waiting for some fame-hungry fish to take the bait. There are just as many industry figures in it for the love of the music, not just the profit.

How to Promote Your EDM Music

First and foremost, before you embark on any form of self-promo or paid promotional mission with your work, compare your music with what else is out there on the market. With the accessibility of music production software and the spike in free time during the various global lockdowns, many new artists made their debut and immediately started seeking promotion. It will pay in your time, energy, and talent to know when the right time to seek PR is. If you’re still perfecting the craft, mastering the fundamentals and carving a sonic signature should come before trying to get your sound in the ears of the masses.

Secondly, you will need to apply some of that same realism to your perception of the self-promo process. There is no golden ticket to going global overnight. If you’re looking for hacks to getting hundreds of thousands of streams, you are at risk of falling for the scam artists promising the unrealistic ideals. The truth is, getting discovered takes real time and effort. It isn’t enough to be an exceptional producer; you will also need to know the fundamentals of marketing.

In this guide on how to promote EDM music, we’ve outlined cost-effective tips that can ensure long-term success as an EDM producer.

1. Think Long-Term

Save yourself the soul-crushing experience of becoming a one-hit-wonder. The allure of the viral track or video may be strong, but it isn’t sustainable. All of your self-promotion plans should contain an element of consistency. With the long-term approach, you will want to meticulously plan the dates of your releases and consider how you will keep your fans engaged between releases.

2. Time Your Releases

Patience is one of the most important virtues in EDM music promotion. As eager as you may be for the world to hear your music, give it the justice it deserves by properly planning the release. This will involve uploading on all major streaming platforms – not just SoundCloud, creating high-quality artwork, and building up the hype before the release. You may also want to consider high-quality music videos, lyric videos, digital merch or physical releases – if that is in your budget.

To gain more momentum around your release, reach out to blogs, magazines, and influencers three weeks before the official release, and create a solid social media campaign that includes pre-release content and teasers.

3. Build & Utilise Your Network

Building and maintaining a network of bloggers, YouTubers, labels, and promoters may be the hardest part of self-promo for artists on the more introverted side, but it pays off in the long run. It is one of the only ways to drastically move aside the competition and get your music heard. Cold contacting industry figures and wowing them is potentially on a par with winning the lottery.

Some of the best ways to build your network are by making yourself known in your local scene or using platforms such as Facebook to find industry figures with valuable networks. Getting friendly with label owners, bloggers, playlisters, and A&R reps is much easier when you can offer as much value as you expect from them. No one likes a one-sided deal!

Once you’ve created a list of contacts, create a spreadsheet-style database to store their name and contact details; always document the date last contacted. Constantly spamming a contact will get you nowhere other than the spam folder.

4. Submit Your Music to Blogs

Getting your music featured on a popular blog or online magazine is still one of the best ways to get noticed by key industry figures and keen fans looking for playlist stapes. You can choose to target EDM-focused blogs, such as EDM Sauce, Dancing Astronauts, and We Rave You. Or you can submit EDM music to popular multi-genre blogs such as A&R Factory, which has been raking in awards since 2012 and connecting artists with labels, management companies, publishers and radio stations.