SEO for the Music Industry. How To Make It Work?

The music industry is a broadly understood term that incorporates numerous smaller components. Analyzing it marketing-wise, the industry can be divided in two categories. The first one is websites such as blogs or artists’ pages dedicated to music. The other is online music stores. The latter category can be further subdivided into shops selling instruments, musical equipment or records, and other music carriers. Music schools somehow combine both these categories. In today’s entry, we’ll try to answer the question about how to do SEO for the music industry, keeping both of the abovementioned groups in mind.

Music insdustry SEO. How To Promote Music Industry?

How has the industry and methods of listening to music changed over the years?

There have been numerous milestones when it comes to media and ways of listening to music that emerged over the last 50 years. Record players, vinyl records, cassette tapes, audio-C formats, first MP3 players made it possible to store more music files on a disc while maintaining sound quality comparable to audio-CD. The development of streaming platforms that provide unlimited access to thousands of music tracks for a subscription fee or for listening to a few ads was another major event in the music industry.

Streaming platforms like Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, or Deezer have revolutionized the music market and the way we listen to music. Thanks to them, every music lover has access to an unlimited number of songs matching their current mood. But does it mean that sales of music albums decreased drastically?

Just the opposite. The data proves that people still buy CDs and vinyl, even when they’re able to listen to music online legally. The sentiment for objects which enable listening to your favorite artists is still very strong.

Globally, vinyl sales are growing faster than sales of digital music, even though the latter one still constitutes the main market segment. Vinyl account for several percent of sales, and their shares are constantly increasing. Therefore, it’s worth taking these products into consideration when planning your range and keywords you want to do SEO for. The increasing popularity of record players can also be seen when analyzing offers of sizable stores.

What phrases should you choose when doing music industry SEO? Although general key phrases like “hip-hop albums” are important, specific phrases are also frequently searched for. Users looking for particular music albums online will enter titles or artist names in the search box, thus, it’s also crucial to focus on long-tail keywords.

Local SEO for Music Industry

When doing SEO for an online music store that has a head office and a traditional shop, it’s worth benefitting from possibilities offered by Google that helps to make your business more visible locally. For this purpose, you can use geolocation technology which involves suggesting the most relevant search results in real-time for a given query, based on the current location of the user. Google estimates the location according to geographical data received from the GPS in the smartphone or from the determined IP of the device. This means that if your GPS works properly, you’ll first see local search results. According to statistics, even 97% of users start with local phrases, therefore, this approach to the SEO process is an effective method of reaching customers. Taking advantage of local SEO will allow you to attract both recipients that live in the specific area and are only tourists. Local keywords include city, province, street, or district names.

YouTube SEO For Music Industry

If your store sells music albums, instruments, gramophones, or other products related to music, it’s worth considering setting up a YouTube channel where you can present novelties offered at your store, add reviews or give advice. Such activity will position shop owners as experts in the field and inspire the trust of potential customers.

So how to do music industry SEO on YouTube? The search engine of this popular platform works similarly to Google – it’s based on algorithms whose requirements you have to meet if you want to succeed. Whether your YouTube channel is the main medium to promote your vocal skills or whether it just complements your business, you should take a look at the pieces of advice discussed below.

A list of aspects that impact video visibility:

• Video title – together with the thumbnail, it attracts attention. It’s a good idea to include a keyword in the title, however, the most important thing is to make sure that used words are catchy and encourage potential recipients to take action. Titles shouldn’t be too long. In this case, less is more.
• Thumbnail – it can be either a screenshot from the video or a graphic prepared especially for this purpose. Choose an optimal resolution and an eye-catching design. People are visualizers, thus, your video is more likely to be clicked on if it has a quality thumbnail that makes it stand out from the crowd.
• Description – it’s crucial when it comes to doing SEO for videos. It has to include keywords and important information about the material. It’s also a good idea to provide a link to your website or other extra content.
• Tags – they support SEO. They should be related to the video content and the specific industry.
• File name – although people frequently forget about this element, it’s a very important part of SEO for YouTube videos. It should also include keywords.

Music promotion on social media

This part of the entry is addressed to people who create music for a living. However, artists taking first steps in the industry can also find here some useful tips. First of all, it’s crucial to determine the objective of your activities. If you just want to advertise yourself, it’s enough to create quality content and stay in touch with fans. On the other hand, focusing mainly on sales requires a significantly different approach. As far as concert tickets or music albums are concerned, the SEO process and social media advertising can be done in a similar way as promotional activities conducted for any e-commerce store. However, the situation gets a bit more complex when the artist’s social media channels are managed by someone from outside the circle. Then, the artist isn’t credible anymore and the unique way of communication appreciated by fans becomes questionable. It’s perfect when social media profiles are run by someone from the close surrounding of the artist.

When promoting a music store, you can confidently proceed just like with any other store. Use your YouTube channel as an extra tool and publish content also on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Streaming platforms and YouTube videos on websites and blogs

Audio and video content affects the popularity of your blog and website. Thanks to it, entries are more attractive to recipients and they enable seeing extra materials without opening new tabs. How to publish video or audio content on your website? It’s less complicated than you might think. Below you can see some tips related to YouTube and Spotify content.

• Publication of YouTube content is a piece of cake if you use WordPress. Just copy the URL of the video and paste it into the post in the visual mode. WordPress will automatically create a player.
• If your website uses another CMS, then the creation of a player shouldn’t be too much trouble either. To enjoy the videos placed in the content, copy the link by clicking the video with the right mouse button. Paste the copied link into the page code.
• A Spotify playlist can be used not only in the music industry. You can benefit from music that is associated with your company or gets users in the right mood for shopping.

To introduce it to your website, you need to:

• copy the link to the playlist from your Spotify account in your web browser;
• create an on-page widget. The follow button will allow you to share the list, and the play button will generate an iframe widget;
• once you paste the link to the playlist, copy the code and add it to the website. Done!

How to do SEO for the music industry? The takeaway

To sum up, SEO for the music industry (just like in the case of any other industry) should be based on thorough keyword research and queries typed in by users looking for specific products and websites. Your goal is to make your page the destination of Internet users, regardless of whether they’re searching for a new album, a concert ticket, a musical instrument or a CD that has just been launched. Tycoons of the online music industry offer you a wide range of possibilities when it comes to advertising your products and brand on their platforms. It’s worth benefiting from the opportunity in order to increase visibility and, above all, attract your audience. The music industry is constantly evolving. Take advantage of this fact to create unique content and expand your website with valuable subpages. Following a popular saying and a 2016 holiday song: content is king but music is my best friend.