How to promote classical music

A professional, well-designed artist page is a must for any classical music artist. It should be the first place your fans go to learn more about you and your music and also the contact point for potential collaborators, promoters, or journalists.

You can either create a proper website or opt for a simply-made artist page that will further exhibit your releases, videos, concert dates, and merch store, send your fans to your socials, and potentially offer a press section.

Thanks to iMusician’s Artist Pages, you can create an affordable yet professional web presence in just minutes. Three simple steps are all you need to establish a unique and visually attractive artist page that will showcase your releases in one place, share your unreleased music and latest videos, boost ticket sales by promoting your tour, and provide a designated press tab for simplified media relations.

With our Artist Pages, you can choose between an Artist Page Free and a premium Artist Page, depending on your current needs. If your needs change as your career progresses, you can always opt for a different subscription. No matter what, the link to your Artist Page will remain the same, and your Artist Page will never ever expire!

Would you like to learn more about our Artist Page tool and all its features? Check out our Artist Page product page on the portal.

Whatever format you choose, your artist page must include all relevant information (from your bio to your music and contact form), be up-to-date, and have an appealing design. The design part is particularly relevant, as it has the power to represent your artist brand (and your music, too) and retain the attention of your visitors. Impressive and attention-capturing visuals can also help you break through the noise of other classical music artists and set yourself apart.

For a very long time, IDAGIO was the only solely classical music streaming platform. This changed in 2023, when Apple Music finally launched its own classical music app. Apple Music Classical was created on the basis of the data and catalog of a former classical music streaming service, Primephonic (which Apple acquired in 2021). Apple Music Classical is now home to the world’s largest classical music catalog, has integrated a specialized search that effectively tackles the complexities of the classical genre, and offers the highest audio quality available. The app also marks Apple Music as the first primary streaming service to provide a special focus on classical music.

However, although other major streaming services do not provide such a focus, it is still relevant that you have your music available on them. Bear in mind that the number of streaming subscribers worldwide amounted to 713.4 million in Q3 of 2023. What’s more, over 50% of all music in the world is actually consumed via streaming (either music or video streaming). This means that if you haven’t uploaded your music on streaming platforms like Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal, or Deezer, a powerful audience might be waiting for you. From the suggested platforms, distributing to Qobuz and Tidal may be a great choice, mainly for the high audio quality. Meanwhile, Spotify and Deezer can provide you with the possibility to not only stream but also promote your music to a broader audience.

Streaming platforms may be particularly significant for playlists, which present a valuable tool for fans to discover new music. You can create your own playlists or submit your songs for playlist consideration. This way, you can get a spot in the platforms’ editorial playlists (meaning the editorial teams of the services credit them) or get featured in the playlists of other curators. At iMusician, we, too, curate our playlists to help independent musicians get discovered. For classical music specifically, we have created ‘Classical Picks’ and ‘Relaxing Piano’ playlists on Spotify and Deezer. Send us your song and get playlisted today!

Streaming your music can further help you collect valuable data concerning your audience and their listening patterns. You can find out where your music is consumed the most, what age groups listen to it most often, and how they discover your music. As a result, you can better understand your audience and know where to target your promotional and marketing efforts.

Social media rules the world, so they should definitely be utilized as part of your marketing campaigns. However, we recommend that you wisely select the platforms you will use to promote yourself and your music. This ensures that you’re targeting the right audience and not wasting time (and money) on networks where your potential customers are inactive.

Firstly, statistics show that classical music is generally consumed by a middle-aged or older audience rather than young individuals. As of 2023, the average age of classical music audience members is around 49 years old, with a considerable portion being above 60. Such an audience is more likely to respond to more traditional promotional techniques like print advertising, emails, or even direct mail, rather than social media channels, namely Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok.

On the other hand, statistics also depict that the genre’s global audience aged under 35 has been on the rise for a few years now, reaching more than 30% of the whole listening group. This age group might be more prone to connect with you and your music through social media and may even prefer such channels to the traditional ones.

How can I do it all, you may ask? The answer simply is: you can’t. Only by collecting data concerning your music can you learn more about your direct audience, where they are located, and how they interact with the content you make. If you’re just starting out and have no profound knowledge of your audience yet, we recommend combining traditional marketing techniques with only a few social media networks, notably Facebook (and Instagram, should you have the capacity for that). Out of all social media channels, Facebook is the most popular among users aged 50 or above.

Would you like to learn more about how to promote your music on Facebook? Check out our guide on how to get the most out of Facebook for musicians on the portal!

Regarding the traditional methods, you can print flyers or posters to promote your current or

upcoming music, or consider doing classical PR, including pitching to journalists and sending them press releases to get coverage.

Finally, bear in mind that having your website or an artist page allows you to further interact and communicate with your audience. Consider making it easy for them to contact you and sign up for your email list. You can also create a newsletter or other gated content that will only be sent out to those who subscribe to it.

Promoting your music on social media does not end with choosing the right platforms to utilize. It is the content that will make your music and artist brand shine (or not) all over your socials. It’s, therefore, essential that you create content that is interesting, engaging, emotional, and visually appealing.

Videos, particularly short-form videos, are an extremely powerful type of content on social media. You can shoot videos of yourself to show your personality and talent and provide more insight into your life and career as a classical music artist. You can also share interesting facts about yourself and your music journey, allowing your followers to connect with you on a deeper level. If you want to invest more into social media, you can tap into current trends (such as those on TikTok and Instagram) and recreate trendy videos that other creators have made.

Creating action photos that capture positive vibes and vivid energy may also be something your followers will radiate towards. Classical music often has the reputation of being a rather calm and harmonious music genre, but the truth is that it can be incredibly dynamic, expressive, and moving. Your social media posts can reflect the intensity of classical music, making your overall content more unique and engaging.

Suppose you want to take your social media efforts to the next level. In that case, you can consider social media advertising, which requires spending money to deliver content to your target audience on a platform of your choice. While advertising does cost money, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be expensive. The amount of money you’re willing to spend is entirely up to you, and, truthfully, even a small amount can prove valuable if you advertise well.

As mentioned above, Facebook and, potentially, Instagram can be the most valuable platforms for promoting classical music. First, you must have a professional account to advertise on these platforms. Second, you can advertise plenty of content, from images and in-feed posts to carousels, videos, Facebook or Instagram Stories, collections, playables, and more. On Facebook, we recommend targeting images, videos, and Stories. If you’re having a concert, we would also suggest using Facebook event ads, which can increase awareness of your event and boost ticket sales. If you feel that your fanbase is rather located on Instagram, we recommend focusing on in-feed posts, particularly videos, Instagram Stories, and Reels.

What’s crucial is the kind of content you decide to advertise. Generally, an engaging and interactive video and Reel are likely to perform well. However, you need to truly know your audience to choose the right content. This is when accessing and analyzing data comes in incredibly handy, allowing you to learn about who your audience is, where they are coming from, and what content they resonate with. Having an overview of such information will help you make informed decisions and potentially prevent you from wasting your money.

If you’re ready to start advertising on one of these platforms, get started with your meta Ads manager.

Speaking of promoting your music, concerts should be a relevant subject of your campaigns and marketing efforts. Not that concerts are irrelevant for musicians of other genres, but in the case of classical music, live performances provide the audience with a unique way to experience the music itself and the beautiful craftsmanship of individual artists playing their instruments.

It is, therefore, key that as many influential people as possible know about your upcoming concert and, in the best case, consider attending. By important people, we mean primarily your current but also your potential fans, as well as various industry professionals, including potential collaborators or journalists, who can present you with excellent career opportunities. You can also invite these people personally by contacting them through their social media or contact forms.

Use social media, your artist page, and offline marketing techniques to announce the details of your upcoming concert(s), including the date, venue, and music program. The latter is particularly relevant if you’re about to perform at a festival or an event where other musicians are performing, too. This way, potential visitors may also come across your name and discover your music while searching for another artist.

Another convenient method to attract potential attendees is adding your upcoming live performance to event listing websites. While in 2020, event listing sites were responsible for only 7.4% of ticket sales referrals, their popularity and significance are continuously increasing. One example is TicketSource, an easy-to-use, free ticketing system for any type of event or venue (you only pay a booking fee). For music and solely classical music-oriented event listing websites, you can try out ents24.com, bachtrack.com, or concert-diary.com.

Finally, when promoting your concerts, ensure you never delete past events, mainly from your website or the artist page. This way, you can keep attracting visitors from search engines while they google for related keywords. Like in the previous case of people coming across your name while searching for other artists, individuals may learn about you through composers or a specific music program. They may find your website, listen to your music, watch your videos, and eventually come to your concert and become your fans.

Getting together with other classical music artists is always a good idea, whether for a recording, a concert, or some off-stage activities. By collaborating with other musicians from your field, you’re introducing yourself to their audience, who can potentially become your audience. Your collaboration may get you discovered by a completely new audience, too.

Moreover, you simply never know what kind of opportunities or ideas may arise from your collaboration. You may start a YouTube channel or record a podcast, discuss topics that people interested in classical music may find appealing, attract other personalities and experts from the industry, etc. Whatever you choose to do (that you find interesting, of course) may help you expand your fanbase, shift your focus, and acquire new skills, too.