Marketing your music is equally important as the music itself nowadays. So many people get in touch with me asking for help, the problem is they don’t know how to market themselves and don’t know how to use social media effectively.
My aim is to help talented DJs & producers understand how to promote their music well, I never want to see another talented musician fail in this industry because of lack of marketing knowledge.
I often send my students some people who aren’t just active on social media, but ones that are killing it! So if you’re an event organiser or DJ wanting to know how to boss social media, make sure you check out these guys (for more social media tips from people in the know, head over to event industry forum EventTribe):
Geordie-boy Patrick Topping’s had a pretty amazing year, after a huge release on Hot Creations, he’s just been placed 15th in Mixmag’s DJ of the year award.
His social following is huge and he now boasts over 330k Facebook fans. One of my favourite social campaigns this year was for Patrick to take on the well-known Leeds pub crawl, the ‘Otley Run’ during freshers week. For the day it was renamed – The Toply Run.
Patrick played at a number of venues along the Otley Road, which has over 20 pubs. These included a hairdressers, fancy-dress shop, book shop, mint club and a pub beer-garden where there was the infamous Igloo Disco. It was like a mini-festival on a Monday afternoon.
Abode is a London-based party and record label. The event, which started as an all-day party at Studio 338 in London, was given their first residency at Sankeys in Ibiza in summer 2016. You might think deciding to run a clubbing event on a Sunday is a stupid idea, but Abode have proved a lot of people wrong.
The label and club-night now has over 50k Instagram followers. The chief of Abode, Kai, recently admitted that the brand was growing too quickly for them to handle. They changed their ticketing policy to a ‘ticket request system’.
This made the event exclusive, which fuelled the growth of the brand even more. The promoters would only give tickets to people they had vetted previously, making sure parties still had a friendly atmosphere. This move ensured the party avoided the snobbiness that some London events can have, which is reflected on their social channels.
These guys are way more than just a Sunday party.
I recently wrote a blog on DJs who come from interesting backgrounds, and it turns out Dillon Francis used to be a penis artist in LA before he decided to make music.
Flash forward to now, and he’s been released on OWSLA, Dim Mak and more, and his latest collaboration with Will Heard is being played all over Radio 1.
Dillon’s ridiculous antics on social media are interesting to say the least. He’s not afraid of what he shares, even if it is his obsession with cats. Check out his videos on Snapchat or Facebook and see this DJ-cum-comedian in action.
What started as a small party in Leeds has grown into a nationwide clubbing event. They now run their own festival from it too. Good Life is all about ‘outlandish themes, elaborate costumes and unique performers…the party where nothing is the same twice’.
Where “Good Life” have really excelled is through their themed nights – each event they run has a different theme. These have ranged from Mad Hatters, Caribbean and Summer of Love carnivals. All their socials are updated to match each theme they’re running and people go the extra mile to look extravagant.
Their social pages have always got amazing photos from all the events they run. Their promo videos are great too – keep up the good work guys!
It’s fair to say 2016 has been Solardo’s year. They’ve quickly risen to the top of fan’s and promoter’s radars, so much so that they have recently won the DJ Mag ‘Best Breakthrough DJ’ at the annual “Best of British Awards” 2016.
Solardo have done an amazing job at promoting themselves through social media – using video content to engage with fans. Their “Solardo Sea Sessions” video shows the guys don’t take themselves too seriously:
Their latest xmas house party contest is one of the best Facebook competitions I’ve seen in a long time.
Elrow
Elrow claims to be the ‘craziest party in the world’. Originally starting out in Barcelona, Spain the Elrow parties are known for their unique and immersive experiences – something you’ve really got to see for yourself.
The vibrant party brand, who have a residency in Amnesia in Ibiza 2017, have taken their parties world-wide. The Elrow parties are now all over Europe, as well as America, Mexico, Dubai & more.
Their branding is colourful and fun, much like their parties. With a Facebook page with over 450k fans, it’s clear to see they’re doing something right!
Wilderness is a multi-award winning festival set in the Oxfordshire countryside that showcases great art, music, theatre and more. Wilderness definitely isn’t your average weekend, the fest includes: dance workshops, talks & debates, croquet tournaments, open-air spas and much more.
Wilderness now has over 100k Facebook and 25k Twitter followers. Much like the festival itself, their posts are eclectic and rarely talk about music – which is why I think they’re so unique. I especially like their posts on “streak of the week”.
In summary
Being a great DJ isn’t enough to help you break through and turn your talents into a successful music career.
You also need to build a strong brand, and social media is a proven way to do this, as highlighted by these 7 great DJs and events. As I mentioned before, my aim is to help talented DJs do this better – check out my blog for marketing tips and advice for DJs.
How much time are you spending on promoting your music, your club nights and yourself? Which DJs and events are you inspired on social media? Let me know in the comments!
