Social media / YouTube marketing advice for producers?

Hockey1 said:

Hey, I’m a DJ / Turntablist and producer and wonder how to really reach as many people as possible out there.

Any advice on how to get the algorithm going without posting too often? I can’t post everyday as some suggest. Maybe once to twice a week. I mean i guess people will get bored if post a video with a part of the same song / beat twice.

Do payed ads work? If so I would spend quite some amount of money; but I really don’t know about this.

Btw I edit videos to everything I do, so I try not just to upload pictures to music.

Anybody with experience on the social media hustle?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately you will not find much help here. Many musicians here are not seeking fame. The people who do have YouTube channels usually do not appear in the videos they make. You should find someone on YouTube who is hustling and ask them questions. There are some excellent channels I have come across. So reach out to fellow YouTube DJs and turntable artists for information.

Hey, I'm not a guru of social media, but have some experience. What algorithm and ads you're asking abt? If you got you right, you're thinking abt self-promotion in different social medias like TikTok, FB, Insta, YouTube, right? Becuase, slef-promotion as an increase of popularity of the artist - it's one thing. But increase of the views in YouTube with the aim of monetizing them, i.e. paid by YouTube - is a bit another story. The matter is that the main thing is what you's the aim exactly. In both cases the strategies are different. Although, the basic "product to show and promote" (sorry for that marketing slang), guess, in your case - might be an engaging video with your music on the background. The questions will be: how to make it enaging, for whom, where to show etc. Then, the tools & actions plan actually will depend on the goal, target audience, geography, budget...
Perhaps, I might share more precise ideas if you tell what are your goals more precisely. E.g. to "sell views" on YouTube, to "sell your recordings/live performances/voiceover services"...

Thx guys. Monetizing is not important to me. First I’d like to to have some views on my stuff without paying for it; but I totally would pay for it for the first time (years?)

I‘m not really sure if I should do YouTube anyway.
My goal is to get into producing for artists (hip hop). I mostly do very 90’s inspired stuff; but also do modern stuff with a touch of my own style.
I could produce pretty much every style (with a touch of my own style again).

Also I would like to produce my own music (some kind of electronic catchy stuff.

What I do right now is doing those „bootleg“ remixes of famous tracks. I edit the videos in my style, so YouTube doesn’t copyright strike me.
I thought this Is a good way to get some stuff out and not as boring as just posting beats.

Uploaded some stuff on YouTube , Instagram and TikTok. It’s 25 videos (insta / shorts .. not long videos , those are 7 now) and I started in July, but really started to post in December now. Did t really use it before. I only post one time a week. Maybe two times. Maybe sometimes it will be three times in a week, but that’s it. I can’t post daily.

Without ads nobody would see my stuff.
When I compare the „likes ratio“ of my promoted posts to others it’s pretty good. I gain around 25 followers per 3000 views on Instagram.


Really not sure about YouTube. It’s really a lot of work to edit those videos and it’s not really getting any attention. But it’s the same everywhere. Without paying it’s not doing anything and it’s pretty frustrating.

So; my goal for now is really just getting a following and that I get some views and reactions without paying for it. But like I said I of course would pay for the first time.


Btw YouTube ads confuse me. Over google ads I get more views, but less followers. Over Studio I get less views and more followers. I got 250 YouTube subscribers now, but I think almost none of those watches my videos. I get 200 views in first week without paying.


Maybe I should get away from YouTube and only do Instagram / TikTok / and start bandcamp?

I feel stupid saying this, but I do it anyway cause I’m anonymous here, but my music really is top notch.

I payed for promo on a big Instagram site and it really did as well as posts of famous people they posted for example. Brought me maybe 3 followers

I don’t get all of this music promotion stuff

Hockey1 said:

Hey, I’m a DJ / Turntablist and producer and wonder how to really reach as many people as possible out there.

Any advice on how to get the algorithm going without posting too often? I can’t post everyday as some suggest. Maybe once to twice a week. I mean i guess people will get bored if post a video with a part of the same song / beat twice.

Do payed ads work? If so I would spend quite some amount of money; but I really don’t know about this.

Btw I edit videos to everything I do, so I try not just to upload pictures to music.

Anybody with experience on the social media hustle?

Click to expand...

Maybe check this guys videos



That’s only of many. Giving details of what to do to gain the algorithms and make it.
To me this stuff just gives me a headache of how much work you have to do nowadays.

I watched some of his videos.
It’s overwhelming and I don’t Inow of those advices are really for me.
It’s all about promoting one song over and over again for weeks.
I make beats and I drop one remix once a week. When I post the same remix again (another part of it) peoples engagement already is much lower.

I don’t think if this over and over again thing is for me. I’m also just not a fan of this quantity over quality and putting stuff out just for the sake of it. It feels so forced and I just can’t do that

Any links to your current social media and your music? That might be a good place to start to get some more directed feedback to your current approach.

If you are going the route of making beats and want to produce for other artists, I think this day in age instagram and tiktok are the way to go to build engagement. Look at what other successful users are doing on the app and ask yourself, what is it that they are doing/providing that sets them apart and makes them interesting and engaging.

It could be that they have quick and concise tips and tricks that appeals to other producers and musicians, or it could be that they do interesting and unique mashups/remixes that relate to current trends and topics. Also really look into the form and appearance of their content and how that plays into its engagement - most successful videos on these apps tend to have some sort of attention grabbing aspect in the first couple seconds, and have a clean and appealing format, or are presented in a unique way. Usually some sort of statement or question preceding the content helps engage the viewer.

Comedy and parody in particular tend to do very well on Tiktok and Instagram, but you do run the risk of putting yourself in that specific niche, but some people do effectively use it to catapult their more serious career. There is a really talented producer who goes by BOI WHAT that hopped on the AI vocal filter bandwagon early on, doing rock and pop songs using Spongebob voice filters (basically where he sings the song and then runs it through AI to change his voice into different characters) that are super well produced. They are hilarious and ridiculous, but also showcases his talent as a producer and has gotten him collaborations with other well known artists outside of this project.

Well, if the goal is to get into producing music for artists and the monetizing is not the main purpose now, the logical answer is that you should be focused on the actions resulting to your music is being heard & wanted by the targeted artists. So, I think, the main thing you should care is to present your works to the targeted artists at the places, where they can hear and see it. I mean that in case you spent for ads, you should care not abt quantity of views, but make it strictly targeted onto your certain desired segments only. For instance to audience interested in: “hip-hop lovers”, “followers of Taylor Swift” “Ibiza festival visitors” and the alike. In case you don’t book an ads, you’ll have to find approach to get followers from the same list of audiences…For example to subscribe on their accounts and invite them for mutual subscription.
Once you mentioned that you do remixes and kinda 90’s stuff, it’s recalled me to an animated ads. The guys, providing marketing cartoon video production services used similar featured music in their videos. BTW why not to think about collaboration with animation studios and offer them your composer services for integrating into their videos?! Of course, with relevant marking and ref. to your brand name.
As for the choice of placement, I’d not ignore anyone. It can be any of SoMe and, even better, all of them, including YouTube. There is a huge amount of “featured” and “mastered” works there. Suppose, if you comply with YT rules and mark your content properly, you’d not have a problem.
For time management & simultaneous publishing at all SoMe, you can use a social management tools like Hootsuite, Sendible, Social Pilot etc. I’d not ignore also the influencers’ channel. For example, at https://collabstr.com/influencers?c=Hip+Hop+ you can contact directly your targeted artists and collaborate with them: you can offer them your composer services and they use it in their reels, referring to your YT or Instagram / TikTok / FB account…
I think once you care more about: what you love & can do, what for, whom for, where to find them, how much time & money you can spent for that, you’d find your own way to go on without diving into ads algorithms learning.