Why fans can’t find you and 7 simple fixes

Successfully maintaining an online presence involves many little details, so letting things slip through the cracks is easy. Here are seven simple changes that could make your music stand out.

by Chris Robley from Reverbnation

You work hard on your music. Once it’s released into the world, you want people to know it exists, find it easily online, press that play button, and love what they hear so much they’ll listen again. 

That can happen, of course. It happens all the time. 

But with endless amounts of new music being released, and with endless amounts of social content designed to keep us viewing and scrolling, it usually doesn’t happen all on its own.

To gain traction with your music, you need to:

• Actively communicate
• Make people curious about your music
• Entice them to take a chance on you
• And make it easy to be found

That takes creativity, but it also takes a simple awareness of some of the ways and places people might be looking for you and your music online.

You don’t want your musical presence to feel like a ghost town, a town no one can locate on a map, or worse, a town that never existed. To help you avoid that, here’s a list of 7 common mistakes that cause musicians to go unnoticed. 

Your fans can’t find you because…

1. You’re not linking!

Don’t leave room for mystery. If you want a fan to take a specific action, tell them clearly.

You’re not being “sales-y” or “cringe” when you ask people to listen to your tracks. You’re a musician! Of course that’s what you want people to do. And you’re HELPING them by making the directions clear.

Wherever possible, use the linking tools so your music is always just one click away. 

2. Your bio is bad

Does your social bio connect the dots between who you are and the music you create? If not, fix that!

Sure, the style of writing should convey something about your personality via the tone and form (funny, serious, absurd, mysterious, etc.), but you also need the details of your bio to tell people the most important things about your music career today. 

3. Your name and handle don’t match

Don’t get cute with this! Your artist name = Your social handle. Simple.

For instance, if my band name was Trash Collectors, my Instagram name should NOT be Crash Tollectors or Someone Somewhere Calls us Trash Collectors.

Yet I notice this mismatch many times when trying to search for new acts on social. If it adds the slightest bit of uncertainty or extra steps for someone searching, it’s a mistake. 

4. You’re not posting enough

The longer you go dormant, the less likely it will be that people see your new stuff when you do post.

So keep your audience engaged throughout those months or seasons when you don’t have much going on. Because you’ll need them to still be paying attention when  you do have big news to share.

Once you do have big news, it’s also a common mistake to not post enough about that individual release or event. Remember, people often need to see a message multiple times (7 is the general rule) before they act on it. 

5. You don’t have a website

If you rely solely on social, it’s a pain for fans — who might not be on certain social platforms, or can’t view content until they log in.

If your message or news announcement is public and important, post it on your website. Which of course means you begin by HAVING a website dedicated to your music. 

6. You keep changing your artist name

Stop it! Settle on something. Otherwise you’ll confuse fans, potential fans, and Google.

If you’re embarrassed by your artist name, you weren’t patient enough when you picked it. If you feel like you’ve evolved beyond your artist name, remember that countless legendary acts have changed their sound throughout the years without changing their name.

Your artist name is the cornerstone of your brand identity. You’re allowed to renovate and add new rooms to your creative house. You don’t have to build a new cathedral from scratch every time you evolve as an artist.

7. Your songs are only on Bandcamp or Soundcloud

If you truly want to be discoverable, your tracks need to be everywhere that people are searching for music.

I wrote a whole article about this common problem, why it’s a problem, and how easy it is to solve. Listeners have never been more scattered across platforms and apps. Don’t punish certain segments of your audience by keeping your music walled-off. Distribute it. Widely! 

After pouring so much time and talent into your tracks, you don’t want to see a lackluster response to your new music. Or worse, no engagement at all. 

But with just a few fair steps or considerations beforehand, you can make sure you and your music are easy to find online. Easier to find, easier to enjoy!

Distribute your music everywhere that matters.

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