Merry marketing: 4 tips for musicians during the holidays

It’s been a long and interesting year, and the holidays are on the horizon.

This would usually mean checking out to spend time with family and have an egg nog (or two), but this year’s pandemic will have many more people at home than normal.

While missing out on some of those family traditions, people may want to fill some of their time by finding new music, and you may have more time to market your music.

So, here are four tips from WordPlay T. Jay for marketing your music from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.

1. Realize that during this time, no one cares about your normal music.

Holiday time means themed music, so places that would play normal top tracks are now stuck on Christmas carols. That is why you should…..

2. Release holiday-themed music.

Make sure you do it around Black Friday, which will allow retailers the time to promote it. Folks turn up the jolly jingles after Thanksgiving, and all some want to listen to is Mariah Carey and those high-as-Santa’s-sleigh notes.

Promote your holiday music with Facebook ads, or if that’s not in your budget, share your music across social media to people in the holiday spirit.

3. Use the season to sell more merch

If you can, tailor some of your merchandise around holiday themes — snowflakes, Santa, dreidels, Kwanzaa, etc. — and tie into the festivities as much as you can. Check out T. Jay’s video on making merch with Spreadshirt to get some tips there.

If you can’t do that, the holidays are a great time to unload your excess merch. Give discounts or sell your closet-stuffing items at cost to get your money back and prepare for the new year.

4. Take a break

Holidays are a great time to slow down, evaluate and take some quality time by yourself. Spend time with people (probably virtually) or do some things you need to do for you. Read a book, take a walk in nature, sip some cocoa, draw a picture — anything to reenergize your body or mind.

Then, if you are still having that creative spark, take the time to really dive into that self care and let it be your inspiration.

For more tips and other related info, check out the video below!