5 Surefire Ways Magnetically Get People To Download Your EDM

Getting people to actually click on your link and then download your EDM is the key issue for musicians. Making music has become easier as technology has improved. Same goes for its spread. However as it has become easier, it has also become easier for everyone. The barrier to entry- how hard it is to start something, is very low. There is a large amount of competition.

So what do you do about it?

One is to be different from everyone else, yet still be noticeable. This can be very difficult because people go to extremes and have to keep the extreme, and even up it, to stay relevant. But there is only a certain amount to this until its gets dated/ boring. It also helps if your music is good to start with.

Below are the better ways to allow your audience to download your music. Note the following:

you know who your audience is and what they already listen to
you want to give them cool stuff.

1. Download Your EDM: Association

People need to associate with your music to something they know before they listen to anything, yet alone download anything. So make sure that you actually specify what you music sounds like.

This is a fantastic way to get the "mental image download audience". By saying: "Tiesto sounding music to make your butt shake. Click here to dance for free." Is an extremely good mental image ticking all the downloaders boxes. 1. They are into that style of music, and 2. Its free.

You are putting up mental images of kicking music because you have associated it with kicking artists and descriptive words. That is why tons of artists do remixes and cover versions and why those Pop/X Factor/ Idol shows do so well each week. The artist sings a song you like, you recognize it and root for them.

2. Download Your EDM: Artist Pages

You have to know your audience for this to work. Hence doing prep work before you even start building a web site/ Youtube video. Ask yourself, who actually is your audience? if you have created trance tracks you need to be building pages designed to attract trance listeners. A great way of doing this, but getting targeted downloaders is to make pages that review electronic music artists.

If you list the "best electronic music artists" and then have a page dedicated to profiling each one, then you are netting a wide but targeted audience who like electronic music. Then at the bottom of each page link to your own songs (remembering "sounds like" etc).

3. Download Your EDM: Placement

This is an area where I have done extensive research. First off, you need to figure out "what is your electronic music goal". Be realistic. If it is to get an album deal, then it means hard work, but if your goal is to spread your music far and wide then the actual placement of your songs on your pages will make a huge difference to downloads. If your songs are more than a few clicks away then you will not get that download.

If they are 1 click away then you will get a much better response rate. 1 click away downloads are only available if you have a nav bar that says 1. free music, 2. links on other pages that link directly to your music download page (not many people jump straight into your homepage, most will jump away from it as most traffic generated is search engine led) that state there is free music to listen to.

Each of your pages have a job. So if the job of the website is to promote your tracks, every. single. one of those pages will need to go through that filter.

If you are showing off your music through Youtube then show:

clips of your music on the "intro/ about" video
links in the description of where to find your music

4. Download Your EDM: Offer Downloads

This may seem pretty insane, but it is strange how many people don't offer this. It is mainly because they don't say that people can download their tracks or have them tucked away from public view. Or...my personal bug bear...pay to download. I am not going into that, but all I am saying is that don't get people to pay for your tracks. You are supposed to be promoting your tracks- so don't put up a cash barrier.

Offer a free album download to newsletter subscribers. This offers to spread your tracks and increases your subscriber base at the same time. I listen to a free electronic music album on Youtube. I know the tracks are "out there" for free however the artist doesn't link to them. You go to their site, it lists the tracks and a link to the album- which is the Youtube video

5. Download Your EDM: Pre-Sell

It may sound strange, but getting the download is all to do with selling, even though you are offering something for free. You see, point 2 in combination with point 3 will get the most recognition from downloaders because they are wanting to download your song. If you go onto a site with reams of MP3s, unless you know the artist or have an affinity with them then it make no sense to download anything- what on earth are you downloading?

We must realise that downloaders have a vast choice out there, so we must make their site visit pleasurable, and easy to get what they want. Having flash and "in your face" animations seem cool, but they don't really add to your pre-sell, they just annoy and don't lead the downloader to what they want.

Some of the more prolific Youtubers (who have created electronic music) have done so over time.

They created an audience,
Then starting to hint that a track is coming.
Then started to offer "behind the scenes" in to the making of the video that accompanies the track.
They offer snippets of the music video- but never the full version initially...
Then they launch. They are pre-selling.

So to increase your downloads, you must always think of pre-selling. This can be simple as putting a streaming link on your page, playing the track when someone comes onto the site (beware download rates). Even putting a brief description with the track (key word= descriptive/ relevant/ see point 1) and even asking to rate your music (you can see then what people like and dislike- an easy tool to modify your future music creations. You could even put remixes of various artist tracks (having a page per song to get better ranking in search engines and to attract the targeted audience). Be careful of Youtube strikes against copyrighted material.

Describe what you have done, get interviews, appear on other artists sites (collaboration work is highly effective in borrowing other artists listeners)...Offer something for the downloader.

Check out more edm music making here at the Jasonera blog.