Five Key Things You Need to Be Sharing with Your Fans (Besides Your Music)

The old walls that used to separate artists and audiences have crumbled by the wayside entirely thanks to social media and other modern means of communication.

Obviously, as an artist, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to get the word out about your music. Your music will build your fan base – but if you’re serious about creating a community that connects with you as an artist much more deeply, you have to be willing to go the extra mile.

Today’s fans are looking for a lot more than just a catchy beat and a fun hook. They are looking for artists that they feel a connection.

Your music lays the foundation for the connection you have with your audience, but there’s a lot more you’ll need to do to fit together these pieces of the puzzle. You’ll want to find as many ways as you can to reach out to your community, getting them excited about you as an artist and not just excited every time you release new tracks.

Here are five things you want to start doing ASAP to hit the ground running!

Tell them the story behind your music.

Artists open up to fans about how they create music – the motivations that go into every recording session, the stories behind every writing session, and how the piece gets made. Create a much deeper connection with their fans than those that only connect on a superficial level.

You don’t necessarily have to have all kinds of “deep meanings” behind your music to generate this kind of connection with this type of storytelling. Anything of the creative side of the music industry is going to be gobbled up by those looking to connect with you – and these moments of candor will go a long way towards separating you from the rest of the pack.

Here are some ideas for you to think about:

Tell the story behind the song and album?

Where were you when you made it, and when did you create it?

What does the song or album mean to you?

How did you evolve as an artist throughout the creation?

Once more, these are just some general suggestions to consider. Use them as a beginning point if you are feeling stuck.

Use them to examine your project from all angles and find the ideas that will strengthen your promotion whenever you release it.

Let your fans be behind the scenes.

Behind-the-scenes footage, photos, and stories are always fun, engaging, and exciting – and you’d be hard-pressed to find fans of any artist or of any art that isn’t looking for a sneak peek behind the curtain.

People love to see how their favorite things are made, the process behind how the finished product gets put together, and the fascinating little stories and insights into everything that goes into putting together something of this creative magnitude.

These little miniature documentary shots can go a long way towards deepening that connection between you and your fans.

Open up about your influences.

Passionate fans are always interested in tracing the lineage of their favorite artists, diving deep into the artists that influenced them – and the artists that helped make them into the musicians they are today.

Not only is this going to be a fun way to open up to your fans about who you are musically and how you got there, but it’s also going to be a fun way to get a little bit of extra exposure to the artists that helped influence you. – (mainly if they are otherwise a little bit obscure).

Musical artists have been taking advantage of this tactic to do real deep dives into some pretty otherwise obscure physical artists, songs, or albums. Even just a quick video of you breaking down why you love a particular song or how it influenced or continues to influence the music you make will help deepen the connection that your fans feel they have with you – especially if they are just as influenced by this music as you were!

Shine a light on your other creative outlets

Even the most obsessive musical artists on the planet look for other ways to express their creativity, usually with pet passion projects that might not be getting the kind of attention from your fans that your music is.

A great way to open up this relationship is to share these interests, projects, and passions and get your community involved. Sharing information about your favorite music outside of your own, your favorite books, your favorite hobbies, and your interests will always round out your character and show your fans who you are. It sure beats them feeling like they are only ever indirect with the “artist” and not the person behind the artistry.

Connect and collaborate

Today, a massive piece of the puzzle is finding artists to connect with and collaborate with, opening up your sound, and doing exciting projects with artists that may not be ideal in line with the genre of music you are used to doing. Collaborating with other artists is a great way to promote your Spotify.

These kinds of crossover projects always add a lot of excitement. Not only will they open up new channels of connection between you and your community, but they also get you a lot more active in your music industry and open up doors that previously weren’t open.

However, do not mistake connecting and collaborating as some networking endeavor. Way too many artists go down this road and completely obliterate the goodwill they were hoping to generate with fellow artists and with their community, sinking their battleship much faster than they would have thought possible.

Organic collaborations that just kind of “click” can be fun, exciting, and something that gets your community jacked up.

Express yourself

It’s all about finding ways to express yourself, to share who you are as a person and as an artist, and to find ways to get your community more and more excited – and more passionate – about you, your music, and your sound.

Today’s communication tools and social media have completely leveled the playing field for the music industry in a way that just wasn’t ever possible before. Take advantage of the leverage to build and grow the kind of musical following you’ve dreamed of with the help of the inside information we shared above!