There are some major differences between starting a rap career now vs. 10 years ago. Today there are tons of new technological advancements that make it easier to make great music and get more fans.
Social Media
The most popular platforms in terms of reach are the following - pretty much every rapper should have a profile on these sites.
- Twitter - I personally don't use Twitter but a lot of people do. Setup a Twitter and use it essentially the same way you'd use Facebook.
- Facebook - Setting up a Facebook page and gather likes is a good way to "collect" your fanbase in one section. You can make posts and use Facebook Ads to cater to your fans directly, and these are usually more cost effective than other ads.
- YouTube - Any kind of video content should go here. It's completely free, you can monetize your videos, and it's a ubiquitous name.
- Soundcloud - Souncloud is the YouTube of audio. The only downside is that you can only upload up to 2 hours for free. However, that still ends up being a lot of music and you can take down older tracks.
Lesser known but potentially useful.
- Bandcamp - Another place to host your music, but it's more customizable, has a minimal/clean layout and lets you setup a store to accept payments for your music.
- Reverbnation - Has a bunch of tools that help you turn your hobby into a career - namely, the ability to upload your music, setup a website, advertise, and find gigs.
- Audiomack - Kind of useful for hosting music since it allows unlimited uploads and is free.
Useful Tools for Rappers
Hive - Allows you to link fans to internet profiles so you can slice and dice the data. The downside is it adds a barrier for fans to get your music, because now they have to give you more information which some people don't like. Only recommended for professional rappers.
TheArtistUnion - Similar to Hive, you can do things like "Tweet this to Download" on Soundcloud - however it suffers the same problems as Hive, it adds a barrier between you and your fans.
TunesToTube - Have beats or audio files that you want to upload to YouTube? This app lets you quickly create a video out of just a static image and throw it on YouTube. By doing this you can reduce the number of platforms you have to use and get unlimited free music uploads.
HootSuite - Tired of having to post the same thing to all your networks? HootSuite puts all your social media accounts in one Dashboard so it's easier to manage.
Landr - It masters your tracks for you, making them sound better. It's paid, but has a simple free plan so you can try it out to see if it's worth it.
Soundation - A pretty powerful audio editor on the web. It let's you record vocals and layer on sounds. You can preview it for free, and there are premium features for pay.
Do you have any tools you use that you'd like to share? Drop them below.
