Discover Independent Artist Collaboration Tips to Succeed in Music

Discover Independent Artist Collaboration Tips to Succeed

One of the most important things you can do as an artist is networking, same for almost any profession really. Here, we will share some independent artist collaboration tips and advice to find success in music. A lot of artists get a big boost off collabs, and it doesn’t really cost anything.

The question is, how do you create these connections, and how do ya meet the right artists? Luckily, it’s easier than ever to connect with other artists online today. But on the flip side of that, is that there’s so many options out there, who are the right artists for you? That is a very personal question, that only you can answer really. Ideally, picking artists in similar fan bases is the way to go, generally speaking.

Is it important to collaborate with other artists?

Yes, of course it is! When you release a collab song, you’re reaching that other artists fan base for free on streaming sites like Spotify. You’re both promoting the music, and both benefiting together from that extra push. Your marketing team basically doubles immediately. Plus, you’re allowing new fans to discover you, fans that are within your genre but just haven’t heard ya before. Or, collaborate with other artists in slightly different genres to break into totally new fan bases. Especially, if that’s an area you’d like to take your music. For example, look at Post Malone looking to break into country. He’s releasing singles with other established country artists constantly now, such as Morgan Wallen, Blake Shelton and next is Luke Combs.

Collaborating with other artists is also good for your creativity. Working with another artist can be inspirational, learn from them. You’ll each learn from eachothers process and take something positive from the situation. Sharing your skills and techniques will make you both stronger artists in the end.

Collaboration with other artists will boost your social media game! Just like on streaming sites, each of you will be tagging the other artist in promotional posts on social media. This will naturally boost both of your social page numbers, growing your fan bases. It’s important though that you don’t just simply tag the other artist, invite them to collaborate on your post, this way the posts appear equally on both of your pages.

The Top 5 Benefits of Artist Collaboration

There are countless benefits of artist collaboration, for both parties involved. But here’s the top list of why you need to get started on collaborating.

Gain new fans from each others fan bases for free
Skill sharing, you’ll learn music creation techniques in terms of production, song writing and more
Boost your streams on sites like YouTube and Spotify
New social media followers from collaborative posts and tags on Facebook / Instagram and more
Encourage creativity, working with another artist can really help to light your creative fires

All of this comes at little to no cost from artist collaboration. Both musicians benefit, plus, the fans of each artist benefit from being turned on to another artist they may not have known yet!

How to Create Artist Collaborations as an Independent Musician

We explained how important it is to collaborate, but how do you get started? Well, here’s some tips on how to create artist collaborations with other independent musicians. You may be an introvert and not great at putting yourself out there, but there’s plenty of ways to work around that these days. Plus, breaking comfort zones is often very beneficial in the end anyways.

Use sites like Reddit, join boards for artists and create a post that you’re looking to collaborate. Say what kind of collab you’re looking for and within what genre, and you’ll likely get a lot of people reaching out.

Good subreddits for independent artists are r/WeAreTheMusicMakers, r/MusicCollaboration, r/ThisIsOurMusic and r/NewMusicPromotion

Engage through social media. Comment on artists posts that you would like to work with or slip in to their dm’s.
Join music communities online. Like above mentioned, Reddit threads, Facebook groups, various online forums. Soundcloud, BandCamp and Reverbnation have communities to facilitate collaborations as well.

Music collab sites like BandLab, Kompoz, ProCollabs, etc.

Directly reach out, find an artists email addy or contact form on their site that you want to work with and hit them up with an idea you have to work together. Be direct, send a link to some of your music right away.
Use your existing networks, post on your social pages or send an email out to your mailing list about being open to a collaboration. See who reaches back out, putting yourself out there is a good way to get started.

These are just a few of the best ways to get an artist collaboration started. All can be done relatively easily though. It comes down to being open to collaborating though, when ya come across another independent artist that you would like to work with, hit them up. You may get a lot of no’s, but don’t let that discourage you. The right opportunity will come in time.

Turn Your Artist Collaboration Success Into Optimized Networking

Once your artist collaboration song is released and you’re reaping the rewards, you’ll want to take advantage of that success to make the most of it. To do this, you’ll need to have the right systems in place ahead of time. Make sure you have the right channels open for new fans to follow you and support you moving forward. Collect these fans and other music connections into real social media followers you stay in touch with, and organized contacts on your mailing list. Optimize your social media pages with SocialBee.

For this, you’ll need to make sure you have the right social pages active and ready. Also, use a good email marketing service to collect email addresses on your mailing list. Personally, we use Brevo, have been for years now. We always recommend artists use them or a similar service to build your contacts list. As you grow, this is essential to manage all of the networks and fans you gain. Once they are on your own mailing list, you control the narrative and message to them directly. Also, you’re not beholden to some other social network or service. On social pages, only a small percentage of your posts will actually be seen by your followers. But a marketing email has a much higher percentage rate of being seen.

Learn more on how to optimize your email marketing here »

You can and should create lists within your contacts list, those that are fans, artists, promoters. This way, you can more personally email each contact at once to save you and them time. Each music release you have, you’ll gain new fans and contacts on your list. You’ll continue to grow your fan base, on your own. Artist collaboration is a key to unlocking success for independent artists!

It’s important to work well with others!

One last thing… we often ask artists in interviews about keys to success. One of the things we hear most often, is how important it is to work well with others. Basically, in any relationship or situation, be decent to other people. Communicate well, don’t show up late, don’t cancel all the time. When working with somebody, pull your weight, contribute. Just be somebody that you’d like to work with. Respect them the way you want to be respected.

If you’re somebody that people enjoy having around and working with, then that will lead to more with not only them, but others. That’s one of the best, tried and true pieces of advice when it comes to networking. It will snowball in time, that person you worked well with, will recommend you to another person. A solid collaboration with an artist, can lead to working with a legit producer or promoter next. Each of these connections you make will lead to the music career you’re looking for!

When we work with an artist on promoting their new music, if their easy to work with (and sound good), we often throw in some extra promo for free. When somebody is a pleasure to be around, you’re happy to go the extra mile.

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