Hey everyone! I want to ask y'all a question: what's your stance on indie artists using ads to advertise their content in general? Some people say that relaying on advertising services defeats the purpose of going indie because those are usually the same services record labels use for their "advertising package", and they're usually much more expensive than being at the mercy of a record label if you want to use it effectively. Plus, it makes you come across as annoying and a sellout, sometimes unintentionally (think of the infamous midi chord pack that shall not be named), and it only "works" if you accept the advertiser's conditions and restrictions.

Others say that the music scene have changed so much in the last decade and became super accessible, especially in the last couple of years, that artists are basically forced to pay in order to standout from a sea of mediocrity and be heard. Those people consider this a "payed entry to fame" which may. or may not, transform a hobby to a carrier. But won't that be considered capitalistic gatekeeping?

There are some people that also say to go full indie and do everything yourself by squeezing the most out of the free resources you have. Build a website and upload your stuff on there, advertise it via forums, chat rooms, servers, and even video games if possible, create a mailing list/blog, build a reputation, and eventually you will have a group of "true fans" that could financially support you journey. But again, nothing really is free except very few exceptions. Those "free" services usually lets you pay in something else whether it's ads, limited functionality, or worse, personal/private date which some artist may not want to share if they are covering a controversial art form. AND THAT'S WHY THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY NOR- No, just kidding!

I don't know, man. What do you guys think? I'm currently planning a really cool project in my opinion, but I don't know how I should go about advertising it when it's ready. Of course, I could post it here and you guys are amazing, but I want to go out there and spread my wings. My Spotify and SoundCloud are very slowly but steadily doing well and my YouTube channel could use a helping hand, but I don't know how I should go about advertising. What are your thoughts on this whole thing?

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

I would rather hear their ads instead of charmin toilet paper ads tbh

I've come to the conclusion myself that advertising is immoral but a necessary evil. It's immoral because it wastes people's time, screen real-estate and invades their headspace with information about products that they likely do not need or are just scams. On the other hand, it's a necessary evil for the exact scenario you're describing: if you're someone who does not have any sort of following or only just a small one, how the fuck do you get the word out about what you're working on without relying on word of mouth or the algorithm of whatever service you're using to show your things to potential fans?

Personally, I advertise myself as little as possible (though I do occasionally shill on the Newgrounds forums) and I just put all of my stuff on my site and leave a link to it in my bios of whatever websites I'm using. I'm aware this is not a very effective strategy, but I don't think that paying for proper advertising would be very effective and I don't agree with it morally.

Also, for me, I'm not making music to get big or popular, I'm making it because I love music. If people want to hear what I have to show then I welcome it, but I'm not losing sleep over a single track only getting 10 listens. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to develop an audience for your music, mind you.

Assuming your project is something like an album, you can do what everyone else does and release a single to give people a taste of what's to come, you could seek out local or online radio stations that will allow you to share your music (if such a thing exists).

Also for YouTube, for the love of god do not pay for promotional ads. It's not effective long-term.

the only ads i hate is those one you need to watch for 4 minutes or mores without bein skippeable, but answering your question, if the indie doenst make you suffer with the ads, that would be okay

I hate ads more than anything. The thing that draws me to art isn't someone begging me to go look at it. It's when it's self-assured and casually hanging out by itself and needs nothing to draw attention, maybe vouched for or included in a respectable piece of media, like genuinely used well in a movie or game or something, or a cool person makes reference to it when they don't even need to. That sort of selfless, artful, inspired, and passionate use intrigues me more than anything else, and I respect that integrity of not needing to use those all-purpose green power coupons to take up space.

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm not too worried about screwy contracts, I have a degree in law so I know how to spot them XD But thanks for sharing your views and assurance! I will do some research now.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing your view. I too pretty much make music for fun, but recently I've been struggling with finding a job and it seems like my only choice is to monetize my music in order to make a living, which is a choice I have to bite the bullet on because I too hate to shill, but I guess it is a necessary evil like you said.

This will require a lot of research, which I will start soon.

I too hate ads, but as @TheJayJay said, it's kind of a necessary evil in some cases. Hell, in those ridiculous "super ultimate producer artist definitely-not-a-scam fuck-off" courses, they basically teach you how to use Facebook ads and Google Adsense to "optimize your stream count", if they weren't too annoying already. In a way, it's not our fault that we need to relay on a form of advertising to be seen because the industry made it the standard so they can profit from it. And unfortunately they succeeded, as it's usually the case with people with influence and/or power. Like, look at Dream and pretty much every TikTok dancer turned "singer", those mfers can't sing or produce art for their lives yet they make millions yearly. So, we kind of have to fight fire with fire so actually good content can stand on top instead of conveyer belt slob.

But those are my thoughts, could be wrong though.

I personally hate ads, so I would never. If people want to listen they will listen. Feels gross basically forcing/coercing people to listen to my music through advertising.

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel too! One of the reasons I made that post so I can see how do y'all feel about it. If I end up using ads, I will probably make something that is unintrusive and unassertive. It will be hard, but I will not make an ad unless I can pull it off.

I discovered some artists through ads on YouTube, well sometimes, most of the time I don't notice the ads, so the artist's music should appear like a regular video or get lucky I forget to turn on the adblocker.

Yeah, I will probably do something among those lines!

Seconded. Advertising is fine if it's people doing it, but if it's companies... block block block!!

I agree with that sentiment.

If you really want a following, it'd only make sense to use everything available to get there. What's strange is symbolically uploading your content, and then having little to no social media presence. I'm sure most artist (me including) are the latter. It's like you don't want to keep it to yourself, but you don't want others to hear it either.

Those people consider this a "payed entry to fame" which may. or may not, transform a hobby to a carrier. But won't that be considered capitalistic gatekeeping?

I don't think some low level advertising, the kind of ad that would appear in Facebook, is very expensive?

It's as expensive as you want it to be. You basically set a budget and the more you invest, the more "effective" your marketing campaign is. For example, if you set like $5, it would reach a couple hundred, maybe a thousand people, if you're lucky. And if you set $100 or so, you would suddenly be on the mouth of everyone in California or something!