Why Start a Music Blog and How to Do It

No matter if you are a big music fan and you know a lot about this topic, or you are a musician, starting up your own music blog might be the right thing for you. Still, if you are considering this option, there are a lot of things you first need to learn about in order to do things right.

It is important that you first understand that running a music blog is not that different from starting a blog in any other niche. You fill first have to plan out everything carefully and execute the right steps towards achieving those plans. Still, there are things which are unique to music blogs, and we will get to those as well.

There are a lot of people who will say that running a music blog is a difficult thing, as there is a lot of competition out there and breaking through is impossible. Although it’s not a walk in the park, I assure you that if you put enough effort in it and do things properly, you will be able to make money from your music blog, so don’t let yourself get discouraged by those who say otherwise.

Why starting a music blog is a good idea?

First of all, if you are passionate about music and you like sharing your thoughts with others by writing, then this is the right way to go. When you are passionate about something the obstacles you face along the way will not be so difficult. This is very important, as starting up a music blog requires a lot of hard work, patience and determination.

Not only will you be able to share your thoughts on a subject you love, but you will be able to make valuable connections, discuss topics you are interested in with other people who share the same passion for music, meet musicians and in the end, make money from your blogging.

Blogging means constant learning and improvement, and no matter if you are a musician or just passionate about music, you will be able to learn more about music and refresh your knowledge constantly. Still, music needs to be your main focus and you can’t think about money when building your blog, it’s about being relevant and offering value to music fans.

Find your place in the music world

It is true that there are thousands of music blogs on the web and one of the first challenges you will have to face is to find unique topics that your blog will talk about. You need to offer your angle that nobody else does and stand out from the rest.

Are you going to focus on one genre of music, one artist, write news, reviews, give music lessons, tips, advice, or talk about new music genres that nobody’s heard of? These are only some of the things that you can consider when determining what your blog will be about.

No matter which way you choose to go, it is important to have a narrow focus so that you can target a single audience that will have an interest in what your blog is talking about. Having a wide approach where you will talk about everything you come across won't do you any good, as you won’t be able to create a stable fanbase around your blog.

Still, you have to choose a wide enough topic so that there are enough people who have interest as well. For example, if you want to write reviews about new music, you can stick to all rock and roll related genres, this is how you will gather an audience that is generally interested in all of your content.

Create your own style

All good and memorable writers have their own style, which their readers can easily recognize. Don’t start blogging and writing about music with objectivity in mind. No matter how good it is to be objective, it is very important that you give your own personal input and offer your opinion. Of course, you cannot say that a song is not produced well if it is, but you can talk about your preferences and things that matter to you the most.

Adding a personal side to your blog is very important, as you will attract like-minded people who will hear their own voice in your writing. Try to be natural and simply be yourself and this is how you will develop your own unique style. Still, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t think about the way you present music and how to approach the whole thing even better.

For example, you can use humor or if you have a higher music education, try and carefully craft your reviews, thoughts, and lessons in a way that your audience will like. Apart from delivering information that interests your target audience, you should also try and be entertaining.

This is how you will engage your readers and make them come back time after time. Try designing your posts in such a way that everyone who reads them can understand them, no matter if the person reading has landed on your blog for the first time or they are a loyal reader.

Be creative and hard-working

Professional bloggers need to be creative because it can be difficult to do something time after time and find new interesting ways to engage people, and make your posts interesting not only to your audience, but to you as well. Finding a working formula for your blog posts and creating a structure that will work can take a lot of time and work.

First of all, it is essential that you constantly publish new blog posts. You need to have momentum because of your audience and because this is how you will constantly work on your writing skills as well. When a blog is frequently active and you publish new posts, you will increase the chance of someone seeing them and taking you seriously.

Still, you shouldn’t rush things, make sure that your post are good before publishing them and don’t try to publish more posts that have low quality. This is especially important when running a music blog, as a lot of music fans have their own opinions and they just wait for someone to make a mistake so that they can criticize them.

Always try to create good material or you will have to face a lot of criticism that could ruin your blog. Music fans are emotionally attached to the music they love and if you make big mistakes, you can expect intense reactions. Although it’s always good to be casual and talk to people online, answer their comments and engage in discussions, sometimes you won’t be able to defend yourself from attacks if you make big mistakes.

How can music blogs make money

Sell your music or teaching material

If you are a musician, your blog can be the launch pad you need to reach people with your music. You can use your blog to sell your CDs when you’ve created a fan base and you have established your authority. Still, one of the best ways is to sell digital music, as this type of monetization has the highest potential for revenue.

You can also sell your music lessons on CDs or sell books or guides that you’ve made for playing an instrument or singing. The important thing is to establish a name for yourself and prove that you are a good musician, and from there you will be able to sell things through your blog.

Affiliate links

Once you’ve grown your blog and you have a stable amount of traffic, you can add sponsored links to your posts to promote various products or services. Some affiliate links will earn you a commission whenever a person clicks on them and some pay when a person buys something through that link.

For example, you could advertise cheap concert tickets if you do music news and announce concerts. This is how you will give your readers valuable information where they can find tickets for the concerts that you announce, while also making money. It is important that you put relevant links that will be meaningful to your readers, or you will just ruin their experience, as they won’t buy anything from those links.

Teaching music

If you are a musician and you have talent, you can use your blog directly for teaching people and making money this way. Use your blog to sell and promote teaching lessons and do them through Skype or Google Hangouts.

By writing blog posts and showing your knowledge and skills as a musician, you will be able to build authority as a professional teacher and people might be interested in taking up lessons with you.

Conclusion

In the end, remember to utilize social media as well. Build a page for your blog on all relevant networks and share your posts through social networks. This is how you will be able to get the much-needed initial boost and improve your exposure. Engage people on social media and share topics that might intrigue them and start conversations.