Dear friend,
If you love discovering new tunes, follow the music scene religiously and always have hot takes on the latest album drops, becoming a music blogger lets you share your passion with fellow fans. And music blogging has never been more accessible to get started!
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll share insider knowledge from my own journey running a music blog — the technical aspects, creative process, growth strategies and even monetization tips! Whether total beginner or seasoned pro, you’ll find tons of actionable advice here to launch the music blog of your dreams.
Let’s get rockin’ 🤘
A Brief History of Music Blogging: The Pioneers Blazing the Trail
Before we dive headfirst into launching your music site, first let’s appreciate the pioneers who defined this medium starting 25 years ago! Here‘s a quick timeline of music blogging‘s evolution:
Late 90s: Early MP3 blogs emerge sharing downloads and obscure music discoveries off beaten path outside the mainstream. Sites like Fluxblog, Said the Gramophone and The Hype Machine gain niche followings.
Early 2000s: Livejournal/Blogger communities centered around music subcultures thrive by trading mixtapes, concert footage and insider commentary you’d never find in Rolling Stone back then.
Mid 2000s: Advertising models develop around illegal MP3 sharing blogs and critical darlings like Pitchfork and Stereogum gain mass readership for indie music coverage. MySpace becomes the platform for artists.
Late 2000s: As YouTube and Spotify reshape music consumption, bloggers adapt formats now focusing more on contextualizing music releases vs piracy. Social media accelerates interconnectedness between artists/bloggers/fans worldwide.
2010s: Music blogs proliferate across wider niches as Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook enable amateur fan blogs to find audiences. ClickHole and TheHardTimes kick off a golden era for music/pop culture satire blogs.
Today: While streaming conquered MP3 blogs, independent music blogs continue thriving thanks to social engagement and architecting distinct brands around niche music passions — their POV and expertise builds loyal community.
With the power of music blogging proven, it’s time for YOU to throw your hat in the ring!
Choosing the Best Blogging Platform
Your music blog needs a home on the internet, also known as a content management system (CMS) or blogging platform. I break down the leading options:
| Platform | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Fully customizable, easy monetization, robust plugin ecosystem | Steep learning curve, manual upgrades/security management |
| Blogger | Free, fast setup, handles hosting/domain | Limited design options, ads |
| Tumblr | Excellent for curation and multimedia | Very minimal writing features |
| Wix | Intuitive drag and drop editor, great templates | Video/audio limitations, expensive subscription model |
WordPress
With over 60% market share and powering sites from major music outlets to indie fan blogs, WordPress is hands-down the most powerful platform. Open source software with 100% customization enables building a blog exactly how you envision it. However, expect a steeper learning climbing of both creative design and technical management not found in simpler blogging tools. Resources like managed WordPress hosting, themes and plugins smooth the journey. With so much flexibility also comes greater security obligations. But mandated software updates and plugins like WordFence lock things down. Ultimately, if total music blog creative freedom with room to grow is the priority, open-arms WordPress welcomes you!
Blogger
Owned by Google, Blogger lowers barriers for first-time bloggers wanting a basic site live quickly without needing to self-host or touch code. Hundreds of free music-themed templates give sites style without hassle while handy content features like native image/video embedding meets most blog needs. However, promotions and ads are part of the tradeoff for an otherwise free hosted platform lacking deeper customizations. Traffic and scalability are limited relative to WordPress. Therefore, casual hobby bloggers benefit most from Blogger’s simplicity. But beware their history of unexpectedly eliminating popular features, giving WordPress the edge for blogs invested long-term.
Tumblr
Tumblr shines for curation and multimedia — the GIFs, memes and viral fodder thriving on social media. Reblog and feed filters let you craft an endless stream of music oddities. And Tumblr remains uniquely influential for movements like Vaporwave and Seapunk evolving there first. Just don’t expect robust analytics or many native advertising options. The platform discourages lengthy text too — it‘s more microblog than traditional blogging experience. Still, for musicians or music fans desiring their blog live fully visually and socially, it‘s a compelling destination those facets matter most to.
Weighing these factors, I recommend WordPress to maximize creative possibilities for a music blog tailored completely to your vision and high audience growth potential thanks to SEO. Now let‘s make that vision a reality…
Finding Your Music Blog’s Design Identity
With the foundation set using WordPress, visual design comes next — colors, fonts and layout conveying your music blog’s unique identity.
Standout design not only better engages visitors, but also builds brand recognition critical for return and referral traffic.
Some quick music blog design tips:
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Pick complementary colors suiting your genre — warm red and oranges for jazz or drone, icy blue and grey for Ambient styles work well.
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Use genre-appropriate feature images like vintage vinyl textures on Classic Rock blogs or glitchy computer art for Electronic music sites.
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Enhance readability with ample line spacing and sizes above 16 px font. Dark mode styling reduces eye strain.
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While tempting to overload pages with widgets and links, maintain clean organization and white space through strict pruning only absolutely essentials.
Adhering to web accessibility guidelines ensures everyone can comfortably navigate and read your music blog too regardless of disabilities. Accounting for vision, hearing, motor and cognitive differences provides the best, most inclusive user experience. On desktops, aim for legible 16 px+ sans-serif fonts and high contrast ratios. Media should offer transcripts and captions. Limit reliance on hover interactions and make all clickable areas generously sized. Responsively designed mobile experiences are equally essential — simplifying menus/layouts on tiny screens using tap targets measuring at least 48 CSS pixels.
Now a bit on the technical considerations… modern WordPress templates default to “responsive” designs automatically optimizing themselves for phones and tablets. Required plug-ins like JetPack further enhanced mobile performance through caching, lazy loading images and video summaries. Wrap those optimizations with free trust seals like TrustArc conveying site security and your music blog already provides first-rate mobile user experience!
Producing Compelling Music Content
Let‘s move onto the fun part — deciding what compelling content fills up your slick new music blog! Based on analyzing traffic referrals and social shares at popular music blogs, here are the specific themes and post formats proven to intrigue and engage readers:
From reviews of new releases all the way to festival photo roundups, those themes offer endless inspiration. Just be sure to put your unique spin and POV on recurring post formats already commonplace online — share obscure acts, controversial opinions and insider commentary you won’t find elsewhere. Help readers discover under-appreciated gems and understand musical art better through your authoritative lens!
Optimizing efficiency as you regularly produce content is also key so you don‘t burn out. Helpful tips for streamlining creative workflows include:
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Maintain an editorial calendar to coordinate upcoming themes, assignments and promotions. Planning ahead saves tons of time!
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Batch format posts when possible, doing all album reviews on new release Fridays or several interviews during a single festival weekend.
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Create an automated RSS feed pulling in releases/news from external music sites to save manual curation effort.
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Use templates and reusable sections for commonly repeated post formats to only customize small portions per piece.
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Collaborate with guest contributors whether fellow bloggers or artists themselves to reduce solo content burden.
Let tools and templates accelerate publishing more content consistently to build traffic and credibility over time!
Getting Discovered: Promotion Tactics and SEO for Music Blogs
Even once your music blog looks slick and you‘re regularly publishing killer content, the next challenge remains getting discovered by readers.
Driving qualified traffic boils down to mastering two essential ingredients:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which improves visibility on Google and other search engines through relevant keyword targeting so people can discover your articles.
2. Social Media Promotion across various platforms where music lovers actively engage day to day.
Here are my top proven strategies combining SEO and social media growth:
From keyword research and metadata optimization boosting SEO to engaging artist fanbases and leveraging hashtags on Twitter, that blueprint covers all bases to grow visibility.
Make sure to analyze site analytics routinely to determine highest-converting traffic sources and double down on those specifically. Metrics like average session duration and pages per session indicate engaging content themes too.
Install Facebook Pixel and UTM campaign tracking to benchmark ROI on paid ads. A/B test email subject lines as well. Doubling down on what succeeds is far more effective than trying to force underperforming channels.
Promoting patiently, creatively and data-informed lays the foundation for an eminent music blog awaited daily by dedicated fans.
Monetizing Your Music Blog: Beginner and Advanced Models
While running a music blog fueled purely by passion holds great reward alone, who couldn’t use a little extra beer 🍻 and concert ticket 🎟 money too right? Luckily numerous effective options exist to monetize blogs by generating revenue from all that sweet traffic and loyal readership.
We‘ll cover models perfect for beginners first then more advanced and lucrative options later as your blog scales up!
Entry-Level Music Blog Monetization
Dipping your toes into making money from blogging, I recommend starting with:
Google AdSense – Easy-to-implement code fills unsightly gaps on pages with contextual Google ads. Earn a 55% revenue share when visitors view/engage the ads. At 1,000 daily visitors and 5% click-through rate, expect ~$50 monthly.
Affiliate Marketing – Sign up for Amazon Associates or ShareASale to earn commissions promoting music gear/services. Curate links organically in buying guides or gift lists. With 100-500 conversions monthly, programs paying 10% commission yield $100-500+.
Once earning consistently from ads/affiliates, build multiple income streams publishing sponsored posts next – get paid directly by music brands to review products or events. A mini guide to negotiating rates:
| Monthly Blog Traffic | Sponsored Post Rate |
|---|---|
| 10k visitors | $100-250 |
| 50k visitors | $300-500 |
| 250k+ visitors | $1000+ |
Adding direct-sold branded content provides a lucrative second profit center well worth developing blogger relationships with music brands covet your readership!
Advanced Music Blog Monetization
Prepared taking revenue truly to the next level? As your blog cultivates an influential brand and large readership over years, consider ascending these mountaintops:
Direct Ad Sales
Self-managed advertising needs ad operations resources but nets far more control and revenue. Potential formats:
- Site Takeovers: Full background skin ads
- Audio Ads: 15-30 second unskippable pre-rolls before podcasts/music
- In-Article Video: YouTube/TikTok ads autoplay inline between paragraphs
- Connected TV: 15-30 second spots on smart TV or gaming console apps
Pitch music labels, venues, gear brands festivals and build six-figure sales pipelines.
VIP Access and Subscriptions
Consider gating some exclusive content behind paid memberships or ebooks/video courses expanding your monetization dimensions with:
- Email newsletters providing early access to reviews, interviews etc.
- Premium community areas discussing unsigned artists early in careers
- Official meetups, Discord groups and chat forums
- Virtual/in-person music production, marketing, blogging etc workshops
Superfans will pay meaningful sums for priority content, networking and insider access other visitors miss out on!
Services and Consulting
Monetize your industry expertise directly guiding clients:
- Marketing services for independent artists looking to gain listeners
- Ad campaign audits/management for music brands
- One-on-one music industry crash courses and evaluation for other blogs
$100-500+ per hour or retainer structures realize lucrative incremental revenue from your network and credibility.
The opportunities scaling music blogs into bonafide media businesses are truly endless once traction validates the audience and influence built.
Tracking Analytics and Growth
While this guide focused on starting then monetizing a music blog, measuring impact and setting growth goals represents the final ingredient that ultimately sustains things long term.
These are the key quantitative metrics to benchmark:
Traffic and Engagement:
- Unique visitors
- Pages per session
- Average session duration
- Bounce rates
- Email list size
Revenue and Conversions:
- Earnings by income stream
- Ad click-through rates
- Affiliate/sponsored post conversion rates
- Subscriber conversion rates
Content:
- Posts published per month
- Social shares per post
- Search traffic by keyword
Log these metrics into spreadsheets, aiming to incrementally improve each every month. Analytics platforms like Google Analytics, ChartMogul and Simple Analytics visualize the data for easy reporting.
Evaluating metrics then responding with appropriate content and marketing adjustments stimulates growth. For example, low session duration signals unsatisfying content while high affiliate revenue proves that reviewing gear resonates and should expand. Constantly iterating and optimizing based on data pushes any music blog upward!
Final Thoughts
And there you have it, aspiring music blogger!
We covered the entire scope – from choosing blogging software to designing aesthetics then crafting content and promotion strategies for growth. Monetization, analytics and long-term considerations too.
While launching a successful music blog demands significant effort, the platform enables making an impression on artists and fans unlike any other creative medium today. I hope this guide presented actionable advice to transform passion into profits while playing a positive role influencing music culture overall.
Questions or comments on your music blogging journey? Feel free to get in touch anytime my friend and I‘ll help however I can!
Rock on 🤘
