Reddit is a huge forum with different subreddits – which are like sub-forums for you to hop in and talk to people. They’re their own communities.
Before I give you a method for promoting your music on Reddit, I want to tell you that:
- This guide is tailored towards hip-hop artist, but can be used for any genre
- Reddit is not a place for spam or BS because they spot spam from a mile away. You can’t go in there and say, “Hey, check out my music.” – It doesn’t work like that.
So, let’s begin….
1. Create an Account
Before doing anything, you need to create an account Reddit. This process is short and won’t take more than a couple of minutes.
2. Start Your Own Subreddit
Then the second thing you should do is start your own subreddit. You can name your subreddit after your rap name, group name, or you could go broader. For example, you can name it “Cleveland Rappers” or “*Insert City* Rappers”.
The main goal of this is to form a community for you to post your music in. I’d recommend making them a “self-post” in the beginning. If you’re unfamiliar with Reddit, a “self-post” is simply a post that contains text instead of redirecting to an external website. “Self-post” are usually looked at as non-spammy and makes it more likely for people to take interest if they stumbled upon subreddit.
3. Join a More Active Subreddit
Next, you should join an active subreddit like /r/MakingHipHop and start contributing to the discussion. There are tons of rappers, producers, engineers, and other hip-hop oriented people in the MakingHipHop subreddit for you to connect with. This is the easiest and most natural way to build relationships with members of the community.
What typically happens on Reddit is that the more active you are, the more people become interested in you as a person. And since there’s not a big profile with a lot of information about like most social networks, Redditors will usually look at your previous post history to learn about you.
So, the more engaged you are in a subreddit, the more people will actually click your username and check out your post history. If you’ve been posting in the subreddit that you created, with your own music and some interesting information about yourself, there’s a good chance that the people viewing your post history will also check those out.
TIP: Engage But Don’t Spam
In some subreddits, they host weekly competitions, opportunities to get feedback on your music and collab, and more. When presented with the opportunity to promote your music directly, feel free to do so if it won’t come across as spammy.
Overall
I believe this strategy is a good way to both build relationships in hip-hop & handle music promotion at the same time. You’re not forcing your music on anyone, and any support you receive will most-likely be genuine support. Also, as you become a more known and respected member of the subreddit, you’ll likely gain respect and supporters because of your contributions to the subreddit (even if they haven’t heard your music).
Does this method take time? Yes. Is it better than going into subreddits, spamming your music, getting banned, and hurting your brand in the process? Absolutely.
So don’t rush this process. Take it slow and do it right.