As an indie artist, an audience is probably high on your wishlist. One of the biggest challenges indie artists face is how to promote their music successfully. It's the big difference between success and failure for artists because what good is a hit song without an audience?

Many artists turn to social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Others prefer to use platforms like YouTube, Omegle, and Twitch. But there's one place I don't see many artists going to, one place that seems to slip under the radar. I don't understand why I don't see many artists using Reddit.

What Reddit Is All About

Reddit can be a jumbled mess to anyone new to it. It's a social media website, or platform, that revolves around building communities. You can post text, images, and links for people to either upvote or downvote. The more upvotes you get, the more visible your post is. And you can guess what downvotes mean.

I mentioned that the basic idea of Reddit is building communities. These communities are called subreddits. There are subreddits about nearly every topic you can think of from video games to graduate school math. Each subreddit has its own rules, way of doing things, and moderators to ensure your content is in line with those guidelines.

Why You Should Use Reddit

Now that you have some idea of how Reddit works, you're probably wondering why on earth you should be paying attention to it. I'll show you why…

Massive Audience

Reddit has exactly what you're looking for, a massive audience. Reddit has about as many users as Twitter and is one of the largest websites in the world with over 300 million users. It's estimated that about 50 million of those check in every day. Imagine having access to all that traffic!

Numerous people, especially freelancers, have found jobs and opportunities on Reddit. Others have gotten financial help. Some others have gotten answers to their questions. But most importantly, everyone has found a community to be a part of.

And some artists blew up on Reddit first. No matter what your genre or style of music is, there's a subreddit somewhere for you. If you can hack Reddit, there's a huge audience right there for the taking.

William "Bill the Fridge" Berry once released a YouTube video that somehow found its way to Reddit. Within a year, Bill's video had gotten over a million views. You can have a similar or even more impressive story.

Equal Opportunity for All Users

In addition to being home to a massive audience, Reddit is also what we call a democratic platform. There are no celebrities or "verified" accounts. Everyone is the same on Reddit. What determines how successful your post will be is how many upvotes or downvotes.

In each subreddit, some moderators make sure your post is in line with the rules. Break those rules, and any number of warnings or punishments could follow.

Reddit is also an anonymous platform. This means you don't even have to use your real name or give away any valuable, private information if you don't want to. I already know what you're wondering: how can you blow up if the site is anonymous? We'll discuss it later.

Moderators

On WhatsApp, we have group chat admins. On Reddit, they're called moderators. They handle subreddits and ensure everyone posting or commenting adheres to the rules of engagement in practice.

The main advantage of having moderators is that your "timeline" will be relatively clean. Spam and other unwanted content will be swiftly and ably dealt with. Each subreddit has its moderators and you can become one either by invitation or application.

Strong Community

Reddit has a massive audience, about 300 million people strong. The communities you can build are better for an indie artist like you. More is always better than less, you may be thinking, but hear me out.

A smaller, tightly-knit community will be full of people who love the same things and seek online companionship. What better place to build super fans than in such an environment?

If you can find a subreddit where your music becomes popular, it might do you more good than having the entire audience you have to please. The members of your community can easily become your super fans. And trust me, 1,000 super fans are better than 10,000 casual fans.

Find out how to use Reddit to your advantage by learning the Reddit culture and start getting active.

Actionable Reddit Hacks

Now you know what Reddit is all about. You also know why you should pay more attention to it. The next question is how do you navigate? How can you promote your music on Reddit? What are actionable hacks to help you nail it? Let's discuss my top 3…

Build authenticity

As I have already mentioned, Reddit is a democratic and anonymous site. This means that whatever verification stickers you may, or may not, have outside Reddit no longer matter once you get in. You're starting from scratch. This may sound like bad news to an accomplished artist, but to an indie artist like you, it's awesome.

The only thing that matters on Reddit is the quality of your post. You get scores attached to your posts depending on how many upvotes or downvotes you have. The higher your "karma" score is, the more trustworthy you are.

That said, the first step for a Reddit newbie like you is to build authenticity. Comment on and vote on other posts. Become a part of the community.

Such constant engagement will eventually result in a high score, which in turn results in more people trusting you enough to check out your work.

Focus on subreddits

It's imperative to know who your target audience is. NF, one of my favorite rappers, talks a lot about mental health and life struggles. Such an artist has no business posting in a subreddit about Nintendo games. Also, a newbie Reddit user like you should avoid big subreddits or your music might get lost in that sea of content.

Identify which subreddits are full of people you think will love your song. I don't mean broad subreddits like /r/music, but the smaller ones with narrower niches. Join them. Become one of them. Those are your potential super fans.

Post and promote your music

Promotion isn't the word, it's more of presenting. Reddit doesn't appreciate too much sales lingo, instead, authenticity is valued above all else. Avoid all that extra English you prepared, be as straight to the point as you can.

Reddit also favors YouTube links more than any other kind of link. Soundcloud, Spotify, and other platforms are nice, but if you want to focus on Reddit, find a way to get your songs on YouTube. You can build an audience on both platforms simultaneously.

Quick note: you can post the same thing in different subreddits, but do not repeat a post. Repeating a post in the same subreddit will get you flagged for spammy behavior and a ban eventually.

Final Thoughts

Often slept on by artists, Reddit can be the perfect place for you to blow up. As an indie artist, what you want to build is a fanbase. You want a following that will stand by you, no matter what. You want Stans. Reddit is the best place to do that because of its community setup.

So wake up. Get on Reddit and start building that music career you dream of every night. Your future awaits!