First thing’s first—we understand that you probably don’t like marketing. Hahah we will admit, either do we! But in today’s music Industry, we have to do it. Sure, we can produce a really great song, but what’s the point if no one gets to hear it? If you’re just trying to be the best producer in your bedroom, maybe that’s different—marketing may not matter as much. But, if you’re looking to get your music heard and enjoyed by others, you need to put some effort into marketing. At Cosmic Academy, we teach both sides (both music production and marketing), and strongly believe this is why out students enjoy great results.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way. Let’s get to the second hurdle we have: most music producers aren’t looking to spend tons of money on marketing tools! We totally understand—whatever extra money you have, you’d probably rather spend on a new plugin or a new piece of gear (instead of a video editor).

But we have a solution to help fix this: here’s our list of our favorite FREE marketing tools for music producers (as well as some advice if you do want to spend some money!)

Video Editing

Let’s start with the big one—video. The most consumed type of media right now is video media. It’s everywhere; from TikTok, to Instagram Stories, and of course Youtube. Your phone can do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to the “recording” portion. However, most of the mobile devices we have lack in a key area: editing.

Imagine you’ve shot the perfect teaser, music video, or just funny piece of Instagram content. Awesome! Now, you want to add some music, trim the sections, fix the colors, and so on. This is where a video editor comes in.

A lot of our students in Cosmic Academy use DaVinci Resolve. This is a completely free video editor with NO WATER MARK! Most of the free video editors will stamp their logo on your videos. DaVinci does not.

If you like it, you can always opt for the full version to unlock more tools. But if you’re looking to spend money, we’d also recommend Adobe Premiere or Camtasia (our favorite choice for screen recording!)

Photo Editing

Ok, let’s talk images. Just like with the videos, your phone can do some incredible things when it comes to capturing the image. However, you’re going to need a proper image/photo editor to add effects, text, centering, and all that good stuff.

Canva is our go-to for photo editing when it comes to music producers. You can get your album artwork in there, or just chop up some of your own pics. It’s also amazing for sizing—it has all the dimensions for social media pre-set for you.

In the event you want to spend some money, we recommend Photoshop, or it’s easier younger brother, Photoshop Elements. (Note from Justin: I personally use Photoshop Elements to make every post you see on the Cosmic Academy Instagram.)

Royalty Free Images

For various reasons you’ll need images NOT taken by your camera or iPhone. These images are what we call “Stock” and sometimes you’ll need to pay for them. However, we have some free solutions for this. For instance, if you want to add a beach to your cover art, but can’t get to an island and don’t want to pay a professional.

Pixabay has 2.4 FREE images that you can use anywhere, copyright free, and all high quality. There are many paid services (like Shutterstock), but we don’t even opt for the paid-services. Pixabay is more than enough.

Royalty Free Videos

Just as with royalty free Images, you’re going to need royalty free video. For example, if you make a TikTok where you end up green screening yourself in space… sadly that’s an expensive shot to take.

MixKit has you taken care of. Again, completely free, with no concern over royalties or copyright. Just as before, we don’t use any of the paid services. MixKit and other freebees have worked just fine.

Scheduling / Management

Finally, you might be the kind of person who wants to schedule their marketing posts out, or even have a dashboard view of the analytics in one place. We recommend two services that both have free versions.

Later and Hootsuite have both been around for many years with rave reviews. They’re going to make your life easier when setting up your marketing schedule, organizing your content, and giving your some easy to digest data.

Do these help? Do you have any others we should add to the list? Let us know in the comments!

Now, go get to that marketing 😁