10 Best Music Promotion Platforms In UK In 2022- 2023

From going to records and tapes to CDs, a lot has changed in how we listen to and promote our music. Now that we are in the age of digital marketing, the music industry has evolved into the streaming era.

According to the government, more than 80% of recorded music in the UK is now listened to via internet streaming services rather than traditional media such as CDs and vinyl. To assist you in selecting the best music streaming service for you to listen to and promote music, we’ve outlined all you need to know about streaming music, from how it works to what services are available in the UK.

• Apple Music

Apple Music is a music streaming service with over 75 million songs. It’s designed to mix your purchased music with music kept in your Apple Music library via Apple’s cloud services. The app’s five tabs are listen Now, Browse, Radio, Library, and Search.

Apple Music For Promotion

Apple Music marketing refers to musicians who use Apple Music for Artists to increase the reach of their content on the platform. Apple Music includes several features, such as music branding, sharing, and playlist placement on a selected Apple Music playlist.

One of the most recent features is the ability to provide artists with analytics and streaming data to build a data-driven promotional strategy.

How does it work?

The Listen Now tab features a hand-picked selection of albums and playlists depending on your musical preferences. Apple Music editors’ picks of the week’s newest tracks, videos, and playlists may be found in the Browse tab. Under the Radio area, you’ll find Apple Music 1 (formerly Beats 1), a 24-hour live global channel, and Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country.

Whether it’s music you’ve downloaded from your computer, bought from iTunes, or uploaded via Apple Music servers, it’s all saved in the Library. Finally, Search enables you to search for any genre of music you want to hear. 

Price Plans

Apple Music is free for three months, after which it costs £4.99 per month for students, £9.99 per month for individual memberships, and £14.99 per month for family memberships that include up to six individuals.

• BBC Sounds

BBC Sounds allow you to listen to live and on-demand BBC Radio stations and programming, as well as podcasts and music. It claims to have over 80,000 hours of BBC recordings on hand. You can also download shows and podcasts to listen to while you’re not connected to the internet.

To use BBC Sounds, you’ll need to create a BBC account. You’ll need an internet connection to use the streaming service, which you may do through the website. BBC Sounds can be listened to on your computer or supported by Amazon Fire, Android, and iOS mobile and tablet devices via the BBC Sounds app.

BBC Sounds are free to use, but you must first create an account. You don’t need a TV license to use BBC Sounds, unlike the BBC iPlayer.

• Spotify

Spotify has been around since 2008; as of 2021, it has 406 million members, with 180 million subscribing to Spotify Premium. Others utilize Spotify’s free tier, which features lower-quality music and adverts every few songs. Users who subscribe to the free plan are also denied access to several premium features, such as downloading songs for offline listening and using Spotify Connect.

Spotify Music For Promotion

Because it has over 300 million loyal fans globally, Spotify is an excellent approach to growing your following. Spotify for Artists is a free service that allows you to advertise your work, monitor your audience, and organize your profile. Spotify for Artists is available on the Web as well as as an Android and iOS mobile app. 

How does it work?

You’ll have access to over 82 million songs, 3.6 million podcasts, prepared playlists, and Spotify Radio on the Free or Premium tier. You can use your computer to add purchased music to Spotify, but you’ll have to do it manually, so it’s not as convenient as Apple Music.

Spotify learns from your listening patterns and tailors recommendations to suit your tastes. There’s also Chromecast and Facebook connectivity, so you can see what your buddies are listening to. Meanwhile, Spotify Connect (which is exclusively available to Premium customers) allows you to listen to Spotify on speakers that are compatible with the Service.

Price Plans

Spotify Free is a free service with advertisements. Spotify Premium is available for a month for free, after which it costs £9.99 a month. You may also join up for a Duo account for £13.99 a month, which offers you two Premium versions, or a Family account for £16.99 a month, which gives you up to six Premium accounts. For £5.99 a month, students can upgrade to a Premium account.

• That Grape Juice

That Grape Juice, based in London, is one of the Web’s most well-known Urban Pop Culture sites. With tens of thousands of daily readers, they are a worldwide recognized source for urban news, music, entertainment, celebrity interviews, critiques, and much more.

Billboard, The Independent, Huffington Post, New York Post, The Voice, MTV, BET, AOL, and E! News, among others, have highlighted them (TV). This blog, which continues to quench thirsts for tasty music fare, maintains its number one position for another year, keeping its readers’ cups full of music news, interviews, and entertainment updates.

Grape Juice has a bold, distinct voice in a sea of websites that speaks passionately and encourages visitors to speak back just as passionately. Readers don’t just look at the site; they participate in it, providing us an advantage over the competition. In an age when people are continually bombarded with the same message, we must recognize that our audience is not passive. They play an essential role in the That Grape Juice experience and are very active.

• YouTube Music

YouTube Music offers albums, singles, videos, remixes, live performances, and music streaming. There are two plans available: free with advertisements and Premium, which is ad-free and allows you to save music to listen to while you’re not connected to the internet.

It has taken the place of Google Play Music, so if you were a  Google Play Music subscriber, you’d be able to transfer your purchases and preferences.

How to get the Service?

YouTube Music is available on the Web via Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge, Android phones and tablets running version 4.4 or higher, and iPhones and iPads running iOS 7.

It also works with other services, like compatible intelligent speakers, smart TVs, a cast browser on your TV, and Google Pixel Buds headphones. Other services, such as Sonos wireless speakers and Apple CarPlay, can also play YouTube Music Premium.

Price Plans

YouTube Music is available for free. YouTube Music Premium is free for the first month and costs £9.99 per month. A family plan is £14.99 per month, while a student package costs £4.99 per month.

• UKF Music

UKF is a brand owned by Luke Hood and AEI Media that promotes all types of electronic music. After launching two YouTube channels, UKF Drum & Bass and UKF Dubstep, to offer bass music, Luke Hood created UKF Music in 2009. On the first anniversary of its launch, UKF celebrated one billion YouTube views on June 28, 2012. UKF stands for the United Kingdom and Frome, Luke Hood’s hometown.

Drum & Bass lovers will find playlists, new album information, live streaming, and the best of what YouTube has to offer right now. Explore the finest of last year’s D&B with the UKF team’s remarkable series of posts, or search by Artists, Labels, or genres.

• XS Noize

In 2014, Mark Millar founded XS Noize, an international non-profit group of outspoken music lovers. XS Noize’s popularity among music fans has soared since its release.

Its mission is to provide extensive musical reviews, interviews, breaking news, and commentary. Our writers come from various backgrounds, ethnicities, and ages. Our musical preferences consist of many genres. XS Noize’s main office is in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and it has satellite offices in the United States, Scotland, England, and Russia.

• A&R Factory

Its audience includes record labels, radio stations, broadcasters, management companies, music publicists, and others, and it has been sharing the best independent music with them. 

Independent musicians can publish their music directly to the blog, and they can learn how A&R Factory has helped other artists in the Artist Development section. The music continued to be made despite the lockdowns in the UK, as proven by the Lockdown Interviews part of the blog.

It features emerging independent musicians from around the world. Now is the time to submit your music for consideration. Record label owners, publishers, radio stations, public relations professionals, managers, and sync licensing organizations are among the readers of A&R Factory, a popular music blog with a global audience.

• Tidal

Tidal is a music streaming service that musicians own. According to the website, it was established to bring fans and artists closer together and build a sustainable industry paradigm that honors music and artists.

It claims to have over 60 million songs and over 250,000 high-quality videos in its repertoire, original video series, podcasts, thousands of playlists created by industry experts, music journalists, and artists, exclusive material, and unique experiences.

It offers a Premium service as well as HiFi. It claims that HiFi streaming provides an uncompressed sound file, allowing you to hear every instrument and note as intended by the artist.

Tidal Music for Promotion

Tidal is providing musicians a one-of-a-kind opportunity to gain traction on the streaming platform. It’s easy to use and can assist you in getting your music out there as quickly as possible. Consider the amount of exposure that this platform may provide. Your audio will be marketed to millions of individuals who listen to music in your genre due to the plays that the campaign offers.

How to get the Service?

You must sign up for a Tidal account first to get the Service. The Tidal app is available for Android and iOS devices. The Tidal desktop app is available for Windows and OS X. Amazon Echo devices, compatible smart speakers, and suitably connected car dashboards. It is also compatible with smart TVs, and TV streaming devices can all stream music.

Price Plan

Tidal HiFi is £9.99 per month after a 30-day free trial, with a family membership allowing up to five users costing £14.99 per month and a student membership costing £4.99 per month. Tidal HiFi Plus costs £19.99 per month, with students receiving a 50% discount.

• We Plug Good Music

We promote good music, believe in the power of great music, and highlight the most interesting new and upcoming music for our fans. We Plug Good Music is a cutting-edge platform that uses media and publication, digital PR and publicity, digital marketing, and live events to promote, support, and create awareness for the best new music and artists. It arose from a love for new and emerging music and a desire to change the way new music is discovered and enjoyed.

We Plug Good Music has been a trendsetter and tastemaker since its first iteration in 2009. Now, with over 200,000 monthly active users, more than 30,000 Twitter followers, more than 40,000 Facebook fans, over 20,000 Instagram fans, and over 20,000 YouTube subscribers, the company is looking to up the ante in disseminating and promoting relevant new media and content to

The Plug GOOD Music blog only features the highest-quality music. ‘New and growing music from around the world,’ as well as reviews and discussions with industry insiders, may be found here.

Conclusion

Learn how to use modern social media marketing tactics to sell more music, tickets, and merchandise. Increase the number of fans and sales of your song. Discover how to generate new money streams. To attract and develop your audience, learn how to separate yourself and stand out from the crowd by tapping into like-minded people, sponsorships, and causes and building momentum.