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The Benefits of Discord for Musicians

As a musician, you likely have a presence on social media apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. But what about Discord? Find out why you should start utilizing this platform!

Musicnotes

Aug 31, 2022 • 4 min read

As a musician, you need a presence on social media apps like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook to connect with your fanbase. However, many musicians are missing an opportunity because they don’t know about Discord.

What Is Discord?

If you don’t know what Discord is, here’s a quick explanation. You know how businesses use Slack or Teams to enable their employees to chat effortlessly with each other? Well, Discord is just like that — but for fun!

When the company was founded in 2015, it was initially a place for gamers to communicate, with functionality for voice calls, video calls and instant messaging.

As the platform grew, so did its user base. Today, Discord is a well-loved platform for fans of gaming, music and sports. In fact, around one billion messages are sent between Discord users every day, and there are more than 50 million monthly users.

What Can Musicians Do on Discord?

Once you sign up for an account, you’ll be able to join different online communities — known as servers. There are a host of servers on Discord dedicated to music, spanning numerous genres.

In addition to joining servers, you can also create your own unique server; a place where you can build a community for your fans, collaborate with other artists and develop meaningful connections.

Already, tens of thousands of musicians and bands are using Discord to catapult their careers forward, and you could do the same.

Benefits of Discord for Musicians

Let’s take a look at the benefits of Discord for musicians in more detail.

1. Create a Meaningful Community for Your Fans

Online community — *Photo Credit: Unsplash*

Platforms like Instagram and TikTok often facilitate one-way communications, where you announce news to your fans or share music, without being able to create a meaningful dialogue or engage in conversation.

Discord, on the other hand, is all about two-way communication. With options to chat and video call, you can build deeper relationships with your fans.

For example, say you just finished an Instagram Live or posted a new TikTok, you can encourage your fans to pop onto Discord to carry on the conversation, get their feedback, and show them that you’re interested in what they have to say.

2. Build Your Fanbase

Discord isn’t just a place to connect with the fans you already have. It also gives you the opportunity to grow your fanbase. Research from Spotify found that, in one month alone, Discord sent over 800K listeners to the platform. These listeners went on to listen to nearly 9 million tracks in just 14 days.

3. Expand Your Network

The music industry is undoubtedly tough; it’s often a case of who you know, not what you know. At the same time, though, our world is more digital than ever. Gone are the days when a budding songwriter got discovered in a bar. Today, it’s all about going viral on YouTube or TikTok.

While the digital way of doing things certainly has its benefits, it can also make it more challenging for musicians to build relationships with potential producers, managers and other artists. Unless, of course, you use Discord.

There are thousands of musicians and individuals working in the industry on this platform. By joining, you can develop new friendships and professional relationships that could help your career.

Whether you’re looking to beat writer’s block, are seeking a publisher, or need advice about an upcoming gig or your music blog, the people of Discord can help.

4. Monetize Your Music

Musicians can use Discord to advertise their merchandise and concert tickets to loyal fans. It’s a really great place to monetize your music.

There’s now even the option to put your Discord community behind a paywall, meaning your fans have to pay a subscription to access your content. While this won’t be for everyone, it’s another example of how you can use Discord to make money from your music.

Conclusion

Ultimately, joining Discord is a win-win for you and your fans. This platform is a wonderful place for musicians to network with like-minded individuals, build meaningful relationships and boost your earnings.

Author Bio:

Mauricio Prinzlau is the CEO and Co-founder of Cloudwards. He is at the helm of the company and steers a team of editors, writers and designers from all around the world.