How to Use ReverbNation like a Boss

I am a big fan of ReverbNation. I’ve been a member for years and still haven’t learned everything it can do yet. I’m going to walk you through the exact steps to make your profile epic, and also give you inside info I’ve learned from my experience there!

Why Should I Be on ReverbNation?

If you’re a band or artist, you’ll obviously want a profile here. It’s just a great way to connect and get your band “out there” more. However, you should still be on ReverbNation if you’re a songwriter, talent agent, session singer, or anything involving the music business. Trust me, it’s a great way to have your exact, targeted audience right at your fingertips! I’m even trying to convince my partner at Brain Stamp to make a profile for his microphone company. I mean, why not? He’ll have a ton of people to connect with and they’ll all be potential customers! (Hack: When you sign up, you can either sign up as a “musician” or “fan.” In order to upload music, you’ll want to register as a musician). 

Convinced? Alright…

Here are the Steps to Make Your ReverbNation Profile Awesome

1). Complete your profile

I mean REALLY complete it. Fill out each detail. Here’s a rundown to make sure you don’t forget anything:

• Go to “Content” (top left), then “Customize Profile”
• Arrange the layout of your page. Organize it by what you want people to see first
• Fill out the other tabs, including General, Location, Around the Web, and Similar Artists
  • If you think you “don’t sound like anyone,” Read this post on why you should find at least a few artists you sound like!
  • Sync all your social media and encourage people to connect with you elsewhere
• View your profile as a fan (button next to Customize Profile) to make sure everything looks the way you want. If not, make changes.

2). Rock Your Content

This is the important part, the part that will make other people want to connect with you. I don’t have everything filled out because some things don’t apply to me (I don’t perform live, so “shows” isn’t necessary). Fill out what works for you and leave the rest, but don’t forget to adjust your layout in your profile (see above) to make sure the blank areas don’t appear on your page!

If you’re not a performer, such as a songwriter, session musician, etc, you should still put songs up! Just put samples of work you’ve done or anything that showcases why you’re there.

I highly recommend professional photos, but I know that’s not always possible. Just make sure it’s something that will grab attention and gives the right image. A dimly lit selfie after open mic at a bar is probably not your best look (it’s certainly not mine).

3). Utilize All the Tools

Next to Content, you’ll find the Tools tab. Let’s view each of these:

• Fan Reach: I use MailChimp for my email list, but you can still use this if you like! When I get new subscribers here, I simply import any emails from subscribers there into my MailChimp.
• I don’t use Digital Distribution, Press Kits, or Site Builder because I have my own systems for that. I also don’t use Gig Finder but you totally should if you play live!
• Widgets are AMAZING and I love using them. You can customize the color and layout and put them on your website. Here’s a video I made to show you how to use them:

• Create a listing if you’re looking to meet or work with new people!

4). Use Promote Wisely

I have used ReverbNation’s promote option in the past, and it does a lot for you. It gives you insights as to what photo got the most clicks, which ads were more successful, etc. However, look into your options here because Facebook changes their advertising rules all the time. It may make more sense financially to go directly through them.

I also had nothing to promote when I used this feature. The goal was to simply test it to see how many new likes I could get on ReverbNation. I think I did get a couple, but I also spent like $20 so I recommend doing this better than me, haha. Make sure you have an actual goal and the money to spend on it, or it might not be that useful.

5). Decide if “Opportunities” is Right for You

In the Opportunities tab, you’ll find a ton of stuff to submit your songs, such as record labels, getting radio play, or playing major live events. ReverbNation used to offer free submission opportunities. They are currently “free with membership,” which has a fee. You can get a free, 30-day trial of the membership. You can also pay $10/month or $100/year for one. I will just say that when they were free, I submitted to a ton and never heard anything from anyone. You could just argue that that’s because I suck and no one likes my stuff, but I’ve heard similar things from other artists. I’ve also heard that most submission sites (Music X-Ray, Taxi, etc) are very difficult to see any success, but feel free to try if that’s right for you! A membership will also allow you to create an EPK and give you other cool options. There is also a Premium Membership, but I’m not really sure what the difference is because I just use the basic features. You can still get a ton of use out of the site at the basic level!

Here are some other tips for ReverbNation:

Your “rank” means nothing. You’ll see artists post “I’m the #1 Emo Folk Grunge artist in Pine Bluff, Arkansas!” and all that means is they’re probably the only artist in that genre in that area (or in the world). Your rank is based on how active you are on ReverbNation, including leaving other artists comments, sharing new content and how many plays you get.

Here are my stats, starting with my “Band Equity Graph”

Wow, shooting up into the sky! Exciting, right? Well, let’s look at my other stats.

Here’s how many people have played my songs on my profile:

Here’s how much traffic I’ve had to my profile:

So how is it possible that my Band Equity is skyrocketing? Could it possibly be that I was preparing to write this blog and clicking around and making sure I was showing you the right things for this post? (Hint: yes.)

My current rank is #19 in Nashville. That’s an amazing rank, considering I’m not a performing artist and no one has ever heard of me.

My point is, you can use your rank as a metric for how active you are and how many connections you’re making, but don’t treat it as gospel and don’t base your opinion of your music on it! I’m sure there are plenty of amazing artists on this site I’ve never heard. If you’re one of them, connect with me there!

My other tip is to simply pay attention to your ReverbNation dashboard. If anything on your profile is missing, it will let you know. You can also see other artists you might like, and who has viewed your profile lately (so don’t stalk your ex on this site or they’ll totally know).

Hopefully, these tips are helpful! Here’s a pre-made tweet to get people to your profile:

Do you have any other tips or hacks for ReverbNation? Let me know!