The democratization of music due to the internet may be largely overstated. On one hand, independent musicians have far greater access and reach than they did even twenty years ago, as the major channels for popular music used to be outside the grasp of all but a select few hitmakers. The good news is that gatekeeping has been greatly diminished due to technology like streaming platforms, social media, and community-driven strategies such as music marketing on Reddit.
On a more somber note, things are often the same as they ever were. Major labels and mega pop stars still dominate the lion’s share of radio play, playlist placements, sync opportunities, and major concerts. It’s not as simple as posting a single to YouTube, Instagram, SoundCloud, or TikTok and becoming an overnight sensation. There’s a lot more to it than simply casting your music into the void and hoping for the best.
As artists, musicians, DIY label owners, sound engineers, producers, and creatives of all kinds, we need to investigate every channel for getting our music out there. This makes social bookmarking sites like Reddit invaluable, as they not only let you post your own links but also have enough traffic to make the effort worthwhile. Let’s get some perspective.
As of February 2025, Reddit was the ninth most visited website on Earth, according to SimilarWeb. Reddit received an incredible 11.05 billion visitors between December 2024 and February 2025. Considering the current global population is 8.2 billion, this breaks down to every human on Earth visiting roughly 1.3 Reddit posts in a year. With numbers like that, any musician using social media for music simply can’t afford to overlook Reddit as an opportunity to market their music.
With any platform, it’s vital you don’t overlook the social in social media network if you’re hoping to gain actual fans and listeners. Reddit is a community, first and foremost. Like any community, it’s got its own rules, regulations, faux pas, and cause célèbre. Failing to understand them could be like rushing into a wake to scream at the top of your lungs that people should check out your music. It’s not likely to win you many fans or active listeners.
With that in mind, we’ve put together a thorough guide on how to promote your music via Reddit in 2025. Building on insights from our previous articles on the subject, we’ve compiled a ton of subreddits where you can also post your music directly, a ton more to help you master your craft, and some general pointers on how to get the most engagement on your posts, to make the most of your Reddit marketing efforts.
How to Promote Your Music on Reddit in 2025
Post Your Music
The first and most obvious way to promote music on Reddit is to post it directly. This can be wildly successful, garnering hundreds if not tens of thousands of plays, resulting in who knows how many new and active listeners. Posting your own music on Reddit is both an art and a science all its own, though, and you should really take the time to learn about the practice before simply diving into the deep end.
Posting your music on Reddit is typically thought of as “self-promotion.” It’s not always explicitly banned, but even if it’s not, it can still be heavily frowned upon, either due to overexposure, bad actors, or simply someone having a bad day. At best, promoting your music on Reddit without understanding the community you’re engaging with will simply result in your post getting downvoted to oblivion. At worst, it can get you branded a tacky, spammy salesperson, which no one likes. This ends up having the opposite effect music marketing on Reddit should have. Instead of growing awareness around your music and growing your fan base, you’re leaving potential listeners with a negative association. You need to avoid this at all costs.
If you’re planning on using Reddit music promotion, here are some of the best music subreddits that are open to self-promotion or are otherwise useful for growing your music career. The key phrase/genre in each link should speak for itself.
Useful Subreddits Directory for Music Marketing on Reddit
Subreddits That Allow Self-Promotion
- /r/NewMusic
- /r/ThisIsOurMusic
- /r/TheseAreOurAlbums
- /r/IndependentMusic
- /r/Indie
- /r/PromoteYourMusic
- /r/WereOnSpotify
- /r/MyMusic
Subreddits for Electronic Musicians
Subreddits for Rock Musicians
Subreddits for Finding Collaborators
Subreddits for Learning About Music and Production
- /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers
- /r/MusicPromotion
- /r/Listige
- /r/MusicInTheMaking
- /r/RadioReddit
- /r/Composer
- /r/MusicMarketing
You can also explore the virtually endless list of music subreddits collected on /r/Music’s Wiki, which is conveniently organized by style, making it easy to find communities that will be receptive to your music.
Sign Up for an AMA to Boost Your Music Marketing on Reddit
AMAs, which stands for “Ask Me Anything,” can be some of the best opportunities for music marketing on Reddit. Björk did one eight years ago that generated over 2,000 questions and responses, to give you an idea of how big they can be. Sir Paul McCartney answered questions on Reddit back in 2021, generating over 10,000 questions and answers. So has David Byrne of the Talking Heads. Clearly, AMAs are a big deal. They can even be more impactful than a major press campaign, if done correctly.
In fact, Benjamin Groff did one of his own AMAs on Reddit not too long ago. There are lots of key questions and answers here: Benjamin Groff AMA on Reddit!
If you’re thinking of participating in an AMA to promote your music, the first thing you’ll need to do is decide where to host your session. Individual subreddits, like /r/IndieHeads, will sometimes host an AMA, so you might start with a specialized subreddit geared specifically toward music. Others recommend signing up for an AMA through the official /r/IAmA as they tend to get more traffic and generate more interest. If you’re not sure which would be best for your music, spend some time looking at the different subs and seeing which one looks more suitable.
If you’re thinking of hosting an AMA, it’s a good idea to create an account specifically for your musical project. Not only will it make your project more recognizable, it will also help create a bit of distance between your music and the cute puppy pics you’re known to upvote. Once you’ve got an account and have decided where to host your AMA, you’ll need to submit a few sample questions to give mods some idea of the topics you’ll be covering.
If you’re accepted, you’ll be given a time slot, which you can then use to promote your AMA on whatever channel you like. This is a good example of how Reddit can integrate with your other marketing channels, helping to deepen your relationship between you and your fans, similar to hosting a Discord server to promote your music.
When it comes time to do your AMA, make sure you’ve got the time and mental bandwidth to truly focus and be present with your audience. Although times can vary, it’s generally recommended to schedule at least 2.5 hours.
Find Bandmates
Reddit can also be very useful as an amplified community board. If you’re thinking of starting or expanding a music project, appropriate subreddits can be a great place to find potential bandmates or potential collaborators. For effective music marketing on Reddit, your best bet is to look for subreddits around your area if you’re planning on playing live shows or rehearsing in person. There are all sorts of opportunities for remote collaboration, too, though, if you’re working in a genre less dependent on live performances.
Improve Your Production
The best way to promote your music is—(we know this sounds obvious but…) make the best music possible and make it sound great, too! Toward that end and to help you in that endeavor, Reddit can be a gold mine of collective knowledge, wisdom, and experience if you know where to look. /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers is the gold standard in terms of practical knowledge and wisdom, as they regularly weigh in on esoteric subjects like mixing, mastering, and VSTs that would be advanced even for a university course. If you want to learn how to get a late ’90s drum sound, they’ve got you covered. Here are some more subreddits that will help you up your production game.
Subreddits to Learn Music Production
- /r/AudioEngineering
- /r/EDMProduction
- /r/FL_Studio
- /r/Ableton
- /r/AbletonLive
- /r/AudioPost
- /r/Cubase
- /r/FutureBeatProducers
- /r/GameAudio
- /r/LinuxAudio
- /r/LocationSound
- /r/Logic_Studio
- /r/MakingHipHop
- /r/MaxMSP
- /r/ProductionLounge
- /r/ProTools
- /r/RateMyAudio
- /r/Reaper
- /r/Reasoners
- /r/Remix
- /r/Renoise
- /r/SampleHunters
- /r/SongStems
- /r/VSTi
Develop Your Music
Of course, the best production in the universe won’t matter much if the music’s not any good. Luckily, Reddit is also a gold mine of instrumental knowledge, serving as private lessons, a supportive community, and an endless source of inspiration at the same time! Here are some subreddits that can help you improve on your instrument.
Subreddits to Help You Learn Your Instrument
- /r/Accordion
- /r/Banjo
- /r/Bass
- /r/BassPlaying
- /r/Bassoon
- /r/Beatbox
- /r/Brass
- /r/Cello
- /r/Clarinet
- /r/ClassicalGuitar
- /r/Concertina
- /r/DoubleBass
- /r/Drummers
- /r/Drums
- /r/Flute
- /r/Guitar
- /r/GuitarPlaying
- /r/HammondOrgan
- /r/Handpan
- /r/Harmonica
- /r/Horn
- /r/HurdyGurdy
- /r/Keys
- /r/Luthier
- /r/Mandolin
- /r/Oboe
- /r/Ocarina
- /r/Percussion
- /r/Percussionists
- /r/Piano
- /r/Piccolo
- /r/PlayingGuitar
- /r/Recorder
- /r/Saxophone
- /r/Saxophonics
- /r/Singing
- /r/Synthesizers
- /r/Telecaster
- /r/Trombone
- /r/Trumpet
- /r/Tuba
- /r/Ukulele
- /r/Viola
- /r/Violinist
Promote Your Shows
If you are in a project that performs live, you should absolutely use Reddit as a way to promote your upcoming shows. Local subreddits are great for music marketing on Reddit, as people often use them as a way to find something to do that night. It’s also an easy way to build your reputation in your local community, as people will begin to recognize your name and know that you’re actively playing shows. Not only does this mean more people might come to your shows, it also means other bands and musical projects might think of you if they’ve got a bill they need to fill out.
Engage With Communities
As a general rule of thumb—and this goes for most things in life—try to practice the “campsite rule” when promoting your music on Reddit. Leave the musical communities you’re engaging with at least a little better than when you found them.
When you’re posting music on Reddit, don’t just throw up a link and disappear. You should give if you hope to receive. To put it another way, “be the change you wish to see in the music scene.” If you’re hoping to build an audience with Reddit, you should be engaging with other musicians building their audience on Reddit. Listen to their music. Provide constructive feedback. Put a track on one of your playlists. Although there are no guarantees in life, being a helpful, constructive, active participant in the music communities you’re engaging in is a great way to inspire others to do the same for you. As a general guideline, you might follow the old principle of posting to social media. Upvote and comment on four posts for every upload of your own.
Understand Tastes and Trends
While you should always practice prudence when letting social networks influence your own creativity, having an understanding of current tastes or trends can be highly useful if you’re on the fence about a particular track or trying to decide how to move forward. Say that you’ve got a track heavily indebted to late 2010s PC Music like SOPHIE or GFOTY. Knowing that hyperpop has been heavily on the decline since 2021 could mean the difference between putting out a whole album in that style or maybe including a single track as a b-side or outtake. You should always strive to remain true to your artistic vision, but having an understanding of musical tastes and trends could potentially save you a great deal of wasted time and effort. This is where understanding music marketing on Reddit can be beneficial, as it can provide insights into current online discussions and trends.
Learn From Experience When Music Marketing on Reddit
Music subreddits are often flooded with wisdom and expert guidance. Every day, subs geared toward making music receive thoughtful questions about growing as a musician, developing as a sound engineer or producer, promoting shows, or growing and connecting with your audience. These insights are invaluable. Use them.
Threads like “How to Promote Your Music When You’re A Completely New Artist,” posted last year on /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers, receive hundreds of answers from musicians working in every conceivable genre. Of course, there’s a fair amount of doomerism and snark—it IS Reddit, after all—but it’s worthwhile to wade through to find the pearls of wisdom. In that thread, musicians suggested useful but established tips like playing open mics or hiring a VFW hall for live shows to posting elaborate promotional schedules leading up to a major release. Those sort of insights can cost thousands of dollars if they’re even available at all.
Another thread from /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers, “What Are The Best Ways (Paid or Unpaid) to Promote My Music,” from three years ago has some real gems, as well, amidst the sea of deleted comments. One reply, in particular, expresses the importance of creating visually appealing assets for making your music stand out in a sea of content. It might seem like a basic observation, even a given, which just makes it that much more important. Today’s unspoken knowledge can be tomorrow’s forgotten wisdom. They also discuss the importance of releasing music regularly, expressing sincere gratitude for anyone who takes the time to engage with your music in any way. It’s like having a banquet hall full of talented, experienced industry insiders just waiting to tell you everything they’ve ever learned.
Schedule Your Posts
If you’re serious about music marketing on Reddit, you’ve got to think like a marketer. Without clear, actionable, understandable, repeatable results, you’re basically just guessing. At best, this can play into your confirmation biases, verifying that you’re the worst, if your post doesn’t perform how you expect it to, or inflating your sense of grandiosity if one of your posts blows up. At worst, these flawed signals can end up working their way into your music. Say you have an indie garage rocker with some R&B flourishes explode on one of the popular music subreddits. This might lead you to believe that the world is waiting for a White Stripes/Sade hybrid (which sounds kind of amazing). The truth may simply be that some poster who’s particularly passionate about both Jack White and “Smooth Operator” happens to be online at that crucial moment, giving you your first upvote and beginning the avalanche rather than downvoting and condemning your song to obscurity.
There are numerous Reddit Schedulers available. Many are similar but each has their own defining features that may make it most suitable for your particular needs. Postpone is a Reddit scheduler for musicians that’s similar to social media scheduling apps like Later, due to its slick calendar and timeline layout. That’s just the start, though.
Postpone can analyze top comments as well as posts, making it highly useful for getting a real sense of a community’s tastes and preferences. It’s got some of the most advanced analytics anywhere, too, letting you know how your content is performing as well as analyzing the communities you want to participate in. If you’re looking for a Reddit post scheduler and analyzer in one place, you’d do well to check out Postpone.
Postly is a newer Reddit scheduling app, in addition to numerous other social media platforms, that integrates AI in some clever ways. It can generate text for your posts, help you brainstorm ideas, and let you know where to post your content. As a pure Reddit scheduling platform, it’s not as advanced as Postpone, but if you’re managing numerous social media platforms for music, it’s worth a look.
Final Thoughts on Music Marketing on Reddit in 2025
If you’ve been paying any sort of attention to technology in the last few years, you’ll know it’s vital to have as much control over your music, marketing, and promotion as possible. Just think about the musicians who relied on Twitter to connect with their fan base. Or the ever-shaky foundation of TikTok, which still doesn’t seem to have fully recovered following the proposed TikTok ban at the beginning of the year. Even without these extreme examples, things have been tumultuous at the best of times. Organic reach on social media is a pale shadow of what it once was. Now AI is shaking up the search engines, making it increasingly difficult to wind up on the front page of Google. With things being so unsteady, it’s vital we consider every tool at our disposal.
That means doing your homework, though. Taking the time to learn music marketing on Reddit is a solid investment, as it can lead to new fans, passionate listeners, and a potential global community! Just remember to practice the campsite rule, give more than you take and, above all, celebrate music in all its forms. Your new listeners will find you and reward you in kind.
(This article was co-written with J. Simpson.)
