ToneDen has a lot of great offerings and can work really well for artists, however, what do you do when ToneDen is not working for you? I researched this topic to help you out.
If ToneDen is not working for you, the best thing to do is contact their support, take part in the free ToneDen Academy to learn the best practices, or start looking for an alternative to ToneDen.
Although most of their offerings are automated and set up so that you should see success as easily as possible, it is very possible that you may run into technical issues or simply not see the results you were hoping to see.
As much as it would be nice to sit back and watch the sweet streams roll in, this is a case where the more you know the better.
Some simple education on how ToneDen (and music marketing in general) is all you need to start finally having your music marketing efforts start to pay off for you.
With that said, let’s dive right into this, my friend! 🙂
What To Do When ToneDen Is Not Working
Before starting, make sure that the issue is actually with ToneDen and is not with Spotify – particularly if you are noticing a drop in streams.
I wrote an article called My Spotify Streams Went Down (& How To Fix It) if you need help investigating.
Now that you know it is not an issue of Spotify stream counts not updating, let’s get the first step out of the way because it is kind of a no-brainer and I don’t want to waste your time with fluff:
#1 Contact ToneDen for support
If you are running into a technical issue, simply contact their support team here.
They may even be able to provide some guidance on strategy and how to best use their services.
Short. Simple. Sweet.
With that out of the way, let’s move on to the next tip. 🙂
#2 Explore the free ToneDen Academy
If you are facing a less specific and less technical issue, the best approach is to improve your overall understanding of music marketing and how ToneDen works.
Luckily for you, ToneDen actually gives access to a free series of articles and courses called the ToneDen Academy where you can learn more about how ToneDen works and the best practices for using their services.
I’ve personally explored the Academy that they created and found it really useful.
In particular, I found it useful to see the best practices on how they run Facebook and Instagram ads so that I could simply run my own ads and avoid paying fees with the D.I.Y. approach of Facebook Ads for musicians.
Getting a better understanding of how ToneDen works and what they consider as best practices, will help you:
- Get the most out of their services and make sure you see the best results.
- Learn how to apply their concepts without using their services so you can save money, make more customizations and see even better results over time.
Whether you continue to use ToneDen or not, improving your knowledge on these topics will only help you and your music career see the results you know you deserve.
#3 Consider ToneDen alternatives
There are several reasons you may want to consider alternatives to ToneDen.
Although it is a great platform that is filled with many useful services and features, it does have its downsides, such as:
- Technical limitations
- Limited customization options
- High monthly fees
It is important to note that proper marketing costs either money or time with the best marketing costing both money and time.
Simply put: if you don’t have the time to learn some basic music marketing concepts, then you have to pay a high monthly fee to companies like ToneDen.
There is nothing wrong with that, but around these parts, we believe it is more important that you learn these things yourself so that you save more time and money in the long run.
So what is the best alternative to ToneDen?
Great question!
Let’s explore this further, my friend. 🙂
The Best Free Alternative To ToneDen
When it really comes down to it, there are two things that ToneDen is providing: strategy and web pages.
So, let’s breakdown each of these individually and hone in on the best free(ish) alternative:
How To Replicate The ToneDen Strategy & Spotify Growth Playbook
In terms of strategy, all ToneDen is doing is running Instagram Story ads to artists that are similar to you.
…the truth?
You can easily and freely access the Facebook Ads Manager and do this yourself.
With the Facebook Ads Manager, you can target all the same artists and genres that you can with ToneDen (plus way more).
In fact, all ToneDen is really doing is automating the use of the Facebook Ads Manager for you.
However, Facebook Ads can be really tough to figure out and this is exactly why paying for ToneDen can be so great.
With that said, I believe that learning Facebook Ads is such an important thing for modern music artists to learn that I’ve put out a free course on this topic that you can check out here: Free Facebook Ads For Musicians Course.
Plus – there is much more flexibility and many more crazy detailed targeting options inside of the Facebook Ads platform when you do it yourself.
Ultimately though, it is just much, much cheaper to build out your own website landing pages and run your own ads (I can’t stress that enough hehe).
Pro Tip #1: You can get access to the ToneDen Academy that I mentioned earlier in this article to directly learn how they are using the Ads Manager and start doing it yourself!
Pro Tip #2: The best way to take advantage of this strategy is to release new music consistently – this gives you the best chance of hacking the Spotify algorithm.
In addition to this, make sure you use a solid music distributor that allows you to release unlimited songs like DistroKid.
P.S. If you need help picking a plan, read this: DistroKid Musician vs. Musician Plus: How To Choose.
Next up: the webpages aka FanLinks.
How To Get Started With Music Links
Music links (also called “smart links”) are really just dedicated web pages that have buttons that link out to a song, album, or playlist on all of the different streaming services.
So – your first step should be to learn about what the best free music links are so that you can save some money by using a free option.
Not to be too clickbaity, but the best free option will surprise you (spoiler: it is actually ToneDen’s FanLinks).
Alternatively, if you want to spend a bit of money on your music links, I’ve also created a guide that will show you the best premium and budget options called Music Links: The Best Smart Link Tools To Promote Your Music. 🙂
Once you have chosen a music link tool, you will want to make sure it is optimized to get the most streams by learning about music landing pages and how you can apply tried and tested marketing tactics to improve your music links.
Or – you can just check out this free course that I made to help you learn the strategy behind music links and how to use and optimize your music links (regardless of what option you choose).
How To Make Your Own ToneDen-style FanLink Music Links
If you already have your own website, then you can actually do this for free.
If not, then don’t worry it’s cheap, easy, and will end up saving you some serious cash. Plus, there are a lot more things you can do with a fully functioning website. These include:
- Build your own website with a homepage, contact page, about me page, etc
- Add in a Store page where you can start selling merch
- Start your own blog
- Create fully customizable ToneDen-style FanLink pages
The two ways to create your own ToneDen-style FanLink pages are by creating a Squarespace-based website or a WordPress-based website.
They are both great options, but I personally use and would recommend WordPress.
Here is why:
- There are no monthly fees
- More customization and flexibility because of the endless amount of plugins available
- The option to use pre-made templates already in the style of Linktree, Toneden, Hypeddit, etc.
For a free step-by-step course on how to get started with this, check out my free course on smart links for music.
Here are the specific steps you need to follow to get set up with WordPress today:
#1 Get WordPress installed
The first thing you need to do is get web hosting, a domain, and install WordPress installed. Don’t worry it is easier than it sounds, my friend! 🙂
All you need to do is use a web hosting service like Bluehost that gives you a website domain and completely sets up WordPress on it for you.
For a free step-by-step course on how to get started with this, check out my free course on smart links for music.
It can be a bit of an upfront investment in your music career, but you actually end up with a fully functional website that is good to use for literally the next 3 years.
#2 Install a drag-and-drop Theme
This next step is definitely optional if you want to save some cash, but I think it is pretty important for you to be able to easily create web pages that look great and do what you want them to (without having to be a nerd coder hehe).
After getting all set up in the first step, I would then recommend installing a drag-and-drop theme or WordPress plugin like Thrive Architect. A plugin like this actually allows you to visually create beautiful webpages by moving things around instead of coding.
I personally use and recommend Thrive Architect because you can pay upfront (no monthly fees) and they are constantly adding new features for you to use. Seriously: it feels like they are adding some new feature or update every week.
For a free step-by-step course on how to get started with this, check out my free course on smart links for music.
Want to skip this step to save money?
No problem.
The free WordPress page editor is actually quite powerful and will definitely do the trick (your pages just might be a bit bare-bones and not look as nice as it could).
But with that said, this really is the best option if you want to get started ASAP and save some money.
When you are ready, you can always upgrade to a drag-and-drop editor like Thrive Architect. There is no pressure with this method and you won’t be stuck paying a monthly bill when you are ready to upgrade. 🙂
#3 Find a template or create your own
At this point, you have everything you need to get started!
If you want to save even more time, you can look for templates so that you barely have to lift a finger. Or, you can simply create your own in the style of ToneDen’s FanLink, DistroKid‘s HyperFollow, LinkTree, etc.
In fact, I’ve made a few free templates that you can get right here.
Best of all, you can customize these pages to your heart’s content. On top of that, you’ve actually picked up an incredibly invaluable skill. Congrats, my friend! 🙂
Companies Like ToneDen To Check Out
Companies that are similar to ToneDen include LinkTree, Linkfire, and Hypeedit.
Here is a list of companies like ToneDen that are worth checking out:
Speaking of DistroKid…
Looking For The Best Music Distributor?
Although my top suggestion for a music distributor is definitely DistroKid, I’ve gone ahead and compared DK to other popular services in case you are in the market for a new digital distributor or are simply just curious.
Popular alternatives to a music distribution service like DistroKid include TuneCore, CdBaby, Ditto, and Amuse.
If you would like to see how DistroKid compares to these services, more closely check out this articles:
- DistroKid vs TuneCore
- DistroKid vs CdBaby
- DistroKid vs UnitedMasters
- DistroKid vs Ditto
- DistroKid vs Amuse
- DistroKid vs SoundCloud
Or, if you would like a more detailed look into what DistroKid has to offer, you can check out my big fat DistroKid review. 🙂
P.S. If you also want to learn about music publishing and make sure that you are not leaving any money on the table with your music distribution setup, I’d recommend checking out these 2 articles:
