How to Make a Song Go Viral — and an Example of a Social Commentary Song
Sometimes songs by an unknown songwriter go viral, such as Rich Men North of Richmond about a working class man struggling to get by while the rich enjoy their elite moneyed life. Now another song is in the process of going viral: I’m a Country Man in a Digital Age about a man who wishes for a return to a simpler way of life where people were easy to meet and call. He feels the world today is moving too fast, and there’s so much hatred and conflict. He describes how the world is full of smart gadgets, such as phones and robots that can talk, and he worries about a future where AI’s all the rage, but it’s taking away the human touch.
The song has already gotten nearly 3000 views and over 100 likes in a few days without any promotion, just people sharing it with others.You can listen to it on Changemakers Publishing at https://youtu.be/TXcuOaHSoKQ or on Changemakers Music at https://youtu.be/6iC2QxlxwKw.
After this song took off, I wondered what makes a song go viral, and I did some research to help anyone with a song can create a viral hit. Here are some suggestions I found online.
· Write something on a topic that everyone is talking about in the news or social media.
· Get your song recorded, mixed, and mastered so it sounds really good. If you can do it yourself, great. If not, find a professional singer, musician, or recording studio to produce a great song.
· Look for artists who are creating music similar to yours and learn their fans are, so you can appeal to that same audience.
· Tell your story about what inspired you to write this song to podcasters or other media contacts.
· Reach out to influencers on the social media, such as on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms.
· Don’t be concerned about making money; focus on gaining popularity on social media platforms to create a fan base before you try to make money from your song.
· Randomly reward your fans or followers by connecting with them and randomly giving out rewards, such as sending a personal email, giving them a free digital copy, or setting up a meet and greet with a few fans in your local area.
· Collaborate with other artists and share your songs with each other. Set up your social media account or website to mention when you collaborate with another artist.
· Use Instagram Live or TikTok so you can candidly connect with your followers, and talk back and forth with them in real time. You can also use this connection to promote any new songs or albums you have created.
· Promote any new songs about 10–14 days before you release it to excite your fans and followers about what’s coming next.
· If you can, get your song on a playlist by Spotify or other major lable. For example, to get on Spotify, create a Spotify for Artists Account at https://artists.spotify.com, and direct your fans and followers to go there. That will help build traffic, since Spotify uses data indicating the number of times your song is played or the number of people listening to decide what songs go onto its playlist. You need to be active on Spotify to get your song on the list, though you need to submit your song for consideration about a week before you release it.
· You can contact people with playlists, and ask them to add your song to their list.
· Create a professional-looking video to accompany your song. To make one, start with your audio track and then add a good visual image for the cover with the name of the song and possibly other images for different verses. Include details with a lot of keywords relating to your song in the description box.
· To post your song on TikTok, notice what’s trending there, and post songs that are high energy, danceable and fun.
· Post notices about your song on other platforms.
So there are all these things you can do to make your song or music go viral.
And sometimes there’s the song that goes viral on its own after you post it on YouTube, where a few followers can share the song on their own. In this case, the song’s subject or the story it tells, especially if it relates to the latest news, can help it gain traction. Then, people who listen to the song will share it and the internet world will spread it everywhere.
That’s what happened with my song I’m a Country Man in a Digital Age, about a man who yearns for the days when people could call and see each other face-to-face, for a simpler life, “away from the world’s daily hatred and strife.”
I recorded the lyrics with my longtime collaborator John Covert, the leader of the Crystal Image Band, who wrote the music, sang, and posted the song on Song Trader, which distributes the song to all the major platforms. Meanwhile, I created a cover image for the video, added contact inforation, and posted the song on my two YouTube Channels — Changemakers Music, which only has song videos, and Changemakers Publishing, which has all kinds of videos beside music videos, such as for AI art and trailers of films I developed and produced. Then, soon after I posted it, the song began taking off on its own.
Ironically, I wrote the song with a little input from AI, which is what the song is against. I asked AI to write a song about a man longing for life in a simpler time, and after I got three versions of the song from AI, each with a chorus, three verses, and a bridge, I wove these ideas together, added some of my own lines, and edited the whole thing to create the song. Then, after some feedback and a few changes from my collaborator who wrote the music, I finalized the lyrics, and my collaborator produced the recording.
I was inspired to write the song, because besides writing songs about popular topics, such as finding and losing love and inspirational gospel songs, I’ve become especially interested in songs about everyday life today and what might be changed. That reflects the same kind of approach I have used in writing many of my books and films. For example, through Changemakers Productions and Changemakers Publishing, I have written a series of books on scams which have been turned into documentaries. One is The Big Con, about a book-to-film scam in which the scammers invented studio executives to get victims to pay them more and more money which turned into Conned: A True Story. Another is I Was Scammed about dozens of scams and how to avoid them, which were turned into the film Con Artists Unveiled. The documentaries feature interviews with victims, scammers, investigators, and lawyers who are part of this true crime world. The books, published by American Leadership Books, and the films are available on Amazon and Amazon Prime.
So rather than being a professional in the music business, I have mainly focused on writing books on a wide variety of topics, from popular business to self-help and social issues, and producing nearly two dozen films on various topics. Thus, that shows you don’t have to be a professional songwriter or musician to create a song that goes viral. And while you can help promote your song with various techniques, you may not have to do anything. Just write a good song that captures the public interest, and it’ll go viral on its own.
For more information and to schedule interviews, email or call:
Karen Andrews
Executive Assistant
Changemakers Publishing and Writing
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 804–6333
www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com
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Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D. is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 200 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing (http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com). She writes books, proposals, and film scripts for clients, and has written and produced 18 feature films and documentaries, including Conned: A True Story and Con Artists Unveiled¸ distributed by Gravitas Ventures. (http://www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com). Her latest books include Ghost Story and How to Find and Work with a Good Ghostwriter published by Waterside Productions; The Big Con, I Was Scammed, Scams in the Digital Age, and Love and Sex in Prison, published by American Leadership Press; and Ask the AI Wizard, published by J. Michael Publishing.