How to Sell Music on Shopify: A Complete Tutorial

There are several online platforms for selling beats and music, but the biggest challenge is competing with countless other musicians. In addition, you are limited in terms of control over SEO, paid media, and other marketing strategies. By having your own store, you take complete control of your business, without having to rely on third parties or face direct competition on a platform beyond your reach. With Shopify, you have complete autonomy to manage your store, personalize the customer experience, and maximize your sales.

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to set up your Shopify store to sell digital music or beats easily and professionally. We’ll cover essential tools and how to streamline the process to ensure an efficient shopping experience.

Step 1: Creating Your Shopify Store

If you don’t already have a Shopify account, the first step is to sign up. The platform offers a free trial that lets you explore the features before you start paying. To get started:

• Go to the Shopify website and click "Start Free Trial".
• Fill in the requested information such as email, password and store name.
• Choose your plan : Shopify currently offers a 3-day free trial period, allowing you to explore all the features before making a decision. Take advantage of this opportunity to find out which plan best suits your needs!

After signing up, you'll be taken to the main Shopify dashboard where you can start customizing your store.

Step 2: Choose and Customize the Theme

Now that you’re in the dashboard, the next step is to choose a theme that reflects the style of your music. Shopify offers both free and paid themes that can be customized without any coding required.

• In the menu on the left side, go to “Online Store” > “Themes” .
• Click “ Visit Theme Store ” to view the options.

Choose a clean theme that showcases your artwork, album covers, and tracks, then customize the colors, fonts, and layout in Shopify’s theme editor. This will ensure your store looks professional.

Step 3: Configure Digital Products (Songs and Albums)

The music you want to sell will be set up as a digital product. To do this, you'll need a tool that allows you to download it after purchase. Shopify offers a built-in option called "Digital Downloads" , which is ideal for digital products like MP3, WAV, or FLAC.

• From your Shopify dashboard , go to “Apps” and look for “Digital Downloads” .
• Install the app and follow the instructions to set it up in your store.

After installation, you can start adding your digital products:

• In the menu on the left, go to “Products” and click on “Add Product” .
• Fill in the name, description and upload the image of the product (such as the album cover or single). Remember to uncheck the option “This is a physical product” .
• Then go to “Apps” and click on “Digital Downloads” . Select “Add Digital Products” and upload the music in the desired format.

Step 4: Organize Your Music into Collections

To make it easier for your customers to browse, group your songs or albums into collections, such as "Singles" , "Albums" or even "Music Genres" .

• In the left menu, go to "Products" > "Collections" .
• Click "Create Collection" and add a description and image that represents this collection.
• Manually choose which products (songs) to add to the collection, or set automatic rules based on tags.

This will ensure that customers can easily find what they are looking for, as well as improving the organization of your store.

Step 5: Optimize the Product Page

A crucial aspect of selling music is your product page. Here, you should add engaging details about your tracks or albums, such as the inspiration behind the songs, track descriptions, or even preview videos.

• Use your product description to tell the story behind the album or track.
• Add relevant tags like “MP3”, “WAV”, “Indie” or “Electronic” to make your store easier to find.

Additionally, you can sample your songs using built-in players like SoundCloud or Bandcamp . Both offer easy-to-integrate players with Shopify:

• Go to SoundCloud or Bandcamp .
• Generate an embed code for the music player and paste it into the product description section using Shopify's HTML editor.
• To edit the HTML in the product description, simply click on the “</>” icon, usually located at the bottom of the editing panel.

Step 6: Set Up Payments

To start selling, it's essential to set up your payment options. Shopify offers several options, such as credit card, PayPal, and PIX, depending on the payment gateway you choose.

• In the left menu, go to "Settings" > "Payments" .
• Choose the options that best suit your audience. If your audience is global, Shopify Payments (card processing) and PayPal are recommended.

With this, your store will be ready to accept payments in a safe and reliable way.

Step 7: Promote Your Music

Now that your store is ready, it’s time to promote your business. Consider the following strategies to increase your sales:

• Create email marketing campaigns using Shopify Email or other tools like Klaviyo .
• Use social media integration to sell directly via Instagram or Facebook by connecting your Shopify store to these platforms.
• Offer discounted bundles for those who buy the full album instead of individual tracks.

Promotion is an essential aspect of attracting listeners and converting them into loyal customers. Also consider paid campaigns on Google Ads or Facebook Ads , targeting your audience precisely.

Conclusion

Selling music through Shopify is an effective way to reach your audience directly, without intermediaries, and with full control over your store. By following these steps, you will have a store ready to sell your albums, beats, singles, or even subscriptions for future releases.

Remember to always keep your store updated with new tracks, offer exclusive content for fans and constantly optimize the shopping experience!