Music marketing terms,
defined clearly.
Clear definitions for smart links, fan CRM, release marketing, and creator economy terms.
43 terms
- Glossary
Album Art
Album art (also called cover art) is the visual image associated with a music release — displayed on streaming platforms, smart links, and promotional materials to represent the recording.
- Glossary
Artist Bio Page
An artist bio page is a professional landing page that serves as an artist's online headquarters — consolidating music links, tour dates, social links, podcast episodes, and fan email capture in one shareable URL.
- Glossary
Audience Segmentation
Audience segmentation is the practice of dividing your fan list into groups based on shared characteristics — location, how they found you, what content they engaged with — so you can send more relevant communications to each group.
- Glossary
Bounce Rate
In music marketing, bounce rate refers to two things: the percentage of smart link visitors who leave without clicking through to a platform, and the percentage of emails that fail to deliver because the address is invalid.
- Glossary
Call to Action
A call to action (CTA) is a prompt that directs a fan to take a specific next step — 'Stream now,' 'Join my email list,' 'Pre-save the album' — used across smart links, bio pages, and social media.
- Glossary
Conversion Rate
In music marketing, conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to a smart link or bio page who complete a desired action — clicking through to a streaming platform, capturing their email, or pre-saving a release.
- Glossary
Custom Domain
A custom domain lets artists use their own URL (e.g., links.artistname.com) for their Lynkify smart links and bio pages instead of the default lynkify.in domain.
- Glossary
DSP
Digital Streaming Platform — any service that delivers music or audio to listeners via the internet, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and Tidal.
- Glossary
Direct-to-Fan Marketing
A music marketing strategy where artists communicate with and sell to fans directly — through email, owned websites, and direct channels — without relying on streaming platforms or social media algorithms as intermediaries.
- Glossary
Discover Weekly
Discover Weekly is a personalized Spotify playlist updated every Monday that uses machine learning to recommend music the listener has not heard before, based on their listening history and tastes.
- Glossary
Double Opt-In
Double opt-in is an email subscription process that requires a new subscriber to confirm their email address by clicking a link in a confirmation email before being added to the fan list.
- Glossary
Electronic Press Kit
An electronic press kit (EPK) is a digital document or page that gives music industry professionals — press, promoters, booking agents, and labels — all the information they need about an artist in one place.
- Glossary
Email Deliverability
Email deliverability is the rate at which emails sent to a fan list actually reach subscribers' inboxes rather than spam or junk folders.
- Glossary
Fan CRM
A Fan CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a database that stores information about an artist's fans — email addresses, locations, sources, and engagement history — that the artist owns and controls.
- Glossary
Fanbase
A fanbase is the collective group of people who actively follow, support, and engage with an artist's music — ranging from casual listeners on streaming platforms to dedicated fans on owned channels like email lists.
- Glossary
First-Party Data
Information collected directly from fans with their consent — email addresses, locations, and engagement data that the artist owns, as opposed to data owned by Spotify, Instagram, or other platforms.
- Glossary
ISRC
International Standard Recording Code — a unique 12-character identifier assigned to each recorded song or music video for tracking plays, royalties, and licensing across all platforms.
- Glossary
Independent Label
An independent label (indie label) is a record label that operates outside the major label system — not owned by Universal, Sony, or Warner — and typically offers artists more creative control and higher royalty rates in exchange for less marketing infrastructure.
- Glossary
Link in Bio
A link in bio is the single clickable URL allowed in a social media profile — on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter — typically pointing to a landing page that consolidates all of a creator's important links.
- Glossary
Mechanical Royalty
A mechanical royalty is a payment made to a songwriter or publisher each time a song is reproduced — whether physically on CDs and vinyl, or digitally through streaming and download.
- Glossary
Music Distribution
Music distribution is the process of delivering recorded music to digital streaming platforms and download stores so consumers can access it worldwide.
- Glossary
Music Manager
A music manager is a business partner who oversees an artist's career strategy, day-to-day operations, booking relationships, label negotiations, and long-term career development.
- Glossary
Music Marketing Funnel
A music marketing funnel is the series of steps that take a stranger from first hearing about an artist to becoming an engaged, loyal fan — awareness, interest, engagement, and ownership.
- Glossary
Music Metadata
Music metadata is the structured information attached to a recording — title, artist name, ISRC, UPC, album name, genre, release date, and contributing credits — that platforms use to catalog, surface, and pay royalties for the track.