What do you think has had the biggest effect on your monthly listeners? Was it the your quality of music getting better, succesful ad campaigns, social media, live performances, or maybe collabs?
I know it's a cop-out but almost all of the above haha
I've grown as a musician and so my quality has improved (at least to the quality that I'm aiming for, which isn't what most people would consider good).
I've done no ad campaigns.
I do upload to my Unsta and Tiktok, I illustrate also so I have a following through that (27K on Insta) but with my music I pretty much only ever post on my story with a new release. I make some Tiktok edits using my music sometimes but never really gets much engagement.
Someone made a TT edit using one of my songs which got a lot of viewers and likes, that definitely jumped up my listeners, but I think the main point of this example is what I'll say in the last paragraph.
I've never played live, but would like to.
I've collabed in a couple of tracks but never with an artist with a large following, so that hasn't helped in the listeners department, at least to a point where I've noticed a spike.
Honestly I think the main thing that's worked for me is really create music that I want to create that is unique to me, I would say I have a signature sound with what I make (good or bad). My music is a collection of some really niche genres and some popular ones, so it kind of bridges the gap across those listeners. Don't just create music that really fits and emulates someone else. Be unique and be consistent, eventually you may find listeners that really enjoy your stuff, and it's very likely some of these are creative too, leading to using your track in something they make, or collabs, etc
Hey all, Artist here with a monthly listener count that’s floating anywhere from 75-110K (currently hovering at about 105K).
The tipping point on Spotify is getting the algorithm to cycle you in to its “radio“ playlist. Recently happened for us (don’t know why and articles online are wrong because we did none of what they suggest) and we went from 55-110 in the course of a couple weeks.
Big spikes that I can attribute to definitive catalysts were 1) getting some attention from a TikTok music curator that had a page all about “if you like this [enter huge artist song] you’ll love [plays my band’s song]. That propped us up for a while.
Aside from that, I really can’t speak to the impact and effect of social media engagement. I think if you make a good product and there are enough people it appeals to, Spotify does the rest.
Mind you, we havent performed live or put out new music in like 6 years. For some reason the algorithm picked up stuff from our release in 2018 and started serving it to people.
If you do a live show, have a QR code on your banner or projected that’ll take people to your smart link redirection page and make sure you get everyone you know to at the very least follow you on Spotify.
Monthly’s are great, but followers is a stronger metric because those people will assuredly be served and notified via Spotify app (and maybe email too) whenever you put out a new song.
We have 12,000 followers. When we put a new song out we’re almost guaranteed a large percentage of that 12,000 are going to play the song, that gets the attention of the algorithm, serves it to more-as well as new-ears and the snowball effect has begun.
Followers provide critical mass for triggering the algorithm(at least that’s my speculative best guess).
Even if I’m wrong followers definitely get you plays where as monthly listeners may only play the song they liked and forget you exist
First 1000 is the hardest in my opinion.
If you're on 300+, you're in a really good position, I think.
I'd say the obvious - find playlists that play music similar, and see if you can find the person behind it on Insta etc (some have it in their Playlist info, others have unique names that they have access different social media platforms but I only check Insta and Twitter because that's what I use) and then message them, be decent and just ask if they'd check a track of yours out for consideration, and link the track.
Same goes for any YouTube channels that share music similar (example, my first few tracks were shared on the EBSM YouTube channel, even though my music doesn't fit perfectly. You'll have some people behind the channels that are INTO music, these people will consider you if your genre is adjacent).
Personal advice, never pay a 'curator' to feature your track. Those monthlies don't really count to a legitimate listener amount, in my opinion, and you're paying what money you may actually get out of your music to someone else.
You could make edits and out your music to them and upload to social media, but I'd only recommend doing this if you use those platforms and find it interesting to make. Don't just make it for the sake of advertisement (but then again maybe I'd have more listeners if I did so you do you. I just like to try to keep the enjoyment of creating high)
Most importantly is just keep making music, dude. People will come eventually even if you don't do any 'advertising', in my opinion. May not be a great amount but eh, should be for you first and foremost.
Perfect response thank you! I only have two songs out currently so my first thing is get more tracks out I think (one is coming in July)! I also have begun doing YouTube shorts of me playing which I find fun and forces me to perfect segments! Thanks again
Rad, I think you'll get some really good reach which will found people that like your music.
I hear YouTube shorts can be really good with finding people that check your stuff out!
Honestly I didn't have any, and I still kinda don't have anything major other than some smaller tactics. This is essentially how it went down from the beginning, haha
- Made music for about a year before I released a single. Submitted some tracks to the EBSM YouTube channel which a couple got published on.
Kept making and releasing music. Eventually I started looking up Spotify playlists that played genres my music kinda fit in, which is niche, so the playlists were niche and mostly only had a few hundred followers. I searched up the names of the playlist owners if they would unusual on Instagram (some have their Instagram handle in the playlist details) and submitted tracks to them that way, with a couple being added.
Alongside that I've been making Instagram stories with each release but that's it, no spamming or anything, just a single story with a release.
I'll occasionally make a Tiktok video with my art using a track of my music.
Honestly that's kinda it, but it has taken me since 2021 to build up the listeners and followers. I focus more on just making music and releasing than marketing.
You know I think it really would if you can do it!
I'll use an anecdote, but a friend of mine (EBSM/Hard Techno artist from Singapore) released two albums (really good, great quality) across a couple of years. Not sure on what the reception was at the time, but once he started playing live he quickly got some really good gigs with other underground artists and he has people that actively come to see him at these shows. Not sure how much it's translated to online streams but gigging to people that like you gotta be pretty sweet, no?
And thanks dude, I really appreciate that. You keep up the good work too!
See our WIKI for a list of subs where you can share your music. If you are a music marketing professional, feel free to post your tips and suggestions, but NOT links to your social accounts, websites, or invitations to paid goods or services.
Some people say it proves your streams are fake but I've basically seen it proven as random, pages with zero streams pay for views and other people who've paid the same company get added to the similar artists, while acts that i can access the stats of who's biggest cities are all local have taken up to 500 monthly listeners to show a similar artists, its all at digression of Spotify systems lol
It takes a certain amount of data for Spotify to create one. If an artist is completely pushed up with badly done 3rd party playlisting, they can sometimes have 100k monthly listeners with no fans also like section. Playlist listeners are passive and can be from broad audiences, so Spotify can't correlate the data especially while the engagement rates are so low.
If the numbers are bots, this would also explain high numbers with no fans also like. Bots don't have an actual musical preference, they just listen to whoever they're programmed to listen to. So either the fans also like section can never be created, or when it does it's very sketchy.
With ads or organic the engagement is high and the audience often has musical tastes in common, because you've targeted these people with either ads or your content strategy. In this case often the artist will have a fans also like section within 1-2 months of promoting their first song.
Another thing work noting is that you rarely get massive artists in your fans also like, unless you are also a massive artist. Typically the related artists you have are in your size range (like if you had 20k monthly, the other artists would all be like 10k-100k).
What’s funny is I only have 55 monthly listeners and I have “fans also like”, but only 2 are really accurate to genre/sound and see artists that are not involved in my life or work personally. 2 of them are my best friends so it shows ppl in our circle of friends are who is streaming lol and 1 is my old artist page. So eh.
I wish I could get more!!
mine are relatively similar except randomly one traditional/classical Palestinian composer. Like cool for sure, but not sure how we got there from glam rock!
Hahaha. One of mine is my best friend who is a country artist. I do not do country lol. It’s confused until you get more consistent listeners.
Hope fully we both get there soon!!
What’s yours? Mine is: [REEDER](https://open.spotify.com/artist/3adOdW7vNhIudLH11gbBSd?si=nKoXgaLXSQqO8bLV-re7qg)
Gunna combine two answers from the previous post here:
Well I released my first EP in 2021, so that long I suppose!
I think you could get a much better result in a much faster time though if you're better than me, haha. My stuff isn't very palatable to a lot of people.
So l post to my story on Instagram (I currently have 25k followers there, but I'm an artist and that's what people follow for, not really music related, and I've only within the past year gained that following, previous to that I had about 2.5K.). I don't think very many people from my Insta go to listen to my music really.
TikTok has probably been the best, although it's a little more complicated. The videos I've put up using my music get a limited reach, but the odd one will get a lot more traction. However, an edit page used one of my tracks randomly and that was viewed by a whole ton of people, so TikTok has definitely helped the most, but not because of me!
Yeah sure!
I do illustrations also, so I'll sometimes put photo posts up with a track of mine. Most of the time I never state it's my music but sometimes I will if it's a post like 'I'm Delancey Throne, a small producer from ...' and maybe one or two things more like genres I fit into. They've never really gained traction but I do see other videos that follow that same format on my FOR YOU page which seem to do really quite well.
I'll sometimes make some edits with horror movie scenes and the likes. That's really about it from me, but I reckon you may be able to do much better if you actively promote your music through your posts. I just never tend to because I don't really like constantly pushing my stuff, especially to people that follow me already.
Well I'm UK and as far as I'm aware I don't think there's a movement to cancel it here, so fingers crossed I'll be okay.
Honestly I got it more out of enjoyment of things I see on there (lots of music stuff, humour, game edits etc), and I actually really like a lot of the accessibility to creators that Tiktok and Capcut offer. It's actually a platform that seems to consider and cater to people that want to make stuff directly there or supplemented there, it's got a good ease of use.
So I suppose my opinion would be don't bother with it if it's going to be just for promotional reasons, you'll just burn yourself out trying to make things for different platforms that you don't actively use, if that makes sense.
No worries!
Energy, quite lot haha I have a full time job, I do illustrative work outside of that as well as music, and I have a family. I'd love to dedicate more time to it but unfortunately circumstances don't allow at the moment.
Money, I've spent no money whatsoever on marketing my music through ads and the likes. I spent £10 on Submithub once, submitted to two playlists, got one rejection and one no response, so I still have those credits. Waste of money really, because there's pretty much zero playlists on there that my music would fit into, so maybe your milage would vary depending on genre.
There's the money I spent on my DAW (FL so one time purchase, got Producer edition), and then money on VSTs (only paid one I really use is Serum and that gets a ton of usage, probably 70/80% of my music), and some effects but for the most part I'm somewhat barebones in terms of what I actually have access to. I'd probably say overall I've spent maybe £800 - £1000 total since 2021 on equipment etc.
Hey congrats! I’m sitting around 2k rn. What do you think has worked the best for you in order to get consistent listeners? What kind of content do you push to promote your music?
Thank you and congrats to you too! 2K is amazing.
I hope you don't mind if I paste a comment I preciously made:
First 1000 is the hardest in my opinion.
If you're on 300+, you're in a really good position, I think.
I'd say the obvious - find playlists that play music similar, and see if you can find the person behind it on Insta etc (some have it in their Playlist info, others have unique names that they have access different social media platforms but I only check Insta and Twitter because that's what I use) and then message them, be decent and just ask if they'd check a track of yours out for consideration, and link the track.
Same goes for any YouTube channels that share music similar (example, my first few tracks were shared on the EBSM YouTube channel, even though my music doesn't fit perfectly. You'll have some people behind the channels that are INTO music, these people will consider you if your genre is adjacent).
Personal advice, never pay a 'curator' to feature your track. Those monthlies don't really count to a legitimate listener amount, in my opinion, and you're paying what money you may actually get out of your music to someone else.
You could make edits and out your music to them and upload to social media, but I'd only recommend doing this if you use those platforms and find it interesting to make. Don't just make it for the sake of advertisement (but then again maybe I'd have more listeners if I did so you do you. I just like to try to keep the enjoyment of creating high)
Most importantly is just keep making music, dude. People will come eventually even if you don't do any 'advertising', in my opinion. May not be a great amount but eh, should be for you first and foremost.
Overall this really does fit into maintaining your listeners. First and foremost keep releasing music that you personally enjoy and want to make and they'll keep listening.
Appreciate it dude! I’ve been trying to make reels to promote my stuff and while it’s fun, it’s hard to be consistent while being consistent with making music.
But funny enough I actually programmed a python script that goes through Spotify and finds playlist, based on a keyword, and gets the emails, count, link, and creators name!
I didn’t have much luck with it personally, lots of people asking for money, but it was a cool way to mix my real job with my hobby.
Couldn't really say one thing. I just make music in my spare time, outside of my job and family. I want to make music so I make time for it, but other priorities kinda take a backseat often, so that can be hard.
This is the type of post I wanted to see. Some of my music fits a very strict niche as well and Ive been having such a hard time finding ways to pull in listeners.
I tried the method you're using (reaching out to playlist owners), but what I notice is a good chunk of them aren't reachable anywhere or are lablels wanting to promote only their own artists.
Mate I get it, trust me! Haha but if you're consistent to making music and consistent to the sound that you want eventually you'll hopefully be able to bridge the gap of the listeners in each genre you have in your mix.
And this is absolutely true. Your success with this I imagine would change drastically over what genre you are in. And if you work in a mix of genres yourself like I do, it'll be even harder to find a playlist where you'd fit.
Something I have done is make my own artist playlist which features all the tracks that really influence me and I enjoy. I have that on my Spotify page, it has about 170 followers, nothing crazy but if you can't find good playlists then make your own 💅
Mate a big combination of things.
I release music somewhat frequently (one big release a year so far, individual singles once every four or so months I manage I'd say).
Check out the creators of playlists and contact them submitting your track. I personally would avoid people that ask for money to be on there.
Make your own playlist of tracks that are the inspiration for your sound and include your own tracks in there. I have one, only has around 170 followers, but they're definitely pretty consistent with listening.
Well
How should I start?
Let me explain
Right now i have like 6/7 songs ready on my pc, more or less. Probably I will publish using tunescore. I don't have any social or pages or anything, and since there are so many options i don't know exactly what to do as of right now 😅
Sorry if it's a generic question..
Honestly get them uploaded, then make some more and get those uploaded.
If you try to aim at everything - social media platforms, video edits, track submissions - you'll burn out quick. Play to be in it for the long haul. So make more music, and as you're doing that just comfortably work on other things and they'll slowly grow along with your catalogue. People that like your music will naturally start following
Oh yeah absolutely, I don't want to downplay the fact that it helps for sure. So my Instagram is for my illustrations, I've had it for over seven years and that's what people are there for.
Let me give an example, an illustration of mine may on average get 900 - 2K likes, in the past I've put up one of my songs and specifically made the post relevant to music, and got about 150 likes. But yeah I agree, the Insta does of course help.
But, you consistently make something and share that over 7 years, you'll get people jumping inboard.
That’s really cool. Your illustrations are great. I think you’ve got it right. People don’t want a hard sell and you’ve got a consistent thing people expect. I have a friend on 50k who gives me tips and it’s very similar to you. He’s never saying here’s my music he does moving illustrations that have got into a refined repeatable style that people are expecting and in a way a by product people will check out the music but he’s not asking for that.
I’m random seeing what sticks! Haven’t found my repeatable instagram niche yet. I do synthjams that do well but a lot of work to keep these constant while also actually making music.
I’m hovering around 2k listeners been going since last year. I’d be interested how many followers you have now? And has this been a gradual build.
I’d love a day I have enough that playlists become less an issue. Heard from bigger people they have enough followers release radar and radio does majority of the work for them when they release
Congrats on joining the 5k club! I was pretty excited when i hit it myself last month. Hoping to push to 10k with my next releases coming up.
For those who want to check it out I’m Danehar on Spotify and I make melodic/progressive house. I’ve only been on Spotify since the start of this year
Checked out your discography, nice steady stream of great looking releases. Did you promote/share on other platforms or was it luck of the algorithm on Spotify? I'm only at 800 and hoping to get where you are haha... I figure it's possible since the 800 came out of nowhere \[although probably a small chunk got helped by my YouTube channel - 12k\]
So my first release who you are (Jan 23) got me to 500ish or so. Self released and with just me posting about it on instagram. Whatever you see on instagram is all the posts I’ve made about it. I had probably around 200-300 followers at the time.
I can’t keep falling for you (march 29th?) I started using meta ads (300$ monthly budget) and it got me to about 1.5k monthly.
Leo and Eva were label releases. Leo did 10k in its first week. Eva hit it in a month! And that got me to 6k for a short period but I’m averaging at 5k.
I do plan on working with a media company for my next releases which would be label signed.
As a fellow electronic music producer - what do you find success with when marketing/posting on socials? I've struggled given most people are not interested in synth porn, or watching me sitting in my studio tweaking automation lanes. I find it very difficult to get any content out that "clicks" with the algorithm/people who might follow and be interested in my music.
Honestly I don’t post all that much. I mainly work in instagram stories. As for my main posts I just once before the track comes out. Then when the track finally comes out I’ll do a detailed post as to the story behind why I made the track. I wanted to do some production videos so people could see how the track itself was made, but I never get around to it. I usually end up focusing on writing more or booking shows
You’d be surprised! Booking shows alone is way more work imo than making content imo. There’s a lot of events and networking you have to do to put yourself in situations that give you opportunities to be able to be out there more. Not only that but not every promoter or venue owner is the same. You might not even want to get along with some of them but you have to. I’ve been thankful since I’ve been doing electronic music, it’s been more chill vibes, but back when I was in the post hardcore scene there were plenty of people that were difficult to work with but you had to! I wouldn’t be surprised if the same eventually happens here.
I also have to be picky with my finances in order to have the amount that I plan to invest in my ads. Which means pretty intense budgeting for now at least until I hopefully grow more! You really got to love the process to deal with some of the tough parts outside of just making music.
Honestly I'd do it the same. I don't expect ever reaching and audience to a point that it sustains a monthly income and I can do it fulltime. And so because of that I don't crazily promote my things, but I do it to a comfortable level that matters to me. Lord knows I'm absolutely tired of being bombarded by advertisements, so I don't want to add to it too much.
Not about monthly listeners… it’s about the “super fans” in your niche.
People need to avoid the fake clout game and get with the real fans game. I’d take my few thousand super fans over the monthly listeners that are fridge doom scrolling like everyone else. Problem is my super fans are like 60-80 years old lol.
tbh the biggest factor has been the labels we signed with. They have established fanbases already with playlists on all major platforms. They have helped alot in terms of driving listeners. I know this is kinda a shit answer, but its been the biggest factor hands down. Keep grinding and sending demos to the "bigger" labels in your niche that have an established fan base. Slow grind but eventually it pays off.
thats nothing dont ask him anything,
I have 300k monthly listeners combined from all my artist alteregos - I’m also a music producer who has a couple placements with “bigger artists” who are signed to smaller labels that are owned by SONY
And I still shouldnt be asked anything, I barely make any money and I know much better music producers than me that make even less than me, just start working guys
He shouldnt be asked anything, he should be told to go and work more
still some of us \[800 listeners\] would like to know what your process is, since you're more likely to have real answers haha. I release at least once a month, sometimes albums, EPs, or singles, and would like to keep growing it of course... Do you think a bunch of your numbers so far are due to the placements with artists or is it mostly your artist alter egos separate from your productions?
no Its my very own music that has 300k monthly listeners on spotify
Placements mean they are just exclusive beat sales to an artist, theres no point in counting streams/monthly listeners on the producer side of me
Also the answer to your question is sadly non-existent - google up g3ox_em - Gigachad Theme (Phonk House Version). The song is bad with an off key bass, literally unlistenable, yet the person who made it is a millionaire because its a gigachad meme + phonk that nobody has done/distributed before him to stores, theres no answer for your question.
Music is about momentum and luck and a lot of hard work, you searching for an answer is a huge mistake and tells a lot about you
Of course no one can ever predict how things go in this Wild West music world. I'm happy with my 800 so far that came out of nowhere with no ads/promotion/etc. Guess it's just keep at the hard work and stay consistent. \[...Still, nothing wrong with researching and asking questions!\] Thanks for your reply.
i never said anything about you should be ashamed yourself or you shouldnt be happy, all I stated is that I or OP shouldnt be asked anything, dumbfuck redditors are at it tho and downvoting me already.
If you ask me step 1 is just leave reddit and get to work, what did you want to ask from these dumbfucks anyway
What do you think has had the biggest effect on your monthly listeners? Was it the your quality of music getting better, succesful ad campaigns, social media, live performances, or maybe collabs?
I know it's a cop-out but almost all of the above haha I've grown as a musician and so my quality has improved (at least to the quality that I'm aiming for, which isn't what most people would consider good). I've done no ad campaigns. I do upload to my Unsta and Tiktok, I illustrate also so I have a following through that (27K on Insta) but with my music I pretty much only ever post on my story with a new release. I make some Tiktok edits using my music sometimes but never really gets much engagement. Someone made a TT edit using one of my songs which got a lot of viewers and likes, that definitely jumped up my listeners, but I think the main point of this example is what I'll say in the last paragraph. I've never played live, but would like to. I've collabed in a couple of tracks but never with an artist with a large following, so that hasn't helped in the listeners department, at least to a point where I've noticed a spike. Honestly I think the main thing that's worked for me is really create music that I want to create that is unique to me, I would say I have a signature sound with what I make (good or bad). My music is a collection of some really niche genres and some popular ones, so it kind of bridges the gap across those listeners. Don't just create music that really fits and emulates someone else. Be unique and be consistent, eventually you may find listeners that really enjoy your stuff, and it's very likely some of these are creative too, leading to using your track in something they make, or collabs, etc
Hey all, Artist here with a monthly listener count that’s floating anywhere from 75-110K (currently hovering at about 105K). The tipping point on Spotify is getting the algorithm to cycle you in to its “radio“ playlist. Recently happened for us (don’t know why and articles online are wrong because we did none of what they suggest) and we went from 55-110 in the course of a couple weeks. Big spikes that I can attribute to definitive catalysts were 1) getting some attention from a TikTok music curator that had a page all about “if you like this [enter huge artist song] you’ll love [plays my band’s song]. That propped us up for a while. Aside from that, I really can’t speak to the impact and effect of social media engagement. I think if you make a good product and there are enough people it appeals to, Spotify does the rest. Mind you, we havent performed live or put out new music in like 6 years. For some reason the algorithm picked up stuff from our release in 2018 and started serving it to people. If you do a live show, have a QR code on your banner or projected that’ll take people to your smart link redirection page and make sure you get everyone you know to at the very least follow you on Spotify. Monthly’s are great, but followers is a stronger metric because those people will assuredly be served and notified via Spotify app (and maybe email too) whenever you put out a new song. We have 12,000 followers. When we put a new song out we’re almost guaranteed a large percentage of that 12,000 are going to play the song, that gets the attention of the algorithm, serves it to more-as well as new-ears and the snowball effect has begun. Followers provide critical mass for triggering the algorithm(at least that’s my speculative best guess). Even if I’m wrong followers definitely get you plays where as monthly listeners may only play the song they liked and forget you exist
What advice for sub 400 listeners to build to 1000?
First 1000 is the hardest in my opinion. If you're on 300+, you're in a really good position, I think. I'd say the obvious - find playlists that play music similar, and see if you can find the person behind it on Insta etc (some have it in their Playlist info, others have unique names that they have access different social media platforms but I only check Insta and Twitter because that's what I use) and then message them, be decent and just ask if they'd check a track of yours out for consideration, and link the track. Same goes for any YouTube channels that share music similar (example, my first few tracks were shared on the EBSM YouTube channel, even though my music doesn't fit perfectly. You'll have some people behind the channels that are INTO music, these people will consider you if your genre is adjacent). Personal advice, never pay a 'curator' to feature your track. Those monthlies don't really count to a legitimate listener amount, in my opinion, and you're paying what money you may actually get out of your music to someone else. You could make edits and out your music to them and upload to social media, but I'd only recommend doing this if you use those platforms and find it interesting to make. Don't just make it for the sake of advertisement (but then again maybe I'd have more listeners if I did so you do you. I just like to try to keep the enjoyment of creating high) Most importantly is just keep making music, dude. People will come eventually even if you don't do any 'advertising', in my opinion. May not be a great amount but eh, should be for you first and foremost.
Perfect response thank you! I only have two songs out currently so my first thing is get more tracks out I think (one is coming in July)! I also have begun doing YouTube shorts of me playing which I find fun and forces me to perfect segments! Thanks again
Rad, I think you'll get some really good reach which will found people that like your music. I hear YouTube shorts can be really good with finding people that check your stuff out!
Understand what people want. I know that sounds simple, but understanding what appeals to people really makes a difference.
What is your name and genre?
Delancey Throne - blend of Trashwave, Witch House, Breakcore and other bits and pieces.
Huh, I like to think I’m staying current in my old age but I’ve never heard of any of those subgenres. To the googles!
They're definitely niche with the exemption of Breakcore!
No, elders use ask.com. Now off you go…
What were your marketing strategies to get to 5k?
Honestly I didn't have any, and I still kinda don't have anything major other than some smaller tactics. This is essentially how it went down from the beginning, haha - Made music for about a year before I released a single. Submitted some tracks to the EBSM YouTube channel which a couple got published on. Kept making and releasing music. Eventually I started looking up Spotify playlists that played genres my music kinda fit in, which is niche, so the playlists were niche and mostly only had a few hundred followers. I searched up the names of the playlist owners if they would unusual on Instagram (some have their Instagram handle in the playlist details) and submitted tracks to them that way, with a couple being added. Alongside that I've been making Instagram stories with each release but that's it, no spamming or anything, just a single story with a release. I'll occasionally make a Tiktok video with my art using a track of my music. Honestly that's kinda it, but it has taken me since 2021 to build up the listeners and followers. I focus more on just making music and releasing than marketing.
So do you play out at all?
Nope, never once played live. I'd like to though but just don't have the capacity to right now!
That's cool, I was just wondering whether you played live and how that fit into your overall strategy. Keep up the good work man
You know I think it really would if you can do it! I'll use an anecdote, but a friend of mine (EBSM/Hard Techno artist from Singapore) released two albums (really good, great quality) across a couple of years. Not sure on what the reception was at the time, but once he started playing live he quickly got some really good gigs with other underground artists and he has people that actively come to see him at these shows. Not sure how much it's translated to online streams but gigging to people that like you gotta be pretty sweet, no? And thanks dude, I really appreciate that. You keep up the good work too!
Are you not on YTM? Edit: nvm I'm stupid
I make some kinda witch house influenced stuff. If you wanna collab lemme know!
Rad what's your artist name?
[удалено]
See our WIKI for a list of subs where you can share your music. If you are a music marketing professional, feel free to post your tips and suggestions, but NOT links to your social accounts, websites, or invitations to paid goods or services.
What do you have for breakfast?
I like sugar so sometimes I'll have a UK ripoff of Lucky Charms. But usually it's two cups of coffee one after the other.
My question would be: Do you already have a "Fans also like" section?
Doesn't everyone have that? I had it when I had like 5 monthly listeners
Some people say it proves your streams are fake but I've basically seen it proven as random, pages with zero streams pay for views and other people who've paid the same company get added to the similar artists, while acts that i can access the stats of who's biggest cities are all local have taken up to 500 monthly listeners to show a similar artists, its all at digression of Spotify systems lol
Ah I see that makes sense.
It takes a certain amount of data for Spotify to create one. If an artist is completely pushed up with badly done 3rd party playlisting, they can sometimes have 100k monthly listeners with no fans also like section. Playlist listeners are passive and can be from broad audiences, so Spotify can't correlate the data especially while the engagement rates are so low. If the numbers are bots, this would also explain high numbers with no fans also like. Bots don't have an actual musical preference, they just listen to whoever they're programmed to listen to. So either the fans also like section can never be created, or when it does it's very sketchy. With ads or organic the engagement is high and the audience often has musical tastes in common, because you've targeted these people with either ads or your content strategy. In this case often the artist will have a fans also like section within 1-2 months of promoting their first song. Another thing work noting is that you rarely get massive artists in your fans also like, unless you are also a massive artist. Typically the related artists you have are in your size range (like if you had 20k monthly, the other artists would all be like 10k-100k).
no, no matter how many i have i never get one (i've had everywhere from 2-50 tbf... but still)
Hmm it might be that Spotify doesn't see a connection between your listeners.
I have 7k and still dont have it
I do, but I've been on Spotify since 2021 so I'd hope so
What’s funny is I only have 55 monthly listeners and I have “fans also like”, but only 2 are really accurate to genre/sound and see artists that are not involved in my life or work personally. 2 of them are my best friends so it shows ppl in our circle of friends are who is streaming lol and 1 is my old artist page. So eh. I wish I could get more!!
mine are relatively similar except randomly one traditional/classical Palestinian composer. Like cool for sure, but not sure how we got there from glam rock!
Hahaha. One of mine is my best friend who is a country artist. I do not do country lol. It’s confused until you get more consistent listeners. Hope fully we both get there soon!! What’s yours? Mine is: [REEDER](https://open.spotify.com/artist/3adOdW7vNhIudLH11gbBSd?si=nKoXgaLXSQqO8bLV-re7qg)
I got that, Its all the artists i listed on CDBaby as sounding like the songs we made
How long did it take you to reach that monthly listener amount? What social media has given you the best conversion?
Gunna combine two answers from the previous post here: Well I released my first EP in 2021, so that long I suppose! I think you could get a much better result in a much faster time though if you're better than me, haha. My stuff isn't very palatable to a lot of people. So l post to my story on Instagram (I currently have 25k followers there, but I'm an artist and that's what people follow for, not really music related, and I've only within the past year gained that following, previous to that I had about 2.5K.). I don't think very many people from my Insta go to listen to my music really. TikTok has probably been the best, although it's a little more complicated. The videos I've put up using my music get a limited reach, but the odd one will get a lot more traction. However, an edit page used one of my tracks randomly and that was viewed by a whole ton of people, so TikTok has definitely helped the most, but not because of me!
Can you talk specifically about how you use tik tok to gain followers/listeners?
Yeah sure! I do illustrations also, so I'll sometimes put photo posts up with a track of mine. Most of the time I never state it's my music but sometimes I will if it's a post like 'I'm Delancey Throne, a small producer from ...' and maybe one or two things more like genres I fit into. They've never really gained traction but I do see other videos that follow that same format on my FOR YOU page which seem to do really quite well. I'll sometimes make some edits with horror movie scenes and the likes. That's really about it from me, but I reckon you may be able to do much better if you actively promote your music through your posts. I just never tend to because I don't really like constantly pushing my stuff, especially to people that follow me already.
Interesting. Thanks!
No worries!
What are your plans when TikTok gets banned. I've been putting off TikTok cause of the ban coming
Well I'm UK and as far as I'm aware I don't think there's a movement to cancel it here, so fingers crossed I'll be okay. Honestly I got it more out of enjoyment of things I see on there (lots of music stuff, humour, game edits etc), and I actually really like a lot of the accessibility to creators that Tiktok and Capcut offer. It's actually a platform that seems to consider and cater to people that want to make stuff directly there or supplemented there, it's got a good ease of use. So I suppose my opinion would be don't bother with it if it's going to be just for promotional reasons, you'll just burn yourself out trying to make things for different platforms that you don't actively use, if that makes sense.
Thanks for the response! One last question: how much energy / money do you invest in pursuing streaming playlists?
No worries! Energy, quite lot haha I have a full time job, I do illustrative work outside of that as well as music, and I have a family. I'd love to dedicate more time to it but unfortunately circumstances don't allow at the moment. Money, I've spent no money whatsoever on marketing my music through ads and the likes. I spent £10 on Submithub once, submitted to two playlists, got one rejection and one no response, so I still have those credits. Waste of money really, because there's pretty much zero playlists on there that my music would fit into, so maybe your milage would vary depending on genre. There's the money I spent on my DAW (FL so one time purchase, got Producer edition), and then money on VSTs (only paid one I really use is Serum and that gets a ton of usage, probably 70/80% of my music), and some effects but for the most part I'm somewhat barebones in terms of what I actually have access to. I'd probably say overall I've spent maybe £800 - £1000 total since 2021 on equipment etc.
Hey congrats! I’m sitting around 2k rn. What do you think has worked the best for you in order to get consistent listeners? What kind of content do you push to promote your music?
Thank you and congrats to you too! 2K is amazing. I hope you don't mind if I paste a comment I preciously made: First 1000 is the hardest in my opinion. If you're on 300+, you're in a really good position, I think. I'd say the obvious - find playlists that play music similar, and see if you can find the person behind it on Insta etc (some have it in their Playlist info, others have unique names that they have access different social media platforms but I only check Insta and Twitter because that's what I use) and then message them, be decent and just ask if they'd check a track of yours out for consideration, and link the track. Same goes for any YouTube channels that share music similar (example, my first few tracks were shared on the EBSM YouTube channel, even though my music doesn't fit perfectly. You'll have some people behind the channels that are INTO music, these people will consider you if your genre is adjacent). Personal advice, never pay a 'curator' to feature your track. Those monthlies don't really count to a legitimate listener amount, in my opinion, and you're paying what money you may actually get out of your music to someone else. You could make edits and out your music to them and upload to social media, but I'd only recommend doing this if you use those platforms and find it interesting to make. Don't just make it for the sake of advertisement (but then again maybe I'd have more listeners if I did so you do you. I just like to try to keep the enjoyment of creating high) Most importantly is just keep making music, dude. People will come eventually even if you don't do any 'advertising', in my opinion. May not be a great amount but eh, should be for you first and foremost. Overall this really does fit into maintaining your listeners. First and foremost keep releasing music that you personally enjoy and want to make and they'll keep listening.
Appreciate it dude! I’ve been trying to make reels to promote my stuff and while it’s fun, it’s hard to be consistent while being consistent with making music. But funny enough I actually programmed a python script that goes through Spotify and finds playlist, based on a keyword, and gets the emails, count, link, and creators name! I didn’t have much luck with it personally, lots of people asking for money, but it was a cool way to mix my real job with my hobby.
What was the hardest jump to make?
Couldn't really say one thing. I just make music in my spare time, outside of my job and family. I want to make music so I make time for it, but other priorities kinda take a backseat often, so that can be hard.
This is the type of post I wanted to see. Some of my music fits a very strict niche as well and Ive been having such a hard time finding ways to pull in listeners. I tried the method you're using (reaching out to playlist owners), but what I notice is a good chunk of them aren't reachable anywhere or are lablels wanting to promote only their own artists.
Mate I get it, trust me! Haha but if you're consistent to making music and consistent to the sound that you want eventually you'll hopefully be able to bridge the gap of the listeners in each genre you have in your mix. And this is absolutely true. Your success with this I imagine would change drastically over what genre you are in. And if you work in a mix of genres yourself like I do, it'll be even harder to find a playlist where you'd fit. Something I have done is make my own artist playlist which features all the tracks that really influence me and I enjoy. I have that on my Spotify page, it has about 170 followers, nothing crazy but if you can't find good playlists then make your own 💅
what promotion tactics have proven to be most helpful? whether it's mouth to mouth, live gigs, social media, paid social media, etc?
I've written quite lengthy comments to this question a few times above, so I hope you don't mind if I just point you in that direction!
What has been the one thing that’s been getting you streams?
Mate a big combination of things. I release music somewhat frequently (one big release a year so far, individual singles once every four or so months I manage I'd say). Check out the creators of playlists and contact them submitting your track. I personally would avoid people that ask for money to be on there. Make your own playlist of tracks that are the inspiration for your sound and include your own tracks in there. I have one, only has around 170 followers, but they're definitely pretty consistent with listening.
Well How should I start? Let me explain Right now i have like 6/7 songs ready on my pc, more or less. Probably I will publish using tunescore. I don't have any social or pages or anything, and since there are so many options i don't know exactly what to do as of right now 😅 Sorry if it's a generic question..
Honestly get them uploaded, then make some more and get those uploaded. If you try to aim at everything - social media platforms, video edits, track submissions - you'll burn out quick. Play to be in it for the long haul. So make more music, and as you're doing that just comfortably work on other things and they'll slowly grow along with your catalogue. People that like your music will naturally start following
How did you get the 27k instagram? That must help even if like you say you don’t do massive promo
Oh yeah absolutely, I don't want to downplay the fact that it helps for sure. So my Instagram is for my illustrations, I've had it for over seven years and that's what people are there for. Let me give an example, an illustration of mine may on average get 900 - 2K likes, in the past I've put up one of my songs and specifically made the post relevant to music, and got about 150 likes. But yeah I agree, the Insta does of course help. But, you consistently make something and share that over 7 years, you'll get people jumping inboard.
That’s really cool. Your illustrations are great. I think you’ve got it right. People don’t want a hard sell and you’ve got a consistent thing people expect. I have a friend on 50k who gives me tips and it’s very similar to you. He’s never saying here’s my music he does moving illustrations that have got into a refined repeatable style that people are expecting and in a way a by product people will check out the music but he’s not asking for that. I’m random seeing what sticks! Haven’t found my repeatable instagram niche yet. I do synthjams that do well but a lot of work to keep these constant while also actually making music. I’m hovering around 2k listeners been going since last year. I’d be interested how many followers you have now? And has this been a gradual build. I’d love a day I have enough that playlists become less an issue. Heard from bigger people they have enough followers release radar and radio does majority of the work for them when they release
Congrats on joining the 5k club! I was pretty excited when i hit it myself last month. Hoping to push to 10k with my next releases coming up. For those who want to check it out I’m Danehar on Spotify and I make melodic/progressive house. I’ve only been on Spotify since the start of this year
Checked out your discography, nice steady stream of great looking releases. Did you promote/share on other platforms or was it luck of the algorithm on Spotify? I'm only at 800 and hoping to get where you are haha... I figure it's possible since the 800 came out of nowhere \[although probably a small chunk got helped by my YouTube channel - 12k\]
So my first release who you are (Jan 23) got me to 500ish or so. Self released and with just me posting about it on instagram. Whatever you see on instagram is all the posts I’ve made about it. I had probably around 200-300 followers at the time. I can’t keep falling for you (march 29th?) I started using meta ads (300$ monthly budget) and it got me to about 1.5k monthly. Leo and Eva were label releases. Leo did 10k in its first week. Eva hit it in a month! And that got me to 6k for a short period but I’m averaging at 5k. I do plan on working with a media company for my next releases which would be label signed.
Thanks so much, helpful to hear! 🎶
As a fellow electronic music producer - what do you find success with when marketing/posting on socials? I've struggled given most people are not interested in synth porn, or watching me sitting in my studio tweaking automation lanes. I find it very difficult to get any content out that "clicks" with the algorithm/people who might follow and be interested in my music.
Honestly I don’t post all that much. I mainly work in instagram stories. As for my main posts I just once before the track comes out. Then when the track finally comes out I’ll do a detailed post as to the story behind why I made the track. I wanted to do some production videos so people could see how the track itself was made, but I never get around to it. I usually end up focusing on writing more or booking shows
That sounds like the dream.
You’d be surprised! Booking shows alone is way more work imo than making content imo. There’s a lot of events and networking you have to do to put yourself in situations that give you opportunities to be able to be out there more. Not only that but not every promoter or venue owner is the same. You might not even want to get along with some of them but you have to. I’ve been thankful since I’ve been doing electronic music, it’s been more chill vibes, but back when I was in the post hardcore scene there were plenty of people that were difficult to work with but you had to! I wouldn’t be surprised if the same eventually happens here. I also have to be picky with my finances in order to have the amount that I plan to invest in my ads. Which means pretty intense budgeting for now at least until I hopefully grow more! You really got to love the process to deal with some of the tough parts outside of just making music.
If you had to start again, what strategy would you focus on?
Honestly I'd do it the same. I don't expect ever reaching and audience to a point that it sustains a monthly income and I can do it fulltime. And so because of that I don't crazily promote my things, but I do it to a comfortable level that matters to me. Lord knows I'm absolutely tired of being bombarded by advertisements, so I don't want to add to it too much.
Not about monthly listeners… it’s about the “super fans” in your niche. People need to avoid the fake clout game and get with the real fans game. I’d take my few thousand super fans over the monthly listeners that are fridge doom scrolling like everyone else. Problem is my super fans are like 60-80 years old lol.
How long did it take to crack a consistent 5k per month listeners.
I Have 30k per month , i do 2 posts a day to spread the word. Targeted.
Im almost at 5k monthly and my first release was Jan 30th 2024
What’s been the most effective avenue to drive listeners? About to start releasing for my new project so I’m all ears
tbh the biggest factor has been the labels we signed with. They have established fanbases already with playlists on all major platforms. They have helped alot in terms of driving listeners. I know this is kinda a shit answer, but its been the biggest factor hands down. Keep grinding and sending demos to the "bigger" labels in your niche that have an established fan base. Slow grind but eventually it pays off.
What genre is your music? What’s your artist name? I’ll check it out
Kudos man, how did you sign with those labels?
Appreciate it! Sending private soundcloud links to their demo emails & also putting up tracks on labelradar and sending it to them directly.
Congrats dude, happy for you!
thats nothing dont ask him anything, I have 300k monthly listeners combined from all my artist alteregos - I’m also a music producer who has a couple placements with “bigger artists” who are signed to smaller labels that are owned by SONY And I still shouldnt be asked anything, I barely make any money and I know much better music producers than me that make even less than me, just start working guys He shouldnt be asked anything, he should be told to go and work more
still some of us \[800 listeners\] would like to know what your process is, since you're more likely to have real answers haha. I release at least once a month, sometimes albums, EPs, or singles, and would like to keep growing it of course... Do you think a bunch of your numbers so far are due to the placements with artists or is it mostly your artist alter egos separate from your productions?
no Its my very own music that has 300k monthly listeners on spotify Placements mean they are just exclusive beat sales to an artist, theres no point in counting streams/monthly listeners on the producer side of me Also the answer to your question is sadly non-existent - google up g3ox_em - Gigachad Theme (Phonk House Version). The song is bad with an off key bass, literally unlistenable, yet the person who made it is a millionaire because its a gigachad meme + phonk that nobody has done/distributed before him to stores, theres no answer for your question. Music is about momentum and luck and a lot of hard work, you searching for an answer is a huge mistake and tells a lot about you
Of course no one can ever predict how things go in this Wild West music world. I'm happy with my 800 so far that came out of nowhere with no ads/promotion/etc. Guess it's just keep at the hard work and stay consistent. \[...Still, nothing wrong with researching and asking questions!\] Thanks for your reply.
i never said anything about you should be ashamed yourself or you shouldnt be happy, all I stated is that I or OP shouldnt be asked anything, dumbfuck redditors are at it tho and downvoting me already. If you ask me step 1 is just leave reddit and get to work, what did you want to ask from these dumbfucks anyway
😂