THREE WAYS TO GROW ON SPOTIFY
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THREE WAYS TO GROW ON SPOTIFY.
If you’re here reading this, you understand that Spotify is important. Don’t get me wrong, the most important thing in your career is creating meaningful, long-lasting connections with your fans… but Spotify plays a part in that overall strategy.
Numbers aren’t everything, but they are important both externally as a marker of relative success (relative being the key word there), and inwardly because as creators we like to see those numbers going up as a visual indicator that we’re doing things right.
More important than the numbers themselves, though, is the discovery aspect of Spotify.
Spotify’s algorithm exists to help artists get discovered.
Learn how the algorithm works, and how to make it work for you with our FREE Spotify Success Ebook.
In fact, two artists I manage have been discovered and offered deals by labels because their songs came up on algorithmic playlists.
Though no one really understands exactly how Spotify’s algorithm works, there are a few proven methods to prime the algorithm to work in your favor.
Which brings us to THREE PROVEN WAYS TO GROW ON SPOTIFY.
one: MARKETING
Marketing is the number one way to grow your numbers on Spotify and positively impact the algorithm. For as little as $5/day you can get started on a music marketing campaign that - if set up and targeted properly - will increase your numbers exponentially. There are three main ways we run campaigns for our clients here at Standout:
Facebook/Instagram Ads
YouTube Ads
Email Blasts & Newsletters
The best thing about marketing is that it’s a strategy that can ensure the success of any release, no matter how old it is. With the right set up and targeting, you can get the same results from a song that’s 15 years old as a song that’s brand new (assuming the quality is comparable).
Marketing campaigns are an essential part of our RELEASE MANAGEMENT service, and are also offered a la carte for specific artists.
TWO: PLAYLISTS
Before we get into anything in this section: We always advise against paying curators for a direct placement on their playlist.
That said, there are a lot of legitimate promotion companies that we have used in the past and recommend in specific situations.
Here are a few we have used and recommend:
PlaylistPush: PlaylistPush is what we call a “curator hub” - a platform that connects artists (or their teams) with playlist curators. There is a strict reviewal process for curators to be accepted into the program, and they also have to maintain a consistent level of activity / engagement on their playlists in order to stay active on the platform. In total, PlaylistPush claims to have 970+ curators, a reach of over 23 million listeners, and over 5,500 successful campaigns run. Use code 4FYYK93 to get 7.5% off your first campaign. Click here to learn more.
SubmitHub: SubmitHub is another “curator hub” - almost more of an “influencer hub” - but with a slightly wider scope than the other options here, and a slightly different approach. Artists can submit songs for free, or can pay for credits to use premium submissions. We always recommend doing premium submissions; free submissions can be skipped by curators. An extra bonus for SubmitHub is that they also allow submissions to blogs, and reviewers, so there is a PR element as well. Click here to get 10% off your next campaign.
Daily Playlists: Daily Playlists is a relatively new company, but has been growing and adding more and more options for artists to get their music heard. It’s 100% FREE to create and set up an account. You can search and filter through hundreds of playlists and easily submit your songs for consideration. The only downside to Daily Playlists - in my experience - is that because it is a free platform, there is a very low acceptance rate. Usually pay walls of some sort raise the bar for submission quality- but it seems like curators on Daily Playlists can get overwhelmed with poor submissions. Even still, being free, it’s worth the effort! Click here to get started.
Playlister.club: Another paid option, Playlister.club has a unique approach to playlisting. Artists can create accounts and have to pay for credits to submit songs. However, there is also a community sort of element to the website that allows natural discovery of trending songs. The platform also has some cool tools that tell you detailed information about your songs so you can get an idea of which tracks have a better chance at landing more playlists. Click here to learn more.
SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND: Playlisting should never be your only strategy. It is most effective when combined with a strong marketing campaign as part of an overall strategy to kickstart Spotify’s algorithm.
THREE: CONSISTENCY
The third and arguably most important part of growing your numbers on Spotify is being consistent, both in how frequently you release music, and in the quality of the music you release.
You don’t have to release a new song every two weeks, but you should keep an eye on the longevity of your songs to get an idea of how frequently you should be releasing new songs.
Take some time to look at the data that Spotify for Artists provides, and notice the trends in how long it takes your stats to plateau after the initial release spike. Ideally, you should have your next release scheduled and submitted before your current release falls from the spike so that your plateaus continually rise with each release.
Best practices for how far apart to schedule new releases can vary per genre, but in general around 5-6 weeks apart seems to make the best use of the algorithm.
Putting time in to properly set up your release strategy and space out your songs is one of the most effective ways to ensure long-term Spotify success.
In summary, the three main ways to grow on Spotify are (1) Marketing Campaigns, (2) Playlisting, and (3) Have consistent releases.
To learn more about how Spotify works and how to make it work for you, download a FREE copy of our SPOTIFY SUCCESS EBOOK.
Chat soon!
