How to turn a potential listener into a fan

How to turn a potential listener into a fan

Stop wasting your money on ads that won’t convert. Learn how to reduce your Facebook ad costs and maximize the impact of your campaign in no time.

The first thing you must realize as an artist is that nothing is stopping your targeted audience from zapping past your audio commercial on Spotify Marquee or scrolling past your Facebook ad. They have the remote control and they can choose to ignore you regardless of how many times your ad appears on their screen. That’s heartbreaking but it’s the truth.

A reliable fanbase is a reward you get for doing not just one thing but a lot of things right. In this guide, we will teach you how to drive your streams up to the maximum using the “heating” process explained in this guide. Interested? We thought as much.

Guess whose attention span sits beside that of a Goldfish

Your potential audience – you heard that right!

While the comparison of a human attention span to that of a Goldfish (which is 9 seconds) is a truthful lie (an unverified assumption); one open secret we cannot deny is that our attention span has decreased spontaneously since the internet was made public in 1993.

In line with the beliefs of Neil Postman, a renowned American educator, modern technology is successfully taking the human attention span to its nadir.

Also, Seth Godin rightly stated in the Nordic Business Forum, “We have branded ourselves to death”, thereby giving our audience no choice but to turn a deaf ear to our ads. Hence, the average artist must “warm-up” their cold audience before they can get the opportunity to sell merch, ask for users’ data, or ask for a Spotify follow.

What are Cold Audiences?

A cold audience is simply an infinite group of social media users who have not heard of your brand before online or offline. A CNN news consumer who has seen your infomercial on TV is not regarded as a member of the cold audience. A driver who has seen your Billboard ad is not considered part of the cold audience. Do you know what a cold audience looks like? Regular students in India who have not listened to your trap track before and don’t know if your brand exists.

Some blogs will limit the definition of a cold audience to online users who have an interest in a certain genre. However, we live on an all-inclusive sonic planet where most songs fit into multiple genres and many artists are still trying to find their unique sounds. To limit their potential audience(s) to a certain interest/genre is to shut out the vast potential fans out there. For the sake of this guide, we’ll like to keep the hope of finding new listeners alive.

What are Warm Audiences?

A warm audience is a category of internet users who are familiar with your brand to an extent. These are people who have read a blog article about your brand, watched your YouTube video before, followed you on social media, or engaged with your content online.

On a scale of 1 to 10, the warmth of an audience varies, where 1 is mildly warm and 10 is very hot.

How to warm up cold audiences

Like we mentioned earlier, artists need to educate their targeted audience about their brands before trying to convert them to fans. Facebook (or Meta, LOL) gives artists the opportunity to specify their audience based on specific interests, so as to help them find users who are more likely to enjoy their sound. Follow the steps below to warm up cold audiences;

  • Put your best foot forward by creating a static/moving video that features the most memorable/melodic part of your song.
  • Ensure that the art cover (if it is a static video) or your background (if it is a freestyle video) tells a story and puts the listener in a unique mood. For instance, a freestyle video at the beach is very suitable for an acoustic guitar song.
  • Write a short caption that gives the viewer a sneak peek at your brand. And don’t forget to be personal when composing your introduction.
  • Give them a good reason to follow you for more without sounding desperate.

When heating up the cold audience, do not try to get them off the social media platform. Your first goal is to get their attention and turn it into brand affection.

How to keep engaging the warm audience

Like the cold audience, the warm audience needs to be sustained with great content to prevent them from growing cold. You have to create a content calendar and ensure you keep adding value to your established audience.

Don’t bombard them with sales posts about your merch or live shows. Entertain first before asking them for a favor and when you try to sell them something, don’t overdo it.

Increase your Spotify Engagement with Canvas Tool

Increase your Spotify Engagement with Canvas Tool

Get a 200% boost in track shares on your Spotify discography and future releases with the aid of the new Canvas Tool recently launched by Spotify. The tool is available for all artists regardless of region or genre. Take advantage of this secret Canvas tool while it is still effective, and most artists don’t know about it.

Great artists don’t just make good music; they create an unforgettable experience that will get the press and their fans talking for a very long period of time. Following the wise words of Maya Angelou, a three times Grammy winner, People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will not forget how you made them feel.

When it comes to audio consumption, the visuals matter too. Artists like Billie Eilish and Poppy have used Canvas to help fans understand the original concept behind their music. In addition, canvas makes sharing artists’ projects more appealing to fans, hence enhancing your word-of-mouth marketing plan. Listeners can share these creative canvas backgrounds besides primarily sharing your music to their Instagram stories by clicking on the three dots (…) icon on the top right corner of their screen while listening to your tracks.

The Biggest Winner

Currently, Spotify claimed that Artists who used the Canvas Beta saw a 200% increase in track shares plus an undetailed increase in streams, artist profile visits, and track saves. Like every new tool, the Canvas tool will prove highly effective until every artist adopts the same tactic. While artists can make different canvases for their songs, the immense increase Canvas users enjoy will likely decline when Spotify becomes oversaturated with Canvases.

However, in this tussle for more plays, the biggest winner remains Spotify. They will get more people to subscribe to their platform and stay on the app without spending a dime on visuals or a visual-creation tool.

Making a professional visual per track can cost from $300 – $10,000 on freelancing platforms like Fiverr or Upwork. Most indie artists will have to settle for an album/song art cover as uploading no visual is better than using a bad one. Those who would gain immensely from this tool are the big labels and artists with big budgets.

Spotify aims to keep people on its platform for as long as possible. With the aid of looping visuals, the Spotify app will become a universe of its own.

The Ultimate Reward of Using the Canva Tool

While it is true that Spotify will get the biggest share when the Canva idea pays off, it is a win-win situation for both parties (artists and Spotify). Do not forget that the Spotify algorithm is designed to reward tracks that keep Spotify users on its platform. Inevitably, the algorithm will smile upon artists who can keep users glued to the Spotify platform and bring in more subscribers. A boost from the algorithm will ultimately translate into more playlisting, streams, saves, and followers.

While the number of people who interacted with the shared Canvas video will not be recorded, artists will get Canva metrics when a user uses the Canva link.

Apart from increasing followers’ engagement on the platform, you can also announce a new project, concert, or new video to listeners directly when they are listening to your track. 

How TikTok is becoming a Music Streaming Giant

How TikTok is becoming a Music Streaming Giant

Don’t miss the opportunity of going viral using the tools and platforms created by TikTok to make it easier for indie artists to connect with music fans.

TikTok announced on Music Business Worldwide that they will be launching a beta program (known as SoundOn) that will help upcoming artists move from phase A to B in their music careers. The major problem with attaining exposure on TikTok is that its audience is so vast that artists find it challenging to define their fanbase, sell merch, and hold concerts in physical locations. A good example is Coi Leray, a female artist who is struggling to garner loyal fans among the hip-hop communities despite releasing successful singles and collaborating with established rappers like Lil Durk, Gunna, Wale, and EARTHGANG. With the SoundOn platform, TikTok hopes to bridge the gap between its online platform and the world stage.

Also, they are working with UnitedMasters, an American music distribution service, to help indie artists distribute their music to all music platforms directly from the TikTok app. UnitedMasters is home to popular artists like Lil Tecca, NLE Choppa, Lil XXEL, Tobe Nwigwe.

TikTok hopes to grow its commercial music library as a result of the UnitedMasters deal. TikTok’s commercial music library is a collection of pre-cleared and royalty-free songs approved by the owners (upcoming artists and established music houses).

The short-video sharing app doubles as a social networking platform fast becoming a music streaming giant. Unlike other audio-streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, or Deezer, TikTok has over 1 billion users across planet earth. Gone are the days when TikTok was dubbed the kids’ app; nowadays you can now find users of all ages on the platform. According to Wallaroo, 26% of the 80 million US users on TikTok are within the age range of 25-44 while 80% are between the ages 16-24. TikTok is a digital village consisting of all types of people from diverse backgrounds, age groups, belief systems, or gender. 

Engagement Not Consumption

TikTok pays artists per engagement, not per stream, meaning artists get paid when their music is used to create video content on the platform. Therefore, the amount of views generated by the video content has no impact on the royalty payout. Also, the amount received per engagement is determined by the market share as opposed to the standard metric view system used by Apple and Spotify.

Most artists are generally interested in the TikTok model since it can give their music more exposure. In an interview with Genius, Xeno Carr (a member of the iLOVEFRIDAYS duo) said the exposure TikTok offers on their future projects is far more valuable than the royalty payout they would have gotten from the usual pay-per-stream model.

Where Social networking Intercepts ShowBiz

Although upcoming artists in the music industry can afford to trade music royalties for viral exposure, established artists who will get heard with or without TikTok prefer to get paid by their distributors. Aside from the money obtained from the distribution deal with Tiktok, another possible way of making money on TikTok is by monetizing live streaming. While the idea of paid live streaming is still in its baby phase, it is a promising one.

When artists plan to hold live-streamed concerts, they don’t have to pay for a physical space, plus they can also make tickets very affordable for fans. The reason artists charge $200 – $5000 for concerts is because it is expensive to rent stadiums and halls for shows.

While TikTok has yet to monetize its live streaming platform, it plans to do so after attaining an impeccable user experience. Artists like Ed Sheeran, Justin Beiber, and J Balvin have held separate shows using the TikTok Livestream platform and gained huge success. For example, the J Balvin live stream has about 4.5 million unique views. Finally, the artists in the future can tour with ease and earn more money using the Livestream platform. 

5 Reasons Artists Should Never Buy Fake Streams

5 Reasons Artists Should Never Buy Fake Streams

It might be tempting to buy fake streams in a bid to impress your peers and the labels, but do you know about the disadvantages of getting artificial streams?

Have you been finessed by playlist curators who promised authentic streams and in the end, all you got was valueless streams from bots?

Do you want to know how to differentiate between fake bot streams and real Spotify streams?

You have come to the right place. This guide will help you understand why buying fake streams is harmful to your career as an artist and the best ways to identify playlist curators who bulk up their playlist stream count with bots.

You make your rules in the music game, but one rule you must adopt regardless of your tribe or genre is common sense. There is nothing commonsensical or profitable in getting fake streams from bots. For one thing, Spotify will not pay you a dime for racking up artificial streams, and at worst, your artist account can get banned for life. Yeah, you heard that right – for life!

What is a fake stream?

A fake or artificial stream is derived using bots and scripts (automated machine processes). These automated machine processes create unusual streaming patterns that are not congruent with the behavior of an average human listener. Money paid to dishonest artists is money stolen from the hardworking ones who get their streams from genuine Spotify listeners. Spotify can adjust stream count, limit exposure, remove songs, and withhold royalties of artists who are caught in such fraudulent acts.

How to detect fake streams

Spotify’s fraud-monitoring team is purging artists using fake streams from their streaming platform. The major victims of this Spotify purge are artists unaware that the streams they got from 3rd party listener playlists are artificially generated.  When reaching out to independent playlist curators, be sure to vet the playlist and toss them off your list if you find any unusual listening patterns.

These dishonest playlists can be identified by following the down-to-earth steps given in this section. It is important to note that Spotify does not provide a tool that helps artists distinguish between fake streams and real streams. Hence, the methods recommended in this guide are based on gut instinct and rationality, as there is no accessible foolproof method of identifying artificial streaming.

While paying money to get into an independent playlist is illegal, according to Spotify, the major downside of getting on these playlists is that some use bots and fake Spotify accounts to grow their playlists. So even if you are willing to risk getting caught by Spotify and intend to pay for a playlist placement, you have to ensure the streams from the playlist are real. Follow the steps below to vet a playlist.

Ask for their Playlist Growth Strategy

If your track is getting free placement from an independent playlist, it is odd to ask them for their playlist growth strategy. However, if you are going to put your money on it, it has to be legit. The healthy ways independent playlist curators grow their page are through Facebook ads, Google ads, influencer promotion, or social media engagement. If a playlist curator cannot provide you with evidence of how they grow their playlist, it is safe to assume that the playlist is fake.

Reach out to artists who have been featured on the playlist

When you want to order a piece of furniture (let’s say a chair) from a furniture company, the first thing you do is search Google for reviews from their customers. The same applies to playlist shopping. Reach out to various featured artists and ask them about their experiences with the playlist. Like every disgruntled user, any artist who has been a victim of a playlist would gladly provide you with the necessary information. Also, ask if the playlist followers saved their songs or followed them. If ten featured artists tell you the same thing about a playlist, they are most likely right.

Look for unusual followers spike using Chart metric

Chartmetric is a tool that allows you to get information about a Spotify artist, playlist, or track. Using Chartmetric, you can view the changes in the follower count of a playlist within a specified amount of time. All you need to do is copy the playlist link on Spotify and paste it into the search box on the top right of the Chartmetric website. If you discover an outrageous and sharp increase in the playlist followers count in a short period of time, the playlist might be getting plays from bots. Also, if you see a sharp decrease in followers count, there is a good reason to believe that Spotify corrected the follower count and removed fake accounts from their platform.

Disadvantages of buying fake streams

Buying fake streams is one of the few moves that have no pros and lots of cons. You can end your career by engaging in such activity. Below are the five major reasons you should never buy fake streams.

You will miss out on valuable data

There have been a ton of success stories from artists who were able to pull off a successful tour with the aid of the data gotten from Spotify. The simple way to know the best location to tour is by checking your Spotify for Artists dashboard for the cities where your music is streamed the most. However, if your streams are coming from bots, how do you want to know where to tour? Artists who opt for

such alternatives are merely deceiving themselves and hurting their chances of growing big.

Fake streams do not fool big Labels

The major reasons artists fake their age, hair, status, Instagram followers count, and Spotify monthly listeners are to get the attention of the big labels. Lol! The funny thing here is that industry insiders can easily spot fake streams. The moment they see that your streams are coming from bots, they will get pissed off. For real!

Spotify can limit your track’s exposure

According to Spotify, they will shadow-ban your song and prevent it from going viral once they detect artificial streaming activity on your account.

You can get sued

In a case where you were able to get a huge payout from Spotify using this method, Spotify can sue you. For example, in 2020, Spotify sued an indie label named Sosa for using millions of fake Spotify accounts to increase the streams of their content.

No long-term growth

Unless you make music for bots and scripts, I think there is no point buying fake streams. You cannot fool the labels since they know better. You cannot fool the labels since they know better. Also, you cannot fool music fans because random people on the internet will expose you.

Final Thoughts

True artists seek to connect to an audience that appreciates their body of work. Faking your stream count cannot get you a true fan base that will show up for your concerts and purchase your merch. These days, music fans can tell when an artist is getting streams from bots, and no one wants to listen to a fake artist. 

How to Pitch New Music to Spotify Playlist Curators

How to Pitch New Music to Spotify Playlist Curators

The benchmark for the number of songs featured by Spotify editorial curators is 20% of the total tracks pitched within a specific time frame. Your aim as an artist is to be of the lucky 20 percenters eligible for an organic push from Spotify.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps you can take not only to pitch your song to editorial and independent playlists seamlessly but also to enhance your chances of landing your desired playlists.

Pitching is a process of ‘selling’ your music to Spotify curators, whether editorial or non-editorial, with the aid of submission forms, emails, direct messaging apps like Facebook and Instagram, or real-time conversations.

It is not impossible to get your song on a playlist by having a physical meeting with a curator, but it is rare. Also, tracking down the physical locations of Spotify curators can be pretty awkward, and you might get arrested. Lol! Apart from stalking a curator, any other method listed above is proper and effective.

The nature of your pitch or the pitching method used is highly dependent on the type of playlist you intend to be featured on. There are Spotify editorial playlists, algorithmic playlists, personalized playlists, listener playlists, and artist playlists. Check out this Loudlab article on the types of playlists on Spotify. Here, we will focus on how you can pitch your new music to Spotify editorial playlists and listener playlists

Difference between Spotify editorial Playlists and listener playlists

To expand your sources of Spotify streams, you need to pitch to both Spotify editorial playlists and listener playlists. The trick behind getting featured on stream-boosting playlists is understanding the nature of these playlists and the curators’ aim. This section will help you understand the nature of Spotify editorial playlists and Spotify listener playlists; and what the curators of these playlists expect to see in a playlist pitch.

What are Spotify editorial playlists?

Spotify editorial playlists are verified playlists curated by a team of in-house music experts

and genre taster makers – basically, people who know lots about music. The ability to democratize the playlisting sphere to an extent where everyone and anyone can create a playlist makes Spotify the people’s favorite ahead of Apple music. Also, the “rags to riches” stories of Spotify artists are great PR for the Swedish audio streaming platform. Great examples of editorial playlists on Spotify are RapCaviar, Pop Pp, Most Necessary, and New Music.

Spotify Editorial Playlists Requirements

By creating over 5000 editorial playlists, Spotify aims to keep listeners across all music genres on their streaming app for as long as possible. Hence, they push the “best songs” to more listeners. By creating over 5000  editorial playlists, Spotify aims to keep listeners across all music genres on their streaming app for as long as possible. Hence, they push the “best songs” to more listeners. 

Submit your music to your distributor 7-28 days before release

Distributors like CDBaby and Distrokid can get your music on streaming platforms in three days. Still, you do not need to hasten this process as Spotify editors recommend submitting your song for playlisting at least 7 days before the release date. So there is no need to rush; schedule your release 28 days before release and give the editors enough time to find the best playlist for your track.

Pitch via Spotify submission form on your Spotify for Artists account

Spotify has provided the best and most convenient method of pitching for artists – the Spotify for Artist playlist submission form. You can pitch your upcoming music to Spotify using your Spotify for Artist dashboard. Under the ‘music’ section, you will see your yet-to-be-released music under ‘upcoming’ (if your distributor has submitted the track to Spotify). Click ‘playlist pitch’ to fill in the necessary information such as genre, types of instruments on the song, city, and description. Do not be tempted to leave the “describe your song for us” box empty. Also, ensure you give them enough information on the song’s mood, creation process, tour plans, previous radio tours, blog reviews, and your promotion plans. Use this opportunity to sell yourself to Spotify editors. 

Make no compromise on music quality.

You do not need to have much experience as an artist to know that no streaming platform would playlist trash, not even the we-care-about-independent-artists Spotify. I hate to break it to you, but it won’t get playlisted if your song is not good enough. Period.

How to pitch to Spotify editorial playlists

The step-by-step procedure of pitching your unreleased music to Spotify editorial playlists is listed below. Note that Spotify does not allow artists to pitch already-released music, and only one song can be pitched at a time, meaning you cannot pitch another song until the currently pitched song is released.

  • Claim your Spotify for Artists with the aid of your distributor. CDBaby and Distrokid offer this service for free. 

  • Log in seven and set up your Spotify for Artist profile in the most appealing format. 

  • Click the ‘music’ section and find your upcoming releases under the ‘upcoming’ column.

  • Choose the upcoming release you would like to pitch.

 

  • Fill the Spotify playlist submission form. Then, submit. 

What are listener playlists?

Listener playlists are playlists generated by Spotify users. Listener playlists can be made private or public. However, you can only pitch public listener playlists, aka independent playlists.

Listener playlists requirements

The requirements can vary depending on the editor, the nature of songs featured on the playlist, or the aim of the playlist. For example, some curators require money while others don’t. Curators also ask for favors in non-monetary forms such as playlist exchange and cross-promotion across social media accounts.

How to pitch to listener playlists

Ensure you listen to the playlist for a while and understand its purpose. When pitching, let them know you are a fan of their playlist and your song is similar to songs on the playlist. It is a plus if you have a cordial relationship with the editor on social media or real life. 

However, resist the urge to extend fake friendly antics all in the name of wanting to build a

relationship. Be professional while pitching. Also, do not intrude on the curator’s privacy. You can reach them via mail, social media, or submission forms. 

Some playlists curators don’t want to be reached; kindly leave them the heck alone. Finding listener playlists can be done manually on Spotify or with tools such as SubmitHub and Groover.

Spotify editorial playlists vs listener playlist

Before we list and explain the differences between Spotify editorial playlists and listener playlists, it is important to know that both types of playlists are essential for the success of a Spotify campaign. So ensure you include both in your Spotify promotion plan.

 

S/N Spotify Editorial Playlists Listener Playlists
1 Spotify does not accept a dime to playlist your song. Some independent curators require artists to pay to get featured on their playlists although it is totally illegal according to Spotify.
2 Your only point of connection to verified Spotify tastemakers is the Spotify for Artists Playlist submission form. You can reach independent curators via mail, social media, or non-Spotify site submission forms.
3 Editorial playlists can get you more streams than independent playlists partially because people trust Spotify more and also Spotify trusts the Spotify curation team more. They can help you boost your streams, hence boosting your Spotify Popularity index.
4 The duration spent by tracks on Spotify editorial playlists can be very short given that Spotify updates these playlists weekly or bi-weekly. The duration spent by tracks on independent playlists depends on the nature of these playlists and the editor’s choice. If you pay to get in a playlist, your song can be featured as long as agreed.
5 New musicians are welcome. Independent playlists tend to favor the labels and established artists.
6 You can only pitch a song at a time (28 days) and you cannot pitch more than one song in an EP or LP. You can pitch as many songs as you want to different playlist curators. Do not overwhelm a playlist curator with all your songs, as this move is frowned upon. Pitch one song at a time per independent curator.
7 Pitching to editorial playlists can get you featured on algorithmic playlists. Pitching to an independent playlist cannot get you featured on algorithmic playlists.

Disadvantages of not pitching your track to Spotify

Before your song can make it to Spotify or other streaming platforms, it means your distributor has vetted the song content. However, before you can get an extra boost from Spotify Algorithmic playlists or editorial playlists, their editorial curators need to have a taste of your music. When you refuse to pitch your track to Spotify using the submission form, you also lose out on algorithmic playlists such as release radar and discover weekly.

One mistake artists make when putting out music is not pitching their upcoming releases to Spotify editorial playlists at least 7 days prior to the release date. Although not every song that is pitched to editorial Spotify playlist curators would be playlisted, there are certain benefits that are attached to sending your music for consideration. In a case where your track does not make it to any editorial playlist, your music will certainly be added to the release radar.

How do you know when Spotify accepts your pitch?

The playlists you are featured on will be publicly displayed on your ‘Spotify about’ section. You can also see your songs’ playlists by clicking on your home page’s ‘playlists’ column. However, you will only be able to see the playlists that helped your songs get streams.

We "Cracked" Spotify's Algorithm!

 

and we have a system to make it work in your favor.

We are preparing some great material to guide music artists on their path to success.

Subscribe and be the first to be informed!

You have Successfully Subscribed!