Answers
Nov 18, 2018 - 05:14 PM
Selling indie music, like selling nearly anything else, relies on hitting that elusive “word-of-mouth” groove, where fans like what you’ve got so much that they share it with their friends. And, of course, “word-of-mouth” rarely means “in person” anymore: it’s about what people share on social media and in messages to the people in their circles.
I would start by making sure you have a great social media marketing campaign. Spotify is less effective in a vacuum than if is partnered with other social sites where people can share songs, playlists, and favorite artists.
Make sure the bands you work with are present on all of the most relevant social media sites for their demographics. Generally, it’s best to try to have a presence at least on all the major sites (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat), but it depends on your availability to run them. You don’t want to have inactive profiles sitting around. Don’t forget to post songs and performance videos on YouTube, and songs on SoundCloud, too.
Link to your Spotify account on all of these sites, and share Spotify links regularly. Keep conversations with fans going. You can let the bands take ownership for responding to comments sometimes, as long as they engage well and have a cohesive “voice” on social. Otherwise, you may need to take over this task or outsource it. Use tools like Hootsuite to make managing multiple platforms easier, if you need to.
On Spotify itself, make sure to have the band regularly make its own playlists (or do it for them). It’s a great idea to feature other artists on those playlists - even if they’re not in the same genre, they might return the favor.
Keep active on Spotify by updating playlists and adding new ones, so you’ll hold the attention of both fans and the Spotify algorithms. Don’t forget to verify the bands’ Spotify profiles, if you haven’t already. This also lets you track metrics on the site.
Finally, you can use Spotify’s built-in promotional tools to get more streams. You could try an ad with Spotify Ad Studio, or put a Spotify follow button on the band’s website alongside other social media links. Try also creating a Spotify Code for various content - these codes function like QR codes and can be shared online instead of links.
Nov 20, 2018 - 02:41 PM
Elyse's answer above is great. I'd add the following:
Also reach out to the curators/influencers who build the most popular Spotify playlists. They consider themselves taste makers and would want to claim bragging rights for 'discovering' your indie band.
Of course your music needs to be good and appeal to their sensibilities. If your band plays rock, approach the rock playlist curators and so on. And when you approach them start by asking them what they think about a particular song and show that you've done research about them and their selections. Then maybe ask how the song could be improved. Then send more songs. Then ask, could you please consider including this on one of your playlists.
Cultivate them over time and make the occassional request. Maybe even let them know about other 'underground bands' they might like.
Do NOT ask them to add your band's songs to their popular playlists on first contact! They get requests like this all day, which is equivalent to meeting someone for the first time and asking to have sex :)
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