This is exactly what I need. I have over 50 tracks on Spotify, been putting out stuff over the past 18 months. And 13 listeners! Isn’t that tragic?! 😂 I need all the help I can get!
You're definitely not alone ha - there are tons of artists with similar stories. Hope you can stay encouraged, and hope the video is helpful for a bit of a roadmap!
Fair question. I wrote about this in detail here: twostorymelody.com/is-spotify-promotion-worth-it/ Long-story-short, it's tough to break even with these campaigns. If you're viewing Spotify promo primarily as a monetary investment, then you need a really solid plan to monetize the audience on the backend.
I exactly agree and understand your concerns. I am planning to invest 2k on a single which will be out on 5th of January 2024. The thing is I am not scared to lose 2k. Yet I am looking at it for a long term investment. I expect to reach decent amount of streams that will continue gathering me enough so I maybe break even at the end of the year. The point is not to get rich quick, rather than getting real fans that will continuously expect your new releases and repeat your already released songs.
Wow! This is a much more manageable goal for myself. I have 5 singles out. I have a new album coming out next month too. I will give this a shot!! 🎉 I really want to try your 1 on 1 coaching but I'm broke lol!! 😂😢😢😢
The concerned artist spent almost $3'000 just for the meta ad campaign (not to mention all other costs), in order to achieve 100'000 streams, which means that the streams generated about $300 revenue with the streams. It also generates 800 followers but unless a substantial amount of these followers are real fans that will buy and download the song or, even better, buy the physical products and merchs, this business model is not viable.
and you think the stream count just goes to zero after the ad is done? what about collateral streams made on other songs in his catalog. The streams continue for years. He will recoup.
@@RRAREBEAR thanks for making these points. You're right, there are definitely collateral streams, and there would be ongoing growth if we turned the ads off. But, admittedly, it will take a long time to recoup the investment if the only ROI on this is through streaming royalties. The hope is that it can translate to other opportunities (mainly more performance opps / ticket sales in this case).
Artists make most of their money through gigs, and bookers will more likely book someone with 170k streams (which he currently has!) than someone with next to no streams... But I agree that 3k is a lot though, I would never put that much money in promo as a new artist. I also think he needs to focus on gaining followers on a platform like Instagram (he only has 300 followers!) to build a real fan base...
I personally don't understand why artists waste their money on Spotify promotion. Ultimately you're putting in wayyy more money than you are getting back with every "campaign" you do, so how is that even sustainable? I have found what works for my music business but it took me a while to find it and get to the point I'm at. I think a better way would be to grow an email list of fans that buy your albums. Because if you release everything on Spotify, who would buy your album when they can just listen to it for free? it takes millions and millions of streams every month to get to a full time income with Spotify and let's face it. The majority of us are not going to get to that level! So literally I see no point.
Totally fair points. I think I need to do a video on this ha... I've gotten a bunch of comments to the same effect. Here are my thoughts in written form, if you're interested: twostorymelody.com/is-spotify-promotion-worth-it/
It’s not supposed to be sustainable exactly, many businesses spend years running at a loss in order to reach a level at which they can generate a significant profit. It’s mostly about reaching a wider audience and gaining credibility. Profit comes later (for those who are successful).
Impressive results there Jon! Think we could do with a campaign like this!! Particularly interested in Facebook ads but Facebook won't let me boost a Spotify-linked post. ( I have no problem boosting TH-cam-linked Facebook posts by the way).. Could you give us any advice? Thanks in advance, A Thousand Hills
Thanks! And yeah, I'd recommend watching Andrew Southworth's latest video; he does a great job of walking through how these campaigns are set up: th-cam.com/video/keLNX3iZsqo/w-d-xo.html
Excellent breakdown of the process. Thank You. A question: You said the Meta ad campaign was sending users to the profile and it "translated into a descent amount of followers." Do you know how many more followers were added?
@@twostorymediamusic Thank You! That's great! Hopefully that can somehow be leveraged into merch sales. Has he seen an uptick in any merch that can be attributed to the ads?
I know how we can't look at this in terms of ROI, but spending 2k dollars with 100k streams, assuming on the higher end the artist makes 500$, how would we account for the 1500$? What's your perspective of this? Would love to hear that. Also introducing the song to Disovery Mode might kick off discover weekly because the song will get very less saves and followers and that's not good for the algorithm.
Yeah, it's a fair question. I wrote in detail about this here: twostorymelody.com/is-spotify-promotion-worth-it/ TL;DR - short-term you're almost never ROI positive, long-term you can be (but it's hard and you have to have a plan), and overall, value is relative. RE: Discovery Mode reducing engagement - nah, engagement stayed about the same while we were on Discovery Mode. Actually, Discover Weekly itself reduced our engagement rate, just because the volume of streams was so much higher.
@@twostorymediamusicGotcha! Re Discovery Mode - How many streams are you getting for the band currently? I get around 20k streams per month from Discovery Mode, the save rate is not great, but I think in general that's how algorithmic playlists work, like you mentioned for Discover Weekly - so gotta have the ads pumping in I guess? Thanks for your reply and I'll check out that post!
great video! looking forward to the mets ads video. i have a question sorta for that video - do you think it’s better to let one ad campaign (for one song) run for a long time to really let it get enough data to get really optimized, or should i run a new, different campaign for each song i release? i’m looking to release a lot more in 2024, and wonder if the month or two months in between songs is enough for my meta ad campaigns to get efficient results. also, do you think it would work if i keep one campaign running, but switch out the ad creatives to my newest release every time i drop? appreciate the videos!
Thanks! And yeah, good questions. As far as running a new campaign or updating creatives- I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong answer. I've tried both, and partly it depends on what sort of campaign you're running. But most often, I duplicate my old campaign and update it for a new release, rather than just tweaking the creative - especially if the new song is markedly different from the previous one. As far as whether you should promote each release or focus on one song - my advice is typically to double down on whatever is working the best. So if you find one release is getting CPR below, say, $0.20, it might be smart to stay there for awhile. Whereas if you're not getting great results with one release, it probably makes sense to switch to the next one. But it depends on what you're looking for, too. Some people like to spread the budget to each song regardless of how they all perform, and some people just want to maximize streams, so they pick the "winners".
Here's my current strategy: th-cam.com/video/wCGXWNfY6WE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vVER_Kv_qIbTPPvb Andrew Southworth is an awesome person to learn this from. And fwiw, I've got a paid community that helps with this, too.
![[Watch Party] RoV Pro League 2024 Winter | ( Bacon Time Vs FS )](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lD6z1BugdZw/mqdefault.jpg)
CONGRATS ON THE NEW BLINKING PR 🥳🥳
been training for this for months
Don't expect to get back what you put in...this is investing in yourself....Definitely want to get out there and perform
This is exactly what I need. I have over 50 tracks on Spotify, been putting out stuff over the past 18 months. And 13 listeners! Isn’t that tragic?! 😂 I need all the help I can get!
You're definitely not alone ha - there are tons of artists with similar stories. Hope you can stay encouraged, and hope the video is helpful for a bit of a roadmap!
So 2k invested and about 300$ of streaming revenue. I wonder when we can break even.
Fair question. I wrote about this in detail here: twostorymelody.com/is-spotify-promotion-worth-it/
Long-story-short, it's tough to break even with these campaigns. If you're viewing Spotify promo primarily as a monetary investment, then you need a really solid plan to monetize the audience on the backend.
I exactly agree and understand your concerns. I am planning to invest 2k on a single which will be out on 5th of January 2024. The thing is I am not scared to lose 2k. Yet I am looking at it for a long term investment. I expect to reach decent amount of streams that will continue gathering me enough so I maybe break even at the end of the year. The point is not to get rich quick, rather than getting real fans that will continuously expect your new releases and repeat your already released songs.
Artists break even only when they go mainstream
Wow! This is a much more manageable goal for myself. I have 5 singles out. I have a new album coming out next month too. I will give this a shot!! 🎉 I really want to try your 1 on 1 coaching but I'm broke lol!! 😂😢😢😢
I just got 300k streams from $400 in ad spend!
How?
how
The concerned artist spent almost $3'000 just for the meta ad campaign (not to mention all other costs), in order to achieve 100'000 streams, which means that the streams generated about $300 revenue with the streams. It also generates 800 followers but unless a substantial amount of these followers are real fans that will buy and download the song or, even better, buy the physical products and merchs, this business model is not viable.
and you think the stream count just goes to zero after the ad is done? what about collateral streams made on other songs in his catalog. The streams continue for years. He will recoup.
This is a fair point. I wrote a detailed post on this here: twostorymelody.com/is-spotify-promotion-worth-it/
@@RRAREBEAR thanks for making these points. You're right, there are definitely collateral streams, and there would be ongoing growth if we turned the ads off. But, admittedly, it will take a long time to recoup the investment if the only ROI on this is through streaming royalties. The hope is that it can translate to other opportunities (mainly more performance opps / ticket sales in this case).
Artists make most of their money through gigs, and bookers will more likely book someone with 170k streams (which he currently has!) than someone with next to no streams... But I agree that 3k is a lot though, I would never put that much money in promo as a new artist. I also think he needs to focus on gaining followers on a platform like Instagram (he only has 300 followers!) to build a real fan base...
I personally don't understand why artists waste their money on Spotify promotion. Ultimately you're putting in wayyy more money than you are getting back with every "campaign" you do, so how is that even sustainable? I have found what works for my music business but it took me a while to find it and get to the point I'm at. I think a better way would be to grow an email list of fans that buy your albums. Because if you release everything on Spotify, who would buy your album when they can just listen to it for free? it takes millions and millions of streams every month to get to a full time income with Spotify and let's face it. The majority of us are not going to get to that level! So literally I see no point.
Totally fair points. I think I need to do a video on this ha... I've gotten a bunch of comments to the same effect. Here are my thoughts in written form, if you're interested: twostorymelody.com/is-spotify-promotion-worth-it/
@@twostorymediamusicwould you be willing to sell Meta Ads Spots? $200/ song ?
Because we don't live in the 90s.
It’s not supposed to be sustainable exactly, many businesses spend years running at a loss in order to reach a level at which they can generate a significant profit. It’s mostly about reaching a wider audience and gaining credibility. Profit comes later (for those who are successful).
Impressive results there Jon! Think we could do with a campaign like this!! Particularly interested in Facebook ads but Facebook won't let me boost a Spotify-linked post. ( I have no problem boosting TH-cam-linked Facebook posts by the way).. Could you give us any advice? Thanks in advance, A Thousand Hills
Thanks! And yeah, I'd recommend watching Andrew Southworth's latest video; he does a great job of walking through how these campaigns are set up: th-cam.com/video/keLNX3iZsqo/w-d-xo.html
Many thanks!
Excellent breakdown of the process. Thank You.
A question: You said the Meta ad campaign was sending users to the profile and it "translated into a descent amount of followers." Do you know how many more followers were added?
Thanks, Mark! Yeah, about 800. He's currently at 814, and basically all of those are from ads.
@@twostorymediamusic Thank You! That's great! Hopefully that can somehow be leveraged into merch sales. Has he seen an uptick in any merch that can be attributed to the ads?
@@markshveima sadly, he does not offer merch ha. At this point, it's just been spend - no direct ROI you could point to.
I know how we can't look at this in terms of ROI, but spending 2k dollars with 100k streams, assuming on the higher end the artist makes 500$, how would we account for the 1500$? What's your perspective of this? Would love to hear that. Also introducing the song to Disovery Mode might kick off discover weekly because the song will get very less saves and followers and that's not good for the algorithm.
Yeah, it's a fair question. I wrote in detail about this here: twostorymelody.com/is-spotify-promotion-worth-it/
TL;DR - short-term you're almost never ROI positive, long-term you can be (but it's hard and you have to have a plan), and overall, value is relative.
RE: Discovery Mode reducing engagement - nah, engagement stayed about the same while we were on Discovery Mode. Actually, Discover Weekly itself reduced our engagement rate, just because the volume of streams was so much higher.
@@twostorymediamusicGotcha!
Re Discovery Mode - How many streams are you getting for the band currently? I get around 20k streams per month from Discovery Mode, the save rate is not great, but I think in general that's how algorithmic playlists work, like you mentioned for Discover Weekly - so gotta have the ads pumping in I guess? Thanks for your reply and I'll check out that post!
It’s just data you use for gigs to sell tickets and maybe merchandise
Lemme try and see
it makes me sad that meta adds is not letting me use them
great video! looking forward to the mets ads video. i have a question sorta for that video - do you think it’s better to let one ad campaign (for one song) run for a long time to really let it get enough data to get really optimized, or should i run a new, different campaign for each song i release? i’m looking to release a lot more in 2024, and wonder if the month or two months in between songs is enough for my meta ad campaigns to get efficient results. also, do you think it would work if i keep one campaign running, but switch out the ad creatives to my newest release every time i drop? appreciate the videos!
Even I'm stuck with this problem
Thanks! And yeah, good questions.
As far as running a new campaign or updating creatives- I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong answer. I've tried both, and partly it depends on what sort of campaign you're running. But most often, I duplicate my old campaign and update it for a new release, rather than just tweaking the creative - especially if the new song is markedly different from the previous one.
As far as whether you should promote each release or focus on one song - my advice is typically to double down on whatever is working the best. So if you find one release is getting CPR below, say, $0.20, it might be smart to stay there for awhile. Whereas if you're not getting great results with one release, it probably makes sense to switch to the next one.
But it depends on what you're looking for, too. Some people like to spread the budget to each song regardless of how they all perform, and some people just want to maximize streams, so they pick the "winners".
@@twostorymediamusic Appreciate the in depth answer! I’ll definitely try a few different approaches to see which ones work
How do I do the meta ads
Here's my current strategy: th-cam.com/video/wCGXWNfY6WE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vVER_Kv_qIbTPPvb
Andrew Southworth is an awesome person to learn this from. And fwiw, I've got a paid community that helps with this, too.
I see you showed how much you spent but how much did you make?
about 300€
honestly i don’t mind when you don’t blink because it shows me your dead a** serious in a world of scammers lol keep going brodie never stop
This comment made my day
Beat the robot allegations 🥹👏
Updated my blinking algorithms lol