Since Performers on the Go started engaging in the streaming world three years ago, it has become harder and harder to establish streaming goals and set any expectations. The universe for streaming is now predominately pay to stream for larger playlist placements. Fresh out of the gate organic streams are harder to obtain, so to stream over 1000 streams on day one or two is getting harder to do. The artists in our inner network are fully engaged so with a good stream team and an effective marketing plan/strategy, 90% have been successful in streaming numbers on Spotify in the early days of their release. It is important a well-thought-out plan is in place well in advance of the release date, and having specific goals built into the plan containing number targets is essential in keeping your momentum driving forward.
Since the pandemic started, there has been a pronounced transition to more paid streaming activities. Smaller curators with lists containing under 1000 followers were starting to charge placement fees, and the larger top quality lists that generate high steaming activity were hard to get on if accepted, and they frequently have excessive fees. With customer service now being predominately online, it is difficult to reach anyone directly to negotiate a more favorable and affordable placement package.
This morning we noticed a playlist placement for an artist's song for only 2 days, so the placement duration has also been impacted with curators now placing for ten days or so verses for a month. Last week I submitted an artist's song to an upload portal and paid for 20 added submission credits. I submitted the song to 13 playlists, and in seconds 12 playlists were declined. There is no way anyone listened to the songs, and also no way I could reach anyone by phone, to request a credit for the submissions. Additionally, it is all too common for a placement confirmation to not post the song, so you need to always follow up and confirm the playlists placed the song. When this happens there is also nothing much you can do about it given the difficulty reaching them directly.
Another development is an increased fee structure with our direct curators. This can be a big investment if you pursue a higher volume of placements, and there is no guaranty you will receive streams. Performers on the Go favors an organic plan in the first two months, as this provides the artists an opportunity to obtain engage in hands on marketing. The only way to learn it is to do it! Every artist in an entrepreneur and their songs are their products/assets, so every day is a new opportunity to test out new marketing strategies. It is all on your shoulders to broaden your song's visibility. No action equals no streams.
Due to all these developments the competition to get placed on playlists with free placements is fierce. It is easy to just give up and see what happens organically, but that isn't the solution, as you lose valuable time to get traction in the song's early months.
We favor a plan that is diverse and covers many marketing pathways, and also feel the artist's organic push is the most important as you will get saves, follows and shares from fans who will be loyal and will be waiting for future releases
A simplified summary of the Performers on the Go song promotion process follows.
Free upload portal submissions
Placement on 300+ collaborative playlists
Placement on our inner circle curator playlists
A heavily committed PR campaign utilizing top PR platforms
Placement on one to two large lists that have strong history for streams ($50-$100 investment)
Alignment with industry influencers for added sharing/streaming
Stream teams engaged in the early weeks of release
Piggyback on influencers social following by asking for them to post new songs
Press release/blogs on song release
Aggressive plan on social postings
Place the song in all related genre categories
The targets for streams are lower now than they used to be. We feel if a song is showing active listening and forward momentum that is good. It is harder now to get streams over 10,000 in the early weeks. Below is an achievable plan for a new song release, but it will require consistent and dedicated marketing on all fronts to meet progressive goals.
Day 1-2: Over 1,000 streams
Week 1: Over 3,000 streams
Week 2: Over 4,000 streams
Week 3: Over 5,000 streams
Week 4: Over 6,000 streams
Month 2: Over 10,000 streams
IMPORTANT: Don't drop the ball on marketing on new songs. It is common for artists to be geared up for a week or two, but their focus gets sidetracked and they stop marketing activities. The momentum takes months to build up to see results.
The song structure, quality, lyrics and arrangement are important for placement success, and some songs are naturally more placeable. Songs over 3.30 minutes are harder to place now, so having the song closer to 3 minutes is best. Songs over five minutes are more challenging to place and the click-off rate is higher.
We have artists approaching 50K streams and one will soon go over 100K. Collectively, total streams in our network are over 1.6 million streams. We couldn't be prouder of everyone's efforts and song successes, so keep promoting your music and keep your pedal on growing the streams! If you don't show your love for your song, it will be harder to get attention and streaming traction.