What Artists Should Know About Breakr
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.
Until recently, I only dabbled in influencer marketing. It seemed promising but daunting.
To do it right, I’d need to research influencers across multiple platforms and determine which ones align with my brand.
Then I’d have to figure out how to reach them. A cold DM? Comment spam?
Next comes the really awkward part: negotiating a price. Is there a going rate? I don’t want to insult them or waste their time.
Do I pay first? Half upfront? Who’s to say they won’t take my money and block me, or worse, misrepresent me or my music?
Breakr solves all these problems and more. A friend introduced me to the CEO, who let me test drive the platform with a $1000 influencer campaign on their dime.
To get the full experience, I also signed on as an influencer, sharing Breakr users’ music with my 2.3M Twitter followers.
How Breakr Works
You can search for campaigns to submit your music to based on platform, price range, date, and a variety of other tags.
The entire platform can be explained with a single screenshot (click to enlarge):
At the moment, most of the action is on TikTok, which is great because I previously had zero presence there.
When you submit to a campaign, you first have to confirm that your music is already on TikTok.
In my case it was, but only the first 15 seconds of the song. I reached out to my distributor, who confirmed that 15 seconds was their max. So I hastily submitted it again using DistroKid and a one-minute clip was live the very next day!
You can communicate directly with the influencer every step of the way, to ensure your vision of the campaign aligns with theirs.
The money is held in escrow until the influencer submits proof of delivery and the Breakr team confirms it. Campaigns all use the hashtag #MusicBreakr plus a hashtag specific to the campaign.
Many TikTok influencers also share their videos as Instagram Stories or Reels at no extra cost.
My Breakr Results
Seven TikTok influencers created content using my recent single “Mages” in a wide range of contexts.
Here are two examples:
Everyone was supposed to use the hashtag #ColorTheoryMages but a couple used #ColorTheoryMusic instead.
As of this writing, the campaigns have over 300K views on TikTok and over 100K views on Instagram.
My Breakr Influencer Experience
I’m also running a campaign as an influencer, sharing one song per weekday with my 2.3M Twitter followers (click to enlarge):
Things are just as straightforward on the influencer side. Each of my submissions has a big play button next to it and options to download the full song, view the submission, or accept it.
I don’t need to explicitly turn anyone down. If I don’t accept a submission before the deadline, then that’s that.
The plan is to create a new instance of the campaign every week. As long as people keep submitting and finding value in it, I’ll keep doing it for $125 a week minus Breakr’s 10% cut.
To Breakr or not to Breakr?
Was my campaign a success? You tell me.
I don’t have any hard numbers beyond the views themselves, 400K and counting. That’s just the nature of a brand awareness campaign.
I’m impressed with those numbers, and that’s with a campaign that didn’t exactly blow up. The potential to “go viral” is always there and part of what makes Breakr so exciting.
For example, this campaign cost less than $200 and resulted in 357 videos being created from the (admittedly very catchy!) song:
It’s also fun and somewhat surreal to see popular TikTokers lip-syncing and dancing to your music!
Don’t forget that TikTok will pay my distributor for the use of my music. The details are fuzzy, but it’ll certainly be less than Spotify pays for the same number of streams. That could cover the entire campaign!
Some reports say that payouts are based not on views, but on the number of videos using the song. We’ll see! I’ll try to remember to update this post when I get paid by DistroKid, which could be as soon as April.
Have you tried influencer marketing? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments!
Hi Brian!
I’m so glad to see such success with your numbers! I thought I’d share mine with Playlist Push:
I paid $300 for 6 videos through influencers on TikTok. 395,100 views, 44,775 likes, I gained close to 50 new followers, and 29 derivatives videos were created. I created several videos and asked a few of my friends to as well.
I use AWAL as my distributor and they provide 30 seconds to TikTok. You can choose where the song starts but you have to know about it to take advantage of that fact. I just received TikTok stats for August so it will be a while before I can comment on how much revenue I’ll bring in from plays! Keep me posted on yours.
I love that DistroKid could upload your song so quickly! AWAL is on a 30-day cycle.
Looks like I’ll have to give Breakr a try next time I dive into influencer marketing.
Here’s my song on TikTok.
Thanks for sharing your experience Jenna! Sounds pretty good to me.
Great idea to get your friends involved! I was testing out the platform in a pure setting, but that’s a smart idea for next time.
Turns out I did get some follows and likes on my TikTok profile, 17 and 57 respectively. That’s starting from zero!
Thanks for those insights, Brian!
But wait, what? You have 2.3 million followers on Twitter?
That’s more than most of my influences, combined! 🙂
How did you get to it?
Nine years ago, one of my mastering clients and I experimented with building a following on SoundCloud. Next thing you know, he’s running a social media company specializing in growing Twitter and Instagram profiles. I referred him a bunch of clients, and he built up our accounts using highly targeted follow-back strategies.
Are your Twitter followers real and do they like synthpop or electronic rock?
You are saying:
For example, this campaign cost less than $200 and resulted in 357 videos being created from the (admittedly very catchy!) song.
You mean 357 tiktok videos are made. It feels like a promoted post for this new platform – submithub works with influencers as well – I saw many videos disappearing after some days….
, but 357 is quite a lot of videos. But I’m wondering why you do not receive any followers?
What’s the benefit of someone using your music on tiktok if you do not earn so much and people will follow the video creator and not the musician?
All just questions because I’m curious.
Good questions Lina!
As of today, TwitterAudit says 97% of my Twitter followers are real. I’ve got hundreds if not thousands categorized into lists, and most of the stuff I see in my feed is related to synthwave or at least music.
In regard to the 357 videos, maybe I wasn’t clear, but that wasn’t my campaign. I wouldn’t brag that my own song was “admittedly catchy.” For shame! 😉
I did in fact receive some followers and likes on my own profile, as I mentioned in a previous comment. I wasn’t really expecting any, since I don’t use TikTok and there are a grand total of two videos on my profile.
I don’t think there’s much overlap between Breakr and SubmitHub. The influencer acceptances I’ve had on SubmitHub are generally shares of my song in a story or post, whereas Breakr campaigns actually integrate the song into the influencer’s core content. I’m enthusiastic about both!
I’ve never done a promoted post, but I’ve reached the point where if a service doesn’t wow me, I don’t write about it. A few of my negative posts in the past resulted in more headache than they were worth, in the form of legal threats.
Finally, what’s the point? For people to hear the song, and if you’re really lucky, for it to blow up! When it comes to TikTok, you never know.
is there bigger tiktok influencers with millions of followers who charge like $200 only?
They can charge whatever they want, so… maybe? I’d focus less on follower count and more on who their audience is. Is the engagement genuine? Are they a good fit for your music?
One thing to be wary of, as far as I know, is that TikTok does not pay per stream, but pays per video created using your song. I found this out after one of our songs got 3,000,000 streams from a single video… and we got a cent.
https://distrokid.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060317793-How-Much-Does-TikTok-Pay-Per-Stream-
Thanks for clarifying Chris! That’s disappointing. By that math, I suppose I can expect about a dime.
That’s okay though! It’s secondary to the purpose of the campaign.
Thanks again for making us aware of the tools available! Having not had any success with SubmitHub in any way, shape or form, it is good to know that there is an alternative to consider and whether we like it or not, it seems like TikTok is where we should all be…
Would you say that this complements your efforts with the Indiepreneur/FB ad methods or do you think your results would have been the same without the other methods all having been employed to lay a foundation? (asking because, a year in as an IndiePro member I STILL have not made that FanFinder and if there are other methods that gain results without having to make those vids I would love to try them out without having to have laid the groundwork via the FB ads methods), or would you say that the other methods you have used served as a stepping stone to this? – hope that line of thinking makes sense!!!
Great to hear from you Paula!
I see this campaign as completely distinct from my other marketing efforts, as I was completely new to TikTok and the demographic there is different than the usual suspects that I’m hitting on Facebook.
I don’t think that a successful Facebook fan finder campaign would have an impact on a TikTok influencer campaign one way or the other.
On the other hand, if you built an audience on TikTok, an influencer campaign would get eyes on your profile and help grow your following even more!
I suppose you could test the waters by running your song as a fan finder before attempting an influencer campaign, to see what kind of reaction it gets.
Hey everyone! Tony Brown, CEO of Breakr here! If we can be helpful in anyway, please feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions you may have!
[email protected]
thanks a lot for your reply, brian. haha. yes i thought you were talking about your own song – sometimes it’s okay to say you’ve composed a brilliant track right, if thats the case. i will try breakr as well, if it doesnt cost me a lot of time and money. will share the results. i guess, don’t know if its correct, tiktok is not really about setting up an artist profile and followers. the good thing is that videos can be creative and fun. the bad thing is – most of the things on tiktok are quite dumb. could be im seeing the wrong fyp though. (fyp = for your page)
My For You page is mostly comedy and science/skepticism stuff. I guess it gives us more of whatever we spend time with and follow.
I look forward to hearing about your experience! There are campaigns available at pretty much any price point, so it doesn’t have to break the bank. I’m sure there’s a joke in there since it’s called Breakr and all, but I need a nap.
Pretty underwhelming for how hard you are trying to push your results. You have hardly any videos and the videos that were made would never carry over to real streams or fans. Most of those drawing accounts have very young children following them, not sure how that would match up with potential synth wave fans…Playlist Push, QuikTok and other influencer platforms easily outperform what happened here. Good to know you didn’t have to waste any money on this.
Thanks for the comment Cody!
I’d say I’m more enthusiastic about the platform than my results. Like I said, my campaign “didn’t exactly blow up.”
The example I gave that actually did blow up (357 videos created) was a drawing account. I looked at the comments and didn’t see any reason to believe that the commenters were particularly young.
That said, you’re absolutely correct that TikTok’s demographic doesn’t align very well with synthwave.
I’m totally open to testing out those other platforms, but I won’t be matching this campaign’s budget out of my own pocket!
What are some of the other influencer platforms that perform a little better?
Cody mentioned Playlist Push, which I’ve written about twice in the context of playlist promotion, and QuikTok, which I’d never heard of.
I don’t see why one would necessarily perform better than another, unless a particular platform charged prohibitive fees (Breakr charges 10%). Ultimately the site is just a tool to connect influencers and artists.
Ok, got ya. Thanks man!
Wow. Synthwave works really well for storytelling clips and tutorials!!! And for dance as well, and visual aesthetics. It’s an undiscovered gem.
I wish people would hurry up and discover it! 🙂
Brian,
Your post mentions that your disturbuter only would submit 15seconds, so you quickly pick another one. I was under the impression you couldnt use more than one for individual song. I realize this may be wrong but for example my distrubuter doesn’t work with touch tunes. So I was planning on removing my songs to another distributer who has a relationship with touch tunes. So was wondering how you moved it over so fast or if you even had to do anything. Thanks in advance!
Great question Hef!
If you don’t want to lose your play counts and playlist placements on Spotify, it’s important to use the same ISRC and the same audio, though in this case I got away with a couple of very small tweaks to the mix.
You’ll see duplicate entries on some platforms, which isn’t necessarily a problem. On Spotify, you’ll see a “1 more release” link in the desktop app when the two versions are properly matched, which could take a few days.
Once that happens and you confirm there aren’t two separate releases with different play counts in your Spotify for Artists dashboard, it’s safe to remove the release from your old distributor.
After reading your post, I should try ‘Breakr’. This platform is useful to all music artists. I need these kinds of services. Thanks for sharing this tutorial.
Let us know how it goes!