What Artists Should Know About SpaceLoud
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.
I haven’t had much luck with influencer marketing, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying!
Since writing about Breakr earlier this year, I’ve done some cheap influencer campaigns on SubmitHub. None of them moved the needle in any measureable way, but my experiences have all been positive.
When the SpaceLoud team reached out and offered to let me try out their platform for free, I figured why not?
They offered to cover my first $100, and I spent another $100 of my own money after that.
I’ll share my results and conclusions below, but let’s begin with a quick overview of the platform.
How SpaceLoud Works
There are currently three subscription options, the only difference being how much of a discount they offer on campaigns. Whichever you choose, you’ve got a free 14-day trial to kick the tires before you get charged.
After that, you can create your first campaign. Mine looked something like this:
Pretty self-explanatory. They’re adding a long list of genres soon, but for now, “other” was the best I could do.
My offer prices are in line with what influencers are listing on their profiles, at least directionally. Stories are typically half the price of Reels, which is typically the same as TikTok, depending on how many followers influencers have on each network.
You can get 10% off by using my referral link and entering code PP-10OFF in the same place that I did in the screenshot above.
As soon as you launch your campaign, you’ll start receiving offers from influencers.
I received about 30 offers in total over the course of the campaign. In the screenshot above, you can see that I’ve got three to review.
To my endless frustration, influencers often propose far higher prices than they list on their profiles. For example, here’s an offer for $60:
And here are the same influencer’s published prices:
To be fair, he matched my campaign pricing. Still, how angry would I be if I booked him for $60 and then saw that he offers the same thing on his profile for $10?
And then there’s the other end of the pricing spectrum…
You can also book influencers directly at whatever price point you’re comfortable with. Several filtering options make it easy to find just what you’re looking for.
I started with the ones marked with a “SpaceLoud’s Choice” banner, figuring they were the safest bets.
I also received an email showcasing SpaceLoud’s Choice Influencers, a diverse group of models who dance and dancers who model.
My first booking was Alex Kennedy, a talented shuffle dancer and overall lovely person. Her captions are always personal and relatable, which results in genuine engagement and not just fire emojis.
Her offer was $40 for each of the three post types: IG Stories, IG Reels, and TikTok.
Contrast that to the pricing on her profile:
I decided I’d go for the $40 IG Reel. What a bargain!
It turns out that the offer isn’t mix-and-match. It’s $120 for all three placements, take it or leave it. Oops! I clicked accept, was charged $108 ($120 minus the 10% discount), and that was that.
The fact that it’s a package deal may be obvious to the rest of the world, but I still encouraged them to add a confirmation button with the grand total for dumbasses like yours truly.
Influencers have 14 days to post or your money is automatically refunded.
My SpaceLoud Results
I paid for five campaigns, one of which I’m still waiting on. Here’s what Alex came up with:
She has a much bigger audience on Instagram, but I can’t get the Reel to embed properly.
Influencers are supposed to supply screenshots of their stats, but after repeated naggings, I’ve only received them from Alex and one other.
Here are Alex’s TikTok analytics:
And here are her IG Reels insights:
Those numbers are only a few days old, and will continue to grow over time.
The rest of the completed campaigns were all for IG Stories, which I can’t embed. These screenshots will give you an idea though:
That last one from Roberta Duarte was basically a swipe up ad directing to my song on Spotify.
Here are her story insights:
My Spanish is pretty rusty, but I’m pretty sure that means that out of her 1.4 million Instagram followers, 3510 saw the story.
SpaceLoud Conclusions & Recommendations
How does one measure the success of an influencer campaign? Here’s what SpaceLoud suggests:
That last story cost $40 and I got 3510 views, so $40/3510 = $0.011 cost per view.
If anything below $0.01 is great, then $0.011 must be at least good, right?
How do those views translate into the things we care about, like Spotify streams? We have no way to know. Bridging that gap is high on SpaceLoud’s list of priorities.
To be fair, I was destined to be disappointed unless something really took off. That didn’t happen here, and that’s not their fault.
As a platform, it’s got a lot going for it, and it delivers on its promises.
Ultimately it’s just a tool to connect artists with influencers without taking on the risks of negotiating directly. You know the influencer is going to deliver, or their reputation will suffer and you’ll get your money back.
When browsing through influencers, I noticed several using #MusicBreakr hashtags, which tells me that they’re connecting with artists across multiple platforms.
You might want to do the same and comparison price any influencers you’re interested in, then seal the deal on whichever platform you’re most comfortable with.
As for SpaceLoud in particular, don’t be afraid to make lowball offers. The worst that can happen is you’ll be ignored. You’re not going to offend anybody.
Last but not least, I’m convinced that the most successful campaigns are true collaborations, where the influencer creates something based on or inspired by the song.
Alex’s shuffle video is a perfect example. You could also ask the influencer to lip-sync or act out the lyrics.
Don’t let your song serve as background music, especially behind dialogue. That means making your expectations clear up front.
And if you do give SpaceLoud a shot, don’t forget to use my referral link and discount code PP-10OFF to save 10% and help fund further testing!
Have you tried SpaceLoud, Breakr, or any other influencer marketing platform? Share your thoughts and results in the comments!
Hi Brian! I have to be honest, I really am not a fan of this whole influencer thing… that said, I willing to give anything a try in the hopes that it will lead somewhere good! I am using your affiliate link and just mulling over whether I should go all in and take an annual subscription or whether I would regret it!!!! I shall report back. Incidentally, I never had a reply from the email I sent to Theo at Rise mentioning you which is a shame. I am currently trying one of Drop’s campaigns. Still stuck and stagnant at the Fan Finder stage (just can’t wrap my head around it all), so not moving much musically, but still loving and appreciating all the info and inspiration you provide!
Always lovely to hear from you Paula!
For the annual subscription, I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Indepreneur? Their affiliate program has been broken for a long time now, so don’t worry about using my link. My annual subscription just renewed and I don’t think I really used it at all in the past year. My fault of course.
If you mean Rise, you can certainly go with the $250/month subscription, which is discounted 10% to $225, and cancel if you’re not happy with the results. Again, be sure it’s a conversions campaign, and for that one, please do use my link! I suspect you’ll get quite a few new Spotify followers right off the bat at a lower price than running Facebook/IG ads.
And I’d try Theo again. I’m sure he just missed it.
Finally, don’t feel like you HAVE to do a Fan Finder. I haven’t done one since my Infectious single. That said, I think it’s a great way to get cheap engagement if you have a video that works. I don’t!
So don’t use these services, got it. lol
If you follow my advice in the closing section, which I most certainly did not, you’re guaranteed to get better results!
Hi Brian! Thanks for the reply – I meant the subscription for SpaceLoud – when I went to sign up, there were subscription level options which I believe you have to do in order to then be able to create campaigns (so you pay a subscription PLUS the campaigns). Chat assistance said that the affiliate code is usable on the campaigns, so just mulling over whether to take a year-long subscription to gain the benefits or if I would regret it! Chat also said that I can cancel within 14 days so the risk is mitigated.
I’ll look at Rise again then.
Indiepro… I just can’t wrap my head around anything and I don’t have a vid as I don’t really like to show my face and be in people’s faces so that one is going to sit on the back-burner a while longer!
Toneden I have not had the guts to try because I read from some of your subscribers that using it messed up their FB account/page so it seems like it might be problematic.
Can I put you on the spot and ask If you had to pick just one service to invest in – which would it be and why?! I am not out to make money from my music (ain’t gonna happen!), I just want to know that someone somewhere listens because they actually like that I do, so the aim is always listeners/streams, not monetary (no selling of merchandise etc).
Thanks!
Incidentally, I always tick the ‘notify me via e-mail if anyone answers my comment’ and I never get a notification and have to come back in to the comment thread and check’!
You’re not going to believe this Paula. I didn’t even realize SpaceLoud required a subscription! I just signed up with a different email address and there it is. My old account doesn’t mention it anywhere.
I just emailed my contact at SpaceLoud to get some clarification. I really need to add it to the article!
I’d suggest using the 14-day free trial to kick the tires, and decide from there if you’re going to use it enough to justify the expense.
I’m with you on not showing my face in videos! One of mine was a screen recording from my DAW with overlays, and the other was a top-down performance at the piano showing only my hands, plus my daughter turning over cards with the lyrics written on them.
If I had to pick one service, it would be direct advertising with Facebook and Instagram ads. Granted, I enjoy the hands-on aspect.
Sorry to hear you’re not getting notifications. I get them sometimes but not always! It may have something to do with the way my server is configured.
Ah okay! Yes, payment for subscription then payment for campaigns!!! I’ll give the 14 days a whirl and report back.
Noted that the direct ads is still the best way forward, but I was secretly hoping you would say one of the other not hands-on methods was better as I HATE the marketing side of things!
As always, thanks for the inspiration!
Turns out they added the subscription after I signed up. They’re still testing it out and the pricing may change but I’m going to add it to the article right now.
Sorry to hear you don’t love Facebook Ads Manager as much as I do! 😉 I genuinely do enjoy it.
Hey Brian,
Could you imagine a jazz/smooth jazz artist using an influencer?
The demographics are older to be sure than electronic music, etc.
I realize these services are mostly geared toward IG and Tik Tok.
I’m most interested in building followers on Spotify but perhaps IG could be an indirect
way to get there. Thanks.
wya
Actually, I can totally imagine a smooth jazz artist using an influencer! It could align well with luxury brands. I doubt you’ll find much competition in that space!
Still, I wouldn’t count on IG influencer swipe-up traffic to build a Spotify following.