{"id":6564,"date":"2021-01-29T09:48:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T17:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/?p=6564"},"modified":"2022-10-10T18:44:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T01:44:00","slug":"song-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/song-promotion\/","title":{"rendered":"My $500 Song Promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Strangers routinely hit me up in my DMs with overly broad questions like, &#8220;I&#8217;ve got a new song coming out. How should I promote it?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;d generally just refer them to my blog, where they wouldn&#8217;t find a dedicated answer to that question. UNTIL NOW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It obviously depends on the budget. And to be honest, I don&#8217;t typically set one. If something works, I keep doing it. If it doesn&#8217;t, I stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes I test out crazy ideas under the guise of researching a blog post. I feel justified in wasting a little money if it prevents you from doing the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This month was a different story. I released a song with two collaborators, and we split the $500 promotion budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Neon Lights\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/3e2BwXJIwDGLqrIEDBFCAN?si=Dc0xoSkIR32WChXeH925lg&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Our goal is to reach new listeners and hopefully trigger some Spotify algorithmic streams in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s crucially important to note that <strong>we fully intend to lose money<\/strong>. ROI will be zero. Any royalties we make from streams will go right back into the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are prioritizing long-term growth over short-term gain. Even for long-term growth, this isn&#8217;t the best possible use of the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just so we&#8217;re clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Song Promotion Expense #1: Spotify Canvas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I hired <a aria-label=\"Walker Dunn (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/walkerdunnvisuals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Walker Dunn<\/a> to create a Spotify Canvas for the song, which is a short looping visual that plays onscreen during mobile playback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally he charges $150, but I had him do a batch of eight, so he discounted it to $100. Here&#8217;s the full set with no sound:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Color Theory Spotify Canvases\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7oMh29K8CZA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep in mind that the Spotify playback controls cover up a significant portion of the lower half. You can witness my canvases in action on <a aria-label=\"my Spotify profile (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/7uWMG0Go7YMKqVG1fbsOBO?si=Kdhj_hmsRWqwc4obYunyHA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">my Spotify profile<\/a> (mobile only). Currently my top six songs have them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He even created wide versions of a couple of them to use as visualizers on YouTube:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Color Theory - Mages (Official Audio)\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/juze8TvPMME?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Definitely money well spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an aside, you gotta love that YouTube comment section:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Mages-YT-comment.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6579\" width=\"438\" height=\"120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Mages-YT-comment.png 876w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Mages-YT-comment-350x96.png 350w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Mages-YT-comment-740x203.png 740w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Mages-YT-comment-300x82.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Song Promotion Expense #2: SubmitHub<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve written about SubmitHub extensively, most recently <a aria-label=\"here (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/what-artists-should-know-about-submithub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">here<\/a>. In a nutshell, it&#8217;s a platform where you submit tracks to curators (bloggers, playlisters, influencers, YouTube channels) for a buck or two a pop and get a guaranteed response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a curator <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.submithub.com\/blog\/vocal-synthwave-retrowave\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">myself<\/a>, I get a discount on credits, so as usual, I went a teensy bit overboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"335\" src=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/submithub_nl-740x335.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/submithub_nl-740x335.png 740w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/submithub_nl-350x158.png 350w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/submithub_nl-300x136.png 300w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/submithub_nl.png 1480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I submitted to 89 curators and got responses from 83 of them for about $80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the process I discovered a cool new-to-me feature: if a curator has approved any of your collaborators in the past, SubmitHub lets you know. As a result, I submitted to a half dozen curators I would&#8217;ve otherwise never considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We got 9 approvals, which is decidedly &#8220;not bad.&#8221; I was particularly excited about <a aria-label=\"POPMUZIK (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/popmuzik.se\/111497\/color-theory-btrn-slick-division-neon-lights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">POPMUZIK<\/a>, who hadn&#8217;t approved one of my tracks since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/approvals-740x718.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6585\" width=\"370\" height=\"359\" srcset=\"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/approvals-740x718.png 740w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/approvals-350x339.png 350w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/approvals-300x291.png 300w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/approvals.png 1054w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Song Promotion Expense #3: YouTube Ads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve never written about advertising on YouTube, which is done through Google Ads, and I don&#8217;t plan to. It&#8217;s messy, confusing, and I haven&#8217;t done enough testing to confidently say what works best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, I&#8217;ve had a &#8220;good enough&#8221; campaign in place for as long as I can remember, and every day it brings me views, comments, and subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a aria-label=\"The video (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Hcq8pCP8dxQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">The video<\/a> for Neon Lights, after a short intro, is static cover art. Despite the lack of visual excitement, it&#8217;s doing quite well: 2.3K views, 179 likes (2 dislikes), and 41 comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My ads are responsible for 60% of those views:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/traffic-sources-YouTube-1-706x740.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6587\" width=\"353\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/traffic-sources-YouTube-1-706x740.png 706w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/traffic-sources-YouTube-1-334x350.png 334w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/traffic-sources-YouTube-1-286x300.png 286w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/traffic-sources-YouTube-1.png 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 353px) 100vw, 353px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>All for the low, low price of $33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"98\" src=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/google-ads-nl-740x98.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6589\" srcset=\"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/google-ads-nl-740x98.png 740w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/google-ads-nl-350x46.png 350w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/google-ads-nl-300x40.png 300w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/google-ads-nl.png 1480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re just looking for cheap views, you can get them for half of what I&#8217;m paying through <a aria-label=\"Drooble YouTube Promotion (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/my-drooble-youtube-promotion-results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Drooble YouTube Promotion<\/a>. I&#8217;m targeting specific keywords and countries, and retargeting past engagers, to connect with people most likely to become genuine fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Song Promotion Expense #4: Facebook Ads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It won&#8217;t come as a surprise that most of our budget has been devoted to Facebook and Instagram ads directing people to a Feature.fm <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ct.ffm.to\/neonlights\" target=\"_blank\">Smart Link<\/a>. I devoted a whole post to Feature.fm Smart Links <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/how-to-promote-your-music-with-feature-fm-smart-links\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was hoping to have a few tidy screenshots to show off how <em>amazing<\/em> my campaign was. In fact, I planned to write an entire post on Facebook Ads best practices up until a few days ago, when my campaign results took a nosedive for no apparent reason (<a label=\"newsletter (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/colortheory.com\/passivepromotion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">newsletter<\/a> subscribers got all the gory details).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For now, you&#8217;ll have to settle for a quick description, and my promise to write that post at some future date when hindsight is 20\/20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I started off by creating ten videos in <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/go\/screenflow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">ScreenFlow<\/a> using the cover art plus four free-to-use images from <a aria-label=\"Unsplash (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Unsplash<\/a>, at 1080 x 1350 for news feeds and 1080 x 1920 for stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s the top performer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Neon Lights ad\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k_qFt3DuZ1s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll explain why I think it works so well in that future post, but here&#8217;s a quick tip: make sure your landing page matches your ad. My cost per conversion dropped 35% with that single tweak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ads are part of a conversion campaign, optimizing for clicks to Spotify. While clicks to other services like Apple Music, YouTube, and SoundCloud are more than welcome, they don&#8217;t count as a conversion in Ads Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Post-nosedive, I&#8217;m opting for narrow, safe, yet relatively inexpensive targeting to Argentina and a few smaller South and Central American countries. Brazil has always been a top performer, but I&#8217;m advertising my playlist there and I don&#8217;t want to compete against myself in the ads auction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once things stabilize, I&#8217;ll slowly expand and test until I&#8217;m confident that you can replicate my results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far we&#8217;ve spent $150 and at two weeks, we&#8217;re at 9K Spotify streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s likely not much correlation between our ad spend and stream count. Only 22% of those streams were from my (I assume &#8220;our&#8221;) profile and catalog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"365\" src=\"http:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/nl-source-of-streams-740x365.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6595\" srcset=\"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/nl-source-of-streams-740x365.png 740w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/nl-source-of-streams-350x173.png 350w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/nl-source-of-streams-300x148.png 300w, https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/nl-source-of-streams.png 1480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I wish there were a better way to measure our success on the platform, but Spotify is where data goes to die. Unless you&#8217;re an unknown artist starting fresh, it&#8217;s difficult if not impossible to tie your promotional efforts to your Spotify for Artists numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exception to that rule is playlist promotion. Playlist follower counts update immediately (if you navigate away from the playlist and then back). When I turn off my playlist ads, I stop getting new followers, despite at least a half dozen artists sharing the playlist on their socials every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&#8217;s where I test out theories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Song Promotion Wrap-Up: By the Numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So, how would I spend that $500? Here&#8217;s my recommendation, which roughly approximates our current campaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>$150 Spotify canvas<br>$100 SubmitHub<br>$50 YouTube ads<br>$200 Facebook\/Instagram ads<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you <em>need<\/em> a Spotify canvas? Your guess is as good as mine. I&#8217;m sure you can get it done for less, or do it yourself, but the same can be said for cover art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you just wanted to reach as many people as possible for the lowest cost, you could devote $500 to YouTube ads, but I doubt you&#8217;d see much of a ripple effect outside the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously this isn&#8217;t a complete checklist \u2014 just one admittedly uncreative approach. You could just as easily devote your entire budget to influencer marketing, or if you&#8217;ve got more time than money, go all-in on an organic social media and email campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How would you spend a $500 song promotion budget? Let me know in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strangers routinely hit me up in my DMs with overly broad questions like, &#8220;I&#8217;ve got a new song coming out. How should I promote it?&#8221; I&#8217;d generally just refer them to my blog, where they wouldn&#8217;t find a dedicated answer to that question. UNTIL NOW. It obviously depends on the budget. And to be honest,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":6568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[46],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passivepromotion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}