Fraud Blocker

3 Ways Spotify Can Increase Your Revenue You Never Thought Of

3 Ways Spotify Can Increase Your Revenue You Never Thought Of

*This article may contain links to affiliate products & services. We have reviewed these services to try and ensure the highest quality recommendations*

Written by Omari MC

I know Spotify can be a tricky situation for most independent artists.

Should I put my music on Spotify?

How much does Spotify pay?

Is it worth losing album sales?

All very valid concerns, but I hope to open your mind to some different mindsets you can take towards making more money for your music with Spotify and other streaming services.

FIRST AND FOREMOST

Hit the Follow button for my Spotify so we can connect on there. Takes literally one click. (Not to mention there's quite the catalog of tunes if I do say so myself!)

See that wasn't so hard, you did it! Thanks! Ok, now back to business...

1. SPOTIFY IS YOUR BACK UP, NOT YOUR MAIN EVENT

This is an important section so definitely read carefully. Independent artists often complain about the small royalty checks they get from Spotify, and if they're complaining about the checks it's because they aren't using the service correctly.

My royalty check is small from Spotify too, but I don't give a flip because of the other marketing I'm doing. The one and ONLY reason I even have my songs on there is because the distribution was included for free with another service that I use, so it was kind of a no brainer.

But we're overlooking the purpose of Spotify.

Spotify isn't meant to make independent artists boat loads of money. It's meant to be used wisely by getting more listeners and butts in seats for concerts.

Think of it as a paid mixtape. Unless you're getting millions of plays on Spotify it's not going to be a legitimate source of income.

Artists have been giving away free mixtapes for a while now, so instead of posting it on Datpiff or ReverbNation put it on the streaming services.

2. I HELD OUT ON YOU IN PART 1, KEEP READING

Think of it like this.

I pay my $10 every month for the premium Spotify membership and absolutely love it.

It's a huge advantage from the consumer point of view. I can pick out all the music that I like and listen without interruptions from commercials even on my phone.

For me (as well as millions and millions other paid subscribers) it's my number one source of music intake. There's NO reason for me to pay for an album unless it's not on Spotify.

Even for me to pay for a single it has to be really freakin good if it's not on Spotify and usually only happens when I have a gift card to iTunes or Amazon.

OR (And this is a big or) if I have a relationship with the artist who made the album.

Think about it, if your friend comes out with a single, EP, or album you are infinitely times more likely to buy it because you want to support your friend.

So how do we establish relationships with our fans and at the same time use Spotify to our advantage?

3. WE'RE GOING TO BORROW SOME MARKETING FROM THE MOVIE BUSINESS

I was listening to a podcast from John Oszajca and they brought up a fantastic idea.

Whenever the film industry releases a movie it's in three stages.

1. Theater

2. Blu-Ray & DVD

3. Netflix then Cable TV

For some odd reason the music industry has never picked up this tactic.

  • The theater is an exclusive release and has a higher admission price. This is for people who are the biggest fans and CAN'T WAIT to get their hands on the content.
  • The Blu-Ray is for people who want to get it before Netflix and are still more passionate than the Netflix users.
  • The TV and Netflix stage is for those who are already paying for their services and don't mind waiting for the movie to come out.

We should be doing the EXACT same thing with our independent music.

We sell exclusively to our core fans for the initial release. I'm seeing that this can work if you have a big enough list of fans (this should really be the email list).

This gives more incentive for fans to be on our list because they'll get the first crack at things. Rarity is a big commodity with listeners. Take a look at the bidding for the Wu-Tang album that released only one copy.

Next should be the iTunes/Amazon release. It's now available to everyone and they can pick it up at their leisure. This gives way to the people who were on the fence. All they need is a little extra incentive to buy.

Lastly, the project can be released on the streaming services. This comes last for two reasons.

1. Gives the serious fans a chance to buy and support your album.

2. Doesn't take away the concert goer's who would be at the show because of Spotify.

We may be losing some money on the front end from Spotify, but it can be made up for with the concert tickets and merchandise at live shows.

DON'T make it hard for people to discover you, but give the benefits to the early birds.

Wrapping Up 

Honestly, Spotify can screw you over if your marketing isn't on point.

I've said it before and I'll say it a thousand more times...

Marketing is at least HALF the battle when it comes to making a full time music income.

Sharing on social media and putting out a mixtape isn't going to cut it. Getting a 'promo' package and a social media campaign going is cute and all, but if there isn't a sophisticated system converting listeners to life long fans for your marketing than it's useless.

There are too many bloody people making music nowadays (Sorry, but it's true)

If your marketing isn't top notch than kiss the dream goodbye. Plain and simple.

If you want to learn the true marketing secrets that can build a successful full time music career click here.


When your song is ready to go, it's time to start promoting it to potential fans! Omari has the best organic promotion services money can buy. With packages for Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, we will get your music the traffic and attention it deserves! Click below for more information.  


SPEAK YOUR MIND

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

How This INDIE Artist Got Over 67,598,275 Streams On ONE Song

Join the No-Nonsense Music Marketing Newsletter to get the most valuable weekly case studies and strategies to grow your music business!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

TOPICS

RECENT ARTICLES

SPOTIFY CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

*Here are some small samples of the playlists in our network. Obviously, we aren't able to share every single list for confidentiality reasons, but these are a handful of examples out of the hundreds of playlists we have in our network.*


Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Contemporary Christian Music (33K Followers)

Louvores - Gospel (62K Followers)


Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Clean Rap & RNB (25K Followers)

Top Hits From New Artists (20K Followers)

Chill Music (38K Followers)


Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Today's Pop Hits (38K Followers)

Gaming Playlist & Workout Radio (23K Followers)


Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Forest Gump Soundtrack (50K Followers)

Stagecoach (15K Followers)

Best of Country Hits (2K Followers)


Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Acoustics For Relaxing (48K Followers)

Chill Music (9K Followers)


Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Hard Rock Workout (70K Followers)

Rock Hits (5K Followers)


Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Funky Songs Playlist (190K Followers)

Clean Rap & RNB (10K Followers)


[EDM/Future Bass] Melvin - Luv Again

Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Top Hits From New Artists (20K Followers)

Electro-mania (6K Followers)

Best Workout Playlist (14K Followers)


Close

SMALL CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

MEDIUM CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

[Hip Hop] K-Rich - We Workin  

LARGE CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

[Hip Hop] Surve - Found My Way  


*Note: Songs may have ordered promotion from other sources as well. Small, medium, and large only denote the amount of promotion that was ordered from our service.  

Close

KID TRAVIS (R&B, POP)

With an already buzzing YouTube audience of over 400K+ subscribers, Kid Travis wanted his Instagram profile to start gaining some of that same traction.

While you can get some spill over audience from YouTube, Kid Travis knew that Instagram ad campaigns could boost his presence on IG even further!

He discovered that trying to run Instagram ads yourself vs. having us add our years of experience and expertise to them made a huge difference!

His main goal was to achieve new followers who are seriously interested in his journey as an artist.

Kid Travis already had amazing talent but needed to combine his music genius with some marketing expertise to get the best of both worlds.

We were able to bring out the heart of his music through paid ads by editing & optimizing his existing videos and properly researching and structuring his ad campaigns.

The end results: We were able to consistently and predictably gain followers averaging between $0.25-$0.35 per follower (including a bulk of the promotion being done in high cost English speaking countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Australia, & Canada) resulting in around 4,000 new, engaged followers/month on Instagram.

Kid Travis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidtravis/

Kid Travis YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kidtravisofficial


*Note: Previous campaigns are not a guarantee for results in future campaigns. However, we do our best to ensure each client gets the best results possible.  

Close