You are a brand and your music is a product
We know that artists and especially newcomers often tend to see their music simply as a form of art. Of course this is true, but often economic aspects are put on the back burner and are ignored. We don’t ask you to create songs according to a scheme where you call up and apply supposed hit formulas. Rather, we want to sensitise you to see yourself as a brand and your music as a product. Your song (product) should always match your image as an artist or musician (brand). Try to find a niche for yourself in which you move in. By doing so you will generate a base of followers on Spotify. You are welcome to develop and experiment later on, but in the beginning the listeners should get what they expect. All known fast food chains in this world work similarly. A cheeseburger in Munich will most likely taste the same as in Berlin; and that’s exactly why the listener will always come back to you if he feels the desire to listen to music that only you produce.
Some tips for producing your song:
If possible, make sure your song is not too long. The best thing you can do these days is to stay under three minutes. Spotify, in our opinion, has replaced the radio, and the radio doesn’t usually play songs that are too long. Especially in today’s fast-moving world.
Try to catch the musical zeitgeist in your production. Even if something sounds retro in the first moment, it certainly sounds that way because of a trend. You make it easier for the curators to decide to place your song in their playlist on Spotify and thus generate more reach and followers.
Try to maintain quality standards in your production. It doesn’t make sense to save money at the wrong end and not to have your music mixed or mastered, for example, for cost reasons.
Promote your music on Spotify
Promote your music on Spotify. This is easier to say or write than it is done in the end. In this section we would like to list and explain the most relevant possibilities for streaming promotions. In the digital era of streaming, you as an artist have a lot of opportunities to expand your audience and increase your streams, regardless of genre, through promotion campaigns. Spotify is currently the undisputed leader in streaming services. Therefore, we mainly focus on streaming promotions on Spotify.
First and foremost, you have the possibility to pitch your song into one of Spotify’s editorial playlists. You should pitch your track as early as possible, preferably two to three weeks. For example, Igroove offer a paid service where they take care of the submission for you.
Furthermore, you can promote your music on your own. There are two ways to do this. You can either create your own playlists, let them grow and promote your tracks in these lists on Spotify, or you can first select playlists that match your music and then contact each curator individually. Try to describe your song as compact as possible. A curator will not read through any novels because he or she simply don’t have enough time.
Another way to promote your music is to book a promotion campaign from independent suppliers. In the next section, we will explain how such a campaign works based on our working methods and which advantages streaming promotions have.
1. You send us your song by using the contact form. We will then check the quality of your music, but also if a promotion campaign in our network would be promising and useful.
2. You will usually receive an answer within one working day. If the traffic is too high, the response can be delayed by one or two days. The reply e-mail contains feedback on your song and, if applicable, an individual recommendation for booking a package. In addition, you will receive information about our prices and a more detailed explanation about how we work.
3. If you want to book a package, you will receive a link to an online form after positive feedback by our marketing team.
4 After filling in the form, the exciting part of our work begins. In the following, we explain the next steps. As example we will use a song that belongs to the genre of party hits.
5. Let’s get to work! We pitch your song (in this case the party hit title) for a placement into matching playlists. For example, we take care to place the track in german playlists from the GSA countries. Furthermore, we try to pitch your song to match the mood of the playlists on Spotify.
6. In detail, we use our curator network which we have built up over the years. Most of the curators are independent providers who maintain their lists independently.
7. As soon as the desired audience reach is attained, we stop the pitching process and about ten days after the start of the promotion campaign, you will receive a transparent report that lists exactly what we have done for you and your song on Spotify. We never guarantee a certain number of streams, because we work 100% organic. However, you will get a guarantee for reaching the booked coverage. Should a large number of curators reject your song, we will of course continue to pitch it until we have reached the desired campaign size.
The advantages of streaming promotions on Spotify
The increased attention you receive through streaming promotions increases the likelihood that your music will be noticed and pushed by the algorithm-based playlists on Spotify. In addition, higher streaming and follower numbers attract more interest from potential new listeners. As you know, first impressions count. In addition, sharing your music with active users can help your music spread organically. Your newly reached listeners serve as multipliers for further followers on Spotify.
Promote your music outside of Spotify
Nowadays there are many ways to promote your music outside of Spotify. Especially TikTok offers you an excellent base to let your music go viral with little effort. In contrast to YouTube, Facebook or Instagram, TikTok is still more or less in the development stage of the platform. This gives you the chance to get your content to the market faster and thus increase your reach and your followers on Spotify. But keep in mind that your music should be suitable for the mostly younger target group on TikTok. You should still supply the other social media channels with suitable and creative content. If necessary, you can also promote your music to specific target groups. Make sure you use your budget wisely. If you make rap music, for example, you can limit the age group extremely, as 30-year-old music from this genre is likely to be heard only in rare cases. When creating your content you should also be strategic and think about who you want to reach first and how you want to reach that particular group in the next step. You should never use content that does not suit you as an artist or your music. Always try to keep the balance. Sure, memes usually bring you a lot of traffic on Instagram, for example, but let’s assume you make melancholic and serious music. A funny meme just wouldn’t fit your image as an artist. Besides the content, continuity is important. You should be careful to post good (high quality) content that you can produce yourself within your time frame.
We hope that we could give you a little insight into the world of streaming promotion. BEFORE EIGHT is a promotion agency founded by musicians for musicians. It is very important to us that the artists, especially newcomers, get an overview of their possibilities in the promotion sector, because we know how it is to start with your music at the very beginning, without a plan about the promotion. We would like to let you learn from our initial mistakes and thus lead you to your desired goal faster and above all on an organic basis. The reach of your product should grow naturally and sustainably.
If you are interested in a promotion campaign, please feel free to contact us at any time using the contact form. We will usually get back to you within 24 hours. Maybe your song is the title we are currently looking for. Furthermore, you have the possibility to release your music on BEFORE EIGHT as a label or to pitch it into one of our in-house playlists on Spotify. We wish you good luck with the release and promotion of your tracks and hope to hear from you in the future.
We are curious about you and your music!
Your BEFORE EIGHT Team
