There are multiple options to build your following on Instagram with ads, but which one works best? Well, I recently tested a slew of setups to find this out for myself. Using five different organically posted reels on my Instagram profile, I tried a variety of setups to gain new followers and generate more views for my content. Here’s how it played out. The setup To start, I ran five different campaigns with four unique targeting options. This means two of the five campaigns had the same...
11 days ago • 5 min read
There are multiple upsides to building and marketing your own playlist on Spotify. Now, I have gone on record in sharing my opinion about pitching to third-party playlists on Spotify. In short, I think it’s a big waste of time, energy, and, potentially, money. But before we dive into this, let me be clear in saying that this is not that. This is something different. Building and owning your own playlist (or even a network of playlists) on Spotify can be a huge unlock for independent artists,...
18 days ago • 3 min read
Finding success as a musician isn’t about what you know or even who you know—it’s about what you do. It’s about starting where you are, using what you have, and refusing to quit even when it gets difficult. Especially when it gets difficult. I have been in the music business in some form or fashion for nearly twenty years, and in that time, I have learned a few “secrets” to success that have helped me unlock a lasting and fulfilling career. So if you want to build a professional life in...
25 days ago • 4 min read
Did you know it’s possible to stop relying on Instagram’s algorithm and create a bit of your own luck by using ads? That’s right. The limited reach creators have been experiencing on Instagram has been a hot topic online for the past several months. I’ve personally seen accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers claiming they’re seeing hundreds of views instead of the tens of thousands they were seeing previously. So instead of waiting on Instagram to push out our content, let’s make...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Understanding the overlap between your song and your audience is the key to successfully marketing your music. It’s easy to think we can improve our marketing by simply improving statistics and numbers. I know I certainly fall into this trap from time to time. It’s also easy to think that if we throw more money at it, we’ll get more results, but this isn’t always the case either. Promoting our work is about more than how much we spend, CPM, or click-through rates. It’s about connecting with...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Three of the most effective places for artists to monetize their music are also the three best places to promote it. Succeeding as an independent artist is a delicate balance of marketing your work, serving your fans, and earning money. Because it’s tough to balance everything as a team of one (or only a few), it makes sense to double down on the things that can check more than one box for us. Especially when we’re just getting started. The beauty of music streaming, selling merch, and...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Where we choose to advertise makes a significant difference in the performance of our ads. If we go too tight, we might experience a much higher cost per result (and fewer overall results for our ad spend) than we want to see. If we go too broad, we might waste our money on results that don’t really count for much in the long run. That whole “if your audience is everyone, your audience is no one” thing. So how should we think about country targeting when it comes to sending traffic to Spotify...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Music marketing is about so much more than playlisting vs. advertising. And certainly about more than just creating content and getting streams. It’s about connecting with others and creating a fulfilling path to earn our freedom and a life of meaning through art. Too much emphasis is put on the mechanics of marketing, while not enough is put on why we do the things we do. Why do we release music? Why do we post content? Why do we run ads? Why wouldn’t we do those things? Well, we’re going to...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Poor marketing, bad music, and lack of talent aren’t the real dream killers for most independent artists. It’s quitting. It’s refusing to learn and adjust. It’s starting and stopping over and over, eliminating any hope that our efforts might compound over time. Being a musician is tough business. It takes an almost insane level of self-belief and discipline to succeed. But guess what? That’s the case for anything worth pursuing. The difficulty of succeeding as an artist is a shared experience...
2 months ago • 3 min read
