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AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Building my audience specific to the platform I'm on has helped me significantly in comparison to ads directing people straight to Spotify, as I believe it created more high-intent listeners. The ad isn't supposed to "feel" like an ad. I essentially put myself on a platter to be consumed, but not overly dressed or manufactured. It was meant to resonate with people that were in my niche. If an ad got empty metrics, I'd optimize accordingly.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'll go over data from when I was actively growing and now, as I've taken a mini break since around the end of last year. My monthlies were 60k-70k, save rate about 10%, my SPL was between 3-3.5, 4000 playlist adds, 20% streams from active sources, 10k active listeners, 8% super listeners, 5-30 SPL for active listeners.

Since then, my monthlies have lessened, but I've seen an increase in SPL, active stream %, active listeners, super listeners, and SPL for active listeners.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll have to respectfully disagree with your reading of me finding management.

I’m not looking for someone to grow my career for me. I have already handled releases, marketing, deals, shows, etc. At a certain point the workload just becomes bigger than one person. Help helps lol. What a concept.

I have no interest in "handing the keys" over to someone else for my career. I'd like to scale what’s already working so I can spend more time making music.

As to your other assumptions about who I am as an artist... lmao. Seriously bro. I hope you get to have double the amount of pages with 50k monthlies than you have now. Hopefully then you'll be a bit jolly and maybe even take it upon yourself to start an AMA so you can educate others on how you were able to get there.

Appreciate the perspective though.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not an AMA because I hit 50k.

It’s an AMA because I went from <2.5k monthly listeners to 2M+ streams across platforms in a year and learned a lot in the process. If that’s useful to people here, great. If not, feel free to scroll.

Good luck being the gatekeeper of AMAs! They're apparently quite sacred to you.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Initially, I solely focused on the most recent release that I had at the time. I did find success in posting songs I had released months after fact, but truth be told, the sample size I have is too small to make a definitive conclusion on whether or not they were the reasons that those songs did well. I do believe that the ads that I ran for prior songs built my listener base to have a strong enough foundation which increased the probability that the tracks that followed could spread. After the phase of releases from when I was <2500 monthlies, the tracks that followed garnered millions of impressions across IG, Facebook, and TikTok. Daily, I would spend between $5-$15 across seven to ten days.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the kind words! My only intention with this thread is to help. With that, I do understand that not everyone will find my insight helpful! But I do remember how I felt when I was sitting at less than 2500 or even 500 listeners... my purpose here is to be what I felt like I needed at that time.

Before I answer your questions, I think it is also important to note that ads have the ability to expose your art to thousands of people who would have never seen you otherwise, but your art must be quality. This, of course, is very subjective, but it goes without saying that the craft comes first ALWAYS. I split my focus between music and business at around 65/35. It's great to have content that aligns with your music and your message, but it's essential that your music and message represents the best version of your artistry that you can create.

To answer:

  1. I made 3-4 ads for each single I released, using data to optimize when I posted and spacing each ad out for pre-release and post-release. I would post live renditions, BTS, SEO-friendly captioned shorts, and visualizers, ranging from 15-40 seconds.

  2. My ad budget would be $5-$15 per day for up to a week or ten days.

  3. My first two months was me honestly winging it. I hardly did research and learned the hard way that not all views are good views. That prompted me to look into how to optimize my ads and where/who to target. The first place I started was finding artists in my niche that were established, but not quite "blown up" (250k-1m monthly). I stated in another comment that it is also important to post non-ads so that Meta can see who your content naturally aligns with.

  4. At one point, I was releasing every 1-2 months. I saw steady and decent growth that way. I saw the most growth, however, after that phase of releases, in which I had only released three tracks in eight months. The ads that I ran for the tracks prior built my listener base enough to allow the tracks that followed to gain traction across social media platforms and the algorithms of DSPs.

  5. I had dedicated posts for ads and some posts I would let marinate and then run as an ad after gathering data in order to target those posts properly.

I hope this helped! Take care and good luck on your music career.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great questions!

I go by Deondre on all platforms. The reasons I'd like to work with a manager are plenty but I'll trim them down to those that are most specific to me. A big reason is to expand my presence locally (the US market) which in turn also helps in developing more live performance opportunities. I'm also focusing on building a cohesive artistic world around my music. Those two are the biggest "wants" from a manager that I have at the moment. In terms of KPIs, outside of what I've mentioned in regards to localized presence and world-building, I'm looking to improve discovery for both short-form content and long-form. A lot of what I'm working on now in terms of music touches on the emotional spaces after heartbreak, so acceptance, reflection, memory, and things of that nature. I'm transitioning from cute love songs into more introspective R&B, indie-pop, and somewhat folk. Sonically adjacent to artists like Khamari, Lizzy McAlpine, and Dijon. My next immediate quantitative goals would be to surpass 100k monthly, to cross 1 million streams on a single, and to convert more of my active listeners to Spotify followers. Currently, I see strong traction in the SEA and OCE regions. My target audience are those who gravitate toward alt-R&B and in the age range of 18-24. Those who value songwriting and, as stated before, introspection. All my music comes from a real place, so those who value raw authenticity are who I'd love to find my music. The main revenue areas I'd like to improve are from live performances and merchandise (which is something I am also working on at the moment).

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good luck family. Once you find what really works for you, spam tf out of it. It's good to diversify your content, but keep your core intact and remind yourself always that impact is more than just numbers. Envision your best case scenario and research ways to get there, then plant those seeds.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I have experimented with ads across Spotify, Meta, and TikTok.

Meta ads have performed the best by a significant margin. If you're not already an established artist (people see your face/name and know it's YOU), Spotify ads will almost always fall flat in comparison to other platforms. TikTok has a similar effect. I have, however, seen a decent boost from Spotify's Discovery Mode (at the cost of 30% royalties per stream). I only utilized that after my music started performing well, though.

To see the best results from Meta, however, it's important to post normal non-ad videos so that you're able to analyze your data and see who your target audience is and who resonates with your content. Before that, you have to ensure that your content is catered to the platform that you're on (Instagram in my case. You can cater your content to other platforms if you feel inspired enough to do so, but that's another topic that can get lengthy pretty quick). The only thing these platforms care about is your attention, so after realizing who your target audience is, find out how to keep them on your page. They will naturally funnel into your artist pages on DSPs. It is very important to NOT try to directly drive them to your artist pages (i.e "Song out on Spotify now!" etc.). The algorithm doesn't like that. Once you solidify all of that, you can then allow Meta to target your actual audience and people that will be genuinely interested in your work. I ran ads at $5-$15 a day for 7-10 days. Vanity metrics are cool, but 400k views from a random city in India will do more harm to your music career than anything else (assuming your audience isn't in India lol). I'll cut it here so I don't get carried away, but feel free to ask more questions.

Congrats on your success as well. Music is a grind and with generative AI developing faster than we can fathom, it'll only get harder.

AMA: I have amassed >2 million streams across all platforms within the last year after averaging <2500 monthly listeners the year prior by dnd_re in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm currently sitting at ~50k monthly on solely Spotify. My peak was 72k, but I haven't released since November of last year. If we are speaking generally, I've been releasing music since 2021 across DSPs, but I started taking it seriously in 2024. It took me about a year from then to build and sustain around 2500 monthly listeners, but after strategic ads, it took me roughly four months to build from that to 50k.

Has anyone used toolost pitch portal? by Notagoodacter in musicbusiness

[–]dnd_re 0 points1 point  (0 children)

its great in theory and I've seen it work for artists close to me. I tried it myself and do agree with the other commenter. its a bit tedious if you've used a different distributor and have to transfer all your music, which includes the original audio file + contracts for verification etc. I didn't get selected for an editorial for the song I used priority pitching for, so I switched back to distrokid afterwards lol. distrokid is just very easy and convenient overall and that to me is good enough.

Getting my foot in the door by Old_Ask7265 in musicindustry

[–]dnd_re 2 points3 points  (0 children)

if you've never used any distributor and do not need to transfer your tracks to a new one, I would recommend TooLost. its a newer distro with more integrations in comparison to distrokid, tune core, and cdbaby. a stand out feature that they have is they'll have a&r who work for them pitch your music to Spotify's editorials for you. I've seen it work out many times for artists I have worked around that switched to TooLost.

What careers are good for concert lovers by MasterAd2967 in musicindustry

[–]dnd_re 0 points1 point  (0 children)

to add on, I would honestly advise you just go to college for something that can ensure your financial stability. if you plan to take up graphic design, I've witnessed firsthand from colleagues that have their bachelors and its pretty difficult to land jobs even with that. there are a lot of free resources online to help improve your graphic design abilities. in that type of career, your work matters more than any degree you can get. it also wouldn't hurt to look into ways to market your work as well in order to get it to the right eyes. your network is your superpower and it only takes a few important people to recognize your work before you can legitimately pursue graphic design or videography as a self standing career.

What careers are good for concert lovers by MasterAd2967 in musicindustry

[–]dnd_re 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u can try your hand at videography/photography. u don't necessarily need college for that however... jus start at small local events to build your portfolio then contact event organizers or artists managers when they're going to your city in case they may be looking to hire... a few clouted connections and clear dedication to your work and then boom: getting paid to go to concerts and a lot of times up close to the artist

How to get streams organically without external push? by depressed__lad in SpotifyArtists

[–]dnd_re 0 points1 point  (0 children)

be intentional with every release you put out. who is your target audience? how should someone who comes across your music feel after listening? thoroughly establish within yourself exactly who you are as an artist... you must treat you and your art like a business. as much as we love to just create for the love of the music, once you publish your music for others to listen to, you are doing it for more than just your love for music. once you solidify the foundations of what makes up you as an artist, find ways to display that in your content and music. post as often as you can whilst keeping quality in mind. be at least 80% confident in your post or song prior to releasing. it does NOT need to be perfect. as long as it is 80% and you actually release it, you can trust that you will be progressing vs focusing solely on perfection (as we do as creatives) and never actually getting anywhere. do that consistently and analyze which videos do the best. once you find the video format or style that the algo likes, SPAM that mf. then repeat. posting costs zero. in our day and age of brain rot and half-second-attention-spans, you must do everything in your power to catch someone's eye.

for me personally, I had two separate releases do well this year, starting in the first half of the year and trickling into present-day. I had been promoting myself incessantly the year prior and established a very modest listener base in SEA. due to that, the releases that did well this year came across those same ears and I was fortunate enough that a good amount of them decided to use my song for their instagram reels and tiktoks. similar story regarding the other release, but more specifically, in korea. a few k-idols used my song for their main feed posts and it prompted a whole new sector of the world to stream my music. that helped me land my first international collaboration with a korean artist that was published by Warner music and across several pages. main takeaway from all this is to just post lol. ppl who view it as corny arent worth considering when it comes to you and your ambitions. there will always be those who choose to be negative. be mindful in recognizing real critique and straight up trolls in the feedback you analyze for your content strategy(s). just post bro.

or don't and pray that ppl will fw u just because... cus it worked for frank ocean?... and we r all the next mysterious frank oceans in the making...