![]() While paying for prominent placement is common on TikTok, this practice violates Spotify’s terms of service. Managers and marketers say that some Spotify users who run playlists, aware of the intense competition on the platform, demand payment from artists or promoters before adding music. The cheapest campaign, which costs $250, will put an artist on playlists with a total of 50,000 followers, while the most expensive option, which costs $4,000, promises a playlist reach of one million, which the company says should generate around half a million streams. The company offers a few levels of exposure. “If you get on the indie playlists, you can still get streaming numbers and fans without Spotify’s official support,” says the founder of the marketing company Jvanz worked with, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. Some of these rankings have built up healthy followings - right now, for example, there are a pair of user-generated playlists devoted to TikTok songs with over 700,000 followers each, and several more with over 100,000 followers. That’s where third-party playlists, many run by random Spotify users, start to become valuable. “Getting even to 10 is actually very difficult,” he adds. But the majority of aspiring acts struggle to move from 0 to just 1 on the popularity scale, according to Grishkoff. If you envision popularity on a scale from 0 (completely unknown) to 100 (someone like Drake), the majority of stories about music concern the tiny percentage of artists at the top end of the ranking - even a small indie rock band is far better known than nearly every unsigned artist on Spotify. “If you get on the indie playlists, you can still get streaming numbers and fans without Spotify’s official support.” ![]() In addition, the artist continues, “ad hoc digital marketing companies are acquiring independent playlists with high engagement, and then selling positions on them for a fee.” New artists without a following go to them, hoping to gain listeners and, ideally, get noticed higher up the food chain - for a price.Ĭontrol of playlists is “now being pushed as an asset by newer labels and distribution companies,” according to one indie artist who says he sold a track to a distribution company that claimed to own playlists. Marketers, managers and artists say that an entire music industry ecosystem has emerged to help aspiring artists in the struggle for exposure: Little-known marketing and distribution companies, platforms like SubmitHub and Playlist Push, and even Twitter con artists promising access to playlisting networks. “I don’t envy most of the artists out there.” “You’re just gonna get drowned out, no matter what,” laments Jason Grishkoff, who runs SubmitHub, a platform that aims to put new music in front of bloggers and playlisters. If you don’t have the muscle of a major label behind you, or friends in high places at Spotify or another streaming platform, you’re showing up to a tank battle on a rusty bicycle. “You’re fighting for a lot of ear time,” says Austin Chase, an A&R at the independent label Commission Records (MadeinTYO, Lil Dicky). Most of the music uploaded to streaming services every day sinks without a trace. Over a year ago, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek estimated that roughly 40,000 new songs were hitting the platform every day. But the resulting flood of music threatens to drown its creators. 13-year-olds around the world can pirate a copy of a production program, learn how to use it through YouTube tutorials, and start uploading singles from their kitchens. This simple task, the basis for any sort of music career, seems like it should be easy today. “We need to get our music seen and heard by as many people as possible.” ![]() “I would recommend it for artists who are independent like myself,” Jvanz says. The company did even better than it predicted, earning Jvanz thousands more streams than expected on one track. “They said that I would get 100,000 streams on two of my songs,” the singer recalls. Jvanz found one that agreed to aid him - for a $2,000 fee, the company promised to reach out to a network of independent playlisters with dedicated followings on Spotify and make sure they added Jvanz’s songs to their collection. So he started to ask around about marketing companies that could help increase his music’s exposure. “You can’t just put out a song and hope you’ll be the lucky guy who goes viral.” “There’s a lot of competition,” Jvanz says. He released his first EP in 2019, but like thousands of artists who upload their music to Spotify daily, no one cared. Catherines, Ontario with a flexible voice and a lancing falsetto. ![]() Jvanz is a 20 year-old aspiring artist from St. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |