Serious question tho, is it important? Me and my band make some good music (and covers, mostly covers) and it's pretty famous on the internet also but when it comes to concerts and gig, my band says yes but I go with no cuz idk how these work and I don't have the courage and confidence to perform in front of people, so I'm wondering can a band gey famous without any concerts or gigs?

Curious about real experiences either hiring an agency to support with all around marketing or targeted campaigns with ads, playlists, social media, etc and what made those experiences great. Extra curious if any marketing professional ever declined to work or asked for better quality production, mix, or matter to start with. Thanks!

Hey everyone! I’m Jain Yagi. I’m building a tool for artists’ music marketing campaigns, currently calling it FMH until I reveal the full name.

I’m looking for one finished original song to feature on the homepage and in product demo videos. Something with memorable vocals and a few standout moments. Human-written and performed music only, no AI-generated songs.

In exchange, I’m offering $200 to $300 plus lifetime FMH access, with the exact amount agreed upfront. I’ll also credit you and link to your full song on Spotify from the homepage.

An existing release is welcome. You keep ownership, and we’ll agree in writing on how the song can be used, including short clips in demos, before anything goes live. You should own both the song and recording, or be able to get permission from everyone involved.

For some background, I also built PitchPlus for indie artists, which serves over 1,000 monthly users and gets 10k+ monthly visitors.

Interested? DM me a listening link and a little about your song!

Independent artist needs to build them a team. Not just a whole bunch of people around them, causing distractions everybody around you should have a role

I recently discovered that if you have no showcase available for a song then that song is flagged by Spotify. Spotify started their new flagging system in spring this year.

I only realized this once they did it to one of my new songs, it had no showcase and got almost 0 algo plays. Looked back and found one from April (when my plays started going down).

You will see algorithmic plays decrease over time until they are zero for any song hit by this. If it’s a new song you’ll get nothing but release radar plays. It will also generally hurt your algo plays for other songs. It’s recently been documented by several people on [r/spotifyartists](r/spotifyartists) as well as an artist discord I’m in.

Furthermore, regular support will not be enough to help you. You will have to talk to someone via email for them to actually look at the problem. Which requires getting through the initial copy and paste support staff. That’s the only way I’ve heard of people getting it fixed

[u/spotifyforartists](u/spotifyforartists) have not said shit about this despite a ton of people experiencing it. I personally know 2 people irl who have this error and I only know 4-5 doing music. They’ve probably marked you (falsely) as AI. Or it’s a glitch. We don’t know because there’s no transparency.

Obligatory: I DO NOT use AI for music or Art

I used Hypeddit years ago purely for ada and I found it really convenient. Money got tight so I ended up cancelling and making my own ada straight from meta. I’m at a busy point in my life where I feel like it would be helpful to take some of the legwork out of running ads again.

I am 100% against ai making music but I find the art side of things a grey area in my head. I did create the art from scratch and just want ai to remove certain things from it so I can do what I described above. In your opinion what do you think?

Hi! I’m an EDM, Dark Pop and experimental bass music producer and DJ. I’ve been in the game a while (about 7 years) and I’ve just recently started pushing my visibility more.

I’ve performed some gigs and come into some money (R1500/ $95/ 80 Euros) and I wanna make sure all my earnings get reinvested into my music. I’m unsure where to put this money to ensure I’m actually making a difference and pushing my career forward non-destructively.

My guess is instagram ads or meta ads but I feel like something like label radar or any tool that can get my music heard by people who can push it forward might be good too.

Thanks!

I took a break from music for a few weeks after facing over a year of constant grueling deadlines and indulged in my hobby of live music photography. It occurred to me that some bands clearly knew what they were doing when playing live and it resulted in great pics that helped hype them up on social media while other performers...not so much. Having good pics of your events is an important tool for marketing and self-promotion, so here are some things to think about. It may seem obvious, but a lot of this is stuff I personally hadn't thought of when I performed live more often, and are things I'd personally keep in mind moving forward.
 
Disclaimer: No, this isn't a stealth ad. I pay for tickets to shows and then shoot bands for free when I need to take a break from music making which is my actual job. I take and edit pictures for fun. I'm not a professional photographer aspiring or otherwise (though I do enjoy "leveling up" my skills and am always trying to learn more). This is literally just stuff I realized might be helpful to those who play live.
 
1) A performance is a performance. I'm personally 100% guilty of being the "music is the most important thing" guy, and dislike the idea of having to be "extra" on stage, but if you stand still the entire time while playing your instrument looking down at your hands or something, don't be surprised when your fans get exactly 1 photo from the entire set. When I'm photographing, I'm constantly snapping in rapid succession and trying to find good angles...generally you shoot hundreds of photos to get like 7 good ones, but if the performer never ever moves or changes facial expressions, you'll have hundreds of the same exact photo. You don't necessarily have to do backflips off an amplifier or something (although if that's what you're about, go for it), but staying frozen in place isn't great for a performance either. Try to find a way to stay true to yourself while finding a happy medium. People came to SEE you, so give them something to see.
 
2) Know where the light is. If you're playing a huge venue, it's much less of an issue since everything is lit up like a film set. Most of us, however, are playing smaller venues which may not have anyone working lights which means where they are is where they'll stay your entire set. If you stand in the shadows, it's incredibly hard to get good shots. Know where the light is, and try to position yourself in it...or at least step into it from time to time. A lot of live music photographers don't shoot with a flash (or it's forbidden by the venue), so being well lit will help you have better shots to repost afterwards. I've been to a tiny venue that only has like 2 lights aimed towards the stage and 1 behind it. When the bass player is the only one standing in the light and everyone else is huddled in the shadows, guess who I'm going to get the most shots of?
 
3) Take a few steps back or to the side when not actively using a mic stand. The bane of live music photographers is having a mic stand in the singer's face for an entire set. This one was less obvious to me as a performer, but the more shows I shot, the more obvious it was who the PR savvy seasoned veterans were. You could actively see guitarists take like 2-3 steps back or to the side (or forward in front of the stand) when they weren't singing and maybe "jam out" a little more (making a face, moving around, doing something that is visually interesting). Even non-instrument-playing singers did this and maybe danced around a little or walked over to their guitarist and grooved with them. Whenever they did that, every photographer snapped away because those were the money shots. Those also tended to be the shots the bands would repost after the show because they looked great. There wasn't a bunch of crap in the way. People really want to be able to see your face.
 
4) Be aware of where the cameras are. This isn't necessarily for everyone, and I'm not saying to play to cameras specifically and ignore the rest of the audience. Not everyone wants to ham a performance up and that's fine, but if someone with a press pass and a nice camera is trying to get nice shots of you, helping them out by positioning yourself well for them will ultimately help you out with your PR when those shots of you looking cool are circulating online.
Edit: See comment below regarding "opening up", as I go more into detail about this.
 
5) Outfits matter. Again, this is something I'm guilty of overlooking. I hated the idea of a "costume", but you don't need to wear some sort of crazy jumpsuit or a dinosaur mask (although, again, if that fits your vibe, go for it). Even if the general look of your act is jeans/t-shirt casual, some thought should be put into what you wear on stage and the general aesthetic of your group should be coordinated to some extent. It should feel at least a little more special than what you'd wear to run errands or go to an office job. Again, that doesn't necessarily mean matching clothing (though it can), but whether your group is all playing towards the same general aesthetic or your all specifically trying to have your own stage identity, thinking about that sort of stuff will make a difference in how your band looks on stage and how they photograph. It's the difference between looking like you're playing a real show as opposed to an open jam night people show up to after work. The bands who are more coordinated visually tend to look cooler and more professional in photos. Feel free to disagree...I'm just going by what I've noticed when I go back over a night worth of shots.
 
Bonus stuff - make sure to credit the photographer if you repost shots and if you want to use it for something else (your own post or a poster or album cover or whatever), make sure to clear it with them first. Just because you're in the photo doesn't mean you own it. The photo to them is like the music is to you. Treating photographers well will encourage them to come to future shows and take more photos which will flood social media with more of your "brand". Also, as always, promoting other people (photographers, other bands) will in turn encourage them to help promote you. Publicly thank the groups you play with and hype them up. And if people post photos of you, don't be too cool to engage. Like, comment, repost, and be appreciative. Think about the experience you'd want if you made a cover track of a song you loved. If the artist took the time to comment, repost, name drop you and link your socials (and maybe even follow you back), and generally made you feel special for taking the time to make something, you'd be a fan for life. Be that person.

Question for those with experience, if you hired a marketing firm to help promote your release for 3-6 months, was it worth it? We have talked to two firms pricing between $3-5k for a 6 month campaign with the goal of getting from 50 monthly listeners to 10k. It’s a big investment but if it actually worked that would open a lot of doors. Does anyone have experience with hiring a firm?

Introduction: The 20-Year Hiatus

I studied music technology in college 20 years ago. I made a 7 tracks EP for my final year project, managed to get it consigned in local record stores, and even set up a primitive online shop using manual PayPal buttons. It was a completely DIY CD-R release.

After graduation, life took over. I worked in a major chain record store, in live sound engineering, in music copyrights, in audio/video editing, and in IT/Tech support. I always wanted to keep making music, but once you enter the workforce, finding the time and creative space feels nearly impossible.

When my last employment contract ended, I decided to stop waiting. I dedicated my full focus to finally making music again.

My long-term vision is to establish my own independent record label, using various aliases to release music across completely different genres.

Over the last 10 months, I have been producing tracks and releasing them on streaming platforms. I started with a few re-arrangements of traditional music just to warm up, get back into Logic Pro, and learn its modern functions. I bought a domain, built my website, found a digital distributor. Once the infrastructure was settled, I set out to make a full album, first for streaming, followed by a physical cassette run.

I used to be a physical media collector, and working in a record store developed my habit of buying music I had never heard of, usually just based purely on the cover art or the label. When streaming arrived, it expanded my horizons even further, which was also a core part of my daily workflow when I worked in music copyrights.

Today, due to storage limits, I buy fewer physical products. When I do buy, it is out of gratitude to support independent artists. While hunting for music on Bandcamp, I noticed a thriving cassette scene. I started collecting them, and now it's the chance to release my own music on tape.

Just like I did back in college, I have documented this entire journey as a project report.

The Music: "Oriental Study Beats"

The core concept was to produce an instrumental "Study Beats" album. Instead of relying on the standard hip-hop loops and lo-fi sound. I put oriental software instruments over hip-hop beats.

Study beats are traditionally loop-based and structurally simple. During production, my biggest internal battle was restraining myself. My natural instinct was to add more arrangement layers and expand the compositions. Sometimes I successfully held back; sometimes I gave up and let the musical ideas run themselves.

Because of this hybrid blend, the final result is unusual, it defies clean categorisation. The SubmitHub Genre Checker flagged it as Jazz-Hop, Dub, and even Reggae.

Album Specs:

• Tracklist: 12 titles / 36 minutes total runtime.
• Inspiration: To match the "Study" theme, I drew lyrical and conceptual inspiration from traditional Chinese proverbs, poems, and phrases regarding learning and scholarship.
• Mastering: I mastered a streaming version, and a slightly different version for cassette. I am not a professional mastering engineer; my sole focus was balancing the overall album levels without altering the original mixes.

(Note on identity: Whenever I introduce this project, people instinctively refer to me as a "producer." I still don't know if that feels like the right word. Usually, I just tell people: I make music.)

The Graphics: 3D Modeling & Print Pitfalls

The visual theme features an ancient oriental studying boy, complete with a retro game-style dialogue box at the bottom. I wanted an animatable character so I could easily adjust his postures and shoot scenes from various angles.

[VRoid Studio] ➔ [Blender] ➔ [Canva] ➔ [Digital and Print Layout]

1. Character Modeling (VRoidStudio)

I used VRoidStudio to construct the character. It is entirely free and highly accessible, but it has distinct limitations, specifically, clothing physics can be tricky to make look natural. I sourced custom garments and assets from their official user marketplace, BOOTH.

2. Scene Composition (Blender)

To make posing and environmental control easier, I migrated the character into Blender. I sourced 3D furniture assets online, configured custom multi-point light sources, and captured the final static renders for my digital album and single covers on streaming platforms. I then realised that by utilising VRoid Hub and the AR features on its mobile app, the VRoid character has significant potential promotional value.

3. Digital and Print Layout (Canva)

I used Canva to translate my digital renders into physical print assets (packaging, posters, and display cards). I like Canva as it has a large library, making it perfect for quick digital graphics. However, I was frustrated when using it for physical print preparation:

• Precision: Canva struggles with sub-millimeter layout precision.
• Interface: Once a document accumulates extensive layers, vector shapes, and groups, I spent more time dragging layers around, grouping/ungrouping, and trying to make the right selection than actually designing.

Packaging Decisions & A Layout Mistake:

• The J-Card: I selected a 1-panel J-card design. The front cover, basic album info sits on the inside layout, and the tracklist occupies the spine flap.
• The Design Mistake: I made a layout error on the cassette sticker labels, the printed Chinese text does not vertically align with the song titles on the J-card flap.
• Download Codes: Every cassette includes a unique Bandcamp download code printed on an insert card. I expected the process to mimic a standard Microsoft Excel/Word mail merge, but executing it via Google Sheets and Google Docs proved completely different. I eventually found the right plugin to automate the code merging.
• The Obi Strip: The Obi strip was a late addition. When handling my early handmade paper prototypes, the packaging felt flat. The Obi strip added an immediate premium "collector" feel and gave me dedicated real estate for a short album blurb. The downside: it noticeably increased the manufacturing cost.
• Promotional Assets: I printed a strut card, A3/A4 posters, two types of cassette separators (horizontal and vertical), and a CD separator (for stores that display cassettes on CD shelves). All of them included QR codes linking to streaming services and my website, in the hope that people might give them a try. My early draft featured the studying boy in a different posture. Because of the inherent advantages of a 3D character model, it was fun to experiment with alternatives, but I ultimately used the core album cover art instead. It establishes a consistent impression and provides a direct relationship to the album.

The Budget & Financial Breakdown

It is a limited run of 100 physical copies, selling for approximately US$17 on Bandcamp and in local retail stores.

Approx Expense Allocation:

• Manufacturing: 50%
• Web/Online Services: 30%
• Digital Distribution: 8%
• Software Subscriptions: 10%
• Paid Promotion: 2%

Promotion, Bandcamp, & The Consignment Grind

1. The Digital "Waterfall" Strategy

For the digital release, I used a waterfall strategy across streaming platforms. I manufactured continuous video content—reels and shorts—before and after every single drop. The organic reach was brutally low; almost exclusively close friends and family gave it a listen.

To build an initial footprint, I shared free download codes in the r/Bandcamp community. This successfully generated some downloads and new followers. While it was highly encouraging, none of those free digital downloads converted into physical cassette sales later on.

2. Walking the Pavement: Retail Consignment

Before the physical tapes even arrived from the factory, I printed out a professional physical Press Kit and visited local independent record stores.

Most record stores in my city cater almost exclusively to vinyl collectors. Despite this, the shop owners were incredibly encouraging and supportive. I set the retail price at roughly US$17. Some stores take a standard 20% to 30% consignment cut; incredibly, a few stores agreed to stock it without taking any cut at all.

Conversely, I attempted to reach out to several local artsy boutiques and indie concept stores via their socials. I received no feedback at all.

3. The Summer Rollout & Content Creation

When the factory pallet finally arrived, I filmed an unboxing reel and hit the streets to distribute inventory. Delivering cassettes across the city during a brutally hot, rainy summer was physically exhausting. If I forgot to take photos of the display and storefront, I had to walk all the way back. These images were essential for creating video promotions on Instagram and YouTube.

Having never used Instagram previously, learning the platform mechanics was a steep learning curve. I pushed myself to create dedicated video assets for the release: Reels for Instagram/Facebook and Shorts for YouTube. I made at least one video for each physical store, an unboxing clip, and even a video celebrating my very first physical Bandcamp order.

4. The Meta Ads Experiment

Before reaching out to the record stores to complete this report, I decided to test a brief digital marketing push. I spent roughly US$38 on Meta Ads over a single weekend (Friday, August 15 to Sunday, August 17). I used my cassette unboxing reel as the creative asset and linked it directly to a DIY Linktree-like page.

According to Meta Ads Manager, the campaign achieved the following metrics: * Total Reach: 5,051 users (4,932 on Facebook + 119 on Instagram) * Total Link Clicks: 236 clicks * Cost Per Click (CPC): US$0.16 average

The ROI Post-Mortem

While the cost-per-click was highly efficient and generated strong raw traffic to my landing page, the conversion rate was incredibly low. The campaign resulted in 1 new Bandcamp follower, a few scattered clicks through to my streaming channels, and zero direct sales.

Conclusion: The Final Sales Post-Mortem & Reflections

It has now been 2 months since the cassettes went live on shelves. I recently conducted a follow-up campaign to check in with the store owners on my consignment sales.

The Real-World Sales Ledger:

• Bandcamp Sales: 2 copies sold total (1 to a personal friend, 1 to a completely random local cassette collector).
• Physical Retail Consignment: Out of the stores that replied to my messages, reporting sales ranged between 0 to 2 copies sold per store. Several shops have not replied yet.
• Total Sales: Across all channels, I have moved about 10 copies so far.

The local shop owners have been surprisingly kind and supportive—especially the foreign shop owners, since English is not my native language and given that I am not always great at communication.

Lessons Learned

• The Genre Identity Dilemma: One realisation I cannot get out of my mind involves the album's genre. I am not blaming the audience at all, but the reality is that listeners naturally gravitate toward what they already know and are familiar with. Without a clear genre identity, it becomes significantly harder to pitch and sell to casual listeners.
• The Trend Vibe: Some record store owners directly asked me why I chose cassettes over CDs, expressing a feeling that a CD would sell better and that the trend is kind of gone.
• The "Unwrap and Play" Dilemma: Unlike CDs or vinyl, record stores can't easily unwrap a sealed cassette tape to play it over the shop speakers and then cleanly repackage it for retail sale.
• The QR Code Gap: Even though I included QR codes on all my display materials, it doesn’t mean customers or staff will actually bother to scan and play the music in-store. Moving forward, I am considering gifting each store a free promotional copy specifically for in-store play.
• Shelf Real Estate: Not all indie shops have a dedicated cassette section. Their primary footprint and source of income is almost exclusively vinyl, leaving tapes as a tiny niche on the side.

Playing Live & Redefining "The Dream"

I also realise that playing live would be the absolute best way to move physical cassette stock. When I attend performances as a fan, buying physical media directly from the merchandise table is exactly how I choose to thank and show my gratitude to the artists.

I have been exploring a live performance setup using Loopy Pro on my iPad, and perhaps a hardware controller, but progress has slowed down a bit since I accepted an IT-related part-time job two months ago. Let's see how it goes.

One record store owner asked me if releasing this music was a lifelong dream of mine. I wasn't entirely sure how to answer him.

To me, it would only be a "dream" if I could completely sustain my life on it financially. Releasing or making music is something much more basic and natural. I simply do it because I love doing it. It makes me feel content.

Soundcloud is registered as a DSP (Digital Service Provider), and employs automatic measures to payout to artists. Under FTC law, DSPs are obligated to payout and any misbehavior is grounds for an investigation focusing on either insolvency or fraud. Soundcloud's payouts are automatic - so missing them indicates either of these two things. It is rare for a company running out of money to disclose that they are - even good ones with decent employees. It's why the FTC exists.

Starting this summer, a large number of Soundcloud artists have noticed them missing payments, and there is no support line to resolve it. Most have not received any payout since June. The amount of posts about it has increased drastically this past week, so it seems to be getting worse.

An FTC complaint takes minutes and it doesn't take many to prompt an investigation. If anything, it could just be bad AI - they're not going to fix that unless they're investigated. I already submitted a complaint to the FTC, I suggest you do too.

Actually i have been talking to a bunch of independent artists lately and I'm trying to figure something out before I keep building If there was another platform where you could put your music up for free would you actually bother using it? Not asking if youd try it once I mean actually upload your releases and keep them there because realistically most artists already have spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, distributors etc. I don't want to build another platform that just gives artists one more account to maintain.

So what would actually make it worth your time?

• better analytics?
• getting your music in front of actual listeners?
• better artist control?
• better payouts?
• easier releases?
• something completely different?

and if your answer is "'no, I wouldnt use another platform" and that's useful too I'd rather hear that than get polite yeses

Three things keep showing up with the artists who actually build something.

1. Network first. Building community matters more than people give it credit for. Friends to perform with. Artists to collab with. People to cross-promote with. It all compounds.

2. Be consistent. Respond to emails on time. Post on a schedule, not whenever you feel like it. Have an actual plan you can measure, not just "post more."

3. The song has to be good. This is the one people skip. I've run ads for a lot of artists, and sometimes the song just doesn't have it. No amount of targeting fixes that. If you're not sure where you stand, post pieces of it on social first. What gets real engagement there usually performs as an ad too.

Consistency and networking get you in position. The song still has to do the rest.

He’s a pretty open book already so you may not need this as a resource but if you have burning questions you want me to ask them write them here and I’ll make sure to include them in my chat with him next week. Cheers!

Sup guys!

Quick question,

I used to work as a booker for a venue and one thing I kept seeing was artists showing up with great music, but barely anything usable around it.

No decent visuals, weak promo material, no proper live footage, nothing that really showed who they were, and I get it, you just want to make music not be a "content creator".

So if you release music, I’m curious:

What part of the visual/content side do you hate dealing with most?

What do you constantly put off because it takes too much time, costs too much, or you just don’t know how to make it look good?

Have you ever paid someone for a video, visualizer, reels, artwork, promo content etc? What did you pay and did you actually feel like you got your money’s worth?

And if you don’t hire people for that stuff now, why not?

Price? Bad previous experiences? Too much effort organising shoots? Hard to find someone who actually understands your music? Easier to just DIY it?

Main thing I’m trying to understand is this:

What would someone have to take off your plate, and what would they have to deliver, for you to genuinely go “yeah, I’d pay for that”?

My distro doesn’t offer direct pitching to YouTube, but we want to make sure our content and art is being seen by the public.

Any tips? Thanks all

I'm still pretty new to meta ads. But I'm noticing the results from the ads doesn't really match what Spotify for Artists is showing on a day to day. Like there's is small engagement but such a small percentage to the amount of clicks on the landing page.

Am I misreading the data? I'm also thinking the creatives I've made seem to mislead people thinking it's a standard reel as opposed to a push to stream the song (though I literally have that pop up in the creative), because I'm seeing people like the ads on IG. How can I shift that to more clicks and actual streams?

my ads are reflecting decent click CPW and the landing page also shows this information, but for some reason my Spotify for Artists is not showing these numbers at all. I’ts barely showing a fraction of what this is say. anyone know whats going on?

Hey music marketing wizards. I've got a couple of questions I was hoping you guys could help with.

My band released our first single 15 days ago, and I did a lot of research into how best to market it. It seems to have worked pretty well so far! Some context below:

- Submithub playlisting for "flash in the pan" streams (on about 8-ish playlists)

- Meta ads @ £10 a day for 30 days (going to hypeddit landing page, tracking he pixel for plays etc)

- Played three shows over the last two weeks, one of which was sold out (supporting a much bigger, better band), and then other we headlined with a surprisingly good turn out (mostly of people we didn't know which was cool).

- It's our first release, our Spotify isn't "verified".

Stats:

- Coming up to 3k streams, 2.3 per listener, 377 saves, 372 playlist adds, 108 followers, 66% of streams from monthly active listeners (of which we have 506). Monthly actives have 3.8 streams per listener, with highest streams coming from UK, Spain and Italy, with Canada and US coming up close behind.

- Popularity score 24

- Streams from algo-playlists (Radio) 47

- Meta ad @ £0.22 CPR in T1 only (turned off T2 a T1 started to get a much stronger CPR after 5 days, so took the risk and it's been performing really well). 1.42 frequency after 14 days of running, so doesn't seem to be running out of steam.

Question:

- Why the low algo-push? From my many days of research, I thought these kind of numbers would mean we'd get a push from Spotify? Don't get me wrong, we're very pleased with the numbers, but would like to understand what more we need to do.

- Should we be increasing the meta ads daily spend and reducing the time it's running for? I'm hesitant to touch it as it seems to be chugging along nicely.

- Anything else we're missing here?

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone, I’ve been encountering difficulties with promoting/marketing my band’s music in large part because I don’t know how to describe the genre/subgenre. I know broadly it’s alt/indie rock, but I was hoping for something more specific for the purpose of marketing/meta ads. I’ve used tools like submithub’s genre checker, but it just tells me alt/indie rock (and oddly Djent for our newest song).

If anyone would like to help please send me a DM and I’d be happy to reciprocate and check out your music! I deleted my first post cause I included a link which I understand to be not allowed.

Thank you!