SPOTIFY STRESS ENGINE
Despite my wife’s non-negotiable support (refer to Blog 1), I really had no idea how or where to start my campaign to take the music of Them Creepy Crawlies to the world. I had a vague and naive plan to build followers on Facebook and Instagram whom I would encourage to stream my songs on Spotify. But I had no idea what this encouragement would look like or, indeed, how to create the content. Anyway, shouldn’t I focus on selling tickets to gigs because didn’t you have to have zillions of streams to make the smallest bit of money? And is it really about the money? Isn’t it about the appreciation of your art? Isn’t it about people thinking your songs are good?
After a week of googling how to promote your indie band, a strategy still confused, my Facebook became bombarded with the beatific smile of John Gold, fizzing and promising a stairway to Spotify heaven.
Sod it, I thought, the strategy can come later; more Spotify streams will do just fine for now. To be honest, after parting with $99 to purchase John’s Spotify Growth Engine (SGE) program, it felt like I was falling for one of those click-me cons where you know you shouldn’t but just can’t help it. Mind you, John’s super-slick video was far removed from an email sent by some exotic prince promising to share untold fortunes in return for your bank account details.
Turns out this 2020 emeer is pretty well respected, and his excellent training is delivered in 11 videos of between 5 and 50 minutes. Along with their access, you’re invited to the SGE Facebook page where musicians discuss their experiences and provide advice to each other. You also get a flirty mix of free and pay-for add-on resources.
Simply, the SGE teaches you how to get people to your Spotify page by using Facebook advertising and its lookalike targeting tool. Lookalike targeting is a way your ads can reach people who are likely to be interested in you because they share similar characteristics to you – in this case bands and genres.
So, the first thing I needed to do was think about lookalike, or rather soundalike bands. This has been an ongoing challenge for genre-confused, eclectically influenced Them Creepy Crawlies and I’ve had people liken various songs to Tin Machine, REM, Barracudas, Buzzcocks, Augie March - even Pink Floyd ffs! These are bands solidly tagged to a sound and a crowd, not like us who are bit gangless. Mind you, I suppose Lennon and McCartney weren’t bothered by categories when they wrote Helter Skelter (punk), A Day In The Life (psychedelic), You Got To Hide Your Love Away (folk), When I’m 64 (music hall) and no end of Mersey beat and pop. (Oh, hang on: beatles, creepy crawlies…)
(By the way, there’s a web site called Music-Map where you can add a band name and see who sounds the same. Put in the Beatles and the 3 bands nearest them are Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Queen! I tried Them Creepy Crawlies and it asked me to check the spelling…)
I digress.
The long-term goal is, of course, Spotify streams (and followers) which rich people and cashed-up record labels can sort of buy with large advertising budgets. But, as the SME teaches, for hard-up independent artists the aim should be to interest Spotify’s algorithm that will, in turn, interest Spotify’s playlist curators that will, in turn, lead to being included in Discover Weekly that will, in turn, lead to heaps of streams that will, in turn, lead to nirvana.
Rather than a streaming smash and grab, to poke the algorithm bear you need consistency. Spotify wants to see a song resonate with an audience, and when they do, they reward you with playlisting. Obviously, you must achieve some critical mass first, so you need a song that gives you the most clicks for the minimum Facebook advertising budget of $5 a day and the only way to do this is test – test songs, test soundalike bands, test audiences, test advertising creative. Give each song a week, they say, and when you find the one with the lowest click per conversation $ rate, run that one for a longer period.
Still with me?
So, I’ve now ‘tested’ two songs twice, changing the soundalikes. Don’t laugh, okay, but for Come and Go I’ve done, David Bowie, Violent Femmes, The Pixies, The Cure, Talking Heads, Joy Division, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock and New Wave.
Worst performing lookalike audiences was not the Violent Femmes but The Pixies (bugger) that garnered a predictably hopeless 3 clicks though to Spotify.
On the other hand, the best performing lookalike audience was, in fact, Joy Division with 199. Joy Division! For those who know their Facebook advertising, it achieved a CPC of $0.32 which, according to the sages on SGE’s Facebook page, is okay for a beginner over Christmas. By the way, Facebook wouldn’t allow me to use New Order as a lookalike…