As music promotion gains more and more traction, we noticed that an increasing number of musicians and curators are facing the dilemma of promoting individual songs or playlists.
This is s nuanced topic with several key aspects to grasp. We even reached out to our friends at Musosoup for a nuanced take on how the two approaches differ from the very start. Let’s talk more!
Reasons to Promote Individual Songs
Promoting an individual song is an easier process, and the results are more tangible and faster.
A song requires far less user attention than going through a playlist. Also, determining the target audience for song promotion is much easier because the song’s genre and style determine a lot of factors for you ad-wise.
We actually asked our friends at Musosoup about this. They run a music promo service so if anyone should know about this topic, it’s them. Here’s what they told us:
“There’s a big difference between promoting a playlist and promoting a track. Firstly, promoting individual tracks and getting playlist placements on Musosoup is as simple as submitting your music, setting up a campaign and then receiving interest from curators.“
“Where to promote your own playlist, you will need to think like a curator – what is your objective with the playlist? Is it to expose your music to new listeners or increase your artist or brand awareness… who is your target audience, like fans of similar artists…“
“And do you have any budget available to invest in playlist promotion? You will then have to engage in the right mix of channels to steadily and organically grow your playlist followers.”
So, messaging is very clear when it comes to song promotion. Also, there’s another topic of chart potential. If your song gets good numbers, you can expect it to climb the charts or garner interest from playlist curators.
Promoting a song is harnessing all the environments and groups within the Spotify ecosystem. If executed properly, you can get instant results but with a shorter lifespan.
And yes, playlists are one of the Spotify “environments”. Environments and groups are harder to build, but the results have a longer lifespan. Let’s move on to the playlist promo to understand more about promoting songs with a playlist-approach strategy.
Reasons to Promote Playlists
So song promo is more to-the-point and straightforward but this is not a one-sided discussion because playlist promotion has its benefits too.
First of all, we just mentioned playlists are essentially environments. And getting new users into a full-on environment has more value than getting them into individual tracks.
Songs are one-offs – what’s released stays unchanged. Playlists, on the other hand, are fluid. You can change them, adapt them, add new tracks, remove the old ones – the whole show. A playlist subscriber will be with you for the ride, and that carries depth.
With playlists, you are building a system. That is why playlist promotion involves more layers than track promo.
The guys from Musosoup added this when it comes to promoting a playlist: “The best channels are social ads – Meta, in particular – where you can target the right audiences who may be interested in your playlist.“
“To do this, you’ll need to think about the sort of audiences you want to target, the landing pages you need to develop and what your targeting criteria is. This also requires a budget.”
How We Can Help With Playlist Promotion
Tune My Music is not a promotional service, but we offer a few services that we noticed are appreciated among folks seeking to increase their reach and, therefore, promote their tracks or playlists: the Share and Sync features.
As the name indicates, these options allow you to share your playlists across multiple streaming platforms and sync them. You can also use TuneMyMusic to create a unique sharing link so anyone can access your playlist, regardless of the streaming service they use.
This is how the Share feature works in a nutshell:
- 1. You go to the TMM Share Page and set the source streaming service.
- 2. You load the playlist and adjust the available parameters.
- 3. Confirm your selection and receive a unique link that works on all platforms.
- 4. Share the link with your friends, and they will get the playlist on any streaming service.
Summary: So, What to Do?
The bottom line is that you have to think about your goals? Are you looking to boost a specific track, or are you looking to build a community around a specific musical style?
The answer could be both, by the way. You are absolutely free to take one approach for promoting individual songs while also fostering playlist communities. It might even be the best option for your needs.
We hope you enjoyed this one, feel free to check out our Blog for more tips and tricks. Stay safe and enjoy the music!
Image source: Unsplash
