Wrapped in time for Christmas
On 20th January 2022 I scribbled in my notebook, setting up Spotify for Artists profile - ZERO followers! How do you get followers on these if no FOLLOW - FOLLOW BACK model in place!?
I had just released the first track of the Signal Source Unknown music project to Spotify and was wondering what to do next.
I was genuinely perplexed by this.
How do you get people to listen (or read, watch) if you are an unknown?
And if anyone does (listen, read or watch) then how do you know who has shown an interest in your music (in the case of Spotify) if you have no way of knowing who that person is?
I can’t honestly say I now know the answer to this.
However, Spotify do their annual Spotify Wrapped which summarises your ‘data’ and presents it back to you in a slick presentation.
Thanks Spotify!
No one else does this (that I have used) and it does give some interesting insights and food for thought.
I’m pleased with the results.
My musical offerings are modest and I’d be surprised if they piqued too much interest but it’s better to share them than not - I think!
While researching how to get your music streamed by people on Spotify it is tempting to get hung up on the numbers side.
A voice may pipe up in your mind saying things like wouldn’t be great if you got thousands of followers - enough to fill that venue in downtown Tokyo you’ve always wanted to play?
And what if you do get a million streams, doesn’t Spotify pay you for that?
How much does Spotify pay for 1 million streams from the UK? About $5,821.
As I got further into this websites and ‘experts’ began to emerge, as if by magic, that will (for a tidy amount) let you into the truth about how all this really works.
Apparently there are secret methods, backdoors and hacks - ways to do things that will result in millions of streams.
However, pursue these at your own peril.
Permanently blocked by the platform may well result and depending on what you do you may find your soul for sale on the devil’s own website.
Meanwhile, time has ticked by and you find that you’ve spent lots of it trying to educate yourself about how a platform set up by lots of very clever people actually works and realising that even if you did gain some of that knowledge then it isn’t going to help you finish off your next music track (or story, video etc).
The problem for creative projects is always how to get other people to notice and take an interest.
The most sensible advice I’ve seen advises you to do your best work, share it and share some of the process of putting it together too. One connection at a time and don’t get hung up on the numbers!
That sounds easy but it may take a long time to get anywhere.
And that’s where the shiny things on the internet grow, showing you a glimpse of a shortcut that’s just not there …
Twilight Son was first track of the Signal Source Unknown music project