Marketing 101 Ep. 3: Spotify and 1000 True Fans

First off, anyone telling you they have the secret formula for getting on a big Spotify playlist is selling you snake oil: RUN.

Only people within Spotify know how the platform works.

This means large scale streaming success is mostly a random popularity contest that is controlled by the ppl running the algorithm + platform, not you. So, it's a waste of your time to worry about or attempt to control.

What you can control is the quality of your work, and the frequency and manner in which it's presented to your audience. These are both more powerful tools, long-term, then banking on getting onto some trendy Spotify playlist.

Though, I do hope you get lucky and blow up! If it happens to you, it can be a fantastic kickstart, but it’s just luck if it does, and we don’t want to become overly reliant on getting lucky.

Is Spotify an effective tool for marketing your music?

Perhaps, but it’s worth considering that Spotify should really be just one part of a larger overall marketing strategy, and maybe not even the primary part.

This is because as an independent artist, what you care about are true fans of your work, i.e. fans that are super into what you do! Enough into what you do to maybe demonstrate their support with their pocketbooks.

Spotify might get your work in front of a potential fan who’s never heard of you before, so it’s not unimportant and should be considered, but it might not be the best platform for finding your true fans. Why?

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Spotify is a mass market social media platform that does music.

The typical Spotify user isn’t like you, or your friends who are indie musicians or passionate music fans. It’s common for the average Spotify user to only remember the genre name or title of a playlist they like, and to ignore band/song names altogether while the app plays in the background. That means your bands name can get ignored quite easily!

Remember: the Spotify platform is the product being sold here, not your work specifically on it!

Spotify listeners are not your fans-they are the digital equivalent of someone walking past your shop window, glancing at something and maybe pausing for a second, and then moving right along without entering the store.

This means that monthly listener count on Spotify is what we call a vanity metric: a number that seems like it might be relevant to you by appealing to your vanity and sense of self-worth, but is actually a measure of the platform benefitting, not you.

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The average Spotify listener probably isn’t your true fan at all (yet), they’re simply a normal person looking for plentiful and cheap background music for their lives- and that’s great! Make sure your music is available to them on some level.

But, this doesn’t mean you should be spending large amounts of time, stress, or money trying to win Spotify listeners over as an artist, because these particular listeners have not indicated that they want to directly support you just yet.

Spotify, monthly listener counts, and your goals

I’d suggest that a focus on large numbers of social media followers/monthly listener counts should not necessarily be your end goal. Likes and follows are not valuable on their own: a like doesn’t pay your rent, or give you creative freedom. You only get those things when that like turns into some other form of direct support of your work. Often times that means money is exchanged.

What are your specific goals in creating and promoting your music?

If your end goal is to develop a sustainable, rewarding life that allows you creative freedom to pursue projects you love, a large follower count may or may not serve that goal.

Could a smaller number of highly passionate and dedicated fans who regularly chose to financially support your work better serve your long-term goals? Hint: this is the business model behind Patreon. You don’t need very many dedicated fans that pay you small amounts regularly to do well.

Kevin Kelly, a founding editor of Wired, outlined this idea in his influential 2008 essay called 1000 True Fans. 1000 True Fans is all about building a fanbase slowly and steadily, and it’s a great resource-check the link!

Compare this approach to going for a much larger follower count of people who might never care to spend a dime on what you do. Hint: this would be an ad-supported model.

Another great resource to check out is our free Mixing Cheat Sheet-it’s got all the steps to a great rough mix listed in order for you!