Your First 1 Million Streams in 2024 (Ultimate Guide)

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Sign up for my FREE music marketing summit here: geni.us/2ttxlo 🚀 Spotify Growth Machine Course: geni.us/SpotifyGrowthMachine 🏆 Hire us to run your ads: geni.us/WA51r 🎬 Lyric Videos: geni.us/LyricVideos 🧑‍💻 Consultations: geni.us/GSConsulting

[@KASA852]

Videos like yours helped me with my solo journey. It was taking ages to get anything done with my band so I decided to release original music on my own. Currently sitting at 25.6K monthly listeners. Thanks to your advice. 2023 has been good but I think it’s only going to get better 2024. Good luck to everyone in their journey!

[@SweetestFriendMusic]

It's awesome to hear someone has been successful! I tried a few promotional things and basically nothing worked. Part of it is my first single isn't very universal (pretty heavy), think Thrice early 2000s scene kind of sound. So now I'm starting to try to turn it around with my first new single in 2024. I've started testing ads before release and the part of the song I like the least is performing the best. Go figure. Anyway, my first goal is 1000 listeners a month. Hope to see ya there.

[@Smlmusic2650]

Awesome, man. I played with bands for many years and although it was fun I can't help but feel like I wasted so much time I should have spent building my own artist and catalogue. Now adays I stay away from playing with bands because counting on other people have left me very disappointed time and time again.

[@5ynkoh]

i did all the wrong things before getting PR, fake playlists ect... im just doing ads right now

[@basil_kewes]

Kk don’t quit keep going

[@magdalenamuse9871]

How do I get off fake playlist I’m freaking out

[@scottbaileymsc]

This video was perfectly timed for me haha. I told myself in the last week of the year that this year I’m going to get started. I don’t care how many streams I get but as long as I get into a good routine of doing everything and not just half bothering after finishing a song. I’ve noticed I seem to take a massive break after I finish a song a bit like you mentioned where any growth I just let it fade away. I need to plan myself a routine to follow and stop wasting time rather than just appearing and disappearing. I need to get my head down and learn and improve so I’m gonna be binging your channel a lot more

[@JamesDapper]

I haven’t been able to watch one of your videos in awhile. It’s been an insane 12 months. But I’m happy to see your content again man. Thank you for being one of the seldom music marketers actually giving sound advice and showing you step by step how it’s done. Much love Andrew

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Hey man thanks! Good to see you again, hope things have been well for you!

[@809ant]

There is so much VALUE in this one video!!! You can genuinely tell that Andrew is a great guy & cares / puts actual thoughtful consideration behind every statement

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thanks so much, I appreciate that!

[@hiphopindiemusic]

This video just gave me a whole new perspective on promoting music. Thanks for sharing these valuable tips!

[@AndrewSouthworth]

awesome, glad it helped!

[@nadarienart]

As I prepare to come back to music I have been watching a lot of similar content. Just wanted to say I really appreciate your calm and organized delivery. Thanks.

[@cashsounds3704]

Can’t wait for the 1,000 in a month video thank you for all you do for the community

[@GATE77MUSIC]

Very helpful! We started our project a year ago and have also been implementing almost all strategies that are shared in this video. Currently we are at 5K monthly listeners with a little marketing budget and still growing. Great tips Andrew!🙌🏻

[@jasonplamer3147]

Best, most helpful, practical advice and meticulous walk thru for platform marketing your music...I can't say how much I love this guy...he is so flipping realistic and practical and helpful and so many other good things that so many others are not..

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thanks so much, really appreciate that! Glad my videos have helped you out.

[@laurobelrecordingstudio]

Happy to have stumbled across your channel Andrew. I’m Keen to start my social media journey with sound advice from a guy who obviously has the results to back up his words, and that would be you my man! 😊

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thank you! Glad to have you here.

[@kokocreatesmusic]

hey man this is really useful - you lay it out so clearly and and one can really feel that you're talking from experience of actually doing it and not just claiming that you know - I really live the fact that you can show proof of what you did- I'll probably binge the channel this week 🙈😄

[@FutureMondays]

Lots of credibility behind Andrew's suggestions here - love it. Gotta respect someone who has a financial incentive to give you advice in one direction... and he does exactly the opposite, steering folks clear of the wrong moves. Bravo!

[@harveypuffett5475]

Hey man, just have a quick question. You said about releasing a new song every 4-8 weeks and eventually when you hit around 8 tracks, releasing an album. So it's okay to essentially 'rerelease' these tracks in an album?

[@zurielauguiste]

Yeah he has another video called the waterfall release strategy that talks about how to do it

[@consciensnesttv]

I have been looking and looking and looking and looking for the right video and this IS IT!! Going to apply every step in this video to the T! AMAZING VIDEO

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thanks so much, glad this video helped!

[@WillBrahm]

Modern day stage…bro what a great way to look at it. Thank you

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thanks!

[@FutureShapeofficial]

Great value content in this one! Very clear and useful!🙏🏻

[@PetiPolk]

Just in time as always. Thank you.

[@Marzonlyup]

You’re advice is so good brother, earned a new subscriber here

[@DellaSolLounge]

I love your videos , I gonna follow your release plans and hopefully get millions of streams

[@bryce9507]

running ads with a solid budget and doing covers and remixes while tagging the original artist seems to work pretty well. Doing popular songs gives random people the incentive to listen if they are familiar with the original

[@mrshinyfurret797]

What if the music I make doesn't have any lyrics. It's all just instrumental. What do I do for paid ads? Do I just have beautiful scenery matching the style of music?

[@Varthaer]

Appreciate your content! Much love to you and all the artists in these comments, let's have a successful 2024 y'all! 🙏🤘💚

[@bmar_music]

Always giving value Andrew. 2 year subscriber! Keep going & thank you 🙏🏽

[@Professor_Lexis]

Hi Andrew, thanks so much for this video! Excellent work as always. I have a question: I've followed your step by step conversion campaign tutorial and I'm seeing good results (it's only day 2 but CPR is steadily lowering). I just wondered how many ad sets should I have going at once? At the moment I'm spending 10 GBP/day but I've got 6 ad sets running with 4 ads in each. Would you recommend lowering that amount by turning off the 3 worst performing ones to minimise time spent in the learning phase? Thanks Lexis

[@VioletRobots]

Thank you for the tips Andrew you rock brother, we need more people like you.

[@MrMorenoMusik]

Happy new year brother …. I wanna thk you for real, for all your info sharing all this past years, I has been learning so much from you. I hope you the best 2024 from the bottom of my heart ….. #Blessings 🙏🏼🔥🎶

[@RyanSmithSounds]

This is exactly what I need right now. First song went live earlier this week. This is a whole new world haha

[@martinsvenmoritz3641]

Very helpful content. Thanks a lot for sharing. I wonder how you evaluate hypeddits AI ads versus original contents created for social media. Are those AI ads ok to use or even performing better? E.g. showing only the album cover with some of their preset fx

[@onivarsae]

Thanks for the videos

[@jaredmancusomusic1590]

Hey man! Always appreciate these videos. I know it was mentioned in a video a little while back that you didn't trust it yet, but I was wondering if you had any experience and updated recs on enabling automatic adjustments on FB ads. It tells me there's a "potential outcome" of a 20% lower cost per result." Wondering your thoughts on this!

[@billharper5969]

Hi Andrew. I have a related question. We have a new single coming out in a week. We are already planning on devoting most of our marketing budget towards Instagram/Facebook ads. However, we wanted to know if we should do some playlisting with a reputable playlisting company to boost our streams in the first phase of the release to try to see if we can trigger the algorithm and/or have a better chance of getting on something like Discovery Weekly? Or does the potential negative effect that playlisting could have on Spotify's ability to figure out who our listeners are make it not worth it? For clarity, we're an artist that's been releasing music for about a year. We have just under 1k streams per month currently.

[@otusplay]

Would you recommend to release the song first and then do all the social media stuff for that song or before release?

[@leechesofkarma]

Would love to see a case study with metrics and costs where you only focus on US traffic. It's usually South American traffic with the most listeners which is fine but it's gonna be harder to monetize if you are based in the US, especially with touring. Here's an idea, pick a large city near yourself and send ads only to that area and build up listeners in that location. Then book a show to document if those listeners translated to paying attendees.

[@Dantedescomusic]

I’m experimenting with that right now. I can tell you it is much more expensive (like 3-4x) when you tighten up on a specific location. My best conclusion is, in that case, to focus on other social media platforms like IG/YT, which are more cost-effective, and let those new fans find you on the DSPs organically.

[@PatriciaPalmeroAlvarez]

Thank you for this video! Very good advice! Looking forward to the Music Summit!

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thank you!!

[@Prenticetherapper]

Im excited to get this helpful information been following you for awhile now! your awesome bro

[@rechasebass]

I literally put together my release schedule 2 days ago, and dropping the first one of the year Friday. This video is so perfectly timed thank you man.

[@LazyChillZone]

True God tier advice here everyone. Listen to this man.

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thanks friend!

[@cblanchhiphop]

Nice video man! Appreciate you putting so much time into thiese

[@mynameishenak]

Thanks for this!!!

[@TODD-davou]

Hey andrew! quick question, I usually use a budget around 10 dollars a day and I was wondering what is a reasonable amount of ads/ad sets? what are your experiences?

[@kto.levell4567]

If we don’t wanna by the course training us on how to do it.. what video would you suggest starting at and the order to watch them in? For learning how to run fb/instagram ads and knowing how to run them perfectly without them failing and knowing everything lil thing about it??

[@INFAMOUSC-4]

Great video, I will try this tactics

[@lordgreenmusicofficial]

Thanks Andrew! Great informative video 🔥

[@leafandmachine]

Buying Dunks every day *while working at Starbucks* -Andrew, you’re a true New Englander

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Hahaha yep. 😂😂😂

[@PRIEM-RECORDS]

Great video 👊

[@mikewall9956]

At 14:10, in the context of this vid what does "targeting things that I think they'll like" mean? A lookalike audience? The content you're sharing is what you think they'll like? Or your targeting options? Seems a bit vague there and quite key.

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Yeah the targeting definitely matters, just didn't want this video to be super long when I have a library of content that goes over it on my channel already. I'd check out this video for more information: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZavf4tpnr-mp9E

[@massimorussoni7219]

Dear Andrew really thanks for your tutorial! Please could you tell me where I can find keywords in the Facebook ads report campaign? Couse I found all data as placement, age, countries but I can't find the keywords!

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thanks! You can't access the detailed targeting metrics in breakdowns. The only way to get clarity on which targets perform better is to break them up into their own ad sets.

[@massimorussoni7219]

@@AndrewSouthworth ok Thanks a lot for your information 👍

[@RachelRitchieMusic]

Thank you for the helpful tips !!

[@Vandelentertainment]

This video really helps 💯

[@ceoselfthemogul]

How do you recommend approaching the release of a themed album a year from now when you already have singles in the market, and you intend to include some of these previously released singles without removing them from DSPs?

[@jalejm]

Hello, my name is Javier, I'm from Argentina, I want to publish my playlist with my songs on ig and fb, do you have any video that you recommend with an explanation for this case? And what is better for traffic or interaction, and what would it look like? advertisement, How would I make the announcement with the playlist link? I'm a little disoriented

[@benhemmingmusic]

I would say everything is pretty much spot on for what you've said!

[@Isaacthompson]

Great video! Great advice! Thanks 🙏

[@PomodoroWithLegends]

Can I stream videos that I have already published as normal videos?

[@TanoshiSan]

The best advice you gave in this video was, "You shouldn't advertise shit music" (paraphrased, but you get it haha)

[@Exclusivemc]

Great information here

[@miray4kriss]

The video is amazing thanks for the advice I would like to know how much weekly on Facebook ads did between 8 to 10 bucks per week is ok for a low budget

[@sumsumab1809]

Live is great, i found so many great artists going to bars

[@theokayboomer9745]

Andrew: I'm new to social media, like your suggestion of posting TikTok videos, KZbin shorts, Instagram reels, etc. But my understanding (tell me if I'm wrong) that I can't embed a link in these videos, or at least not in the TikTok videos, to my song on Spotify. So, how do I get the person who sees my song excerpt on TikTok to go to Spotify to hear the whole song?

[@Logan.Infinito]

Hi, Meta blocked my bussines account cause of Toneden. Don't allows me to create a new one or delete it. What should l do?

[@kwerlafriken]

This is very informative 🙏🏿

[@ourdividemx]

To all of you who are trying to make it, PLEASE NEVER GIVE UP, we'll never do. 🤘❤️

[@digitaldroo]

A little bit of Ivy’s 20 Days of Focus strategy in there 👍

[@SouhailEntertainment]

Introduction and Overview of Getting 1 Million Streams - 00:00:00 Importance of Having Awesome Music - 00:01:15 Creating a Release Plan for Your Music - 00:02:04 Free Music Marketing Methods: Social Media Strategy - 00:04:00 Creating Content for Social Media - 00:05:10 Finding and Filming at Cool Locations - 00:05:35 Creating Hooks for Your Content - 00:06:27 Posting Schedule and Consistency - 00:07:18 Music Marketing Summit Announcement - 00:08:08 Using KZbin and Other Video Platforms - 00:08:29 Paid Marketing Methods: Facebook and Meta Ads - 00:10:26 Budgeting and Cost Considerations - 00:12:05 Setting Up and Running Ad Campaigns - 00:13:24 Why Playlist Promotion Isn't Always the Best Option - 00:15:01 Bonus Tips: Engaging with Communities and Playing Live Shows - 00:16:32 Using Live Streams for Engagement - 00:20:27 Music Marketing Summit and Additional Resources - 00:20:56

[@jamest3336]

thanks andrew. social media is exhausting when you post videos and get 30 or so likes. I spent a lot of last year making my profile aesthetic and connecting with artists... i definitely grew, but engagement is still very very low

[@ninelivesvxbes]

social media is not spotify

[@yumelofimusic]

What is it current now threshhold from spotify..

[@Fullyniko]

This helped so much

[@AnneSimoni]

Thanks Andrew! ❤

[@MuditChotia]

So helping video bro🔥

[@elijahlucian]

I can't use meta ads with my music on instagram. it gives me an error saying "Reels can’t be boosted with licensed music". what is happening?

[@AndrewSouthworth]

If you try to run ads on a post that uses a tagged audio clip you can't run ads on it. I always upload my ads to ads manager directly and run them as 'dark posts', so I never have this issue.

[@INKARAirl]

hey, when I click to sign up for the waiting list for upcoming marketing summits the link only takes me to the payed VIP package. Did this happen to others?

[@burningjacobsladder]

If you view your data like you did in the this video and see one ad is performing a lot better than the others, for example the verse is performing a lot better than the outro then would it not make sense to turn off the outro to save money that can be spend on the better performing ads?

[@AndrewSouthworth]

It depends. Sometimes Meta can get cheap conversion for an ad or ad set, but not at your full daily budget, just occasionally. In those cases if you force budget into that thing it will cause the campaign as a whole to get more expensive. You also have to avoid outliers, an ad with only $1 of ad spend with a $0.25 cost per conversion can't really be trusted when you have another ad with $50 of ad spend with $0.32 per conversion is next to it. Sometimes ads or ad sets just get lucky or unlucky when they start.

[@adityansingh]

My facebook ads account got restricted and couldn't be recovered. I want to run ads again but with my friend's account who is on Facebook for years but I'm scared to get restricted again. Is it okay to use his account? or should I make a new one for myself with a new page?

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Yikes, sorry to hear that. If you use his, start off slow and use a different credit card. Don't even link your real FB / IG pages at first either. Warm up the account and only have 1 ad in review at a time. As time goes on you can try connecting your real FB / IG pages, spending more etc. Just start things slowly. Also, set it up as a business manager ad account and not a personal account. If you do it this way you'll reduce the risk of the profile itself getting banned. Also you could eventually invite a future FB account as an admin as well, if you make a new page. Making a new profile is risky but it can work. Facebook uses IP addresses and hardware information to detect if you're the same person or not. I'd save this for your last option.

[@AlexSaheli]

Ty, i have managed to get 2 mil streams my first year on Spotify, but that's mostly luck

[@johnnyriffs]

Great advice!

[@theokayboomer9745]

Andrew: Where do I get the graphic at 14:15 with the list of streamers and how do I embed the links?

[@bensmith8424]

that's featureFM or you could use Hypeddit instead, similar services

[@KermitJaggerBand]

Thank you :)

[@morsmercede]

Thank you

[@seppeweijters]

Great thumbnail

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thanks! Made it myself in Photoshop

[@christopherharv]

I want to do paid ads but I'm worried people will see my music as "too commercial" when it has the little "sponsored" or whatever next to it. Is there such a thing as DISCREET paid ads, where it doesn't let the viewer know it's an ad? Probably not but I gotta ask

[@AndrewSouthworth]

I wouldn't worry about it personally. There is no way to hide the sponsored thing, I believe its legally required for social media platforms to show. Similar to how any video on KZbin with a sponsorship in it must self-declare the fact there is a paid ad in the video.

[@NVRLOSTT]

Showing “sponsored “ on your music ad will mean little to nothing for anybody. It’s more about if they like the SONG, if the SONG connects with them, they will go and listen to it. Make sure the SONG and visuals are captivating and will make people want to click on it and stream. The “sponsored “ symbol means nothing. Everybody pays for promotion even big top notch company’s, we see it everyday on TV.

[@orendjohnsonjr]

I tried all your facebook ad campaigns, none of them work. May you help me please.

[@AndrewSouthworth]

If its not working it usually comes down to a setup issue, either the countries, placements, targeting, pixel setup etc., or an ad creative issue. Either way we have 1-on-1 consulting and a course if either of those make sense for you, you can find the links in the description or here: linkin.bio/generastudios

[@Allthatwethink]

I’m not knocking the hustle but this man tried to sell us 20 things in a 20 minute video 😂 🤣

[@AlexSaheli]

Best music marketing channel of youtube 🎉

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Thank you!!

[@jacobrcolon]

I'm gonna try this... i'll get back to you haha

[@SinfidelityMusic]

Ahhh but how to know if your music is good enough? 😅 1,000,000 stream question 😎 Can I post my link here please, and can every sub go and stream it for me? I wanna know if it’s good enough 😂 Sneaky plan that hey?!❤

[@SinfidelityMusic]

Link in bio 😂😂 sneaky 🤔

[@HeyImIsaac.H]

Hey! I'm early here.

[@basiltotheworld]

Okayy

[@faededreality]

I really tried everything .. spent 700€ on ads as you said, but still nothing is working .. im not getting any streams .. i‘m so frustraited 😢

[@metalxmetalxmetalxmetalx]

soundcloud my friend

[@TellyRemande]

@@metalxmetalxmetalxmetalxThere is people who actually use Soundcloud for marketing in 2023? 😂

[@pr4vus.studios]

Oh my.. you spent 700€ on ads? And got nothing in return?

[@faededreality]

@@metalxmetalxmetalxmetalxthank you i‘ll try

[@faededreality]

@@pr4vus.studiosfacebook says i have around 1600 conversions but i don‘t see these streams on spotify .. so where are they going? 😅

[@BandedFuture]

No one thinks their music is mediocre. Lol.

[@AndrewSouthworth]

haha true. This is where outside opinion is good. Strangers will have no problem telling you if your music sucks.

[@axyova]

I do

[@TheAvgJoeVlog]

This is why having a good understanding of the music you are creating before creating it is very important. My first song is absolute garbage, my second one is very good but has some drawbacks on the production with a couple composition issues I would change.

[@ralphquaglia5637]

Is it better to upload your songs to tik tok and other social media yourself, or to use a distributor? Can you do a video explaining the difference? I see big artists like L Dre saying 1000's of people used his songs in their posts and those songs went viral. If you submit through a distributor they aren't allowed to do that, right?

[@12sMadNatz]

You have to use a distributor to get tthem on there you cant do it yourself

[@kenrodrodgers3508]

What u think about me n my wife rnb pop Christian song ? We are singers n songwriters fully professional recorded too at warm studios. KZbin - your love by Kenrod & amberrae

[@Adrian_Franco]

Why don't you like doing live shows? o:

[@AndrewSouthworth]

I haven't played a show in like 14 years. Did a decent amount back then and while I had fun, it was always my least favorite part of being a musician. I didn't hate it, I just liked writing music much more. As soon as I got into recording and production I haven't had much interest in playing live since. In a nutshell, live shows are a ton of work and preparation, they require lugging lots of gear around and traveling, they often pay little to nothing until you're a medium-larger artist, you're playing the same songs over and over again.

[@Adrian_Franco]

@@AndrewSouthworth lol so true. Maybe they'll burn me out eventually but I still enjoy them atm.

[@officialWWM]

Define “good music”.

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Music that people who like a particular genre would find at least 80% as good as what’s commercially viable in that genre. So if you make prog metal, fans of prog metal should think what you’re making is 80% as good as what they’r already listening to.

[@officialWWM]

@@AndrewSouthworth but how do you know it’s “good” till you put it out there? There’s a market for literally everything…

[@AndrewSouthworth]

You can compare it yourself to music in your genre, look at the production, performance, songwriting etc. Then also send it to some people who like that style of music and see what they think. Make sure you ask some strangers who have no problem telling you if it sucks, as your friends and family will likely tell you what you want to hear. There are some online tools you can use to help with that, like SubmitHub's hot or not feature.

[@officialWWM]

@@AndrewSouthworth yep, this is the issue. It’s very difficult to get honest feedback from people who know what they are talking about…

[@reallyyourdinosaur1]

he can't define anything , his music is horrible lol

[@uzumaki.777]

yandex.......really?

[@xenariz]

I hate that being an musical artist evolved into being a social media/tiktok clown. What strategies are there that work for people that are not looking to expose themselves to the torture of lipsyncing and want to build their audience with alternative techniques?

[@wizardraidho]

Yooo are my songs fire or nah ❤?

[@ZiaStarmusic]

Your audio is terrible low volume!😢

[@phonkkong_com]

So many videos but in the end no real value !

[@AndrewSouthworth]

Uhhh, thousands of other people have gotten value from this and my other videos.