A guide to maximising features on major DSPs
Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, Beatport… getting featured on one of these portals means the world to most artists. It’s like getting your cd featured on the top shelves of a record store: everybody can see your release. Important for many reasons, but how can this be achieved? Here is a guide to maximising features.
Spotify for Artists
When it comes to Spotify, artists can use their promotional hub Spotify for Artists (S4A). Read all there is to know about S4A here in our blog.
It also covers Marquee, a relatively new promotional tool provided by Spotify for the American market.
Pitching Kwettr
Kwettr has valuable contacts at major DSPs and pitches music on a weekly basis. Labels who use Kwettr get access to online promo forms. Kwettr selects the best music picks for weekly deliveries and pitches these to DSPs.
Useful information to include in such pitches are pre-listens, promotional budgets, key selling points and f.e. tour data.
Apple Music
Besides the weekly Kwettr pitches, Apple offers a wide range of promotional tools for artists. A few opportunities highlighted:
Milestones
The Apple Music iOS app lets you share important milestones of your music. In just a few steps you can share milestones on your favourite social media platforms.
Managers can also do this for multiple artists.
Apple’s embeddable player
Offer a preview of your music on Apple with their embeddable player. This can also be used by people who are not logged in to Apple, or do not have an account at all, but the listening time is then capped at 30 seconds. Learn how to create one here: https://artists.apple.com/support/1117-apple-music-marketing-tools
Complete.me
A smart music landing page is a perfect way to communicate your new release with your fans.
One link to communicate all links, including pre saves, Apple Music, Beatport and Deezer.
Pre-saves
Sharing pre-saves with fans is important for several reasons. It is the streaming equivalent of the old pre-orders; your track is added to the fan’s Spotify library when it gets released. It increases the chance of your track being on listeners’ algorithmic playlists. Boost your track’s first-day streams.
Beatport
DJ’s are focussed on Beatport’s charts. Tracks charting on Beatport is a sign of support from fellow DJs. By submitting promo forms, labels can apply for a feature of their music. Beatport values exclusivity, so making a release Beatport exclusive is a good thing to do when focussing on Beatport. Beatport also allows DJs to submit charts of their own, a selection of favourite picks of already released tracks.
Mailings
Although mail campaigns normally have low conversion- or open rates, loyal fans are still a valuable asset. Kwettr Mail Campaigns offer a dance-minded audience of opted-in people; over 30.000 mail addresses.
Social media
Communicating about your releases is important, especially in the first few days after a release. Informing people about where to stream or buy drives traffic. Mistakes often made are posting without actually analyzing or listening to the reactions of fans. Measure response, post at the right time and don’t overdo it on the frequency.
Ads
And of course, ads campaigns are very useful in creating awareness for your new release. Social media like Facebook and Instagram are suitable for ads campaigns including nice visuals and music. Google Ads include boosting your music video on YouTube.
Be sure to check out other blog posts of Kwettr, or sign up for a free account and get access to e-books, tips and tricks and lots of advice.
