How to Get More Streams as an Independent Artist: A Guide to Making Music Streaming Platforms Work for you
Are you tirelessly promoting your music online, only to see your streams and engagement hit a wall? As an independent artist, it can be challenging to break through the noise and actually build a loyal following. So I’m going to share some practical tips and strategies to help you navigate various streaming platforms and use them better to build a sustainable career. Whether you're a seasoned artist or just starting out, let's take your music career to the next level with these 10 tips to get more streams as an independent artist.
Why Does Getting More Streams Matter For Indie Artists?
So why should you care about getting more streams as an independent artist? I know it seems like a stupidly obvious question, but think deeply about your big-picture goals as an artist.
While streaming is one of the primary ways that people consume music today, it's not necessarily the only avenue for success for musicians. Live performances, merchandise sales, sync licensing, and brand partnerships all play a part in building a sustainable music career.
That being said, streaming does offer some distinct advantages for independent artists. It allows you to reach a wider audience without the need for a major record label, and it can also be an effective way to build a fanbase and generate income through royalties.
Sure a high number of streams demonstrates to visitors that your music is worth listening to. It’s likely that if someone is discovering you, the first song they listen to will be the song with the highest number of streams. Higher streaming numbers are also attractive to industry professionals and press who may be interested in working with you. For labels, it means that you’re a safer investment. For journalists, your attention from listeners translates into increased readers and traffic for media outlets.
However numbers tell a story - and the best stories are the ones that have DEPTH. Keep in mind that the amount of streams a single song receives in the short run is only one of MANY data points. Often tracking and growing metrics like Monthly Listeners, and Followers will give you a more accurate idea of the “health” of your band on DSPs. Monthly Listeners can act like a short-hand for a band's current relevance in their market or genre. Your Number of Followers on DSPs is what helps drive the platform's algorithmic Discovery Playlist (i.e. users Release Radar and Discovery playlists). The more followers you have on a platform like Spotify, the more precise of a picture they have of your ideal listener. This allows them to make better recommendations to fans with similar tastes.
It's also important to remember that streaming is just ONE aspect of your music promotion plan. It should be used in tandem with a decent digital marketing strategy, high quality music production, and a strong developmental strategy around your long-term brand identity.
(For more on building a strong brand identity, check out: IS YOUR BAND MISSING THESE FIVE OPPORTUNITIES TO STRENGTHEN YOUR BRAND?)
10 Ways To Get More Streams As An Independent Artist
1) Register Your Music With A PRO
Before you do ANYTHING ELSE, you need to register your songs with a Performing Rights Organization to protect your copyright and have the ability to collect royalties. Artists can join a PRO such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, by filling out an application and registering their music with the organization.
2) Use A Music Distribution Service
The first step is to submit your music to streaming platforms through a digital music distribution service such as DistroKid, TuneCore, CDBaby, etc. These services will deliver your music to Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Deezer, and other major streaming platforms. Music distribution services will often pay (albeit small) royalties generated from your music. They also offer everything you need to prepare, sell, license, and market your music.
3) Claim And Optimize Your Artist Profile
The next step to getting more streams is to claim your artist profile on each platform. By getting verified you’ll be able to manage your profile, access music marketing tools, view audience stats, pitch new music to playlists, and more.
Once you claim your artist profile, beef it up to help attract the attention of listeners. Upload a high-quality profile picture, add a compelling bio, and include links to your social media profiles and website. This will help fans learn more about you and connect with you on other platforms. Keep your profile up-to-date with the latest news, releases, and tour dates. This shows the platform that you’re an active user, giving it a reason to favor and boost your profile.
4) Playlist Pitching
Playlists are one of the most powerful tools for getting more streams as an independent artist. Each streaming platform has a submission page for artists to submit your music for playlisting. Here are some tips to landing your music on playlists:
Only submit unreleased music and submit one track at a time.
Submit at least 7 days before your release date.
Pitch to independent curators such as Soundplate, SubmitHub, Indiemono, Work Hard Playlist Hard, etc. Playlist Supply is a great resource that downloads, compartmentalizes, and provides a searchable way to find and contact independent playlists for your specific genre.
Treat streaming platforms like social networks. Follow and engage with the artists you like and share their playlists.
Promote your music through social media, music blogs, email newsletters, etc.
Encourage your fans to follow you on their preferred streaming platform. Algorithms analyze listener activities such as plays, likes, shares, skips, and adds to playlists, so use this to your advantage.
Playlisting takes time and it can take awhile to have your music featured. Just be patient and stay consistent with your efforts.
5) Create Your Own Playlists
Creating playlists of your own can help you gain more followers and ultimately bring more attention to your music. There are a few different approaches you can take.
Create a playlist of your own music and pin it to your profile so that it’s the first thing listeners see when they land there.
Make a playlist of your favorite songs and artists, mixing in some of your own tracks. Try to work within one theme, mood, or similar genres.
Create a collaborative playlist with another artist friend and send it out to both of your audiences.
When it comes to the algorithm, all playlist placements count, even ones that you’ve made yourself. Keep playlists regularly updated to both appease the algorithm and keep listeners returning to your profile.
6) Take Advantage of In-Platform Promo Tools
Most platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, have their own set of marketing tools to promote your music. For example, Spotify Ad Studio enables users to create and manage Spotify video or audio ad campaigns. Spotify users hear the 30-second audio ads during breaks between songs. You can set your targeting, budget, make edits, and view reporting. Spotify also offers a QR code tool that users scan to share or discover content. You can distribute them on your social, website, and other channels that support a Spotify URL embed.
7) Promote Your Music Off-Platform
Like I said, streaming numbers are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to executing an effective music release and promotion strategy. You’ll have to put in some legwork to gain traction and build your fanbase before those numbers budge.
Social media is your friend. It will be your most valuable asset for promoting your music and connecting with your audience. The easiest way to lead people to your music is to include a direct link to your Spotify or other streaming platform profile in your social bios.
Build up the hype every time you release a new track and share links to your songs and playlists on your socials. (This is where those QR codes will come in handy.) Keep fans in the loop about what you’re working on, upcoming gigs, collaborations, your inspirations, etc. Take advantage of digital marketing strategies like email and paid ads and track your metrics. Getting more eyes on your content will eventually boost your streams.
(QUICK TIP: For more music promotion tips check out: THE TOP 5 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN PROMOTING YOUR MUSIC.)
8) Release Music Consistently
What is your release schedule like? If you want fans to keep coming back, you need to release music on a regular basis. Streaming platforms are built to reward higher-activity profiles, so putting out more content will result in more streams and discovery of your music.
Of course, creating high quality music takes time (and that’s something you should never compromise on) but you can get creative and scale up your production by releasing multiple versions of the same track, like remixes, live versions, acoustic versions, commentary, and more. All of this contributes to your upload consistency, helping you to win the algorithm game while also providing listeners with new and interesting gems of content.
9) Never Buy Fake Streams
Don’t even consider buying fake streams. There are a few reasons why:
It violates the terms of service. Most streaming platforms explicitly prohibit buying or selling fake streams, and doing so risks having your account suspended or terminated.
It’s unethical: Buying fake streams is simply a dishonest practice. By artificially inflating your numbers, it misleads fans and industry professionals. Plus, does it really feel good and personally rewarding to have fake success that comes entirely from bots? Probably not. And, the house of cards you build with practices like this will only stand for so long…
It can ruin your reputation: If you’re caught buying fake streams, it can damage your reputation and credibility in the music industry for good. You can kiss your loyal fans goodbye and forget any hope of landing a record deal (if that’s a goal for you).
It’s ineffective: While buying fake streams may temporarily boost streaming numbers, it does not translate into real-world success or popularity. A successful music career ultimately relies on a range of metrics, including album sales, concert tickets, and merchandise, and fake streams just don’t count.
10) Create High-Quality Music
NEVER sacrifice quality for the sake of putting more music on streaming services in an effort just to keep streams up. While streaming can provide short-term benefits through boosted visibility, your long-term success depends on the quality of your music and the loyalty of your fanbase. Continue to write music that you love and stand behind, even if it feels like no one is listening to it. Every action you take is another page in your artist story. So choose quality over quantity and write a story that will be worth reading when somebody finds it later on.
Artist Submission Pages + Algorithms
Here I’ll provide links to artist submission pages for some major streaming platforms and touch briefly on tactics specific to each platform’s algorithm.
With over 356 million monthly active users, Spotify is one of the most popular streaming platforms in the world. The algorithm plays a crucial role in determining which songs and artists get noticed and recommended to listeners.
Spotify's algorithm works by analyzing the listening habits of its users, including their play history, search queries, playlists, and other interactions. It uses this data to make personalized recommendations to each user based on their unique tastes and preferences. The algorithm takes into account factors such as popularity, streaming velocity, user engagement, and more, to determine which songs should be recommended to each listener.
Playlisting, releasing music consistently, and naturally increasing engagement metrics like saves, follows, and shares can help you get more streams on Spotify.
Like Spotify, Amazon’s app allows artists to claim their accounts, get verified, and view performance data across curated playlists and stations. Amazon is the first app that provides data on how songs are performing with Alexa through the Daily Voice Index, including insights into voice requests by album, song, and lyrics. Fan insights show a breakdown of your most engaged listeners including where and how they listen, allowing you to focus on top listener segments.
Apple’s platform allows you to view your streaming data, promote your music, submit music to editorial playlists, and connect with your fans. Apple Music also offers exclusive content to its subscribers, such as live recordings and remixes. Releasing exclusive content is a great way to offer a hidden gem to listeners and deepen your connection with fans. Pitching to playlists and honing in on fan engagement will help you gain traction on this platform.
Pandora Artist Marketing Platform
Pandora’s algorithm works in tandem with the Music Genome Project to recommend music to listeners. This music analysis and recommendation system is designed to categorize songs based on melody, harmony, rhythm, form, instrumentation, and lyrics. Each song is tagged with hundreds of musical attributes, creating a musical fingerprint that allows the system to make personalized music recommendations.
The algorithm also takes into account listener engagement metrics like thumbs up and skips, so it’s important that you give listeners a reason to listen to your tracks all the way through. The AMP gives artists insights into who is listening to their music and where, providing data in the form of charts, graphs and maps. In-platform features make it easy to push a new single or sell a ticket to an upcoming concert. You can also create audio ads to deliver to listeners who haven't yet discovered your music.
Deezer's algorithm is different from other music platforms in that it places more of an emphasis on user engagement metrics, such as the number of plays, likes, and shares. This means it’s critical to get listeners to actively engage with your music. Optimizing your metadata and engagement metrics can help you increase your chances of getting featured on editorial playlists and get more exposure. There is also the Smart Radio feature, which creates personalized radio stations based on a user's listening history. Indie artists can get more streams by getting their music played on these radio stations.
While streaming is important, don’t neglect all the other aspects that go into building a sustainable music career, from prioritizing high-quality releases to nurturing relationships with fans, industry pros, and other artists. Streaming numbers will rise and fall from song to song across the lifecycle of any release. Ultimately, it’s not about the size of your audience but the depth of the connection they share with you—and it takes a lot more than one song to build that depth.
If you found this helpful, take a second to download my FREE ARTIST STRATEGY GUIDE here. It’s filled with more thought-provoking concepts and music career growth tips designed to help you evaluate your holistic approach to building a lasting movement with your music.
Looking for one-on-one advice?Schedule a call with me.