The-Roadmap-to-1-Million-Streams_2021-02-01-133324 [PDF]

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The Roadmap to 1 Million Streams. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Contents Starting Spotify right. This is what Spotify wants.

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Understanding the algorithm.

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The set up.

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Platform set up and audit. The purpose of socials in the 1million stream build.

30

How to play upcoming algorithm changes.

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Choosing your platforms.

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Instagram audit.

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YouTube.

34

Setting up a link tree.

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Becoming a calendar ninja. The priority problem. Key areas to set yourself up to succeed.

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Creating your calendar.

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The calendar build.

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Your social media content plan. The purpose of content in building 1 million streams 44

Contents Ranking your content.

45

Quality vs Quantity & finding the balance.

47

The need for context.

49

A crash course on making professional content.

50

How to break down content.

51

Organic growth hacking. How to grow organically.

54

Testing your creative.

54

The ultimate guide to Instagram growth.

.55

Instagram posting checklist.

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Paid digital growth hacking. The purpose of paid media.

61

The 101 of ad examples.

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Your questions answered.

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Your release strategy to 1 million streams. The set up.

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Timing is everything.

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Your release checklist.

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Contents Your 6 week release plan.

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The 21 day release strategy.

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What is a release to you?

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Setting up your ads. The ads purpose.

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Setting up your signpost ads.

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Setting up your Spotify stream ads.

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Playlists. What you need to know about playlists.

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Getting onto playlists.

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Scaling to 1 million and beyond. The key factors.

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The recap.

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Frequently asked questions.

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Final message.

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The Roadmap to 1 Million Streams. Welcome to the roadmap to 1 million streams. Welcome to The Roadmap to 1 Million Streams! In this course we are going to build the solid foundations that you need to get to 1 million streams, and the strategy to get you there. There are no hacks to get you there overnight, but follow the course and use your workbook to get a solid plan in place and let’s do this!

Your key questions answered. In this section of the course I answer your most common questions. Here is the key points I want you to remember: This roadmap covers the next 6 - 12 months The focus should be on developing habits that you can take with you going forwards Money will speed things up but being authentic is more important. Even without money you can still achieve results If you are within a niche genre, don’t panic! If you define your exact audience it can still be very easy to get in front of them I recommend that you release music once a month or at least 6 weeks in order to create momentum. It also means that them more you release, the better you will get at everything you do

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Your key questions answered. What does a release look like to you? Include details like targets, platforms and how you measure success.

Always remember: I have broken this course down into manageable sections for you to work on, so don’t forget to take a break! Always celebrate your wins. The course is the Roadmap to 1 Million Streams, but celebrate your wins along the way

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Finding Your Purpose. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Finding your purpose. In this section of the course we are going to look in detail at who you are as an artist and how you connect to your audience.

Getting started. To kick things off I want you to look at the following question but do not answer it for now. Leave the space blank and revisit this section when you have completed this module of the course and using all the knowledge that you now have, answer the following: What ‘problem’ does your music solve? To answer this question you will really need to understand who you are. Your what and your why.

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What is a demographic? In this section of the course I discuss understanding your demographic. Answer the following: What do you stand for? What are your connections to your audience?

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Establishing your purpose. For this module, I want you to really explore who you are. To do this, answer the following questions: Use the space below to create a mind map of who you are and what you stand for:

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Establishing your purpose. If you were to go on tour, who would you like to go on tour with?

Which producer would you choose to work with if you had an unlimited budget?

What studio would you love to record in?

What makes you unique?

What are your 3 amplification points? What are you amazing at that you can really push?

What is your vision and story? Where did you start, what are you doing now and where do you want to be?

Remember, if you don’t know the answer to any of the questions then do your research. No answers are wrong, but you need to be able to answer these questions to understand who you are.

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The key takeaways. In this section of the course I discuss how important it is to understand who you are and how you connect to your audience. Now go back to the first question in the workbook and write your answer.

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Understanding and defining your audience. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Understanding and defining your audience. In this section of the course we are going to put your audience under the microscope and examine who they are.

Defining your audience. In this module we discuss how important it is to understand who your audience is. Answer the following: Who is your most prominent audience? What do you and your audience stand for?

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Creating your avatars. Use the space below to design your avatars. Really delve into who they are as a person and describe them in as much detail as possible: Name:

Name:

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Creating your avatars. Use the space below to design your avatars. Really delve into who they are as a person and describe them in as much detail as possible: Name:

Name:

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Creating your avatars. Now that you have designed your avatars, answer the following: What are the common connections that you and your audience have?

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Luke Bryan case study. Consider the example of Luke Bryan that I discuss. Use the space below to describe in much detail as possible the culture of your audience. Think about what song subjects they would want to hear, what issues affect them, where they are from, what they wear, etc.

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Analysing your statistics. In this section of the course, we are going to examine your audiences that already exist in the data of your social media profiles. How to view your Instagram insights: Go to your Instagram profile (must be a business profile) and click on ‘Insights’ Click on ‘Total followers’ to view the details of your audience Bring up your Instagram insights and answer the following: Use the space below to summarise your audience from your Instagram profile:

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Analysing your statistics. Next look at your Facebook insights and summarise your Facebook audience in the space below:

Now look at your insights for YouTube and summarise below:

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Analysing your statistics. How to look at your Spotify audience: Go to your Spotify for Artists page Click on ‘Audience’ in the top banner Bring up your Spotify audience and answer the following: Use the space below to summarise your audience from your Spotify profile:

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Analysing your statistics. Look at what you have just learnt about your audience. What are the similarities between them?

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How to actually define your audience. Knowing who your audience is and what they want from you is critical to then building a strategy to deliver this to them. If you have followed the steps in the course so far but are still unsure on who your audience is, start by throwing a wide net and then narrowing it down once you find the common connections between them. To do achieve this: Create content for Facebook and Instagram and put some money into these posts and then analyse the results Even if you feel like you don’t know where to start, you should be able to exclude certain types of people from things that you know about yourself and your music, e.g. your genre Make sure you test different variants to see what works! One of the key aims of defining your audience is to build a strategy from answering the following: How would your audience want to listen to your music? How does your audience want to spend their money? E.g. merchandise, gig tickets, Patreon You may feel that you cannot answer these questions yet, but give it a go and see if your opinion changes once you have learnt even more about them.

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The key factors. The key to understanding your audience is knowing who you are, who they are and how that fits together. In this section of the course I have encouraged you to answer these questions in as much detail as possible so that we can build up a clear picture. But, if you’re still a little unsure of what your audience really looks like, then go back and test.

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The Entrepreneurial Mindset. A workbook by Damian Keyes

The entrepreneurial mindset. In this section of the course we are going discuss your mindset. Your mindset is more important than any release strategy you will ever implement. This is because your mindset is the foundation to your success in anything, music or otherwise.

The 1% rule. Your mindset is integral to building up good daily practices to achieve your goals. Answer the following: What does the 1% rule mean? What areas do you think that you could improve by 1% today?

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The 1% rule. Exercise: I want you to start keeping a journal, whether that be an actual notebook or notes on your phone, anytime you see anything that could be improved by just 1% add that to the list. Every day you need to then improve at least 1 of those things on your list (but ideally 2,3 or 5). Your job is to know what areas can be improved and what to do to improve.

Your goals vs your systems. In this section of the course I discuss how your goals are your big picture and your systems are what you put in place to achieve these goals. Answer the following: Other than reaching 1 million streams, what are your other goals? What systems would you need to put in place to achieve these goals?

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Your goals vs your systems. Here my 3 top tips for achieving your goals:

Make a to do list but write it the night before. Think about how your day went and what you need to do the following day Make your space. Create a space that you can walk into and immediately start doing what you need to do Make your phone your accountability and inspiration. Your reminders, your journal, your to do list, you calendar and your inspirational notes can all be set up on your phone and that way it is all so easy to access

Fixing the priorities problem. It may sound simple, but ranking your priorities is key to success. Here are my top tips: Rank your to do list into high, medium and low priority. Always attack the high priority first and if you have time, move onto the medium priority. Those that you have ranked low priority can be struck off the list for now or, if you are able to, delegate this to someone else! Find your productivity hours. Think about your existing commitments, whether that be work, family or studying, and then pinpoint your most productive hours that work around these Find your daily emergency. Look at your to do list and figure out what is the single most important task that must be done Try and delegate your time. If possible, ask someone to delegate your time for you. It’s proven that they will be much more stricter with your time than you would be, so you will get more done Strip down your priority/to do list. Keep your list short and sweet and aim to have only 5 tasks on there. If you are minimising the number of items on the list, you know that they will always be the most important

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Start Spotify Right. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Start Spotify right. Before we get you to that 1 million streams, you need to first understand how it works and get your Spotify profile optimised.

This is what Spotify wants. In this section of the course I am using Spotify as an example, but what I am discussing can be applied to other streaming platforms too. What is the goal of all music streaming platforms?

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Understanding the algorithm. In this section of the course I am using Spotify as an example, but what I am discussing can be applied to whichever platform you are going to achieve your 1 million streams on.

What is an algorithm? How many seconds of a song must be listened to to be counted by Spotify?

Remember: we are looking for quality streams - an audience that is going to listen to the track the whole way through. You must think about this when writing. To find this audience that will give you the quality streams we are looking for, it’s not just about the Spotify algorithm. It’s a culmination of your songs, your lyrics, the subject matter, your socials, your content - all of this adds up so that you hook in the right person.

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The set up. It’s not just about your music. Your Spotify needs look and feel appealing so people stay, potentially listen to even more of your tracks and keep coming back! I use Foo Fighters as an example of a well crafted Spotify profile. Firstly, think about your audience and what they would want to see from your profile and then use this tick-list to make sure it is filled out (some may not be applicable to you): Hero pic Banner Artist pick Latest release Merchandise Image gallery Bio Social links Upcoming concerts

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Platform Set Up & Audit. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Platform set up and audit. Your socials are integral to your career and hitting that 1 million streams. In this section of the course we are going to discuss the role of social media, how to play the algorithm and perform an audit on your social media accounts.

The purpose of socials in the 1million stream build. Whilst the aim of the course is to get to 1 million streams on Spotify, we must acknowledge that social media plays a huge role in this. Social media is where you build and look after your audience but also where you ask them what you want them to do. Social media is the house that you use to invite people into your party. It’s where you as the artist and your audience become ‘we’ or ‘us’. Open up your social media accounts and use the space below to analyse and rank the content that you have posted over the last 1 - 2 months. Continue on the next page if necessary:

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The purpose of socials in the 1million stream build.

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How to play upcoming algorithm changes. Just like Spotify, all social media platforms have an algorithm. The goal for all algorithms is to enhance the user experience to keep them on the platform.

Here as some tips for playing the algorithm: Users consume and scroll quickly so your 1 - 3 seconds of their time needs to make them stop. The first second should grab their attention enough to stop and remaining two seconds when they process what they have seen that is good enough to keep them focused on the content Play the game and figure out what your audience likes best. The more your posts are engaged with, the more likely the algorithm is going to continue to push your content As a general rule, the following receives higher engagement: photos of people, taken close up and in colour

Choosing your platforms. There are more social platforms than ever before and it can feel like you need to be present on all of them in order to be successful. But, this will leave you overstretched and attempting platforms that may not be in your skillset. What are your skills and what social media platform suits you best?

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Instagram audit. In this section of the course I assess the artist Yungblud’s Instagram as an example of best practice. Bring up your own Instagram account and assess the following:

Your Instagram handle - does this make sense in relation to you? Will people be able to easily search for and find you? Profile picture - are you in the picture ideally of your head and shoulders? If you’re in a band, are you all clearly visible in the photo? If not, have you considered using your logo instead? Bio - does your bio tell your ‘why’? You should sum up who you are, why you are doing it and what you represent Call to action - do you have a link to your Spotify in your bio clearly stating what it is and what people need to do? Highlights - do you have a Highlight for ‘about you’ so that people can quickly and easily learn all about you? Have you got clearly labelled Highlights for different topics e.g. your music, gigs or Q&A Use the space to below to make notes if needed:

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YouTube. Although it’s not necessarily important to focus on growing your YouTube channel, it is important that you keep it up to date. This is the place that a manager, a label, a live agent, a sync company are going to go to to learn more about you and your music. Let’s have a look at how you can ensure that your YouTube channel looks professional:

What is your ‘everything’? What is your channel about? Answer this first as all the other elements should reflect this answer

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YouTube. Banners:

Banners are so important and are often overlooked. It’s an opportunity to put across who you are, your news or a call to action in a visually interesting way. When designing your banner use these tips: Make a statement - who you are, what you stand for, what you look like. If someone has never seen you before what first impression would you want to make? Give accountability, e.g. new videos every week. This is so people understand why they are here and what they should expect Have a call to action - ‘hit the subscribe button’, ‘new tour’, ‘new album’ so people know what to do! Remember: if you are good at designing, you can absolutely make the banner yourself! If it’s not your strong point, decide on the imagery and fonts that you want to use and then use sites such as Fiverr and Upwork and pay someone to make it for you. The shelf: Have you created shelves for the different types of YouTube video that you post? You could create one for your album, live performances, one for your vlogs, one for behind the scenes etc. Note your ideas below:

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YouTube. Your content:

You have already answered what your ‘everything’ is, so what types of content could you produce outside of your music that would fit into this?

Remember, you will need to hit 100 subscribers on YouTube before you are able to create your custom URL. If you are not quite there yet, have you: You have already answered what your ‘everything’ is, so what types of content could you produce outside of your music that would fit into this?

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Setting up a link tree. A link tree is a link that when clicked on, takes the user to a page that has a number of boxes with different links in. Typically for artists that links would be to their Spotify, their merchandise, their website etc. I use https://linktr.ee/ which has both paid and free versions. The free version is perfectly capable of doing what you need it to do, but for $6 a month the paid version gives you access to data and analytics If you have your own website you also have the option of building your own link tree. The benefit of this being that you are driving traffic to your own website.

What links will you include in your link tree?

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Becoming a Calendar Ninja. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Becoming a calendar ninja. In this section of this course I am going to discuss the importance of ranking your priorities, setting up and building your calendar.

The priority problem. The answer to nearly all time management and priority problems is the calendar. The calendar is what provides you the structure and accountability to get things done. Have you chosen what calendar you will be using? What are your priorities in order?

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Key areas to set yourself up to succeed. Becoming a calendar ninja takes practice and effort, but here are my top tips for success:

Be realistic with your time. Everyone has 24 hours in a day, but it is how disciplined you are and what you do with those hours that will determine what you get out of them Be realistic with your goals. Ensure your goals are realistic and inline with the amount of time you can dedicate to achieving them Being brutal with priorities. Write down your list of priorities and consider whether they fit in with the priority of this course - to get 1 million streams. If they don’t fit in then they have to go Being disciplined. Luckily, discipline can be practiced and improved. Use your reminders, your to do lists, have a good working space with no distractions, all of these feed into having better discipline Try batching. As creators, we can batch our time to create multiple pieces of content in one go. If you need to create a YouTube video, why not extend the time in the diary and create 2 or 3 at the same time? Once you’re in the zone, you will find this an easier and more efficient way to create

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Creating your calendar. In this section of the course I create a list of tasks and dates that need to be added into your calendar. What other commitments do you have that will need to go into your calender? Use the space below to make a note of these.

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The calendar build. Now that you have decided on all of the important items that need to go into your diary, it’s time to put them in there! Here is my list from the previous section of the course that you can tick off as you go, but be sure to add in your list from the previous section: Non negotiable slots (work/studying/travel/gym) Release dates Completed mix & master Music video(s) Photoshoot Spotify upload Artwork Banners Ads strategy Legals (PRO’s, licensing) Press release PR Song writing time - writing/producing/arranging etc Content creation - conception/creation/distribution/community Music Business - anything else needed to be done Your additional commitments:

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Your Social Media Content Plan. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Your social media content plan. In this section of this course I am going to discuss the role that your social media plays in the road to 1 million streams and how to create the best content possible.

The purpose of content in building 1 million streams. Your social media is incredibly important to building up to 1 million streams. What do the letters in my acronym ‘FRESH’ stand for? F R E SH

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Ranking your content. Bring up your socials and find your nine most recent social media posts. Complete the following with a title, which platform it was posted to and a short summary of what the content is. Leave the score blank for now.

Content 1 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Content 2 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Content 3 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Content 4 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Content 5 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

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Ranking your content. Content 6 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Content 7 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Content 8 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Content 9 Score:

Title: Platform: Description:

Now rank the pieces of content you have identified using the following scale, going back and adding the score to each box:

New track (10) Performance video (8) Behind the scenes (5) News updates (3) Ask (-3) Remember, content should be inspiring, educational or entertaining. If your content doesn’t fit into one of these categories then it does not have value.

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Quality vs Quantity and finding the balance. In this section of the course I discuss quality vs quantity. The key point that I want you to remember is it’s all about balance. You need to be posting consistently enough that people see you, but it also needs to be of good quality so that they engage with you so that the algorithm works in your favor.

Look at the 9 pieces of content that you identified in the last section and rank them from most engaged with to least engaged with: Most engaged with 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Least engaged with Use the space on the following page to analyse why you think the above pieces of content received more engagment or less engagment.

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Quality vs Quantity and finding the balance.

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The need for context. Content is not as effective if you do not have the context right. We need to think carefully about the way the content is consumed in order to bring people into your party.

What social media platforms are you using and how do people consume the content on that platform?

Here are my tips for adding context to your content: Your music should be every 3rd post. People need to be able to easily access your music so they can find out who you are When creating content, imagine that you are going to put $100 into boosting it. This encourages you to think about every element on the content (where it’s being posted, what it’s job is, the description, etc) to really get the most out of the $100 that you are investing in it

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A crash course on making professional content. In this section of the course, Ella discusses how to take your content creation to the next level. Here are her top tips:

Find 5 examples from other people that have made great content similar to what you would like to create. The idea is not to copy them, but to give yourself inspiration for how to get started with your own content Pre plan your content. Write yourself a list so that when you’re creating your content you don’t forget anything! Lighting can take you from amateur looking content to professional level. Have a look around you and experiment with the different lights that you have available to you and see what works best in your shot Don’t just lean up against a wall! Try to create depth around you with different props that you can pull into the shot Set your camera up on a tripod. You can pick these up from Amazon from around $20 and up Think carefully about what platform you will be posting the content to because this will dictate the size, whether you film vertically or horizontally, etc If you’re using your phone to record, don’t use the forward facing camera as this is much lower quality You don’t necessarily need expensive recording equipment, your phone can be just as good. Just make sure you have a decent set up and lighting to go with it If you are looking to invest in a camera, we use a Sony A6600 Use your self timer if you’re using your phone to shoot photos Try your best to make your content as visually interesting as possible Always do more than one take. Taking 15 - 20 photos usually results in 1 good photo that you will actually use. When filming, do the same video but from different angles and aim to have 5 recordings

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A crash course on making professional content. You need to think through every aspect of your content, even what you’re wearing! Bright colours work best and avoid pinstripes and small checked patterns When it comes to sound, avoid using the microphone that comes with your phone or camera and look at investing in a microphone to really enhance the quality of your content When using a separate microphone to record sound, make sure you do a ‘sync clap’ so that you can easily match up the sound to the visuals Remember, the more that you create, the better you will get and the more you will enjoy it

How to break down content. Breaking down content means that not only do you have more to post on your socials, but it also helps you to avoid the dreaded burn out from having to make new content every day. What are your big pieces of content and how can you break them down? Use the space below to brainstorm as many ways to break that content down into as many pieces as possible. Continue onto the next page if necessary:

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How to break down content.

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Organic Growth Hacking. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Organic growth hacking. In this section of this course I discuss how to grow your audience organically with the use of paid media and how to maximise your chances of getting in front of you audience.

How to grow organically. Now that we have discussed how to create amazing content and the importance of posting consistently, let’s talk about how to get that content in front of the right people. Whilst paid advertising will help you grow much more quickly, it is still completely possible to grow organically. Growing organically can be defined by the following: Your content must either fit into the ‘share’ or ‘search’ category The ‘share’ category is where someone likes your content enough that they will share it on your behalf The ‘search’ category is making content that can be put somewhere so that it can be found e.g. hashtags, geotags, etc To make shareable content you must consider: Is it interesting enough that someone will want to share it? Will it trigger an emotion that someone will buy into and want to show to others?

Testing your creative. To find what is your shareable content that your audience prefers you will need to test different types of content (long, short, photos, graphics, carousels, etc), to see what type of content works best.

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Testing your creative. Look at your 10 most recent social media posts, what have been your most shared posts and what types of content were they?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

The ultimate guide to Instagram growth. In this section of the course I discuss how to use hashtags and geotags to improve your visibility and my tips for reaching the Explore page. Hashtags: You can use up to 30 hashtags on a feed post and 10 on a Story I recommend that you use between 20 -25 hashtags on a post and you post these into the comments to keep the post looking nice and clean in the feed

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The ultimate guide to Instagram growth. Hashtags:

If using hashtags in a Story, you can cover them with an emoji or move them outwards so they aren’t visible on the screen. Try to use highly targeted hashtags so that you get in front of the right people Research hashtags by looking at other artists, bands, people in your genre and your area and seeing what hashtags they are using. Make a list of these in the space below:

Consider the size of the hashtag. If you use a hashtag that lots of people are using, it’s unlikely that you’ll be near the top of the results when people search for it. Be specific and highly targeted Keep a note in your phone of the hashtags that work so you have a list that you can go back to and improve

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The ultimate guide to Instagram growth. Geo & location tags:

Geo tags and location tags can improve your visibility when people are searching for a particular place Think about the locations that are relevant to your demographic and use this. Research into where your tribe is hanging out and tag these places in your posts. Make a list of these places in the space below:

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The ultimate guide to Instagram growth. The Explore page:

The Explore Page is a huge opportunity to be discovered by people that do not follow you. Here are my top tips for making it to the Explore Page: Test what you post and when you post it. If you can find the perfect type of post and the perfect time to post it, you will get more engagement and Instagram will build up a picture of your demographic and then know who to push your content out to on the Explore Page Play the Instagram game. Instagram is really trying to push IGTV, so if you making content for this, you’re more likely to feature on the Explore Page More testing! Test different types of content to see what works best. When you work out what you followers want and what you are best at, do it again and again and again

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Instagram posting checklist. Here is your checklist to make sure you are hitting best practices when posting to Instagram: Before you post anything, give yourself a score out of ten and be honest! Think about the following: is it shareable, are people going to want to engage, is it providing value, what do I want people to do with this content so that I can measure the results? Has it got a catchy title or catchy first line? Remember, the aim is to stop people from scrolling Have you utilised your description? This is your opportunity to build a connection with someone who may become a follower Have you finished with a question? This encourages people to join in Have you used hashtags and geo tags? Whilst the above apply to all social media platforms, if you are looking to grow on platforms such as TikTok or YouTube, follow the trends so that you can jump onto them.

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Paid Digital Growth Hacking. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Paid digital growth hacking. In this section of the course we will discuss the role of paid media in your growth and examine best practices to optimise your conversions.

The purpose of paid media. Whilst it is possible to grow organically, you will see much quicker growth if you use paid media. We have talked about how your social media needs to be a party that people want to join in, and now we are going to create the signposts to bring people in. This is the list of the four components to creating context. After each word, write a summary of what it stands for: The 'stop'

Build a connection

Message

Call to action

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The 101 of ad examples. In this section of the course, I discuss what not to do when creating an advert. Here are my tips for creating a successful advert: Slick is not always the best way. We are so used to seeing highly produced adverts that our brains can almost instantly determine what is an advert are we are more likely to scroll past it A simple selfie video of you talking to your phone camera can work really well in the context of someone’s feed as they slot in perfectly amongst other content Test both slick and simple adverts to see what works best with your audience Record in both portrait and landscape. Portrait is perfect for Stories and landscape looks great in the feed Think about how you can visually show your connection to your audience to grab their attention. It could be the location that you’re in or something as small as your instrument or amp. Think about what your audience likes and list these in the space below:

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Your questions answered. In this section of the course, I answer your most frequently asked questions. Here is a summary for you to refer back to:

Q: What platform should I use? Personally, I recommend focusing on Instagram for now. At the moment, Instagram is the quickest and easiest way to to create your party and bring people into it Q: How much should you spend on your adverts? This comes down to your budget. The bare minimum that I would recommend would be $2-$3 a day for a week, then take a break and then put the same amount in for another week. If you put in the absolute minimum of $1 a day, Facebook will get through this budget quickly without learning enough about your audience to achieve better results. Remember, this is only the first half of your ad strategy, so don’t blow through all of your budget now Q: Where should we advertise? When it comes to advertising, the countries in the world are split into three tiers. Tier 1 is the most expensive to advertise to, Tier 2 is less expensive and Tier 3 is the least expensive. Whilst you might think that your audience is solely in Tier 1, don’t forget that people all over the world listen to music. Test your adverts on all three tiers investing a smaller amount of your budget on Tier 2 and 3. Just like countries, some cities will be more expensive to advertise to then others. Different cities also attract different types of people. Look back to your avatars that you made earlier in the course and list below places that they might live:

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Your Release Strategy to 1 Million Streams. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Your release strategy to 1 million streams. In this section of the course I will discuss all of the elements and assets required for your release, your 6 week release plan and your 21 day strategy,

The set up. We have talked in depth about setting up your party and bringing people in, so it’s now time to talk about the music. For the roadmap to 1 millions streams we are going to use a singles release strategy for this I recommend: You release 4 - 6 singles over a period of 6 months You can still release an album at the end of the singles promotion if you feel you have enough singles to do so. Putting out an album gives you something else to promote and create content for to keep that momentum going. Don’t forget that at the heart of everything is your music. With each single you need to remember: You need to squeeze the lemon with each release and get as much content out of it as possible The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to forget tradition. You can no longer release music in the traditional way as technology is constantly evolving and social media dictates consumption.

Timing is everything. Timing is still key to any release strategy. Traditionally your timing would need to be perfect so that enough people bought your single within a certain amount of days of its release to get you in the charts, now it is about getting people to listen to a whole track on Spotify. The more people that you can get to stream the track within a shorter period of time, the more likely you are to wake up the algorithm and get it to work in your favour.

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Your release checklist. When it comes to your release we need to think about all of the assets that you need so that we can get these into your calendar. Your assets are everything that you need to do, create and collect so that we can build a strategy for your release. The track: Your track that has been finished, mixed and mastered

Always allow 4 - 6 weeks ahead of your release when it comes to the mix and master to ensure your track is 100% finished. This gives you extra time for any potential delays or changes that your want to make Keep a copy of the original master safe, you will need this if you later decide to release an album with this track on The release dates: Your release date needs to be the first thing that goes into your calendar and I recommend that you release every 4 - 6 weeks to keep that momentum going When choosing your release dates, consider making them a Friday. When it comes to releasing music digitally, Friday is the day that bloggers, curators and playlisters base their work around The music videos: Music videos give you the opportunity to attach your music to something. But the way in which we consume has changed. Rather than having just the official music video you should create a series of videos that can be posted, so you can get in front of people multiple times in different ways and avoid boring them Think about creating a lyric video, an unofficial video, a performance video, an acoustic video, a livestream video, a behind the scenes video Prior to the release date, use trailers and sneak peeks of the videos that will be coming out post release

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Your release checklist. The photoshoot: Every track needs a purpose made photoshoot

You do not need to spend a lot of money and you could even shoot it on your phone. Make sure you think about all of the aspects of the photo: the location, what you’re wearing, what is in the background, what are the landmarks around you, what can you bring into the photos to make it special The artwork: Every track needs its own artwork Always remember that artwork is likely to appear very small on streaming platforms but then very big when it appears on your socials, so it’s needs to be striking and identifiable when small but also impactful when it’s big It’s really important that your artwork looks great and is attention grabbing because this really can pull someone in and get them to listen to your track If you aren’t confident in creating the artwork yourself, ask friends of family that may be able to help you or look at websites such as Upwork and Fiverr to find someone who you can pay to create it for you Press & PR: In the early days when you might not have a story or many fans, use the 80:20 rule and dedicate 20% of your time to press and PR as it is still possible that it could work for you You can easily spend a lot of time, effort and money trying to get your music onto blogs, radio and magazines - but this isn’t always the best thing to do

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Your release checklist. Playlists:

Playlist are a crucial part to your campaign, but you need to make sure you do this in the right way: You can push your music for playlist consideration through your Spotify For Artists profile, but make sure you do this 3 - 4 weeks before the release date

1 week before your release consider using SubmitHub or Playlist Push With SubmitHub and Playlist Push you are not paying to be added to a playlist, you are paying for a curator of a large playlist to listen to your track for consideration Playlist Push is usually more expensive than SubmitHub, but you also tend to get more experienced curators there Remember, if you receive a lot of feedback from a curator via SubmitHub or Playlist Push to take it with a pinch of salt. Your art is yours Only pay to be on a playlist if you have done your due diligence. Look at the playlist carefully and figure out whether it works and whether it is bots or real people. Buying onto the wrong Spotify playlists can severely damage your Spotify profile

Your 6 week release plan. Now that we have discussed the elements that go into your calendar, let’s look at how to get them in there. I have created for you a 6 week release plan to help you build your release strategy which you can download below the course video. Week 1: You need to have the mix and master finished Your artwork must be completed. Get this done in week 1 so it’s completed and you can use it in other areas such as your socials Run a brand awareness campaign to start bringing people into your party

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Your 6 week release plan. Week 2: Upload your track to Spotify. Uploading early means that you have plenty of time to fix any issues Shooting the video this week allows enough time for it to be edited Research into bloggers and curators and write a list of people that you want to contact Week 3: This is the week to carry out your photoshoot Make your performance video and another if you can fit this into this week Pitch your track to Spotify playlists Set up your pre-save link and post it to your website. You want as many people as possible to pre-save your track Week 4: Create a new video, this could be a lyric video or an acoustic performance or any other type of video that you would like to create Send your track to press and radio and make initial contact. You can contact them again closer to the release date with the original email helping to build a relationship Week 5: Create your ad assets. We aren’t going to put them out, just create the 15 - 30 second adverts to push out on release day Make your two different banners. One to go out the week before the release that essentially says ‘coming soon’, and a different one to go out release day saying ‘out now’ Make trailers for your different videos that you have created in the weeks before Create your giveaway

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Your 6 week release plan. Week 6: Set your ads up On the Saturday before your release you are going to: Upload your ‘coming soon’ banner Submit to SubmitHub and Playlist Push On the day before your release, you need to make sure that you: Have collected all of your assets and are ready to push them out Are creating a buzz around the release. Contact your friends, family and fans and ask them to listen to the entire track on Spotify and to add your song to a playlist or artists that fit into the same category as you Prepare your team. Whether that’s your bandmates or your friends and family, make sure everyone knows that they are supposed to be doing Set your alarms on your phone so that you wake up prepared for release day and have reminders for what you should be doing at different points in the day

The 21 day release strategy. We have planned the six weeks leading up to your release but now we are going to look at a 21 day release strategy that shows you what you should be doing on the days leading up to and after your release. You can download the 21 day release strategy from below the course video. The next pages of the workbook is a list of all of the tasks within the strategy. You can use this to keep track of your progress or to fill in your own calendar on your phone so that you are able to set yourself reminders on the day that tasks are due.

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The 21 day release strategy. Week 1: Saturday: This is the day to get anything done that you haven’t gotten around to from your 6 week release strategy Sunday: Send to press and contact blogs Monday: Contact radio Tuesday: Make teasers and trailers Wednesday: Set up ad assets Thursday: Upload 3 really strong images to your Instagram feed, preferably from your photoshoot that you previously completed Friday: Update and optimise your socials

Week 2: Saturday: Update your Spotify profile Submit your track to SubmitHub and Playlist Push Post 5 Instagram Stories including polls, questions and your music

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The 21 day release strategy. Sunday: Drop the artwork and use this as an opportunity to remind people of the release date Post 5 Instagram Stories Start contacting people and reminding them what you need them to do on release day: to listen to the whole song and add it into a playlist of similar music Monday: Change your social media banners to one showing your release date Drop a teaser video for your release. A second teaser video will be posted later in the week, but if you have more than two teaser videos you can post one every day of this week Post 5 Instagram Stories Tuesday: Set up your ads but do not put them live yet. Get them set up so that on release day all you have to do is put them live Post 5 Instagram stories Wednesday: Post your second teaser video Post 5 Instagram Stories Set up a WhatsApp group to prepare your team. Your team is anyone that you can ask that will be prepared to help you on release day Thursday: Collect your assets Build up the buzz around your release Prepare your team so that everyone knows what they are responsible for Set your alarms on your phone so that you wake up prepared for release day and have reminders for what you should be doing at different points in the day

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The 21 day release strategy. Thursday: Post your lyric video or another teaser Post 5 Instagram Stories Friday: Check that your release is up and working Post your official video Update your banners on socials to say that the track is out now Contact everyone that you know to tell them the track is now live and ask them to listen to, like, share, comment on your track Ads to be put live Put out hourly social media updates Hold a livestream or launch party

Week 3: Saturday: Post another music video Update your Spotify profile so that your new track shows as you Artist Pick Post about your giveaway Pin your track to the top of all of your socials Sunday: Post another music video Study the insights of your ads that you put live on release day and begin to optimise them. Stop ads that aren’t performing and put more budget into those that are doing well

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The 21 day release strategy. Monday: Post another music video Tuesday: Post another music video Wednesday: Study the insights of your ads and optimise them again Thursday: Perform a live session Friday: Send your thank yous out to the people who got involved and helped you with your release. Audio notes and videos work particularly well for this Look back at your release and analyse it. What worked well and what didn’t?

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What is a release to you? In this section of the course, I discuss how a release is not just your big pillar tracks. Spotify is social media, people want to be entertained and this doesn’t just mean your big tracks that you put out. What other types of releases do I mention in this module?

What does a release look like to you?

What existing music or content do you have that you hadn’t considered releasing before but now might use?

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Setting Up Your Ads. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Setting up your ads. In this section of the course I will discuss how to set your ads up in the simplest way to get from A to B. If you would like to learn more about Facebook ads check out my other courses in DKMBA: Introduction to Facebook Ads and Advanced Facebook Ads.

The ads purpose. The goal is not to send 1 million people to your Spotify. What we want to do is gain enough momentum with your ads that are pushing people across to Spotify to trigger the algorithm and give Spotify quality data to then push your music to more people. Here is a diagram showing the three parts of an ad campaign:

Ad Campaign

Ad Set

Ad

Ad

Ad

Ad Set

Ad

Ad

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Ad

Ad

Ad

The ads purpose. Write a brief description for each part of an ad campaign. Ad campaign:

Ad set:

Ad:

Now that we have discussed the ad set up, answer the following: Why is testing so important?

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Setting up your signpost ads. In this section of the course I talk you through how to set up your signpost ad. Here is a step by step of how to set up the ad, tick them off as you go: Open Ads Manager and click ‘Create’ Select ‘Traffic’ and continue Input your campaign name and click ‘Next’ Enter the name of your Ad Set Under ‘Traffic’ select ‘Website’ Scroll down to ‘Budget & Schedule’ and input your budget. I recommend using a low daily budget to start with but this is down to your preference Make sure that you select ‘Set an end date’ and input a date for the ad to finish or it will run indefinitely Scroll down to ‘Audience’ and select ‘Create New’ and click on ‘Custom Audience’ Click on ‘Instagram Account’ and check that your correct Instagram account is selected In this example we are using the drop down for ‘Everyone who engaged with your professional account’ Name your audience and click ‘Create Audience’ Once your audience has finished uploading select ‘Create a Lookalike Audience’ Under ‘Select Your Lookalike Source’ select the audience that you have just created Under ‘Select Audience Location’ enter the locations you would like to target Under ‘Select Audience Size’ click on ‘1%’ and then click ‘Create Audience’ Your audiences should now both be selected. Remove your ‘Engagement Instagram’ audience so just your ‘Lookalike’ audience is showing Next input the locations you would like to target You can amend the other characteristics of your audience if you wish to

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Setting up your signpost ads. Next we scroll down to ‘Placements’ and select “Manual Placements’ and amend so that only ‘Instagram’ is ticked In this example I select ‘Instagram Stories’ but you you can test the ad on the feed also Click ‘Next’ and we’re going to start making the ads Give your ad a name Under ‘Format’ select ‘Single Image or Video’ Scroll down to ‘Ad Creative’ and click on ‘Add Media’ and upload your video As in this example we are sending the ad to Stories, we do not need to enter any ‘Primary Text’ Next scroll down to ‘Website URL’ and ensure your Instagram link is entered here Under ‘Call to Action’ select ‘Learn More’ Click ‘Publish’ Click back into your Ad Campaign and scroll down to ‘A/B Testing’ and click ‘Get Started’ Under ‘Variable’ select ‘Video’ and upload your second video and click ‘Continue’ then ‘Review Test’ and finally ‘Create Test’ Your ad is now live! Remember: only test one variable at a time. The goal here is to find out what works best and why it is working. That way, over time, you will create truly optimised ads.

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Setting up your Spotify stream ads. As we’re bringing more and more people in, it’s time to retarget them and push them across to Spotify. We’re saying to these people: “you know who I am and it’s time to head across to my Spotify.” Here is a step by step of how to set up the ad, tick them off as you go: Open Ads Manager and click ‘Create’ Select ‘Traffic’ and continue Input your campaign name and click ‘Next’ Enter the name of your Ad Set Under ‘Traffic’ select ‘Website’ Scroll down to ‘Budget & Schedule’ and input your budget. I recommend using a ‘Lifetime Budget’ over 7 - 14 days Scroll down to ‘Audience’ and click in the search bar and select the Instagram Engagement audience that you created from your signpost ad Next input the locations you would like to target You can amend the other characteristics of your audience if you wish to, but we are targeting people that have already engaged with you, so this doesn’t matter too much Next we scroll down to ‘Placements’ and select “Manual Placements’ and amend so that only ‘Instagram’ is ticked In this example I select ‘Instagram Stories’ but you you can test the ad on the feed also Click ‘Next’ and we’re going to start making the ads Give your ad a name Under ‘Format’ select ‘Single Image or Video’ Scroll down to ‘Ad Creative’ and click on ‘Add Media’ and upload your video As in this example we are sending the ad to Stories, we do not need to enter any ‘Primary Text’

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Setting up your signpost ads. Next scroll down to ‘Website URL’ and enter your song link that you have copied from your Spotify. Click ‘Preview’ to check that it is working Scroll down to ‘Call to Action’ and select ‘Listen Now’ Click ‘Publish’ Click back into your Ad Campaign and scroll down to ‘A/B Testing’ and click ‘Get Started’ Under ‘Variable’ select ‘Video’ and upload your second video and click ‘Continue’ then ‘Review Test’ and finally ‘Create Test’ Your ad is now live!

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Playlists. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Playlists. In this section of the course I discuss the importance of playlists on the road to 1 million streams. We will look at what a playlist is, how to get onto them and how we can scale this to 1 million streams.

What you need to know about playlists. A playlist can range from everything from adding a song to your own playlist to the huge playlists that have millions of followers and everything in between. There are over 2 billions playlists, so we need to start small and then grow into the bigger ones. Answer the following: What is the difference between an AI playlist and a curated playlist?

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What you need to know about playlists. In order to push your music to playlists, answer the following: Where does your music fit? Where would people listen to your music? I.e. in the car, at the gym, etc. What emotions does your music stir? Is your track suited to the consumption habits of Spotify? Is the first 30 seconds going to grab attention and get that person to listen to the rest of the track?

Getting onto playlists. Earlier in the course we have discussed the strategy to get your audience across to Spotify to spike the algorithm. But, we don’t just need numbers. We need quality data. What does quality data mean?

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Getting onto playlists. Along with our Spotify strategy, we also need to find playlist curators. How can you find playlist curators?

Remember, curators are usually dedicated to finding new music and creating really popular playlists, so they may ask you to pay a fee to get on this playlist. Here is what to look out for when it comes to curators: If they ask for money straight off the bat. If they are willing to put anything on their playlist for a certain fee, they probably aren’t looking after the value of the consumer Paying a large fee to get onto one playlist. Getting on one large playlist is not going to do all of the work and trigger the algorithm for you. You will still need the strategy that I am teaching you in this course to really spike that algorithm

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Getting onto playlists. Once you have uploaded your track through your aggregator and it is in your Spotify For Artists, you can pitch your track to playlists. Here are my tips for this: Fill in the questionnaire that you are presented with in as much detail as possible You are more likely to get onto a playlist by using SubmitHub or Playlist Push. Whilst SubmitHub tends to be less expensive, Playlist Push usually has more quality curators Do not puts large sums of money into SubmitHub or Playlist Push, your money is better spent on ads to a really targeted audience Consider contacting much smaller playlists to start with and building a relationship with the curator. You are more likely to be able to get onto their playlists and these can still result in streams and follows

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Scaling to 1 million and Beyond. A workbook by Damian Keyes

Scaling to 1 million and beyond. As we come to the end of the course, it’s time to reflect on what we have learnt and look at the key takeaways to keep driving you forwards.

The key factors. This course is all about doing the simple things to the highest level and repeating this for each release and amplifying it each time. It’s a strategy based on building your party, creating organic content that adds value, incorporating a paid media strategy and using a solid release strategy. This is the strategy that I want you to follow for each of your releases. Make sure that you are journaling throughout. What worked well and what didn’t? What did you learn from your last release to make the next one even bigger and better? Going forwards I want your mantra to be: do less better. Do simple things to a world class quality and you will see results.

The recap. We have covered a wide range of topics and strategies within this course and here is what I want you to remember at whatever point you are at: Reverse engineering is key - putting your releases into your calendar and then working backwards from there Reaching 1 million streams is the overarching goal, but your day to day focus is how you can get one step closer to this Think about what your return of investment will be once you have hit 1 million streams Always keep in mind what your version of success looks like so that you can keep track of how you are doing

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The recap. Enjoy the journey! Hold yourself accountable and always strive for the daily 1%

Frequently asked questions. Here I answer your common questions regarding the Roadmap to 1 Million Streams and beyond.

Q. A. Q. A.

Can I grow my streams and socials outside of my country? Yes! Now is the best time in the world to get your music in front of people in specific places. Advertising means that you can reach a super targeted audience on the other side of the world. However, it is better to target a narrow audience based on characteristics that are anywhere in the world, rather than just targeting anyone in a certain location. But first and foremost, you need to build your party.

How do I know if my music is good enough? Music is subjective. When it comes to quality, it’s up to you to figure out what you love and your passion versus what works. By building great practices and turning up every day and doing what you love, you will improve. Your 10th gig is going to be better than your 1st gig. Your 100th gig will be better than your 10th gig. Over time and with patience you will grow.

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Frequently asked questions.

Q. A.

How can I prioritise the money that I have in this strategy to 1 million streams? There are so many different places that you can put your money when growing your career but here’s what I recommend: Your party is priority number one. If your socials aren’t good enough, people will walk in and then they will leave. If you need to spend some of your money making sure that your socials are the best that they can be (whether that be purchasing a camera, paying someone to create your banners, improving your skills, etc), this should come first Secondly is your signpost to your party. You’ve created an amazing party, but how are people going to see it if we don’t create these sign posts letting them know that it’s there? Next would be your signposts to your Spotify. Putting money into this to push people across helps Any money you have left after you have put some money into the above can then go into other things such as PR, pluggers etc.

Q. A.

How would gigs and touring fall into this strategy to 1 million streams? Whilst gigs and tours aren’t a necessity, they are massively helpful. When building your party you need interesting content, and gigs and tours are a prime opportunity to capture this. If you are able to gig, here are three pieces of content that I want you to get: A picture of the crowd - ideally with you in the crowd or on stage in front of the crowd A picture of you with your fans Get a photographer/videographer (or someone that you know who can help you out) to take photos and film to record the vibe of the performance

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Frequently asked questions.

A. Q. A.

If you are planning on going on tour, in the weeks leading up to it, consider learning about editing. If you know how to edit, you can make even more interesting content based around your tour, from memes to a video blog. It is completely possible to do things like this yourself.

When and how should we monetise our audience? Start thinking about this now. There are many ways to monetise your audience, but these days it’s also possible to build an audience who then won’t want to pay for what you’re offering. You need to think about how you will monetise your music in the future and then build your audience around this. For example, if your aim is to make money out of gig tickets, then you either need to be doing gigs and using your socials to prove that you are the best live performer with unmissable gigs. As a new artist, you have something that more well known artists do not have: time. You have time to look after your fanbase on a 1-1 basis and be doing this, this means that they are more likely to support by buying what you are selling, whether that’s your Patreon, your merch, gig tickets, etc.

Q. A.

Q: Any tips on staying motivated during this build? I want you to flip this idea of staying motivated, and instead think of this strategy as being all about building systems, habits and routine. You won’t wake up every day feeling motivated, but you can wake up every day and follow a routine. If you find that this is something you really struggle with, check out the Entrepreneurial Mindset course in DKMBA.

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Frequently asked questions.

Q. A.

How do I get past my friends and family circle? Firstly, have patience. Secondly, you need to have your signposts to bring new people into your party. If you don’t have money for signposts, you need to look at organic growth - sending emails, talking to people, getting your name out there. If you have your signposts set up and you can see people coming in but not sticking around, you need to examine your party. Analyse your content and think about whether you are putting out your best content, posting consistently, telling your story. All the elements that make a great party need to be there. The key thing to growing is starting off by looking after a small amount of people incredibly well. By looking after them, you’re looking after their circle of people and even your own circle. By demonstrating how you look after people, more will want to be involved.

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Final message. We’ve reached the end of the course and it’s time for you to start your journey to 1 million streams. It’s going to take work and it won’t always feel easy so I want you to answer the following question so that when you’re not feeling your best you have something to remind yourself to keep going: What is the reason that you’re doing this? Write down why you love what you do

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Additional notes:

Additional notes: