When it comes to the music industry, it’s normally always focused around making money. However, while that is great, often, the artists only see a fraction of this, and once the hype of their release has died down, they’re back to square one.
Discovery is everything in the world of music, but it’s aimed more at finding the next Beyonce, and less on how artists can work alongside their fans, growing together. Artists already have so much to juggle on the lead up to their release, they don’t need to be worrying after the release has launched too.
The problem is, people associate success with numbers. Whether that be number of streams, number of followers or likes. Growth is the overall goal, but you want to allow your audience to grow with you and not get bored and drop off.
Artists have to juggle so many areas, from trying to get their music featured on playlists, to advertising on their social platforms, in the press and getting people to listen to their tracks. It’s a lot to handle all at once, but when it all slows down, what are they left with?
Common milestones amongst artists
Artists tend to celebrate numbers. From 10,000 streams, to a viral TikTok moment, or a Spotify editorial playlist placement. Numbers mean everything, but where do the numbers come from if you can’t keep on top of your marketing?
How many of the initial listeners come back six months later? How many hang around to see your next release? Are most of your listeners there for the initial milestones and celebrations? The aim is to keep them around permanently.
Discovery is easier than loyalty
Streaming platforms make discovery quite straightforward, but they don’t value retention as much. It’s one thing finding listeners, but another keeping them. With streaming platforms prioritising new and fresh material, your music will constantly be overshadowed.
Once it has been on the app for a few weeks, the momentum will start to slow. Every day listeners are met with new playlist and track recommendations, as well as a look at the most viral artists. If your music has been up for a few weeks, you may no longer qualify for their promotion.
Why fans disappear
- Long gaps between your releases
- Overloaded with new tracks
- Asking too much from them, e.g. follow me here, join my mailing list, reshare this
The constant cycle
If you don’t keep on top of your work, you get in this endless loop of starting from scratch every time. You’ll release your music, gain listeners, lose visibility, start your promotion again and repeat this every time.
You aren’t holding onto the listeners you worked so hard to get, unless you keep yourself relevant to them. However, this comes at its own cost because there isn’t enough time to juggle everything. You want to create a relationship, not just chase numbers.
Lifetime Saves
By using a Lifetime Save, you could focus on retention right from the start. A Lifetime Save allows you to create one link, which when fans choose to save through it, every future release of yours will hit their library.
It’s brilliant for fan retention. They set it and forget it, but more importantly, they don’t forget you because your latest track will always appear in their library ready to listen. They only have to save your content once, to have every new release available straight away.
A fantastic way of encouraging your listeners to become lifelong fans, by promising to keep content easily accessible. They get emailed every time you release a new track and they just need to head to their music library to listen.
