4 Ways To Maximize Your Streams During Week 1

When releasing new material on a streaming service, the first week can give an artist some key data on how their music is being recieved, and help inform a better marketing strategy moving forward. Here we look at how to capitalize on week one of your music’s release.

Guest post from of ReverbNation

With the availability of streaming data for artists, the first week after releasing your music can provide important indicators. Your number of listeners, how they listened, and how your music may fit into larger playlists are all examples of important streaming data. Moreover, the insight from the data can also help you visualize potential projects for the future. Your first week of data is an essential indicator of whether you will get placed on major playlists or not. For these reasons, it is useful to have a strategy for your release in order to maximize your streams. In this article, we will look at four strategies to craft a successful first week:

Build Anticipation, But Don’t Announce Too Soon

You should announce your song release on your social media somewhere between ten to fourteen days before the release date. If you’d like to announce it before that, be sure to have enough visual media to support the hype. Attention spans are not very long on social media, so it’s important to announce your release at the right time.

After you make the initial announcement, you should have some visuals to share your release in the following days. Posting something every two to three days is a good rule of thumb to excite your audience without overwhelming them. Some ideas to share include 10-15 second teasers of the song, the cover of your project, music video clips, or any extra visuals you have. Also, don’t hesitate to introduce and tag the musicians who played on the song. This is a great way to get as many people involved as possible and build excitement!

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Reach Out to Media and Journalists 

Between one to two months before the release date, you should reach out to the media with a well-crafted press release. Your press release should include the album cover, a private link for streaming, the song title, the story behind the song, any interesting information you might provide the press with, the names of any collaborators and where they’re from, as well as who you are as an artist with a short bio. 

Realistically speaking, most journalists will take a pass on a single or EP release, however, there are some music writers who like to feature new releases on their weekly columns. I would strongly suggest developing a relationship with the journalists you want to write to. Follow them on social media, read their posts, like/comment on their pictures, and have a real relationship with them before even reaching out. Make sure they know who you are when you send them the initial email. 

Getting featured in the media can make a huge impact on your first week’s streaming rate as well as help you get more fans. Be sure to take advantage of any avenues that are available in the media!

Use Social Media Stories after Release

On the day of the release, the first thing you should do is to message your close circle of friends and other musicians in your network to let them know that your release is out. 

Your close circle may start posting stories of your song on their social media networks and tag you. You can then repost the story to your profile, allowing more people to see it. As more people see it, more people will share it. You are creating content that just leads to more and more people. Having people post your song as a story is essentially word of mouth marketing. When someone posts your song on their story, they are doing your marketing for you. Stories are also great for convincing people to listen to your song, as it is a form of song recommendation. With stories, you can get more people to listen to your song, which means more streams for you.

Reach Out to Playlists 

The fourth and most important step is to reach out to playlists. Many different streaming platforms have a playlisting feature with various curators. You should find the playlists that are closest to the style of your music and reach out to the curators. Getting your song placed onto a big playlist is one of the most effective ways to maximize streams early on.

Final Words

These are four strategies to have a successful first week of your release. There are certainly more ways to increase your streams, with each platform requiring a slightly different approach. I suggest exploring different streaming platforms while identifying which strategies work best during your release and continuing to build on them in the future. Good luck!