Pre-Save Spotify Campaigns Are an Easy Way to Boost Streams and Audience Engagement
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out why Spotify is so popular with artists.
With 182 million paying subscribers and more than 422 million users, Spotify is a household name and the world’s most popular audio streaming service.
That’s music to any artist’s ears.
But once you’ve established yourself on Spotify – how can you make it easier for new listeners to find your music?
How can you engage fans, scale your platform and boost your streams?
Boost Streams with Pre-Save Campaigns
Marketing your music has to begin long before release day.
Pre-save campaigns are designed to build momentum and hook the audience to boost streams in the critical period soon after release.
Pre-saves are the online streaming equivalent of a pre-order. Although we no longer have to physically purchase new music, there’s still a set date for new music to drop. It’s important to get a buzz around your track release to ensure fans are listening as soon as possible after it drops.
A good pre-save campaign encourages early engagement and a good stream count on release day. The first days and weeks after release are crucial if you want to make the Spotify algorithm sit up and take notice.
High engagement on release day and the 2- 3 weeks following tells the Spotify algorithm that your music is worth promoting.
And that has the potential to get you added to Spotify playlists and notifications.
Spot the Algorithm
Like every other social media platform, Spotify is driven by algorithms. The platform monitors how the hundreds of millions of users engage with your music.
The algorithm notices:
- Skip rate – the less your music is skipped the higher the chance of recommendation
- Listening time – getting past 30 seconds is key
- Listening history
- Early engagement
- Playlist inclusions
If your fans pre-save your song they have automatic access to it on release day.
And once you’re in your followers’ library there’s a chance they’ll hear your music every time they hit shuffle.
The more streams you receive, the more Spotify notices you, the more chance you’ll make it into Spotify’s algorithmic playlists.
Playlists Increase Your Reach
Pre-saves can help get you onto Spotify algorithmic playlists – and every musician craves that exposure.
Playlists can deliver your music to those who aren’t already following you, increasing your reach and doing some of the marketing work for you.
Music that does well on release day and shortly after has a shot at being added to an algorithmic playlist – tailored to Spotify audiences who haven’t been introduced to you.
Let’s look at two Spotify playlists
- Release Radar is open to pitches from musicians – if you do pitch don’t forget to add meta tags to accurately match your music’s mood and genre. Incorrect tagging might send your sounds to the wrong listener. And that means they’ll skip your music – something you want to avoid.
Release Radar updates every Friday; you should pitch at least 7 days before your release date.
But the Release Radar playlist also has an algorithmic angle. If your music does well, the Spotify algorithm may add you to the Release Radar playlist, which updates every Friday. - The Spotify Discover Weekly playlist also notes track of the performance around your release date. Discover Weekly updates on Mondays.
High stream engagement around release day gives you a chance to be curated into algorithmic Spotify playlists.
But many industry professionals, critics and curators are tuning in to Spotify seeking great pre-saves to add to playlists.
Creating an appealing pre save campaign can get you noticed and increase engagement at the crucial period around release day, and that gives you a real chance to be noticed and added to coveted playlists.
Being included in a great playlist can alter the course of an artist’s career.
Easy Does It
Short attention spans are the new black.
It’s official, trends are speeding up and attention spans are shortening, so it’s crucial to capitalize on the first wave of audience attention.
Successful platforms are built by capturing attention and leveraging interest into future sales.
And yet there’s never been so much creative content readily available with a tap or a swipe. Your potential audience has a lot of streaming choices.
You must offer an accessible, actionable way to engage your fans as soon as possible after your music drops.
If you want your music to reach the audience you deserve, you simply have to find an easy way to elevate your voice above the crowd.
FOMO Marketing and Pre-Save Campaigns
FOMO is a genuine phenomenon, recognized in the advertising industry. Nobody wants to miss out on the next big thing.
FOMO marketing relies on the fact that most would rather make an impulse purchase than regret missing out later – and artists can use that to their advantage.
Offering your fan base the opportunity to pre-save eliminates their discomfort at the idea of missing out. Adding a pre-save to your library is easy – and you want to make it easy on your audience.
The Holy Grail
Musicians covet a spot in their fan’s music libraries because that means increased streams.
Pre-save campaigns make it easier to secure that spot, weeks or even months before your music actually drops.
Whether your audience is idly scrolling, shuffling, or trying to find a specific song, the music they love the most is in their collection.
By providing an engaging pre-save campaign and appealing to their fear of missing out you can intrigue and interest them, which will earn you a spot in their collection.
Capturing fans attention with a pre-save campaign allows you to leverage a passing interest into future engagement.
It’s Wise to Incentivize
An effective pre-save campaign offers the incentive of being ahead of the trend.
But more material incentives are also tempting to potential listeners.
Consider these rewards for hitting that pre-save link.
- Offer a freebie T shirt or other merch to a random winner. The chance of a material reward for simply clicking your pre save link is an effective, inexpensive tool to boost engagement.
- Keen Twitter users love nothing more than retweets and followers. Pin a promo tweet to the top of your Twitter feed. Retweet your promo regularly (but not too regularly!). Offer follow for follow and retweet for retweet. Reciprocation is the name of the game on Twitter, and that means retweeting other artists and fans too.
- Tease your audience. Use social media to share clips pulled from your music video, or add dazzling graphics to your link. We’re incredibly visual. Pictures beat text when it comes to memory retention. So capture some of that attention with impressive images.
- Connect with your audience. Offering behind the scenes glimpses makes you more interesting to fans. Clips of footage from your jamming session, some on the road video, or a look at the backstage action gets fans interested and helps build a crucial relationship with your audience. And relationships lead to loyal followings.
And don’t worry if you’re new to promotion. There’s plenty of help available to help you produce a winning campaign.
Increased engagement on the day your music drops is crucial. And creating a buzz leading up to release day is a tried-and-true method to increase release day streams.
Don’t Hope For the Best – Plan Ahead
- Don’t rely on potential listeners remembering your release date or searching for it without prompting. That might work with friends and family but many competitors are out there fighting for your fans’ attention.
- And don’t just hope that your biggest fans will simply happen to be searching Spotify on the day your music drops.
A pre-save link offers your audience something actionable.
In return they’ve offered you a commitment.
Data is Power
When your fans click your pre-save link that gives you access to valuable data, such as contact details.
Do remember that before you contact your fans you need to check consent details. Contact without explicit consent is a big no no.
But with contact details you can build communities and engagement, send personalized thank you emails and tailor future promotions more effectively with more information about your audience.
How To Set Up a Pre-Save Campaign on Spotify
We’ve talked about the why. It’s pretty clear that pre-save campaigns are a crucial aspect of marketing your music and attracting a larger audience.
Now, let’s take a look at the how.
First Things First
Find a digital music distributor.
Spotify doesn’t offer direct uploads for artists, so you’ll need a digital distributor to be verified on Spotify. Your digital music distributor will help you circulate your music around various online streaming platforms, including Spotify.
Some digital music distributors offer low joining fees, or even free accounts.
Once you’ve chosen the distributor for you, and they’ve helped you set up your Spotify account, head over and curate your “Spotify for Artists” profile.
Get creative with your profile. This is your opportunity to start relationship building with your audience. Consider sharing what inspires you or talking about your influences. You have 1500 characters to fascinate your fan base. Use them wisely.
And now it’s time to set up your pre-save link and begin the crucial promotion process.
Five Simple Steps To Pre-Save
- Upload your music to your chosen distributor and set a future release date.
For a really effective pre-save campaign you’ll need at least 4 weeks of promotion and you also need time to obtain your URLs from your distributor. - Contact your distributor and request your Spotify URL. You need your URL to set up a pre-save link – but you can’t access it on Spotify if you haven’t released your music yet.
- Some digital music distributors will create a pre-save link for you upon request. But to create your own pre-save link, find a smart link provider such as Push.FM, Linkfire or Feature.fm and open an account. Some smart link providers offer free accounts, or a free trial period.
- Each smart link provider will take you through some simple steps to create your pre-save campaign link.
- Save that pre-save link and start sharing it with some clever promotional material.
If You Pre-Save It They Will Come
Today’s artists are competing with more digital content than ever before.
Just making great music isn’t enough anymore. You have to find a way to elevate your voice.
Pre-save campaigns offer you the opportunity to tease, fascinate and engage with your fan base and build the momentum you need to ensure a great stream count on your release day.
The first 24 hours after your release drops are critical. Higher streams in those first days and weeks increases the chance of being added to a playlist. And being added to playlists increases your audience reach.
People are busy, attention spans are short, and there’s a lot of competition.
So make finding your music effortless by creating a unique pre-save campaign.
Step By Step – Why Pre-Save Campaigns Matter
- Pre-Save Campaigns optimize stream engagement soon after release
- Spotify algorithms take note of track streams soon after your music drops
- If the Spotify algorithm spots you, you have a chance to claim a coveted spot on an algorithmic playlist
- Spotify playlists mean your music will have greater audience reach
- Setting up an exciting campaign is much easier than you think
What Are You Waiting For?
With just a little forward planning and vision you can showcase your music and optimize your engagement.
Harness your creativity, engage and connect with potential fans.
There’s a whole world out there waiting to hear your music.
Set up a pre-save campaign through your music distributor.
Make it easy for the world to find you and claim the audience you deserve.
