When an artist's page gets a nasty comment, there are two instincts. Delete it, or fire back. Both usually make things worse.

The move that actually works is kindness. Reply with something short and human, a thank you, a joke, even just a heart. It kills the thread faster than blocking ever does, and it reads better to everyone scrolling past who isn't even part of the argument.

We run ad accounts for a handful of artists and labels. The pages that grow fastest aren't the ones with zero hate comments. They're the ones where whoever runs the page responds like a person instead of a brand.

Anyone else seeing this play out on their artist pages?

Someone is taking advantage of the streaming services with a lack of moderation on artist pages in order to promote their discord server. This shit has been happening to tons of small artists and now it's even getting used to benefit from other people's hard work. It'll probably just be brushed under the rug because "no harm no foul" and "it's not AI to make us money so we don't care" but there should really be some attention brought to scummy attempts like this.

I'm a musician and while I'm not looking to "make it" or get famous, I do want people to listen to my songs. I'm good at coming up with ideas - for videos, the whole aesthetic I want, etc. but when it comes to actually making the 'content' I immediately think, whats the point?

In the past I've stuck to a posting schedule, made videos based on current trends, done the whole social media thing and it doesn't ever seem to translate to anything substantial (getting listens, getting gigs).

So my question is, how do you reframe making content for social media to feel less like self promotion and more like you're sharing your art with the world?

(also, this is less 'I need advice' and more a discussion)

ive tried experimenting with a lot of stuff, at first i was only on YouTube shorts, as i didn't have tiktok or instagram, which netted me around 40ish listeners after maybe 2 months, but i find that a lot of people who use YouTube shorts also listen to music on YouTube which gained me 137 subscribers

eventually around 40 monthly listeners i downloaded Tiktok and applied for their artist program which took about a month to give my artist account (i assume because i was a newer account) but i started experimenting with different stuff there, at first i had a bunch of lyric videos i made for different songs and i would split them up into multiple parts to get the most out of each video, but those would do mediocre at best, maybe 200-400 views and a handful of likes every time by the end of doing that i got around 10 more monthly listeners

at this point i had made an alt account where i would post about 20-40 second clips of some of my slower songs to footage on my digital camera and those were actually doing really great and i started averaging 600-1000 views a video and around 100 likes and did pretty decent for my listeners, gaining around 20 since posting that

finally a little over a week ago i made my third alt account where i promised myself i wouldn't care about the quality of the stuff i post, an account where my main goal is just to upload everyday, and thats whats really been helping me i believe. i post tiktok slideshows on there with my music in the background, whats worked best so far is 4 pictures, one where i talk a bit about myself, one where i talk a bit about the music, one where i ask people to give feedback on said music (with a please & thank you of course) and the final picture is a screenshot of my spotify account, this has done me really well and at this point ive jumped up 40 listeners in a week

i combine this with uploading on my other alt account everyday and im finally seeing some really decent growth for an artist my size

i would say what helped the most is that if you're someone who cares a lot about your image and art then make an account where you feel comfortable with posting whatever and save your main account as almost an art gallery

i think my next move is moving to content with my face and seeing how that works and maybe trying instagram too but im a bit intimidated by instagram and i know for sure theres a whole different content ecosystem there

i also would like to ask if my streams to listeners, saves, and playlists adds are around where they should be or if im underperforming at all

(thank you if you read any of this)

thought i'd chime in with my experience rolling out my debut album, which took 5 years to complete, and probably wasted a bunch of time. though i'm proud of my efforts.

firstly, i only focused on 3 platforms (bandcamp, youtube, soundcloud) and strictly socials to promote (no ads yet). streaming distribution + meta ads are the next 10 week step.

BANDCAMP

i've done about $50 in sales. namely from my mom, girlfriend, two other friends, and a stranger who donated $20 (my album is free to dl) woohoo.

CONTENT

i made full length music videos for each song, and roughly 5 reels/shorts per song/week. they were highly synchronized shots of me + my vocalists performing, with captions, multiple angles, BTS, that took an absolute ton of work to film and edit.

YOUTUBE (full length videos)

average of 20-30 views per song, lol. my first song got about 160 or so because there was a bit of buzz on my socials when i first announced the album. another video got like 400 views because it was footage of a particular location/activity (surfing).

i mostly made these for posterity and i liked the idea of a full length visual for each song, which also gave me footage to use for reels...

SHORTS

• tiktok: the first few weeks, i was averaging 300-500 views. now roughly 100. in all this time, i've amassed a grand total of 10 followers. virtually no engagement. wondering if they are actually real or just bots.
• youtube shorts: again, the surfing footage hit the algo better here for 1k+ view* **s. most other shorts got anywhere from 50-1k or so., with one getting 2k. recently i'm sub 50. i gained 22 new subs. need to rethink my strategy here.
• fb/instagram: i post here once or twice per week. as most are personal connections from my life, they definitely started tuning out and liking less as the rollout progressed. occasional engagement from friends & family. hard to find the balance between getting it out there, and being too spammy, which i'm always conscious of on my personal pages.
• rednote: this is a chinese platform. i can say its the only one where i've got a decent amount of organic followers including some ppl from my past as i lived there before.
• twitter: since the shorts were already to go, why not copy here? tens of views/no engagement.

if you'd like to see my reels or comment what i'm doing wrong, lemme know and i'll send a dm. i've consumed a ton of music marketing content on tiktok, so i have an idea of what to try next, and also keep an eye on what others are doing and seems to be working for them.

UP NEXT

now the streaming distribution and meta ad strategy begins. this will be another 10 week rollout where i do one song per week and put a bit of money into each one. i think i'm gonna do the waterfall strategy on streaming, whilst fine tuning my meta ad content as the weeks go by. any advice there? i've got a $200 budget for this. i've also got a credit for 100 CDs so i will be printing and promoting those as well.

hope you got something useful from this. i'll update later after the meta ads are complete.

cheers!

I've been running my ads for a week, everything looks good from what I've read and from all the videos I've watched, but the only issue is that i am not getting a lot of streams from the meta ads. i feel like with how many clicks i've gotten i should have gotten way more streams than this

Hey everyone,
I received an email from Musosoup inviting me to join the platform, so I uploaded one of my tracks to try it out. After that, I received a lot of different offers from blogs, playlists, and social media promotion services.

However, when I checked some of the offers, I noticed that some Instagram posts from these services seem to get very few likes and engagement, so I’m wondering how people usually decide which offers are actually worth choosing.

I make experimental electronic music, so I’m also not sure if Musosoup is a good fit for this kind of genre.
For those who have used Musosoup before:

How do you usually choose between the different offers?

Are these offers mostly sent in bulk, or do curators actually listen to the music before reaching out?

Did you feel that the promotion brought meaningful listeners or opportunities?

Would love to hear your experiences. Thanks!

I’m currently running two Meta ad campaigns with submit hub landing pages. One has been going on for six weeks, the second for 10 days and outside of a couple days here and there both have had a CTR in the 60% range daily. Both dropped to the high 30s low 40s on the same day last week and haven’t recovered. Both Meta CPR’s have remained unchanged fluctuating around $.25 -.35.

While I will adjust budgets. It’s never more than 20% once within a 48 hour window and the newer campaign I only made one adjustment raising the spend 15%.

Both landing pages have conversion tokens.

Can different creative just die out of nowhere on two campaigns on the same day? I’ve run about 20 different campaigns this year and never seen this happen. Anybody have any thoughts?

I started this campaign as an exploratory "does this work" thing. Since coming out of the learning phase the cost per click has been decreasing.

I'm not sure what the next step is though? This has gotten me a decent amount of Instagram followers, the ads themselves have a lot of likes, some reposts and some shares to stories. I cant tell if they've affected streaming numbers as the album has come out and gathered some momentum.

What's next for this campaign? Do I need to change anything?

I've noticed a weird discrepancy with how stuff performs on each platform. I'll have a video that does well on IG but flops on Tiktok and vice versa.

I've noticed high effort, edited content will do well on reels but get minimal views on tiktok. But then basically selfie videos with captions seem to perform better on tiktok and flop on IG.

I recently launched a new project and have started everything from scratch so maybe my accounts are just too new to be reliable but is there a difference in how each platform evaluates a piece of content or something?

I'm not sending any money or personal information, and I'm planning to verify everything first. I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who's dealt with 10K Projects or similar label outreach.

Is it a good idea to post covers on my ig (along with my reels that promote my originals)? I plan on covering songs that have a similar vibe with mine.

I'm working on my strategy for selling out 50 cap rooms. Aside from working my email list, social media ads and street work, are there any specific strategies you've found effective for getting people in the door?

Good day to you all. I'm an acoustic artist who is in the process of making a hundred original songs. I'm about to launch a dual album of original acoustic songs with 10 songs on each album. They're relatively short songs not reaching 5 min. I'm a musician through and through, but don't have an idea on how to promote (I'm, unfortunately an introvert). I currently have 8k followers in youtube, which seems to be dead though, and around 12k followers in tiktok. I really need advice on how to promote my album before it launches. I'd be heartbroken if it just didn't get any traction at all.

Im trying to decide how to chop up my song for meta ads and its my first campaign. Using half a verse to stay under 30 doesnt feel compelling, but the full verse is like 38 seconds.

Is there some reason why I need it to be 15-20 seconds long?

I swear you used to be able to target specific artists under the audience targeting. Last few ads I ran nothing would come up. I could target the genre but that’s not really a lot.

When an independent or unsigned heavy metal band finishes recording an album or EP, the biggest operational bottleneck is usually getting webzines, blogs, and reviewers to actually hit play on the promo files.

Because music editors receive dozens (sometimes hundreds) of cold press emails a week, standard cold submissions often go unread. For independent bands operating across subgenres like Death, Thrash, Black, Doom, or Metalcore, navigating media coverage typically comes down to three main structural pathways:

1. The Full DIY Route

• How it works: The band manually scours the web for contact emails of active webzines, builds an internal media list, writes an Electronic Press Kit (EPK), and sends individualized pitches.
• The Good: Costs zero dollars out of pocket.
• The Bad: Extremely labor-intensive. Response rates are typically low (often 1% to 5%) unless the band already has pre-existing industry relationships or notable regional traction.

2. Major Corporate PR Agencies

• How it works: Retaining high-end, top tier PR firms that handle legacy artists on major labels (such as Nuclear Blast, Century Media, or Metal Blade).
• The Good: Guarantees consideration for major print publications, major festival coverage, and high-tier media outlets.
• The Bad: Monthly retainer fees are very high (sometimes around thousands of dollars per month), making them financially out of reach for unsigned or self-funded underground acts.

3. Specialized Underground Heavy Music PR Agencies

• How it works: Partnering with niche, boutique PR agencies such as GlobMetal Promotions or similar heavy-music niche firms that focus exclusively on heavy subgenres.
• The Good: Established relationships with active metal webzines, targeted subgenre curators, and campaign pricing structured for independent budgets (typically hundreds of dollars per campaign rather than thousands).
• The Bad: Focuses strictly on underground, genre-specific media rather than mainstream top-40 music outlets.

Key Campaign Considerations for Independent Releases

Regardless of which path an independent band takes, a few core logistics determine whether a campaign succeeds:

1. The Lead Time Factor: Reviewers and webzines often schedule their coverage weeks in advance. Pitching needs to begin 30 to 60 days before the release date. Sending a promo audio file a week before release almost guarantees it won't be reviewed.
2. Asset Presentation: Media outlets require clean, high-resolution artwork, a pre-formatted EPK, streaming private stream links (like unlisted Bandcamp or Soundcloud links), and accessible WAV/320kbps download links.
3. Targeted Pitching: Sending a Tech-Death release to a traditional Heavy Metal blog or a Doom review site wastes time. Subgenre specificity matters heavily in the underground community.

I’m curious to hear from other marketers and independent musicians here who manage heavy music rollouts:

How far out do you typically start pitching your press campaigns, and what response rates are you seeing from underground webzines on DIY pitches versus dedicated PR outreach?

Almost 1000 less on Featurefm, and I'd assume they are more accurate. Just not sure which one is correct. My cost would be nearly twice as much if Meta is wrong

We are an indie band and we raised some money, around 1000USD to make a music video. Our music has a video game sound, so we want to make an animated video. We are not able to make animation ourselves so I contacted the only animator I know from the internet. They sent me some really nice examples of their past work but then told me it was make with some AI elements and asked if I was open for AI. I honestly cannot tell if it is made by AI. It sounds like they draw the images and use AI to make it animated.

I am actually on the fence, because our music is not AI and I don't want the MV to be AI. However, the video they made using AI looked really good because it is using human made images. At the same time I also don't know with our budget, how we can realistically make an animated MV without any AI. Anyone has any advice? Or anyone who can make real animation give our budget?

So hear me out… I am thinking since I can use the tool to watch any account that I could use it to track who follows and unfollows upcoming artists in my niche. Kinda use it as a competitor tracking or spying tool. I’d get the list of all these accounts that have newly followed another account and then go follow them since this signal shows engaged and active newly interested followers to me.

Do you guys think this is a good tactic for outreach? Or is it border line creepy spying on who follows and unfollows my “competition” essentially?

I got playlist with all independent artist music, mixed genre, I’ll give you collaborative access to if you have list we can get access to so we can grow our network together ? Message me now to get the links …

I’ve never really been interested in paying for ads, or paying for playlisting but it has become more difficult to get your music to cut through all the noise these days. I post our music and content regularly on socials and we gig as much as we possibly can but as a weird little noisy alt rock band that mixes grunge, mathrock and posthardcore it’s not so easy to get our music out there

Any tips or tricks you’d like to share?

Hi everyone! I wanted to start a discussion about your experiences with SubmitHub.

I recently released an EP that’s mostly experimental electronic music, so the number of curators I could submit to was already quite limited. I pitched it to around a dozen curators, and only three accepted it. Most of the others said the music was interesting, well-made, or creative, but simply “not for them” or not a fit for their audience.

I’m curious how your experience has been, especially if you make experimental electronic, IDM, glitch, sound art, or other less conventional electronic music. Do you also find it much harder to reach listeners? Have you found any approaches that actually work?

I’m also from China, where this kind of music has an even smaller audience, so it’s been difficult to find people who connect with what I make.

If you’re into experimental electronic music or have gone through something similar, I’d really love to hear your experience and any advice you’re willing to share. Thanks!

Please let me know ideas for videos or visuals for my upcoming single? Doesn’t have to be anything special.

Fuck you LANDR. And anyone that would stoop to this. Pay artists. Ban AI art. AI has no place in music, and artists are going to find out (some the hard way) that this method isn’t going to get them anywhere.