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Writer's pictureMerrill Crissey

I Ran a Spotify Paid Campaign to Promote My Latest Single. Was It Worth It?

Updated: Oct 28

An artist can write the most amazing music in the world, but without any promotion, without getting the word out, it will likely remain undiscovered. I have found Spotify to be the best platform for gaining listeners to my music. They make it easy and relatively inexpensive to gain a following and grow your listener base. Recently, I decided to run a paid campaign on Spotify to promote my latest single. Spotify offers two main targeting options: promoting to listeners who already know your music (for a lower cost per click) or reaching potential new listeners based on their listening preferences that align with your musical style. I chose to reach out to people who hadn't heard my music yet, hoping to expand my audience. The pay-per-click model was attractive because I could control my budget, which I set at $100 to avoid overspending.


The Breakdown: Clicks, Costs, and Streams

For my campaign, I paid $0.36 per click, which meant I received 277 clicks, spending a total of $99.72. If you’re familiar with how Spotify pays its artists, you know that each stream only nets about $0.0038. So, after spending almost $100, I made just over $1 from those 277 streams. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a great deal.




Digging Deeper: The Impact Beyond Immediate Streams

However, that’s not the whole story. I did gain 107 new listeners from the campaign. Interestingly, these new listeners also explored some of my other releases. According to Spotify, they streamed my other tracks an average of 13.5 times. While I’m still trying to fully understand what that metric means, it’s clear that the promotion encouraged deeper engagement with my music.



What’s more, about 10% of those new listeners (around 11 people) saved my music to their playlists or their personal saved lists. This could lead to future streams, potentially growing their connection with my music over time.



Projecting Long-Term Value

Let’s do some math. If those 11 people end up becoming real fans and each of them streams my music 200 times over their "Spotify lifetime" (a generous assumption), that would give me an additional 2,200 streams. Financially, that would amount to about $8.36. Added to the $1 I made directly from the campaign, I’d make around $9.36 in total.


Now there were some more streams I got above the 277 on the campaign, but I'm not sure what that total amount was. Let's say it was 100. That's another $0.38.


Was the Spotify Paid Campaign Worth It?

From a purely financial perspective, spending $100 to make $9.76 is obviously not a great return. However, advertising isn’t always about immediate payback, especially in the music industry. Gaining 107 new listeners and 11 potential long-term fans is a form of investment in my future growth. The hope is that these new fans will stick around, engage with future releases, and recommend my music to others. But it's hard to predict exactly how much value they’ll bring over time.


Still, I might think twice before I run another Spotify campaign. While it did bring in new listeners, the cost per fan was quite high. For my next promotion, I might explore other marketing options with a lower cost per listener ratio.


I think it's also worth mentioning that 11 fans could mean something quite different for a musician who tours and sells merch. 11 fans for that type of musician could easily spend $100 each over their lifetime meaning the $100 cost of the promotion was a no brainer. You have to weigh the options for yourself to determine if the lifetime value of a fan is worth the cost of this type of promotion.


Conclusion: Lessons Learned

This campaign taught me a lot about the dynamics of paid promotion on Spotify. The platform can be a valuable tool for growing your listener base, but it’s important to weigh the costs and potential returns carefully. As an independent artist, every dollar counts, and finding the right balance between exposure and financial sustainability is key.


Have you had any experiences with Spotify ads or similar campaigns? I’d enjoy hearing about your strategies and results in the comments!



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