Written by Owen Kiernan, Head of Digital at Cr2 Records

1. Introduction: The Scale of the Problem
2. Tell a Story About Your Record
3. Optimise Your Track for DSPs
4. Talk to Your Fanbase and Your Distributor

INTRODUCTION: THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM

It’s fairly well-known that well over 100,000 tracks are added to DSPs each day. The latest estimates seem to be in the region of 120,000 – so over 800,000 every week, and three million each month. That’s a huge number, and on the face of it, an impossible figure to comprehend. To listen to a month’s worth of uploads – just once – would take over seventeen years assuming a three-minute run time. With the rise of AI music creation tools this figure is only going to get higher as they get more popular.

Of all the new music added to Spotify last year it’s estimated that almost 50% of it is streamed less than 10 times. Some 88% of new uploads didn’t even reach the 1000 streams threshold to earn royalties on the platform.

So how do we, as artists and labels, ensure our music gets heard? How do we make sure our music catches the attention of DSP editors, enough for them to place it in their top playlists?

Thankfully, there’s a few things we can do to elevate our releases above the masses.

TELL A STORY ABOUT YOUR RECORD

The key thing, for artists and labels, is to tell a story about your record. Why are you releasing this track? Why now? What inspired it, what’s its purpose? Is it a club tool, a crossover hit, a homage to an artist you love? You don’t need to write an essay about the song, but providing some context and background to your distributor helps them to push the track. Distributors will send hundreds of tracks each week to DSPs, so making sure yours has some key information helps it stand above those that don’t.

OPTIMISE YOUR TRACK FOR DSPs

Second, optimise your track for DSPs. Shorter tracks work best on streaming sites, so make sure you have a nice tight edit that cuts straight to the point. For dance music, and especially club-focused music, longer edits that DJs can play out should be sent to sites like Beatport and Traxsource, but make sure these extended mixes go to streaming services too, as many of them have DJ software integration now. Matt Sassari’s Give It To Me, a track that has gone on to do over one billion streams, originally began as a longer, mostly instrumental track. After seeing the popularity of the track we worked with the artist to create a tight edit, using as much of the vocal as possible for streaming platforms. The result was a punchy version, clocking in just under two minutes, which entered the charts in Germany and the UK and has been certified Gold and Platinum across the world.

There’s other ways you can optimise your track too, things that will help it stand out against the rest. Spotify have a feature called Canvas, short looping videos that play on mobile whilst your track plays in the background. Create one of those and upload it. Apple Music have their own animated artwork called Apple Motion which does a similar thing – they’re more likely to support your track if you utilise their features. We make sure all Cr2 releases have both Spotify Canvas and Apple Motion assets attached to them at delivery, and whilst this won’t drive editorial playlisting alone, it’s just one of a suite of tools we have at our disposal. Apple Music also supports Dolby Atmos masters – they’re a little bit more involved, but any good mastering engineer will be able to create one from your track stems. It’s really worth doing, and Apple have separate editorial playlists for songs that are submitted with Dolby Atmos masters so it opens up another opportunity for promotion.

A lot of listening now is curated algorithmically or by some form of AI. Much comes from voice prompts, so make sure you ‘tag’ your music. Suggest moods or activities it fits into – be general, but also be specific. If it’s an energetic dance track you want associated with fitness playlists, consider adding additional information about which specific activities it can work with. A track to soundtrack a light jog will be different to one listened to in a spin class.

TALK TO YOUR FANBASE AND YOUR DISTRIBUTOR

Social media. It’s a pain, I know, but it’s also your opportunity to talk to your fanbase. Tell them where the release is. Tell them about it, how you made it, what it means to you. Show them footage of you playing it out, or of other DJs supporting the track. There’s so much you can do around social media it’s probably a whole other article on its own! Don’t be afraid to do separate posts for separate DSPs, and tag them too, especially if you have editorial. They might not share it, but they always appreciate it. For our recent release Free (You’ve Got To Live) with HUGEL and Ultra Naté we identified out-of-home advertising and billboards as targets given the nature of the track and we pitched our distributor for these opportunities specifically. As a result we were given a prestigious billboard in Times Square, New York in conjunction with SoundCloud, which the artists were able to share on their social media.

Finally, keep your distributor up-to-date. Get a national radio play? Tell them. Spending money on marketing? Tell them. Playing a run of gigs? Tell them. The amount of times I’d find out about artist activations from social media or news sites like Mixmag or Resident Advisor instead of directly from the artist is crazy. If you’re spending money on something, tell the people who matter! One thing to note though: don’t overwhelm your distributor. Work out a plan with them to funnel information up the chain. A weekly update is better than emailing them every time you do something, but just remember it’s communication that is the key.

Owen Kiernan

Head of Digital, Cr2 Records

In Strict Tempo – instricttempo.com