Is Spotify really the best place to build your fanbase? 

Spotify’s algorithm is one of the most powerful tools in history for discovering new music, but it may not be the best way to earn lifelong fans. 

Look, there’s nothing wrong with listeners discovering your music on Spotify. 

Discovery on Spotify is an amazing thing, and it can lead to so much more opportunity for artists. 

In fact, we should be trying to grow on Spotify and we should be trying to leverage Spotify’s algorithm to our advantage. 

However, as powerful as Spotify’s discovery algorithm is, it has one massive problem. 

Retargeting. 

Stuck in the game 

Ok, so someone has discovered your music through Spotify’s algorithm. 

Now what? 

Well, if you release new music, maybe they’ll get that next track on Release Radar within the first 28 days of release, but we don’t have a way to guarantee that. 

Maybe some of your music will appear in Radio or Autoplay, but again, we don’t have any way of guaranteeing that outcome. 

In fact, we can’t 100% control any of it. 

Even if we do manage to trigger the algorithm, what about merch, shows, live streams, and email? 

What about monetizing our music beyond Spotify? 

And going one step further, what about monetizing our music beyond all streaming platforms? 

If we can generate a million streams per month on Spotify, we can make a living, but what if we want to make more than just “a living” and actually build a business that scales? 

What if we want to turn our songs, our catalog, our creativity into an asset? 

Well there’s a way to do it, it’s just not on Spotify. 

Music is social 

Music is, historically, a community affair. 

Singing around the campfire, worshiping in church, joining together in song while working or celebrating—this is what music is for. 

Before recording music was a thing, we used song to bring ourselves together in person, to join our voices as one or to share our work with others in real time. 

With the advent of recorded music, we gained the freedom to share music without actively participating, but the social outcome remained the same.

And it’s still that way today. 

I don’t know about you, but I love sharing new music with my friends. 

When I discover a new artist I’m really digging at the moment, I will champion them to anyone who will listen. 

My guess is you’re probably the same. 

So the question is: how can you become the artist someone wants to share with their friends? 

The answer: by creating undeniably good music and by investing into your community of listeners so that they feel seen and heard. 

By connecting with them on an emotional level so that they invest into you in return. 

The best way to do this will forever be in person. 

The second best way is on social media. 

Using social media, and especially paid ads, you can retarget your fans with offers to go deeper with you, your brand, and your business. 

You can give away things for free, offer first access to new material or shows, and yes, you can monetize your work to create a symbiotic relationship with your audience wherein you invest into them and they support you in return. 

Getting discovered on Spotify is a wonderful way to spread the word about your music, but repositioning Spotify as a means of generating awareness, downstream of social media, is even better. 

Spotify is the destination, not the source. 

The source is social. 

If you can energize discovery on social media then push it to streaming, you can build a foundation for monetizing your work that can serve you and your audience for years to come. 

We don’t need to ignore Spotify, we just need to put it in its proper place.