The only music marketing funnel you need.

Everyone wants to make money from their music, but too many artists get stuck at square one. 

Ok, so you’re getting some streams. 

Now what? 

Well, there’s a whole series of steps that happens after someone listens on Spotify. 

And it is these steps that the pros (and their labels) use to generate thousands (and sometimes millions) in revenue from their work.  

And you can too.  

Here’s how it’s done. 

Spread the word 

Everyone knows you have to share your work if you want anyone to know you exist. 

And a lot of artists do this well (honestly, though, most don’t). 

Every artist should be creating content online. 

You have to showcase your music, your talent, and your personality with regularity. 

It’s less about trying to trigger the algorithm on any given social media platform and more about building a body of work to store who you are in an increasingly discoverable format. 

But for those who don’t have all day to spend on social media (or who simply want to apply leverage), you can easily fuel growth by running awareness ads on Facebook and Instagram. 

And you can even double down by using a conversion campaign to send traffic to Spotify. 

Get closer 

It’s not enough to tell people you exist—you need to hold their attention for the long term. 

Put simply: you want people following you. 

Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, YouTube—all the things. 

You need built-in attention that fuels the compounding effect for your content and your music. 

Ideally, people will follow because what you post is good, but you can apply leverage at this stage by using ads too. 

A simple retargeting strategy to earn new page likes or followers will do wonders for your growth. 

Bonus points for sending traffic to your artist profile on Spotify and even building your own playlist to keep people around for longer. 

Own your audience 

I’ve said it before. 

I’ll say it again. 

Nothing beats email. 

And it’s as easy as offering a free download in exchange for signing up via an ad retargeting process that is similar to the way you’re earning followers. 

Once you have someone’s email address, drop them into an onboarding sequence that tells them more about you, why you started making music, and what they can expect from you in the future. 

A word of caution though: don’t overdo it here. 

Aim to send out an email every time you release new music or periodically—every week, two weeks, or once a month, depending on what you have to say. 

A light touch is best. 

Lift your bottom line 

Awareness, followers, and even leads are all great things, but they’re probably not paying the bills. 

Yet. 

Yes, you can earn your living from streaming and YouTube ad revenue, but you can fast track that process by selling merch.  

Create a limited set of options—t-shirts, hoodies, hats—and set up a store. 

Sell physical copies of your music too. 

You can set up another retargeting strategy using ads here and boost your sales faster than you might have ever thought possible. 

Play shows 

Live shows are the pinnacle of modern music (in my humble opinion). 

Awareness, followers, fans, email, and sales all come together in one place at your concert. 

And a simple awareness / retargeting combo will help you sell tickets in any market you want to visit. 

Take it from me, we’re consistently selling out shows for artists around the world in cold markets with ads. 

It’s easier than you think. 

But you have to make good music, and you have to be prepared to hustle in the DMS and comments alongside running ads. 

All roads lead to Rome, as they say. 

Putting it all together 

At first read, this may sound like a lot, but this music marketing funnel is easier to implement than you might think. 

But you have to have the talent, the drive, and the ad spend to do it. 

Organic content, running ads, and consistently engaging with your audience all work together to generate results. 

None of it happens in a vacuum. 

If you’re ready to show up and do what it takes, then put these steps into practice and you just might change your life. 

And if you need a little assistance along the way, we’re always here to help.