Conrad Withey’s Post

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Experienced music, media & technology entrepreneur // Creator of MusicBusiness.Pro newsletter (subscribe below)

Artists: Are you ready to save yourself loads of time and stress?👍 AND get more streams for your music? 📈 Here's how: Stop thinking about playlists! I cannot believe how much time artists - but most especially managers - waste stressing over whether or not a track has playlist support or not from a DSP. It is a massive, pointless distraction for the artist and their teams. They deliver NO long term value (and increasingly no short term value either) and are out of your control. Anyone who claims influence over them is generally bullshitting you. The recent article entitled "The Playlist Myth" from Penny Franctions is great on the topic and I love this paragraph: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘠𝘦𝘵, 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴, 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦. 𝘊𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘪𝘬𝘛𝘰𝘬’𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘈𝘐-𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘣𝘢𝘪𝘵-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸.” So true. My advice would be: 1. Focus energy on inputs you can control - create more music, more engaging content on socials and target fan base building. 2. Obsess with increasing SAVES of your music by those fans - saves deliver future streams and increase the lifetime value of your music. Playlists do not. 3. Let playlists (just like radio, press, blog coverage etc) happen or not happen as a result of the above. You should be entirely passive to those things. They are nice to have but don’t matter in the long run. Don't chase it, let it come to you. Save all your energy for point 1! #growth #musicbusiness #musicmarketing

Frank Woodworth

Marketing & Strategy for Music and Technology| 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 | 𝐆𝐓𝐌 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫

7mo

Conrad Withey - what are your suggested tactics for supporting the strategy of focusing on saves? What do you feel are the best methods to drive track saves?

Reija Thomas

Musician, Topliner, Producer, Podcaster, Content Creator

7mo

Totally agree with this sentiment!! Build the community and the rest will follow. Unfortunately for emerging artists, playlist adds still amount for a lot in the ‘eyes’ of the industry - I feel like it’s still seen as a bit of a benchmark of success, then warranting attention from the non-streaming areas of the industry. I think this is changing slowly though. Good managers and labels can recognise growth in an artist, with or without editorial support

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Patrick Ermlich

Music & Business Consultant / Strategist. I develop humans personally & professionally.

7mo

Being on playlists has long been a memetic desire amongst artists and their teams. And wherever a memetic desire exists in music, there will be those looking to game the system and people ready to create services to do so.

Yaw Asamani

3x Founder | Partnerships & Strategy | Working in Music AI | Music Licensing Pioneer | Startups

7mo

💯%, Great post

Rick Valenzuela

President | Manager | Consultant | independent Label Exec.

7mo

Well put. Thanks for sharing.

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Old Church Recording Colin Wylie

Operator - Soul proprietor creating harmonic sparks. Label: COLIN WYLIE & HINTERLANDBAND

7mo

Abso-f’n-lutely.

Thomas de Raad

Publishing, Producer Management & Catalog Consultancy | Tommy Advice

7mo

Amen!

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