Blog

Streaming & Instagram Growth

A step-by-step guide to creating real fans online with Ari Herstand.

Featuring guest instructor & independent Hip-Hop artist: Lucidious.

It’s 2020.

Your fans exist online.

You need to find them.

It’s no surprise that music discovery is happening on Spotify and the other streaming services. Yes, playlists are a driving force. And when an artist’s song gets included on a popular playlist, their streams can skyrocket overnight.

I’ve heard of artists who were able to quit their day jobs because they got included on a few hot playlists which earned them millions of streams a month (thousands of dollars a month), only to get dropped from those playlists and have to go beg for their job back when their streams dropped to virtually zero.

Because that’s the thing. Getting included on hot playlists may bring in a lot of streams (from many listeners) in a short amount of time.

But these are not your fans.

They could be. But they’re not right now. They are fans of the playlist that your song got included on. And when your song gets removed, those listeners aren’t following through to your profiles to stay in touch with you.

We are living in an era where there are artists with millions of streams on Spotify who cannot draw 50 people to their local shows.

We’ve become too obsessed with playlists. Depending on playlists for revenue is incredibly unstable. You don’t just want streams. You don’t just want monthly listeners. You want fans. Who stick with you for life – no matter the platform that’s hot at the moment.

Of course we know that Instagram is one of the best engagement tools that artists have at their disposal right now. And it’s most fans’ favorite way to keep up with (and interact) with their favorite artists. It’s hot right now. Will it be just as hot in 2 year? Who knows. But right now, it’s one of the best tools artists have to grow and cultivate their fanbase.

And it has become one of the best ways to find where your fans exist and get them into your world.

Finding your fans online is not about getting on playlists

…and hoping that people who are passively listening like the song enough to follow you.

This rarely happens.

So how do you find real fans online?

He’s on zero official Spotify playlists:

This was all done through direct marketing.

We have tested Lucidious’ strategies with a bunch of artists…

and it works with everyone. Will this kind of growth happen overnight? Of course not. It took Lucidious three years and lots of trial and error. But if you’re in music for the long haul, then you should implement these strategies.

Brassroots District went from 1,000 monthly listeners to 14,000 monthly listeners and from 150 followers on Spotify to 5,000 followers on Spotify in 8 weeks spending around $10/day on ads.

Similarly, Brassroots District went from 600 followers on Instagram to 4,500 in 8 weeks with an engagement rate of 7%.

Start now.

Stop waiting around for a label to come along and sign you. If you have no true fans, labels aren’t interested. Period.

You have to build your movement on your own first.

Then when you have die hard fans following everything you do, labels, managers and agents will beg to work with you. And then you can decide if you want to sign with them or continue on your own. But at that point, you have the power. You don’t need them. They need you.

This is what you’re working towards.

The labels haven’t implemented these strategies.

Yet. They will. But what Lucidious has done is so flexible and nuanced that labels aren’t able to keep up or move quick enough to capitalize on the tools available today.

Managers are starting to take notice. And the best ones are utilizing these strategies to rapidly excel their clients’ growth.

It’s time to make it happen.

Course Curriculum

COURSE INTRO
Intro (3:15)
ATA Pro (0:44)
CHAPTER 1: GETTING SET UP
Lesson 1: Business Manager (5:00)
Lesson 2: Assigning Page Ownership & Admins (4:51)
Lesson 3: Setting Up an Ad Account (7:02)
Lesson 4: Navigating Business Manager (4:47)
Lesson 5: Facebook Pixel Creation (5:32)
CHAPTER 2: MUSIC & VIDEO CONTENT
Lesson 1: Your Music (13:41)
Lesson 2: Video (21:03)
Lesson 3: Setting up Your Profile (10:33)
Lesson 4: Creating Trackable Links (9:04)
CHAPTER 3: SETTING UP YOUR AD
Intro (3:26)
Lesson 1: Getting Familiar (14:05)
Lesson 2: Creating Your Audience (21:25)
Lesson 3: Spotify Growth (13:10)
Lesson 4: Apple Music Growth (5:34)
Lesson 5: Instagram Follower Growth (4:13)
Lesson 6: Spotify & Apple Music Fanlink (4:42)
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING YOUR AD PERFORMANCE
Lesson 1: Analyzing Results (26:24)
Lesson 2: What to Do When Results Are Low or Cost Is High (8:28)
CHAPTER 5: ANALYZING YOUR GROWTH
Lesson 1: Spotify (8:09)
Lesson 2: Apple Music (3:29)
Lesson 3: Instagram (4:30)
CHAPTER 6: LONG TERM GROWTH
Lesson 1: Long Term Grown (3:38)
Lesson 2: Retargeting (15:35)
COURSE ASSETS
All Student Assets
LIVE Q&A SESSIONS
Ari & Lucidious Live Q&A 5/8/19 (95:05)
Ari & Lucidious Live Q&A 6/20/19 (57:42)
Ari & Lucidious Live Q&A 8/22/19 (51:04)
Ari & Lucidious Live Q&A 10/30/19 (92:35)
Ari x Joel Eckels Live Q&A 11/13/19 (102:12)
BONUS LESSON 1: FACEBOOK OBJECTIVES OVERVIEW
Lesson 1: Overview (2:32)
Lesson 2: Video Views (11:27)
BONUS LESSON 2: GETTING ON SPOTIFY USER GENERATED PLAYLISTS
Lesson 1: How to Get on User Generated Playlists (27:25)