SPOTIFY UNVEILS ITS NEW GAME PLAN

Spotify’s Creator Marketing department is launching a new Spotify for Artists feature to help users navigate the platform. The Game Plan is a 10-part step-by-step guide to getting an artist started on the service, using tips from Spotify team members like Emily White, Dave Rocco (recently tapped as UMG EVP Creative) and Troy Carter along with testimony from artists who’ve had success on the streamery, like Mike Posner, Little Dragon, Rick Ross and a local favorite, Sure Sure. They detail the profile-building process and how to use the tools to grow a fan base.

The videos are intended for everyone, from artists just starting out to those acts that have both a substantial following and label power behind them. For those just starting out (see: The Game Plan Episode 10), promotion from the ground up is “about being as visible as possible across as many channels as possible. That means social media, and it means using the Spotify for Artists platform, making sure your artist bio is an actual representation of who you are,” says Global Head of Creator Marketing Dominik Sanya.

"We’re starting to see the community engage with each other."

Artists are also promoting each other, Sanya points out. “Taylor Swift had a playlist and featured a bunch of smaller artists on it. She used our Artist's Pick feature to share it, and when the other artists found out they were being discovered through that platform, they reached out to thank her via social media and by further sharing the playlist via their Artist's Picks," he recalls. "We’re starting to see the community engage with each other.”

The platform's usefulness in providing information in real time is illustrated by a story about Lucy Rose’s tour in Brazil. “She realized her fans were in very specific cities and ended up crashing at little hotels and honestly I think sometimes at her fans’ places somewhere in Latin America, while selling out venues. It was so successful, and she had no idea that this would be her fan base. It makes you realize the potential of the platform.”

Success on the platform depends on the artist's specific goals. “Maybe they want to tour in Brazil. Maybe there’s a certain streaming number they want to get to. It varies depending on the artist,” says Sanya, who insists his focus is on providing information that will help artists zero in on what their goals are and create actionable plans to achieve them.

“We’re rewriting the playbook as we speak; artists keep finding new ways to increase their audience, and as we see that happening we’ll be doing new episodes on it,” say Sanya. You can keep up with the playbook here and get acquainted with The Game Plan below.