YouTube Premieres: Create a hype for your music video

The right timing can be crucial. So think carefully about when you want to release your album so that it gets the attention it deserves.

The new year is just around the corner and maybe you’re already planning your releases for 2021. Especially as an independent artist, you’re competing with countless other artists for the attention of listeners and media. The right timing can therefore give you an advantage. We’ll show you which months are best and which you should avoid.

January / February

Two good months for independent artists. The holiday rush is over and there are fewer releases from major artists. Advantageous from mid-January, when definitely everyone has overcome the New Year’s hangover. The first two weeks are recommended only if you want to bet on the fact that there is not much else going on.

March – June

In normal times, the festival season is coming up and the first open airs are taking place. Accordingly, many releases appear at this time. Despite emerging competition, this is a good time in which to get the attention you deserve.

July / August

These months and partly already June were once considered the summer slump. Many people are on vacation, so they used to be absent from record stores. In the streaming age, this is not as important anymore. Nevertheless, with vacations and festivals, the focus is often not necessarily on new releases. An advantage, on the other hand, is that the competition is smaller, since many artists still avoid these months.

September / October

Generally a good time. Most of the decision makers in the music industry and media world are back from summer vacation and ready for new music. But the competition is getting bigger and there are more major releases than during the summer months.

November / December

Many major releases come out in the 4th quarter not to mention all the Christmas songs. The competition is huge and it’s therefore rather not advisable to release at the end of the year. This is also reflected in the airplay, because the playlists of the radios are packed and also the focus is more on annual reviews than new releases. If this is still the right season for your release, by all means release before December 15th, unless of course you’ve recorded a Christmas album.

• This applies to albums and EPs. Singles should be released regularly throughout the year.
• Be aware of holidays and other events throughout the year that can distract listeners and media in your main market.
• Try to avoid releasing on the same day as artists who make similar music
• If your focus is on concerts (hopefully again in 2021), then align the album release with your tour schedule
• The mood has to fit the season. An album full of sad songs doesn’t fit July and the party album doesn’t fit the foggy November.

There are very high requirements to get verified on YouTube. Only channels with at least 100,000 subscribers are considered. Fortunately, there is an easier way for musicians to be verified, namely the Official Artist Channel (OAC), which can be recognized by the music note next to the artist name.

What is an Official Artist Channel?

The OAC bundles all your videos, albums and singles in one place. Instead of a YouTube and a topic channel, you only have the OAC. The topic channel contains all the songs you uploaded to YouTube Music as art tracks (audio plus cover).

This makes it easier for your fans to find the right channel and follow it plus they stay longer because there is more content. Thanks to the music note, it’s immediately clear which is your channel and which are just fan accounts.

What are the benefits?

• The channel is easier to find and thus generates more traffic
• The videos and art tracks are sorted and presented clearly
• You can edit the profile (picture and bio) – also for YouTube Music.
• Access to analytics data that shows which videos or songs perform best or where your music is consumed the most
• Promotion: define what you want to highlight on the profile home page.

Just like regular verification, there are no additional bonus features with the OAC.

What are the requirements?

All you need is a YouTube channel running under your artist name and at least three releases that have been delivered to YouTube. In addition, there must be no policy violations on your channel.

In addition, at least one of these points must be met:

• You work with a YouTube partner manager
• You participate in the YouTube Partner Program yourself
• Your channel is part of a label network that works with a partner manager

How do I get the Official Artist Channel?

The easiest way to do this is through your distributor. At iGroove you can simply contact our support and send the following information:

• Link to your YouTube channel
• Link to your topic channel
• Links to three art tracks

It is an advantage if the name of the YouTube channel and the topic channel match. Now all you need is a little patience, as the verification process can take several weeks.

Turn your Instagram profile into a showcase for your products. Instead of trying to drive fans to your web store via Instagram, it’s easier to integrate it directly into your Instagram profile. According to Instagram, 70% of frequent shoppers are said to use Instagram to discover new products. And as many as 87% said influencers inspired them to make a purchase. Therefore, turn your Instagram profile into a sales space.

Instagram Shopping is not yet available in all countries, here you can find the complete list of markets where Instagram Shopping is live. What you need is a Business or Creator account. In addition, the profile must be linked to Facebook.

Then you can enter your products via the Facebook Catalog Manager. The next step is to set up your own store on the Instagram app under Settings -> Business -> Instagram Shopping. The verification process takes a few days.

Once the store is set up, the following options are available:

• On your profile, a “View Shop” button will appear under your bio, which will take users directly to your Instagram store.
• The integration is done via your own webshop or providers like Merchbar, Manhead or Merchtable. Linking to external stores like Amazon is not allowed.
• You can tag up to 5 of your products in posts and stories, and the tag will take users directly to your Instagram store.
• From now on, products can also be inserted into Reels.
• Of course, there is also the possibility to buy shopping ads. With these, your products will be highlighted in the “Shop” section of the Discover tab or in the feed. These can be set up in the Ads Manager.
• It’s only possible to sell physical products. The sale of tickets or the link to streaming services is not possible.
• All further information here

Instagram will continuously expand the shopping options. For example, there are various features that are only available in the U.S. so far, but should soon be available in other countries as well. Among them is the option to buy directly on Instagram, pay with Facebook Pay and thus not even have to leave the app. But already without these additional features, you increase the reach for your products significantly.

Spotify makes it easy for artists and labels to present their songs to curators with their pitching tool on Spotify for Artists. According to Spotify, about 20% of the pitched songs will be included in a playlist. So there are a few things to keep in mind to stand out from the crowd and increase your chances. We will show you how to proceed and which mistakes should be avoided.

Deadline for pitching on Spotify

Spotify requires that a song must be pitched at least one week before release. Depending on how fast your distributor works, you have to upload the song at least two weeks or better even earlier.

Pitching the song on time also has the advantage that the release radar of your fans doesn’t show just any song of your release, but the one you pitched.

Maintain your Spotify profile

Maintaining and updating your Spotify profile is generally important, also for the pitching process. When you pitch, the curators see your bio and the social media links you’ve entered, which helps them avoid research. If this information isn’t filled in, it’ll not leave a good first impression. Take the time to fill out all the information and keep it up to date.

Choose the right song

Pitch your best song, which is also suitable for playlists. A seven-minute track with a two-minute intro is appropriate for the fewest playlists.

Songs that have already been released, e.g. as an advance single, cannot be pitched again. In general it’s worthwhile to release several singles, because you can suggest more songs . There must always be at least a week between them, because you can never submit two pitches at the same time.

Tags

The form asks you for information about genre, moods, song styles or instruments. This looks a bit like Spotify is mainly collecting data. But Spotify explains:

“The information about genre or mood are extremely helpful for us to introduce the song to the curators”.

So think carefully about which tags fit your song best and don’t try to turn a jazz song into a pop anthem with wrong information. The only thing you will achieve is that the track will end up with the wrong team.

Song description

At the end you have the possibility to describe your song. You are limited to 500 characters and should therefore think carefully about what information you share. Spotify wants to know more about the creation of the song, the inspiration, with whom it was created ( name-dropping!) or generally the story behind it. Put the song in the best light, but avoid too many superlatives.

Also save some space for planned promotions, information about media reports, concerts or the reference to the video of the track.

Spotify has announced several optimizations of the pitching tool. With us you will stay up to date about relevant changes.

Playlist pitching with iGroove

iGroove’s Playlist Pitching introduces your song not only to Spotify, but also to the curators of Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Amazon Music and Tidal, where it is not possible to pitch the song yourself. Learn more

Many artists get a lot of attention by uploading their versions of well-known songs to YouTube, Soundcloud and so on. But it’ also possible to release cover songs officially. We show you how.

Releasing a cover song is tricky because you are neither the composer nor the lyricist of the song and therefore you have no rights to the track. But with a successful cover version you can quickly win new listeners. Fortunately you only have to consider a few points to release your version legally.

Your song is only considered a cover if you stick very closely to the original. This means that melody, lyrics and song structure may not be changed. If your version differs too much from the original, it’s considered an adaptation and then you have to get the permission of the copyright holder in any case. It’s also not allowed to use samples or release a remix without permission.

Cover versions can be published without permission. The following aspects have to be considered additionally.

• Enter the composers as well as lyricists of the original song when you add the song to your distributor.
• Also mark the song as a cover when you register it (but not in the song title).
• Register the song with the responsible collecting society
• The original song must be registered with a collecting society. If not, you must obtain the permission of the rights holder.
• If you want to publish the song physically, you may have to obtain a license from the collecting society.
• Exception: In the USA a permit or a mechanical license is required in any case. You either have to get the permission or you exclude the USA from the delivery.
• Other exceptions: Canada, Mexico, India and Pakistan. It’s best to exclude these countries as well.
• Exception to the exception: If you deliver the cover song only to Spotify, Deezer and Pandora, you can select all countries, because these stores take care of the mechanical license directly.

It’s also important to know that the copyright share is paid in full to the text authors and composers of the original. However, the sales revenue remains with you.

If you follow all these rules, all you really have to do now is find out which song would suit you as an artist.

For more information, please contact the support team at iGroove or get in touch with the respective collecting society.

Spotify continues to offer new features and possibilities to its users and artists. We’ve summarized some of the new features of the last few weeks to keep you up to date.

Promo Cards

In order to increase your Spotify followers and in the long run your audience and revenue, you need to keep encouraging your fans through social media and other channels to follow you on Spotify. Thanks to the new tool from Spotify, this is now easier and more visually appealing.

With Promo Cards you can create a banner in a few simple steps and share it on your channels. First you have to decide if you want to create the Promo Card for an artist, an album or a song. Then you can define the background color and the format and you can share or download the result.

If your song is in a big playlist, the song search will also list it. You can create your own promo card for this playlist placement. It’s also possible to create Promo Cards for podcast shows or single episodes.

Get started now and personalize your Promo Cards on artists.spotify.com/promocards.

Shows

Until now, if you uploaded podcasts to Spotify, it wasn’t possible to include songs, unless you licensed the tracks. With its new feature Shows, Spotify now combines music and spoken contributions. This is made possible by the podcast app Anchor, which Spotify purchased last year.

Advantages for podcasters

Podcasters can now not only talk about music, but also play it effectively. All songs available on Spotify can be integrated into podcasts for free. You have to use Anchor’s app and the podcasts can only be published via Spotify.

It’s not possible to include only a part of the song, the whole track is always played. Users with a premium subscription hear the whole song, free accounts only the 30 second snippet.

Advantages for musicians

Shows offers the possibility to generate additional streams. Each stream in a podcast is paid exactly the same as a regular stream on Spotify.

For musicians who have already entered the podcast game themselves, this is of course a great advantage.

Shows are now available for all Spotify users worldwide. The ability to add songs to their podcasts has only been available to creators in the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. Further countries should follow soon.

More information here.

Although they haven’t been around that long, Spotify has become the most important source for podcasts and has replaced Apple at the top. With Shows this rise will continue.

Canvas

Canvas is a feature of Spotify that allows you to add looped visuals to songs (3-8 seconds). Spotify only offers this feature to selected artists – but from now on it can be used by all iGroove artists.

What are the advantages?

According to Spotify, the probability rises that listeners will

• continue streaming (5%)
• share the song (145%)
• add it to their playlist (20%)
• save it (1,4%)
• visit your artist profile (9%)

If you or your fans share the song in Instagram Stories, the Canvas will play, including the song info and a direct link to Spotify.

Canvas can be added via Spotify for Artists. Click on the desired song and then on the button “Add Canvas” in the upper right corner.

Are there statistics?

If you use Canvas for a song, Spotify for Artists now shows you how many times it has been viewed. Click on “Music” and you will see the number of views for each song.

Further tips:

• Don’t use footage of people talking, singing or rapping because it won’t be in sync with the song
• Not every phone displays canvas the same way and the menu covers the lower part of the screen. So make sure that the action takes place in the middle of the screen
• Do not use artist, song or album name – these are already visible
• Tell a story with the loop and make sure that your Canvases have a similar style, especially if they are on the same album
• Work with graphic designers for the most professional results

More information about Canvas can be found here.

Dates for virtual concerts

In an older blog post we already explained how to make your concert dates available on Spotify.

There are two options:

Automatically

If your concert is listed on Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Songkick or AXS, it’ll automatically be added to your profile. All automatically added concert details are visible in your Spotify for Artists. There you can also see how many followers and listeners you have in the city where you’ll soon be performing.

Manually

For manual data entry use the Tourbox tool. Create your event including a link to the presale and it’ll be automatically sent to Spotify, Shazam, Bandcamp, Soundcloud and other platforms.

Now it’s also possible to enter virtual concerts, which take place via Twitch, Instagram Live or YouTube Live, into Tourbox.

Pro Tip: Select your concert as an Artist Pick so that it is directly visible on the front page of your Spotify profile.

More tips for virtual concerts can be found here.

Spotify grows even in times of crisis

Spotify has released third quarter figures showing that the streaming giant continues to grow in these complicated times. Spotify currently has 320 million active users, a 29% growth compared to the third quarter of 2019, of which 144 million are paying users, a 27% growth. Their goal of having an equal number of premium and free users has not yet been achieved.

This growth was driven by expansion into new markets such as Russia and various Eastern European countries. Growth in paying users was rather modest in the US (4%) and Europe (1%).

Only 9% of total revenues in this quarter came from advertising. This explains why musicians earn very little from streams of free users. This is not expected to change in the foreseeable future.

The number of releases published via Spotify also grew by 13% in the third quarter. This is roughly in line with iGroove’s growth figures: In the third quarter, we delivered 14.5% more releases than in Q2. Compared to Q1, the increase is even 43%.

This clearly shows that the pandemic is not slowing down the release of music. On the contrary, more and more releases are fighting for a piece of the streaming cake.