New tools on Instagram: Everything you need to know about Reels and Badges
3 min read
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1. September 2020
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1 Shares
What you'll learn in this post:
What Reels are and how to use them
How Badges work and how to earn money with them
Two new tools that are relevant for musicians have recently been released by Facebook. The newest possibilities on Instagram are presented here.
Instagram Reels
TikTok is on the rise worldwide and can probably only be stopped by President Trump. But the competition never sleeps, and now Instagram has launched a new tool – Instagram Reels.
Similar to TikTok, you can create entertaining 15-second videos, work with various effects and tools and of course insert music. You can find this new feature when you open the Instagram camera.
Once you’ve delivered your releases to Facebook / Instagram via iGroove, your songs can be found in the Audio Library and added to Reels. Unlike Instagram Stories, the music can be changed and it’s possible to adjust the speed of the song.
The video can be edited with over 1,000 effects, but it is not possible to insert links. Also there is no possibility to promote Reels additionally – at least at the moment.
When posting you can decide whether you want to share it only in your feed or also via the new function in the discover tab. If you want to reach as many people as possible, it’s recommended to use both. Reels can also be posted as story, but then they’ll disappear after one day as usual. There is also a new Reels tab on your profile.
Badges on Instagram work similar to the “Stars” on Facebook. The users get the opportunity to give the creator a “tip” in the form of badges during live streams. From the musician’s point of view, this is another possible source of income.
In order to have the possibility to receive these badges, you must have at least 10,000 followers. In addition, the tool is currently only available for creators from the following countries:
Germany
USA
UK
Brazil
France
Italy
Turkey
Spain
Mexico
India
Australia
Japan
What’s next? Music videos on Facebook
Also in 2020, music videos are an important tool to promote a release. With the latest feature you now have a new possibility to spread your music video as wide as possible. In the Facebook Watch area there will be a new category for music clips.
So far the music video function is only available in the US. We will inform you as soon as this feature is also available in Europe.
Users will not only be able to search for videos, the clips will also be sorted by genre, artist and mood and there’ll also be curated playlists. Similar to the streaming providers, Faceook will create playlists like “Popular This Week” or “New This Week”.
The Artist Pages will also be adjusted and the music videos will be available there as well. The users will also have the possibility to follow an artist page directly through the video. The video’s can help artists to gain more followers. If a user follows an artist, he will be informed as soon as the artist has published a new video.
In Creator Studio you’ll have the possibility to manage and promote the videos and you’ll also see how they perform.
Do you have any questions about Instagram Reels or Badges?
Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.
Why there are steady fluctuations in streaming payouts
Find out how much is paid out for one million streams from 79 countries
Why the difference between countries is so enormous
In the past, it was quite easy to calculate how much you earn from a sale. It was pretty clear how much you get per sold CD or vinyl record you sold and also with the downloads it was predictable what you earn per song. But in the streaming age the whole story has become much more complicated. Even though there are various figures on the web about how much Spotify pays per stream, there is no such thing as one fixed amount.
Therefore it’ s not surprising that we receive many questions from artists, why there are fluctuations in their streaming revenues. We have collected and analyzed a huge amount of data to give you a detailed insight into how Spotify pays you. Important: we only analyzed the numbers of Spotify. The other streaming providers work with different calculation models.
As mentioned, there is not one single amount Spotify pays per stream, but countless different ones. This depends on many factors, but mainly on which country the stream comes from and whether the listener has a free or premium subscription.
If we compare 18 of the world’s 20 most important music markets according to IFPI (China and South Korea are not on the list because Spotify is not available there), we see that the values vary enormously. The payout for one million streams ranges from 850 USD in Argentina to 5,479 USD in Norway. On average, you get 3,222 USD for one million streams in the 18 most important music markets.
Country
Pay Per Stream
Per Million Streams
Costs Premium Subscription
Norway
0.005479273262
5479.27
12.01
Denmark
0.005159208727
5159.21
15.65
UK
0.004912438819
4912.44
12.88
Switzerland
0.004735907468
4735.91
14.12
Sweden
0.004440795157
4440.80
11.33
Australia
0.003964816365
3964.82
8.58
Netherlands
0.003627001999
3627.00
11.75
Japan
0.003549137869
3549.138
9.32
USA
0.003526648542
3526.65
9.99
Germany
0.003367393910
3367.39
11.75
France
0.003165156140
3165.16
11.75
Canada
0.002738648734
2738.65
7.49
Spain
0.002351294930
2351.29
11.75
Italy
0.001993518049
1993.52
11.75
Mexico
0.001441136576
1441.14
4.49
India
0.001408341455
1408.34
1.60
Brazil
0.001294613594
1294.61
3.26
Argentina
0.000850040231
850.04
1.94
What causes the fluctuations in streaming payouts?
One of the most important factors is the subscription price. In India, for example, a Spotify Premium subscription costs only a fraction of what you pay in Denmark. While a premium subscription in Denmark costs the equivalent of 15.65 USD, a premium user in India only has to pay 1.60 USD per month.
Also, the advertising revenues vary between markets and of course they also vary from month to month in each individual market. At the same time, the number of premium subscriptions and the number of streams generated by the listeners changes every month. In short, the numbers are in constant change and so is the payout to the artists.
This means that it doesn’t only depend on the changes in your personal streaming numbers, but also how the “market” changes in general. If the number of your streams decreases but also the total number of all streams drops equally, you still earn the same amount. Overstated, you earn the same amount for 5,000 streams at a PPS (Pay Per Stream) of 0.001 as for a single stream at a PPS of 5 USD. It’ also possible that you generate more streams, but the PPS decreases and you still don’t earn more.
Here are the most important factors that influence how much you get per stream:
Subscription price
Subscription type (Free / Paid)
Origin of the stream (country)
Advertising revenue generated in the respective market
Number of subscriptions
Number of streams generated per month
How much does Spotify pay per stream?
Spotify keeps 30% of all revenues generated. Of the remaining 70%, a part is paid for the songwriters and composers and the rest goes via label or distribution to the rights holders of the song.
From the remaining share it’s calculated how many streams there were in total and how high the share of each artist is. Assuming there were one million streams per month and you have achieved 1,000 streams, you will receive 0.01%.
So far, so good. But it’ s not that there is only one cake, there are dozens of them. So there’s one cake for every market, every subscription level, and so on. This is where the (big) differences start.
We have analyzed our extensive data material and calculated how much you earn per stream in the different countries where Spotify is available. Not yet included are the Balkans, as Spotify was only recently launched there.
79 countries in comparison (click on the graphic for full view)
In the table (at the bottom of the blog) you can see for 79 different countries how much is paid per stream and extrapolated to one million streams. As already mentioned, there can always be fluctuations, but these figures give you a good guideline.
You can see, for example, that for one million streams in Iceland you get almost nine times what is paid for the same number of streams in Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria. Assuming you had the same number of streams in each of the 79 countries, this would give you a PPS of 0.00203111. So for one million streams you would get 2,389.58 USD, which is about the same as in Uruguay or Spain. Many European countries such as Italy, Greece, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary or Poland are below this average, in some cases even significantly.
But even in the English-speaking countries the figures vary considerably. While you get 4,912 USD per million streams in the UK or even 4,977 USD in New Zealand, the figure is 3,964 USD in Australia, only about 3,525 USD in the USA and even only 2,738 USD in Canada.
Summary
The evaluation clearly shows that it’ s not only important how many streams you generate, but also in which countries. For example, Iceland is by far the country with the best payoff, but with its less than 400,000 inhabitants the island state is still only moderately interesting. Countries with a large population like India or Mexico are of course attractive because of their size, but you have to generate multiple times as many streams as for example in the UK. If you consider not only the payout per stream but also the number of inhabitants, the most interesting markets are the UK, Australia, Japan, USA, Germany and France. This is no surprise, but our analysis also shows that the Scandinavian markets should not be forgotten and countries such as the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and Austria should not be ignored. On the other hand, if you have your core audience in Turkey, the North African states or even the Latin American countries, you have to make a double or triple effort.
Exclusive insight into the backend – Discover iGroove with a demo account
2.5 min read
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9. July 2020
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81 Shares
What you'll learn in this post:
Discover the easiest and most transparent backend for musicians with a demo account
Our tour introduces you to the different functions
We regularly receive feedback from our customers that iGroove has the clearest, most transparent and visually appealing backend on the market. This makes us especially proud, since we develop our software and all tools ourselves. With weekly updates we also make sure that the portal is constantly evolving and that you always benefit from the latest technologies.
Unfortunately, so far only those who are already iGroove customers have been able to see this for themselves. In order to give everyone the chance to get an idea before applying to iGroove, we have set up a demo account to try out the iGroove backend.
Simply use the following link to discover the advantages of iGroove.
Tour
To familiarize you with the features and capabilities of the iGroove backend, we will briefly introduce you to the most important functions on this tour.
Dashboard
The individual dashboard
Whenever you log in to iGroove, the first thing you see is the dashboard. Here you get a good overview of your trends and sales, top releases, pending releases and other open tasks. You can define what information is displayed on the dashboard and arrange it according to your own preferences.
Trends
The detailed sales trends
The sales trends show you today what you will earn tomorrow. With a delay of about two days your streams and downloads will be shown here. To analyse your data, you can sort them by release, song, shop, country, artist, period or type of revenue. These filters can be combined as you like. Pie charts and time history views show you how your numbers have changed over time. You can also see which playlists your songs are in.
Balance
At some point, your streams and downloads are no longer just trends, but become your credit. In this section you’ll see all movements on your iGroove account, get all the details about the credits and of course you can cash out your balance at any time (well, not on the demo account unfortunately). You can also download all details of the credited streams and downloads as CSV.
Advances
iGroove not only provides advance payments for future releases, but also for the back catalogue. In this section you can find all advance contracts and you can also see how much of the advance has already been recouped – listed in detail by release.
Products
All uploaded products
Here you can see all the products you have registered and you can see at a glance to which shops and when they were delivered. Pre-sales and pre-saves are also listed here. Of course you can also enter a new release in just a few steps.
Services
Many useful services for marketing & promotion of your music
In this section you can not only book all our services, from Instagram- and streaming promotion, playlist pitching and YouTube advertising to various promotion packages. You also get detailed status reports and evaluations of the booked services.
Tools
iGroove offers you a variety of self-developed tools for free. Whether it’s the handy link site to promote your release, the PR page or direct access to Spotify for Artists, you’ll find everything at a glance.
Profile
In addition to the usual customizations like profile information or language, you can also see all the invoices you have received from iGroove.
Do you have any questions about iGroove?
At least as often as for our backend we are praised for our support. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected] or write us in the chat. Did this tour convince you? Then apply for an account with iGroove here.
What functions, advantages and special features the tool offers musicians
Because you can buy just about everything at Amazon, people probably like to forget what a big player Amazon Music is in the music world. With Amazon Music for Artists the giant now offers you access to countless data about your music.
First you need to download the Amazon Music for Artists app:
There you have to answer some questions that serve as verification before you can get started.
Overview
At first sight you can see the number of streams of all your releases as well as the number of your listeners. The data at Amazon Music for Artists goes back to 01.01.2018. This is not very long, but the streaming data is updated several times per hour. So you can see how your songs perform in almost real time. Since the data is made available so quickly, it’s quite possible that there may be deviations until the final payment from Amazon to the distributor. So don’t be surprised if the numbers don’t match 100% with the number of streams that iGroove will eventually pay you. Amazon explicitly points this out in their FAQ.
If you scroll further down, the numbers are more detailed by album and song.
At the bottom you can also see where your streams come from (playlists, user library, search etc.)
Songs
Here again all your songs are listed and you can get more detailed information about each track (total streams, number of listeners and which playlists the track is in).
Fans
Here you see the development of the number of listeners. An interesting additional feature is the number of fans and superfans. These are people who have streamed your music more often than the average listener, who have saved your songs in their library or a playlist, who follow you on Amazon or who have ordered one of your physical. So here you can see the immense amount of data Amazon can work with.
The top countries are also listed here. A small downer: This information is only available for the last 60 days and only the three most popular countries are listed.
Voice
This is definitely a feature that none of the competitors can provide. In this section you can see how often listeners have asked their Alexa-equipped device for your music. It’s even split up whether they searched for your artist name, an album, a specific song or just a part of the lyrics.
Amazon works with LyricFind and MusixMatch for searching by text passages. So if you want to enable your listeners to find your songs also thanks to the lyrics (e.g. if they can’t remember your artist or song name but the lines of the chorus are still in their head), you should upload your lyrics on one of these two platforms.
By the way, the index at the top shows how often your music was searched for via Alexa compared to artists with a similar reach.
Programming
Here you can see in which playlists and stations your songs can be found. Amazon offers millions of stations, which are sorted either by genre, mood or by artist. You can consider it a radio function.
You can also see immediately how many streams this placement has generated.
As you have probably already noticed, Amazon Music for Artists only provides insight into the streaming figures but not the downloads or even the sales of physical products that have been made on Amazon. However, it cannot be ruled out that this will be added in the future.
It’s also not possible to pitch songs for their playlists. But Amazon Music is part of our Playlist Pitching service.
Summary about Amazon Music for Artists
Amazon Music for Artists lets you see in detail which of your songs performs how well. With the voice feature as well as the superfans they have also included some surprising additional features. The only weakness of the app is the information about the listeners, because you don’t get much insights about them except for a few details about their origin.
Even though the illegal downloading of music has decreased significantly in the streaming age, it still happens frequently that music is made available via dubious channels. Of course it’s especially annoying if your song is already circulating before it’s officially available. We’ve received several reports that a song has already been shared on Instagram or sent in WhatsApp groups a few hours before it’s officially released.
One of the main reasons is that the songs are mostly released at midnight in all countries. This means, for example, that a song is available eight hours earlier in Sydney or even ten hours earlier in New Zealand than in Central Europe. Enough time to leak a song.
Thanks to a new feature on iGroove, this can now be easily prevented and leaks are a thing of the past.
When creating your release you can now specify whether it should appear after “Local Time” or “Global Time”. What does this mean exactly?
Local Time
The release is published at midnight in every country.
Examples: Berlin: Local time Friday 00:00 / CET (Central European Time) Friday 00:00 Los Angeles: Local time Friday 00:00 / CET Friday 09:00 Sidney: Local time Friday 00:00 / CET Thursday 16:00
This means that the listener in Sydney can hear a song eight hours earlier than the one in Berlin, but the fan in Los Angeles can only hear it nine hours later.
Global Time
The release is published worldwide at exactly the same time, so a listener in Sydney can’t hear the release in front of a fan in Berlin (or even leak it).
Examples: Berlin: Local time Friday 00:00 / CET Friday 00:00 Los Angeles: Local time Thursday 15:00 / CET Friday 00:00 Sidney: Local time Friday 08:00 / CET Friday 00:00
Every listener worldwide gets access to a song at exactly the same time. While nothing changes for the listener in Berlin and he can still listen to the track from midnight, the fan in Los Angeles now has the song available at 3 pm the day before, while in Sydney you have to wait until 8 am.
Currently, the Global Time feature is only available for Spotify, Google Play and Amazon. As soon as more shops offer this option, we will add it.
It is also important to know that we cannot guarantee that a song will be available exactly at midnight. The release is up to the shops and iGroove has no influence on this. In most cases, however, the song will be available at the time you requested.
Do you have any questions about preventing leaks?
Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.
Deezer Backstage – A look behind the streaming scenes
2 min read
|
11. May 2020
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What you'll learn in this post:
How to get access to Deezer Backstage
What figures you have available
How to edit your Artist Page
We have already pointed out several times that it’s an advantage for artists to use tools like Spotify for Artists or Apple Music for Artists, because it gives you a better understanding of which songs perform well and you learn a lot about your listeners.
This detailed view of the streaming numbers is now also offered by Deezer. After Deezer Backstage was only available for selected artists for a while, now every artist (or his label / management) can request access.
As soon as the access is set up, you get all the functions you desire:
Analytics
All info about your streaming numbers
On the one hand there are of course the statistics of your releases. You can analyze the data of the last 365 days. Besides the number of streams you can also get information about the origin of the listeners, where the streams came from (artist page, playlists etc.) or if the listeners used a free or premium subscription. Besides the user-defined setting of the time period it’s also possible to analyze the statistics for each country and of course each release can be analyzed individually.
Like Spotify, Deezer will also implement a “Live Data Module” that allows you to follow the development of the streams of your new release in real time on release day. This is currently in a beta phase and will be available to all artists later this year.
You can also see in which playlists your songs are included.
Find out in which playlists your song is placed.
Artist Page
Even for those who don’t rely too much on statistics and maybe even use them to plan their future content or marketing strategy, Deezer Backstage has a big advantage: You can edit your artist profile and make a good first impression.
In addition to the profile picture, you can add social media links (Facebook and Twitter), create a status update and insert your bio. The special thing here is that the bio can be entered in different languages, which is especially practical if you got an international fanbase.
It is currently not possible to pitch songs via Deezer Backstage. Therefore we offer our Playlist Pitching service.
Deezer Backstage summary
The visually appealing platform offers you all the numbers you need, although the limitation to the last 365 days may disappoint some number freaks. Another practical feature is the possibility to keep your profile up to date at any time. Therefore: Get your backstage pass now and take a look behind the scenes of your streams.
Why the market value of your old releases is relevant
How to get your personal evaluation including an advance offer in just a few steps and free of charge
How to easily choose the duration and commission yourself
Advances have always been an integral part of the music business. When you think of this topic you usually consider advances for future releases. However, it is also possible to make money from your old releases – the so-called backlog. Thanks to iGroove’s world’s first artificial intelligence-based advance calculator , you’ll know the value of your backlog in a flash.
Why is the market value of my old releases interesting?
There are several reasons for it.
Are you currently in negotiations with a label, distribution or management? Thanks to our calculation, you can present them with concrete figures and thus put yourself in a better negotiating position, especially if you are negotiating a deal that includes the backlog.
Find out if the deals you made in the past were fair or if you need to negotiate better in the future.
If you’re interested in joining iGroove or are an existing customer, you can quickly and easily request an advance payment.
How do I find out the market value of my releases?
You fill out this form (this is also possible if you are not an iGroove customer) and then our servers start calculating. Within 24 hours you will receive a detailed evaluation and a non-binding advance offer. The minimum amount for an advance is currently 2.000 Euro.
Receive your advance offer within one business day.
Can I freely choose the duration and commission?
Yes, you can change the offer as you like. Depending on your wishes, you can choose a term between one and five years. In addition, there is a range between 14 – 25% for the commission. Depending on the settings of the two sliders, the calculated advance amount will also change automatically, so you can find the ideal offer for you.
Find the perfect setting for your advance.
Once you have found the perfect offer, you can either print it out to start negotiations or have iGroove pay out the amount directly.
How long does it take to receive my advance payment?
As with the calculation of the advance, it’s important to us that everything is done as simply, transparently and without a lot of paperwork as possible. As soon as you have accepted the offer, a contract will be drawn up and digitally signed (legally binding). This saves a lot of time. If you’re not an iGroove customer yet, all you have to do is transfer your releases to iGroove and you’ll have the money on your account.
How do I transfer my releases to iGroove?
On the one hand, you need to request a takedown of your releases from your previous distributor, on the other hand, the releases need to be re-entered into the iGroove system. The most important thing is that you capture the same ISRC as you did with your old distributor. This also guarantees that all your streams and playlist placements are preserved. You can find more information here.
By the way, the one-time release fees for your releases are on the house. So your release will be delivered to the shops for free and will stay there as long as you want it without any recurring costs.
Where can I see how much of the advance I have already recouped?
In your iGroove account, your advance contract is stored and you can always see how much of the advance has already been recouped. Every month you can see the latest payback based on your sales and you can see exactly how much you have recouped with which release. So you always have an overview of the outstanding amount. As soon as the advance payment has been recouped in full, you will receive your entire income paid out again minus the agreed commission. For example, if you set the commission to 20%, you will receive 80% of your earnings from now on.
All figures at a glance
If the advance is not fully recouped, iGroove bears the economic risk. Open amounts do not have to be paid by the artist.
Try the advance calculator now
Take a look at the interactive example of an offer now and request your non-binding advance offer yourself here.
Do you have any questions about our market value calculator or the advances?
Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.
iGroove is one of the few distributors that meets Spotify's complex requirements and is listed as a Gold Partner
What advantages this offers for artists
Since April 2020, iGroove is an official Gold Partner of Spotify and therefore one of the few music distributors worldwide that is able to meet the complex requirements of the streaming giant. We are very happy about this as a company as we are now officially listed as a partner on the Spotify website but iGroove’s customers also benefit from the close relationship with Spotify.
Here are some of the benefits you’ll get with iGroove:
Instant Access to Spotify for Artists Instead of going through the regular process and waiting for your access, you can start with us directly. Save time with iGroove’s direct verification, and instantly edit your profile and analyze your statistics.
Fast delivery When you distribute your release through iGroove, it arrives in Spotify’s system within a few hours and in most cases is available to your listeners within 48 hours. Due to the Corona crisis, delays may occur at the moment, and we generally recommend that a release be registered with us two weeks prior to publication. On the one hand because certain other shops need much longer than Spotify and on the other hand because you can collect valuable pre-saves.
Spotify Pre-Save Campaigns Pre-Saves gives your fans the possibility to save a release before the release date so that it is saved directly in the library on the release day. If you can generate a lot of Pre-Saves, this has a positive influence on the algorithms and increases your chances for a playlist placement. More information
Your release never again in the wrong profile It’s annoying if you’ve been working on a release for a long time and then it appears in the wrong Spotify profile on the release date. With iGroove this can be easily prevented. You only have to enter your Spotify-ID once in our system and from now on your releases are automatically assigned to the correct profile. Even if it’s your first release, we will make sure you get a new profile and that your release is not assigned to an artist with the same name. More information
Close relationship with support and curators As a Gold Partner we have a direct line to the different departments of Spotify. Did something go wrong with your release? Then we can clarify this with the support team of Spotify within a very short time. We also have good connections to the curators of Spotify for the Playlist Pitching. But of course there is no guarantee for inclusion in a playlist, because the curators decide completely independently which songs will be included in a playlist.
Highest quality metadata In order to achieve Gold status, numerous requirements must be met, including delivering metadata in consistently high quality. iGroove guarantees that all contributors, from songwriters to composers or producers, are correctly submitted.
Keep your streams & playlist placements when you move to iGroove Not an iGroove customer yet but want to distribute your music through a Spotify Gold partner? Moving to iGroove is very easy and you can transfer your releases to us without fear of losing your streams or playlist placements. How easy it is to switch to iGroove is explained here in a few steps.
Do you have any questions? We are at your disposal at [email protected].
We have summarized the other advantages of iGroove here.
All important functions of the iGroove app at a glance
Your music business always at hand
Thanks to our new app, the most important functions are always at your fingertips. Here’s a brief introduction to what the iGroove app offers.
The iGroove app is now available for iOS and Android.
See today what you’ll earn tomorrow.
Trends
In the trend tab you can see almost daily how your releases are performing and you can set different filters, just like with the desktop version. On the one hand there is the sorting by Top Releases, Top Songs or Top Artists (especially handy for labels) and in the upper left corner you will find additional filters that allow you to view only the numbers of a certain artist, release, song, shop, country or type. These filters can also be combined in any way you like (e.g. only the Deezer streams from Austria by artist XY).
Combine the filters as you like to analyze your numbers in detail.
At the top right you can also define the period of the trends and you can easily analyze your trend data by different periods.
In the Playlists tab you can see in which playlists your songs can be found. You can see how many streams have been generated by each playlist, how long the song has been in the playlist and how many followers it has.
In the subcategories “Stream Insights” and “More” you will find additional data about your streams and downloads.
It is important to note that the trends are only temporary income that has not yet been settled with the shops and therefore has not yet been credited to your iGroove account. So they are not yet definitive figures, we will get to those now.
All credits and debits at a glance.
Account
Under this view, you will find all debits and credits that have occurred on your iGroove account. In the credits section, you will also find more detailed information about the settlement and you can download a PDF with the details.
You can also easily transfer your credit to your bank or PayPal account here.
Transfer your credit comfortably to your bank or PayPal account.
Products
Here are all releases recorded in your account. If you need the EAN of a release or the ISRC of a track in a hurry, you will find it here immediately.
However, adding releases is only possible on the desktop version.
All your releases at a glance.
Profile
If you want to change your email, password or language, you can do so quickly and easily here.
Notifications
In the future, you’ll be able to receive notifications and information from iGroove easily and directly. This part is still under construction.
Do you have any questions about the iGroove App?
Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.
How TikTok works and why music is so important on the platform
How to make your songs available on TikTok
How to stand out from the TikTok crowd and work with influencers
How to promote your music on TikTok
Everyone has probably heard of TikTok, and statistically speaking, the chances that you have the app on your phone are quite high: it has been downloaded over 1.5 billion times (it reached 1 billion in February) and has almost 800 million active users per month. For comparison, Twitter has around 326 million active users and Snapchat is at 186 million.
That’s what TikTokers do
TikTok in a nutshell: Millions of users upload short videos, use various filters and primarily want to entertain themselves. The range of uploaded videos is very high, but dance videos and lip-syncing are still very popular, which already shows that music plays a very important role at TikTok. This can also be seen from the fact that music in the form of the rotating plate at the bottom right is present in every post. If you click on the “record” you can see how often the corresponding song has already been used in a video, which is of course an indicator of how popular a track is.
If you’re not familiar with TikTok at all, here is a good overview of its features. By the way, you don’t need an account to be easily entertained, but if you want to comment or create your own, you have to register.
TikTok: More than just kid stuff
If you just dismiss the app as child’s play, you should pause for a moment just because of the numbers mentioned above, because TikTok undoubtedly offers musicians the opportunity to reach many new listeners. Music is an elementary part of the short videos that are uploaded millions of times a day. Similar to Instagram, you can add music to your posts, and thanks to iGroove, you can share your songs with the millions of TikTok users. Just select TikTok as your store when you create your release and we’ll make sure your release is in the library.
Select TikTok when creating the release
Unlike Instagram, where the entire song is available and the user can choose the appropriate section, TikTok only provides a short section of the track. So you should think very carefully about which part of the song you want to put up. In most cases this will be a catchy chorus or in other cases a distinctive line that encourages people to use it for their video. You can set the starting point of the song yourself when you create the song under “Start audio sample”. This will then be used for all stores that allow audio samples.
Define the start of the audio sample for TikTok and other platforms
By the way, the most popular genres on TikTok are currently HipHop and Pop.
TikTok as a chance for musicians
Meanwhile, careers have indeed already been launched thanks to TikTok, the most popular example being „Old Town Road“ by Lil Nas X, which would never have become a world hit without the app. On the one hand, if you’re the type, you have the opportunity to stage yourself. Additionally, there is the chance that many users will use your song for their videos.
Despite the immense size and reach of TikTok, many people are still not really familiar with the app and its capabilities. So it certainly makes sense if you invest some time to get to know the app and its features. It is also worthwhile to analyze how artists who make music similar to yours use the platform and how they present and market themselves. This way you get a feeling for the app and its users, because simply adopting strategies from other social media platforms doesn’t work. A Facebook user doesn’t think like an Instagram user, and the Instagram user is different from the TikTok crowd.
While virtually no artist can afford not to be on Instagram, many artists are still ignoring TikTok.
Just check if your favorite acts are already involved and get inspired! Even if you’re not yet sure whether you want to play the TikTok game in the future, make an account anyway and make sure you get your desired username before it’s gone!
At the beginning you can just go for trial and error and be creative. Try different things and analyze what works and how you can reach new people. After some time you will have built up a fanbase and know which posts and strategies work and which don’t. The crucial question is of course how to stand out from this enormous mass of videos.
Stand out from the TikTok mass
Of course there is no universal recipe for letting your videos or songs go viral on TikTok. Too many factors play together for this. On the one hand, you have to understand the app and its mechanisms, you have to approach it with the necessary creativity, and on the other hand, a lot of things have to do with the momentum and the necessary portion of luck.
Challenges
No matter which blog you read, it is always pointed out that challenges are one of the best ways to increase your popularity. What can a challenge look like? As a musician, for example, you can challenge people to upload a lip-sync video with your track. Do you have a special dance move in your clip? Then of course this is also perfectly suited for a challenge. Here creativity is clearly required to motivate people to participate. You can also increase interest by choosing a winner and giving away something. This can be merchandise, a concert ticket, a meet & greet or even an exclusive song.
Hashtags
Of course, hashtags also play an important role at TikTok. Similar to Instagram, cleverly placed hashtags increase the probability of reaching many people outside your own followers. So it’s worth spending a few minutes thinking about which hashtags fit a post or researching which hashtags are trending at the moment.
Of course it is even better if you can establish your own hashtag which shows how often it has been used.
Exclusivity
Who doesn’t like to have something exclusive? Reward your followers by giving them an exclusive content or an opportunity that is not yet available to others.
We are familiar with the example of an artist who promoted the advance sale of his new release exclusively via TikTok for one week. This enabled him to generate hundreds of advance orders within a few days. Of course this only works if you already have a good presence on TikTok. Don’t forget the matching hashtags and of course use your other social media channels as well.
Work with TikTok Influencers
Do you have little desire to get involved in the TikTok game or your own videos don’t yet generate the desired response? If so, you might want to work with influencers who, for example, will launch a challenge for you.
The good news is: Influencers on TikTok are cheaper than those on Instagram right now. The less good news is that there are countless influencers on TikTok, and even more who think they are. So finding the right people for your product is not easy.
There are two possibilities:
You set out on your own to find the right people. But you should take your time and look for people who really have a connection to the music you make. Relevance is clearly more important than reach! Most of the time the contact details of influencers are very easy to find, either directly on their profiles or after a short Google search.
You get help from an agency that represents Influencer. As this agency also earns money, this is the more expensive but much more time-saving option. But again, you should make sure that the influencers fit your campaign and therefore reach the right audience.
Once you have found the right influencers, it’s important to brief them correctly and provide them with all the important information. Afterwards you should give them a free hand in the implementation. They have not become influencers with a large reach for nothing and therefore they know pretty sure better than you how to pick up their audience.
Also, make sure you provide your lyrics on platforms like Genius. Once your song is discovered by many people thanks to the campaign, they’ll search for the lyrics and hopefully make lots of lip-sync videos with them.
Advertise on TikTok
Considering the reach that TikTok has, it’ s not surprising that big brands like Nike, Apple Music, Adidas or Google have also discovered the app for themselves and use it for their campaigns. Nevertheless, compared to other platforms, advertising is still very discreet and they also launched their own ads platform not too long ago. But is this also interesting for musicians?
First, you need to ask yourself if the current TikTok crowd matches your target audience. Here are some figures: 66% of TikTok users are under 30 years old, 41% are between 16 and 24, and about two-thirds of TikTok users are female. TikTok is a Chinese product and therefore she is particularly strong there. However, 40% of the users come from the other 154 countries where TikTok is also available.
So if your target audience is young, you might want to take a closer look at the advertising opportunities on TikTok. TikTok’s advertising platform is currently in beta, but with prices starting at $500 and up, it’s aimed more at companies than musicians. But there is another way to advertise on TikTok: via the Facebook Audience Network.
It is important that you think about what exactly your advertising should achieve (e.g. more followers on Instagram, more fans on Spotify, more clicks on your YouTube video, etc.). The ads and the target group have to be set accordingly.
At iGroove, we always try to integrate the latest and greatest promotion opportunities directly into our platform. We are already working hard to develop a promotion service for TikTok. Until we have completed our tests and found the optimal setup, it is worthwhile to familiarize yourself with the existing promotion possibilities and try out first campaigns.
Do you have any questions about TikTok?
Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.
Why buying streams is not only a risk, but also useless
How streaming services detect when fraud is being committed
What streaming promotions are allowed
If you make your music available on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer or Tidal, you naturally have the goal of achieving as many streams as possible. It is even more annoying if your release is no longer available after a short time. The focus on numbers in today’s music world tempts many to use unfair methods. But if you fall back on dubious offers, you have to reckon with the fact that your release is suddenly no longer available.
There has always been fraud in the music industry: managers bribed radios to play their artists’ songs or labels bought their own CDs to boost sales. The new technologies lead to an unprecedented number of scams. We don’t want to go into all the possibilities of manipulation in order not to bring anybody on stupid ideas. Since it may not be quite clear to some what is actually allowed and what is not, we would still like to point out the most common methods here.
Fake Streams: Hands off Playola
A simple Google search shows that there are innumerable offers on the net that should help you to increase your numbers by buying streams. Even if the websites and offers seem serious at first glance, unfortunately there are very few of them. A simple basic rule is: If an offer is so good that it can almost not be true, it is probably not true either. We have looked at numerous offers and compared them. For example, you get 10’000 streams for 19.90 Euro, most of them cost about 35 Euro. But also offers where 10’000 streams are offered for about 100 Euro are not more serious – you simply pay more for the risk of being blocked.
Many Websites offer also that you can buy streams in specific countries or exclusively Premium Streams. That sounds naturally even more tempting, also because many offerers place very good-sounding reviews of content customers on their Website. But also here the chance is very high that you are dealing with click farms or other improper methods.
Apart from the risk that the song will be removed from the platforms again, buying plays doesn’t make much sense:
Let’s say somebody wants to buy 100’000 Spotify streams, which according to the provider come exclusively from Germany. The prices for such offers vary, but you would have to reckon with about 300 Euro.
For these 100’000 streams you will receive a maximum of 300 Euro from your distributor. Financially it is therefore a a zero-sum game but with the risk of being blocked by Spotify. And don’t forget that you don’t make a long-term profit because you only increase your streams at short notice but you don’t win a real fan who will listen to the next releases and support you.
The same applies of course to the purchase of followers, streams on playlists and similar offers. Hands off!Shortcode
Abnormal streaming behaviour: The release will be blocked
Spotify and its partners are known to have excellent algorithms that suggest the right music to their users. Their algorithms are just as good at detecting possible fraud. If an artist tries to increase his streams artificially, the streaming services will sooner or later find out. They don’t care if the artist has fallen for a serious offer. Spotify, for example, pays the artists according to the following principle: They take the revenue generated by subscriptions and advertising and distribute it to the various artists on the basis of the streams generated. So if someone manipulates his streaming numbers by means of a bot that always plays a song for 31 seconds (from 30 seconds on it is considered a stream), other artists earn less and in fact we can speak of theft.
When analyzing the data, streaming services shall consider the following factors:
Number of streams of a release per week
Number of users who streamed the release
Total number of streams / total number of users that stream the track
Number of tracks on the release
Number of short tracks on the release (< 60 seconds)
Number of short streams on the release (< 60 seconds)
Territorial activity
If one of these factors appears suspicious, the release will be blocked on the platform and the streams identified as fake will not be paid out. If the song is distributed through iGroove, we will receive a notification from the shop, whereupon we will contact the affected artist.
In most cases, we also recognize that the streaming numbers are suspicious. For example, if a German rap song generated most of its streams in the Philippines, or almost all streams were generated from free accounts or desktop devices, it is obvious that there was helped out. It is also important to note that we have no control over whether the streaming services block songs or delete illegally generated streams. The shops have the right to remove releases without warning if there is a suspicion of fraud. iGroove has no influence on this. Neither do we have any interest in music being removed, because we only earn money if it is available. Furthermore, we reserve the right to block artists who manipulate.
In rare cases, the algorithms may sound the alarm without fraud. For example, if a special promotion has caused a lot of streams in one go or a band with only a few followers suddenly has a lot of streams on one song (e.g. if their track is played in an advertisement). In such cases, however, you can also clearly tell the streaming services why the streaming numbers deviate from the norm and the song will be replayed.
In all other cases the song won’t be available and with regular cheating you risk to be banned from the platform completely. By trying to increase the income at short notice, you’ll only damages your whole career.
What kind of streaming and playlist promotions are allowed?
The rules of the streaming providers are very strict and so you could say: practically nothing. As already mentioned above, you should keep your fingers off offers that promise a fixed number of streams (especially at low prices).
Other offers are in a grey area. So it is officially not allowed to sell placements in playlists, but since this is offered by countless providers, Spotify and their partners seem to tolerate this to a large extent.
This is mainly due to the fact that bots are often used when selling a fixed number of streams and therefore no real people consume the music. Especially these bots are recognized and prevented by the algorithms.
If you buy a placement in a playlist which is then streamed by real listeners, the algorithms do not react.
iGroove offers its customers streaming promotions in cooperation with reputable partners. You can choose between different packages for playlist placements, which are divided into different genres. We offer various offers in the German-speaking area, as well as an international promotion.
You can also book offers like Playlist Push or Submithub. Simply said, you don’t pay the curators to be included in a playlist, but for their feedback. Of course, the curators also include the song in their playlist if they like it.
Do you have an offer that makes a serious impression on you, but you’re still not sure? Then contact the iGroove-Support and get our opinion.
No songs in a permanent loop
Another popular but forbidden method is listening in a permanent loop. Of course it happens that you hear a song (even your own) four, five or 10 times in a row. It’s no problem either. Do you listen to a song for one or more days in a continuous loop? This might happen in torture prisons but certainly not with normal music consumers. The algorithms of the streaming service see this the same way and therefore a song is blocked if it is taken in permanent rotation. So you should neither listen to your own song in continuous loop nor encourage your fans to do so. This is very easy for the algorithms to recognize and the song is therefore soon no longer available and you do not see the money.
Besides obvious attempts to cheat, there are other reasons why songs can be removed from streaming platforms:
No release without all rights to the music
If you want to publish a song on the streaming platforms, one of the basic requirements is that you own all the rights to the lyrics and music.
Especially in the rap area there are sometimes problems. Here are some examples:
A rapper has recorded a track about the beat of the latest Travis Scott single and wants to share it with his fans. He is welcome to do it, but not via the official streaming and download shops. If you don’t have the rights to the music, you have to use other channels and make the song available to your fans as a free download, for example..
If rappers buy beats on the Internet, the terms of use must be read carefully. At best, you don’t have the right to publish them on all platforms with the acquired rights.
Occasionally it comes also with features to problems, since the publication was not discussed with these. A concrete example: we had the release of a single on iGroove, on which a number 1 rapper was a guest. As soon as this was available, the manager of the rapper intervened with the major, where he is signed. They immediately made sure that the song was taken off the platforms again. Especially with celebrity feature guests, it’s important to coordinate the release exactly.
Cover songs are an exception. You don’t have the rights to them, but it’s allowed to publish covers. However, they must be marked as covers when they are entered in the iGroove system and the authors of the original song must also be entered in the Composer and Text Author fields. This only applies if both melody and lyrics correspond exactly to the original. If you record a German version of a Beatles song, this is not considered a cover.
Faulty cover
Another reason for a takedown could be the cover of the release. You can find out what you have to look out for in the artwork in this blog post.
iGroove checks every release manually and therefore no releases with faulty covers will be delivered.
Do you have any questions about the streaming promotion?
Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.
Why you should also list your concert dates on Spotify
What two options are available for this
With the large number of concerts that take place, you have to take every opportunity to promote your show. Therefore you should not miss to present your gigs at Spotify.
If your concerts are listed on your profile, it will not only be visible to all visitors of your profile (desktop and app), but will also be suggested to your followers by Spotify when you play near them. With a bit of luck (or in other words: reach) Spotify will also include you in their concert newsletters.
There are two ways to add concerts to your profile:
1. Automatically
If your concert is listed on Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Songkick or AXS it will automatically be added to your profile. This should happen within 24-48 hours after publication. It is important that the event has a location and not just the city. In addition, Spotify only shows shows that will take place in the next 12 months. You can find all concerts that have been entered automatically in your Spotify for Artists profile. There you can also see how many followers and listeners you have in the city where you are going to play.
2. Manually
If your event is not listed on any of the websites mentioned above, you can also enter it manually. To do so, use the Tourbox tool from Songkick. First you have to register. Then you select the artist on whose profile the show should appear. Now you can enter your events including links to the presale and they will be automatically sent to Spotify.
What makes it even better: If you have entered the event via Tourbox, it is not only visible on Songkick and Spotify, but also on Soundcloud, Shazam, Bandcamp and other sites. Songkick also provides you with statistics about your event. You can find more information about Tourbox here.
All answers to frequently asked questions about concert dates at Spotify can be found here.
Do you have any questions about concert dates on Spotify?
Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.
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