Digital Marketing at Behind the Curtains Media

Digital Marketing is how we reach people and their phones with your music

BTCM advertises your music on Facebook and Instagram to grow your audiences on Spotify and any other platform

Digital marketing for indie artists is the strategic use of online platforms and tools to promote their music, grow their fanbase, and increase visibility on streaming services like Spotify. By leveraging social media, email campaigns, paid advertising (such as Meta Ads Manager), and content creation, indie artists can reach potential listeners directly and build meaningful engagement. Digital marketing allows artists to target specific audiences, monitor results in real time, and optimize campaigns to maximize streams and follower growth on Spotify. It’s an essential approach for independent musicians to compete in a crowded music landscape without the backing of major labels.

Behind the Curtains Media works with you to develop your own marketing campaigns. We work with you so that you learn how to take the lead on your music marketing.

1. Set Clear Campaign Goals

Goal: Increase Spotify streams and attract new fans globally.
Objective: We will discuss whether you want to choose “Traffic” or “Conversions” as your campaign objective. “Traffic” directs listeners to your Spotify page, while “Conversions” can be tracked using custom events (like clicks to Spotify).
Assets Needed: A landing page with the links to where you want the listener to go, whether it is Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or anywhere else you want to send people with your ad. Your Meta Pixel will be embedded into this special landing page that we will help create for you.

Here is an example of a landing page:

when people click on your ad, they will be brought to a website that looks like this.

2. Define Target Audience

Choose Audience: Use Meta’s targeting tools to create custom audiences based on interests (e.g., specific genres, similar artists), behaviors (streaming platforms, music lovers), and demographics (age, location). We will discuss who your audience is at length, as this is the key to advertising.
Assets Needed: Audience insights from Spotify (use Spotify for Artists data), fan demographics, and similar artist data.

3. Create Engaging Ad Creative

Goal: Capture attention with engaging visuals and sound.
Ad Formats: Use video ads (Reels, Stories, or Feeds) as they perform better for music. Keep them short (6-15 seconds), and visually dynamic, and include a clip of your song.
Assets Needed: Professionally designed album art, short video clips (vertical format), music clips, and an attention-grabbing caption.

Ad example for Emmrose “Heartbreaker”

4. Optimize Ad Copy

Goal: Encourage users to take immediate action.
Write Effective Copy: Keep your copy short and clear, inviting people to “Listen Now on Spotify.” Use enticing calls to action (CTA) fitting to your brand aesthetic.
Assets Needed: Short, direct text that matches the song’s tone and vibe.

5. Set Up the Campaign Budget

Budgeting: Start with a moderate daily budget (e.g., $10-$50/day). You can adjust as you learn what works.
Assets Needed: A set marketing budget plan for one-month minimum.

6. Choose Placement Settings

Goal: Show your ad on Instagram, Facebook, or both.
Assets Needed: Vertical (9:16) and square (1:1) video creatives for Stories and Feeds, and a mindset to test different placements.

7. Set Geographical Targeting

Goal: Grow a global audience, but focus on key markets.
Choose Locations: Focus on regions that work with your target audience metrics.

Meta ads data collection — We test multiple ads to see which one to invest the budget in

8. Implement A/B Testing of Ad Creative

Goal: Identify the best-performing creatives, copy, or audiences.
Run Tests: Test different elements like video creatives, call-to-action buttons, or audience targeting to see which variations get the most engagement.
Assets Needed: Multiple versions of your creative assets (different video clips, text copy, and visual designs).
Hint – We are almost always wrong when we think we know what will be the best-performing creative!