Nov. 3, 2025

Spotify Playlist Pitching: Smart or Scam?

Spotify Playlist Pitching: Smart or Scam?
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Spotify Playlist Pitching: Smart or Scam?

In this episode of the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I read an email from an Artist Manager who manages a pop singer just starting to gain traction.
This manager has been approached by several “playlist promotion companies” on Instagram claiming they can get his artist’s music placed on major Spotify playlists for a price.
Sound familiar?
In this video, I break down:
-What playlist pitching really is — and how it works behind the scenes
-How to spot red flags and avoid scammy promo companies
-Whether it’s ever worth paying for playlist placement
-Legit ways to build streaming momentum without getting ripped off
If you’ve ever been tempted by a DM promising “playlist exposure” or “Spotify growth,” this one’s for you.
Do you have a question about the music industry that you'd like answered?
Go to http://MatthewRix.com and provide as many details as possible so I can offer you the best advice.
#MusicIndustry #SpotifyPlaylists #MusicMarketing #PlaylistPitching #IndependentArtist #StreamingGrowth #MusicPromotion #ArtistAdvice #MattrixMinute #MatthewRix #MusicBusinessTips #ScamAlert #MusicIndustryTruth


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WEBVTT

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Hey, this is Matthew Ricks and today on the Music

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Business newsletter, we got an email from a manager who

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wants to know is it worth to pay to pitch

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your songs to playlist? But before we get into that,

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I ask that you like and subscribe and leave a comment.

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If you agree with me, or if you disagree with me,

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leave a comment. Please share this video with your friends

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who are also in the music industry. And if you

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have a question on the music industry that you want

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me to answer, all you gotta do is go to

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Matthewricks dot com, click submit your question, give me as

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many details as possible, and we'll answer it here on

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the channel. I don't need you to subscribe, to become

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a member, to buy a book, to book a private

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coaching session. Actually I don't have any of that stuff available.

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You just got to go to Matthew Ricks dot com

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and click submit your question, and make sure to give

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me as many details as possible. So let's dive into

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today's email. He says, Hey, Matthew, my name's Bob. We

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got a lot of bobs. He says, I manage a

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pop artist who's in her late thirties. She's incredibly talented,

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amazing voice, solid catalog, and a great image. You know,

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this guy's a manager, by the way he described all

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of that. That is pure gas from a manager, and

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I'm here for all of it. He goes on. We've

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been building things organically for a while now, and recently

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a few different promotional companies have reached out to me

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through Instagram. I'm gonna buy a red flag. I Am

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actually gonna buy a red flag and then we can

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just wave it with certain things. A few different promotional

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companies have reached out to you through Instagram. Okay, let's

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continue the email for now. He says. These companies are

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claiming that they can get her music placed on major

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Spotify playlist booster streams through curated influencer networks. It's a

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curated influencer networks. How come I haven't been invited to that?

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How come I don't know about it? Let's continue, he says.

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Some of them even send screenshots showing songs they've allegedly

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placed on a big playlist. So let's stop right there. Okay,

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First off, a few different promotional companies have reached out

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to you through pay through Instagram for playlist promotions. I'm

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gonna be honest with you, I don't I know of

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a lot of promotional companies in the music industry. I

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don't know a lot of them that are actually legit.

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But the people I do know who like massively hustle

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for work who are legit in the music industry. There's

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some guys in the music industry that are incredibly like

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hustler mindset for what they do. They do not conduct

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their business on Instagram. When I'm looking for artists to

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em like to interview, I will reach out to them

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on Instagram, just because sometimes it's quicker than a manager.

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But I'm not charging money for interviews. I do it

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because I like their music and I want to give

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them some free promotion. But I don't know a lot

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of companies that are going to I don't even know

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like producers. If they find an artist, they're not really

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conducting business over Instagram. They might start to handshake, here's

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my number or whatever, but they're not really conducting a

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whole lot of business and talking finances or whatever. I

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don't know if that's happening here, but I'm just kind

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of throwing that out there. He said. They're claiming that

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they can get her music placed on major Spotify playlists. No,

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they can't and boost her boost her streams through curated

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influencer networks. Once again, I don't know what a curated

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influencer network is. It must I guess it means that

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they have a network of Spotify playlist influencers. You guys

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keep throwing me. You guys get some weird terms of stuff,

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and I'm like, I've never heard of that before. And

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then some of them sent you screenshots showing songs they've

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allegedly placed on big playlist. So do they show you,

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you know, a Drake's in a playlist? And was like,

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that's our work because anybody can do that. Are they

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showing you a contract or they showed you conversations, but

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screenshots showing you songs they've allegedly placed on big playlist.

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I mean, you know, oh yeah, here, look I work

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with Kendrick and I got a song on this playlist.

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Like it's yeah, that's There's not a lot of social

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proof right there that you're legit. Let's continue with the email.

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He says these companies are asking anywhere from three hundred

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up to fifteen hundred dollars per campaign. Three hundred to

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fifteen hundred dollars per campaign, and that's depending on how

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many playlists we want to be pitched to. See. This

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is where the scam is, and this scam is an

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actually updated version of what the ANR scam was about

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ten years ago. The NR scam ten years ago was

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you'd have these guys who claimed that they were independent consultants,

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but they were independent consultants for you, Universal, Sony, and

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Warner Brothers all at the same time. Not to mention,

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they didn't realize that these major labels have non compete

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clauses and you can't go work for your competitor doing

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the exact same job at the same time. But they

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were they were charging some of them were charging up

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to five thousand dollars to quote unquote picture song to

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these labels. There was one guy and I called him

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out on Twitter like ten years ago, and it got

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so bad that like my team and I were worried

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that he was gonna like show up in an event.

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But he claimed to be an ANAR director and a

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producer Grammy Award winning producer, but he was an an

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R director for Universal Music and he was getting rap

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artists for fifteen thousand dollars a song, and nobody ever

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got signed. But then because he had so many like

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fake body accounts, and he had so many people who

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wanted to work with him but couldn't afford it, So

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they were kind of like his flying monkeys, right that

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when you'd have artists that got scammed by this guy,

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he would have these flying monkeys. They would destroy these

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artists who question anything online about him. And I called

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them out one time on Instagram and I'm like, you

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don't work for Universal, why are you telling people you do?

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And he had his little flying monkeys trying to come

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after me, but I didn't really care because I was

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more worried about like personal safety of people who came

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to our events. But he tried to like call me

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out and say I didn't work for the label that

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I did at the time, and I mean, but I did.

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So it was just him lashing out that somebody was

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telling him, like, I know you're running a scam. That

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was the an R scam back in the day. The

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new scam in the music industry is the playlist pitching scam.

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And this is how the playlist pitching scam goes on you,

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the artists. So this year. You can pay three hundred

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to fifteen hundred dollars depending on how many playlists you want.

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You want to pitch too. And so what they'll do

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is is they'll say, we pitched you a fifty top

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spot playlist. They didn't because they don't know how to

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do it. Because I actually am good friends with one

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of the people who curates a certain genre of music

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for Spotify, and I know what their procedure is. I

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know what they do to make those playlists right. It's

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never about some random fool just like pitching them a

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bunch of artists. It's it's got a lot to do

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with algorithm. It's got a lot to do with your data.

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It's got a lot to do with your traffic. It's

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got a lot to do sonically EQ wise as well.

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But here they are sending you, so they'll pitch you

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to they'll pitch you to fifty playlist and then the

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top ones won't take you. They'll say like, oh, they're

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really interested, but just not right now. Maybe we should

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try again in three six months, so you can pay

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them again for another campaign. But then you'll get on

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some random playlist that's got a bunch of other random

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artists that probably has like seventy thousand and subscribers, but

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they're all fake. And then they've met their obligations. They

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pitched you quote unquote, and they got you on a playlist,

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and so you'll pay them fifteen hundred dollars and they

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did nothing. But let's continue the email. They all promise real,

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organic growth. They're not real or organic and say it's

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not bots or fake streams. It's all bots and it's

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all fake streams. And he continues, but honestly, I've heard

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that line before. Yes, very good. There's a ton of

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we'll do your Instagram promotions and get you. You know,

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they guarantee you. They're so accurate that you pay them

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to handle your Instagram promotions, your YouTube promotions. They guarantee

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you like, we're gonna get you ten thousand followers, and

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you always get exactly ten thousand followers. Why because it's

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all fake bought accounts. But let's continue, he says, But

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I've heard that line before. That's what brings me to

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my question, is it ever actually worth paying for playlist placement?

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You will have at times certain I'm not going to

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say which ones, but certain streaming companies do playlists their

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own version of playlist. Right, they got millions and millions

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of followers, and it is a big deal to get

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on that playlist. It is a big deal. They do

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charge record labels distribution companies money for that placement. You

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cannot get invited to pay them. They come to you

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and say, we want to add this artist to this playlist.

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Here's the price tag, and it's the new It is

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the new promotion. It's a way that streaming services are.

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They're also making extra money that way from the labels,

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but that is from whatever streaming service I'm talking about.

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That is from them reaching out to you. These promotional

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companies doing this. It's not worth it's not worth a penny.

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You give them a penny, that's too much money because

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you're not gonna get anything for it. You're gonna get

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a bunch of fake plays and then two three months

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later going to get a message. Or if you're with

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tune Core or District Kid, if you're with one of

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the other bigger ones, the ones that are a little

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bit harder to get your music distributed through, you're going

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to get an email from Spotify saying we have detected

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fake plays. We have deducted this amount of plays from

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your statement, and then you will lose that money. But

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also what it does. The harm here is is that

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if you're with Distro, Kid, Tune, Core, CD Baby, one

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of those guys, you could possibly lose your entire deal

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with them, like they'll pull they'll they'll pull your music

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and lock your money out for fraud because it technically

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is if you're with more, if you're like with A

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one where it's like you get invited and whatever, then

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you get a check against you and if you continue

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doing it, then Spotify will take your music down, but

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you still lose money. There is then an awkward conversation

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you have to have with distribution. It's it's just it's

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not it's not any good. So is it worth paying

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for UH playlist placement? Not in these such now and

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your artist is just realistically, your artist is nowhere near

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having a streaming service reach out to you and say

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pay us this much and they can be on our

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top playlist. Thing, so it is not worth it. The

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email continues. I understand marketing costs money and I'm not

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expecting overnight success, but I don't want to throw away

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my artist budget on smoking mirrors. I don't know who

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you are, and I don't know who this artist is,

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but you are actually a pretty intelligent manager. And I'll

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say a lot about a lot of managers. Yeah, you

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would be throwing away your artist budget. And I think

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that you also have to realize in your situation that

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your artist budget's probably coming from her job or her

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husband's job, since she's an artist, a woman in her

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late thirties, so this is probably coming from her job,

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her husband's job, family budget, whatever. And you're gonna take

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that money and you're gonna blow it on a scam,

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on fraud. So good for you of being mindful about that.

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That actually shows that you actually care, because some managers

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would be so desperate to have any movement for their

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artists that they would put away their better judgments. I

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got Jones, you know, playlist and eighty thousand people. And

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then when you find out it's a scam, the artist

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that you're working with gets the email that like, hey,

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we're pulling your music from our distro kid account or

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you know, we're deducting this many plays, and you got

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to go back and be like, I didn't properly vet this.

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I'm sorry. I suck as a manager like it's not

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a good look. But the email continues, he says, I

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also don't want to miss out on an opportunity if

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there's a legitimate way to boost visibility. This isn't it.

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There are some really good playlists out there that guys

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have created because they just love the songs. They love music.

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Maybe they do a YouTube channel or Twitch channel and

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they just do their own playlist. You can't pitch to them.

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They just find stuff, they like it, they throw it

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in there. That's because they love the music or they

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love the song they heard. I understand you don't want

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to miss out in a legitimate way to boost visibility,

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but this isn't legit and it's not going to boost visibility.

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It's it is like you put smoke in mirrors. As

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email continues, We're doing all the right things. We're releasing consistently,

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building a fan base on social media, and investing in content.

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I'd like to know how you're investing in content. Are

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you making like are you paying to get your videos done,

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your reels, your shorts? Don't I don't know what investing

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in content means, but I mean it sounds like you

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guys are you know, it sounds like you actually have

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a good head on your shoulders and you know what

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you're doing. And as email continues, but it feels like

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the streaming world is impossible to break into without some

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kind of push. It can be difficult because there's you

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know what, over one hundred million songs on these streaming services. Now,

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the best way you can do it is that if

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you're building a fan base on social media and you're

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investing in content, then you need to direct everybody to Spotify.

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You need to direct to everybody to Apple, Apple mus

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I feel like I say this in every video, but

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it's just so important. And the way that this stuff

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works is you need to micro target. You know, if

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your artist sounds like Areaana Grande and you think that

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are and you're realistic and it seems like you're a

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pretty realistic guy. If you're like Ariana Grande's fans would

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love my artist, you got to start marketing yourself. Start

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pitching yourself to Ariana Grande fans, because if they're listening

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to Ariana Grande and then they go and listen to

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your artist, you get enough of those people. The Spotify algorithm,

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the Apple Music algorithm is going to figure out that

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Area on a Grande fans like your artist. And so

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what happens then when people are on Spotify radio or

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they're on a playlist and a playlist runs out when

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they're looking for new songs, they'll pull your artists because

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there's enough incoming traffic from Areaana Grande fans, from the

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people who listen to Area on Grande all the time,

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and then it'll pull that. And that's actually a really

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effective way of getting that. I mean, like I will

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tell you know, if you're a Christian rapper, get La

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Cree fans, get Indie tribe fans to start listening to

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your music, because the the algorithm's going to figure that out.

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And it's something like Christian hip hop, which is huge,

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but it's still kind of small. So then when you

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put something out, it's going to be easier for you

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to maybe possibly get in the Spotify radar release release radar.

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And that's one of the ways that you can do it,

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you know, because here's the other thing about playlists, Like

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everyone's like, oh, I'm gonna get on a playlist, but

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if there's seventy five songs a week on this playlist

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or fifty songs a week or even thirty songs, and

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they're from a bunch of no name artists. You're not

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gonna have a lot of people who are investing in

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that playlist. We're gonna go and sit and listen to

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every no name artists that they have. They fans aren't

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like that. Industry people are like, I love this, I

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love discovering new music. But most people that go to

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work and they look the music on their way to

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and from work, or on their way to drop the

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kids off or at the gym, they kind of are

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set in their ways. So you have to become a

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little bit more sneakier of how you're going to introduce

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your music to them, which is find an honest comparison

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to an artist that your artist sounds like, and go

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after those fans and get them to go to Spotify

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so they can stream your song. The email continues. Is

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playlist pitching ever a smart move? No, it's not. Or

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is it just another modern version of pay to play radio.

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It's not even pay to play radio. Because of pay

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to play radio back in the day, record labels would

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pay radio stations to play their song. This is you

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giving good money at bad things. This is you taking

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fifteen hundred dollars and getting on a playlist that nobody

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listens to with a bunch of other no name artists.

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And here's the thing about playlist. I could start a

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playlist today and I could go buy two million fake

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subscribers on Spotify to like my playlist, right, and I

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could throw a Drake song on the top of that

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playlist or a Slipnot song on the top of that playlist,

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and then what happens, Oh, we we got Drake's on

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our playlist. He you know, he works with us. And

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you're like, oh, my gosh's Drake works with these guys

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or Kendrick you know, or a little boozy And then what

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happens You give him fifteen hundred bucks and you realize, Okay,

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I got a lot of plays from Indonesia, I got

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a lot of plays from Nigeria. I think we got scammed.

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By that point, you're not getting your money back by

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the time you realize what has happened. Even if like

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they you know, because you're probably not gonna pay him

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with PayPal. You definitely ain't paying them with a credit

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card or anything. It's probably gonna be like bitcoin or

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what I mean. I saw one time a scam was

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wanting to be paid by Western Union. Well that seems legit.

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All the all the good companies take payment exclusively through

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Western Union. So this isn't pay to play this, This

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is just straight up music industry scam. And he says,

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he continues, and if it can be worth it, how

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do you tell the difference between a scam and a

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real opportunity. Well, one, they're not going to talk business

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over Instagram. They're definitely not going to talk money over Instagram.

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They're going to have Okay, let's say right now so

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I don't get blasted. There are companies who actually do

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legitimate Spotify playlist pitching. Okay, they are going to be

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very selective on the artist they pick because they have

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that relationship and they don't want to use that relationship.

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The other thing is going to be is that there's

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going to be some sort of guarantee of something, and

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not that anything in life is a guarantee, but they're

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going to be able to at least get you on

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something because they're so selective on the artist they do

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take on to pitch that they know already ahead of time,

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Like we got this playlist, we can work you too.

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It's like with radio promotion. There's people who they'll take you,

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oh yeah, we'll promote your song to radio whatever. But

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the legit radio promoters, they hear a song and they're like, okay,

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we can take it to this market, to this genre.

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And then also a lot of times they turn down

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a lot of stuff like I can't feel it, I

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don't think this is the right song, I don't think

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it's a good radio single, and they'll turn down the

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money because they go, it's not gonna work. So if

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there was a legit playlist company out there, they're going

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to they're gonna just handle things differently. It's not gonna

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be done over Instagram. They're probably not hitting you up.

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They're probably waiting for you to hit them up. And

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they're they're gonna they're gonna kind of come with a

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little bit of somewhat of a guarantee that you're not

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gonna just be wasting your money, and they're gonna be

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very very selective on who they work with. So anyways,

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he says, I appreciate any guidance you can offer. Your

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insight would mean a lot. Best Bob, Well, Bob okay.

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And also back at the top of your email, you

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said it's anywhere from three hundred to fifteen hundred. That's

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a huge swing. It's gonna be based on how many

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fake playlists you want to be ated to. That's it.

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So you're gonna pay fifteen hundred dollars to have your

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artist who I can tell you've really thought it out.

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You really enjoy working with this artist. You see, I'm

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pretty smart. So you're gonna take fifteen hundred dollars of

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her money, send it to a bunch of scammers, and

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then her song is gonna be on a bunch of

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playlists that nobody listens to, and all the plays that

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you get will be from bots. Oh by the way,

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they're not gonna be premium plays, so you're not making

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any money from those plays. And until they Spotify catches

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it and they pull back those plays and possibly shut

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down your account, you're gonna have a lot of plays

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from a lot of hot spots of music. Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Cambodia,

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you know the hotspots. So my advice would be just

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keep targeting your fan base, don't go wide. What other

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fans could your artists pull from start micro targeting them,

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get them to go to Spotify, get them to go

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to Apple Music, get them to go to title, listen

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to the song. Hope you know this is where your

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your artist hopefully is going in and talking with them

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and hey, I mean a lot if you saved my

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song or if you liked it to your Spotify profile,

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because most people would do that, if there'd be an

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honest yeah, totally, because it doesn't cost them anything, it

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doesn't take any time of their life. And then that

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way you start building the algorithm. But very good email.

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And I think, Bob, I think you're gonna be able

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to save some people from being scammed with the twenty

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twenty five music industry scam of Spotify playlist placement. And

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if you have a question on the music industry that

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you'd like for me to answer, just go to Matthew

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00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:45.160
Ricks dot com click submit your question, give me as

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00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.799
many details as possible, and I'll get to it. We'll

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answer it here on this channel, but until next time,

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I will talk to you later