Here at Loudlab, we understand that as an artist, manager, or even a music label, it is easy to solely focus on major cities such as Los Angeles, London, and New York to promote your music.
But what if we told you that the best countries for social media marketing for your music are not what you may think?
The music business today is quite different from what it was ten or twenty years ago. Platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes revolutionized how music is enjoyed and, most importantly, monetized. Consequently, markets have shifted significantly. If one desires to generate sizable revenue off their music, they must understand the power of targeting specific nations or cities. This article will offer insights into how to do that.
The Three Main Categories
Let’s start from the top. As an artist, manager, or label, there are three main groups of countries that you should target for your digital marketing. For this article, we will focus on Facebook ad targets for Spotify.
- Developed nations
- Latin-speaking countries
- Vietnam and India
1. Developed Nations
These mainly consist of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Northern Europe. What makes them stand out is the value of their payouts per stream, primarily because they are at the very center of the music world. Iceland, for instance, has the highest payout at $0.006 per stream and $6182.9 per one million streams. In comparison, Spotify pays only $702.53 per one million streams in Tunisia.
Developed nations have more leverage in the industry. They also have a bigger audience and a consumer base willing to spend more time and money on music. The more money they spend, the more the money that gets to the artist.
2. Latin-Speaking Countries
What these countries don’t offer in terms of pay – they all sit in the middle of the pack – they make up for in volume. In general, audiences in countries like Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Colombia, and Italy engage, share and comment a lot more than their counterparts in developed nations. This applies whether an artist is new, emerging, or already a staple in the music industry.
It is the engagement that creates traction for an artist. It allows their music to be recommended to more listeners, thereby racking up the numbers and getting more people interested in their songs. The more ears they have, the more money they make, and this is the biggest strength that these Latin-speaking countries have over more developed nations.
3. Vietnam and India
These two countries pay the middle range, just like their Latin-speaking counterparts. However, their most considerable value is just how affordable it is to target listeners therein, compared to the volume of engagement you get in return. This is the case, not just with Spotify but also with YouTube.
India, for instance, dominates the top 10 YouTube Max Daily Views chart, indicating that there is an audience ready to consume whatever content is available on the internet. As an artist, manager, or label, targeting such a market is guaranteed to yield more significant and better rewards than targeting other developed countries like the United States.
Key Take-Aways
Gone are the days when the big music labels and distributors dictated the music market. Thanks to the internet, the power has been shifted to creators and consumers. As it currently stands, the consumer can even be in the most remote part of a country yet still offer value to the content creator.
It is wise to target main markets such as the United States and Europe to market your music digitally. However, as a creator, manager, or label, it is about time you started considering other lesser-known nations in Asia and Latin-speaking countries. The market is already there. Moreover, the cost of targeting them, even with Facebook ads, is relatively low and affordable, and your investment is guaranteed to pay off many times over. So quit focusing too much on the big markets and make that shift today. If prominent artists such as Lauv have benefitted from it, so can you.
