Being a musician today is hard. There’s so much out there. It’s so difficult to cut through the clutter and get people to listen to your work.

Which is why we’ve been so thrilled with the progress one of our musician clients has made. In this case study, we’ll look at the tactics we used to help them increase the number of people streaming their music by over 3500% year-over-year.

This particular client is in a bit of a unique situation. He’s actually been a successful kids musician for decades, and his work really took off in the ‘90s, with multiple albums, live shows, and more. He was even featured on Barney!

Over the years, however, fewer people have bought his CDs. (Who listens to CDs nowadays?) And he worried about the music essentially disappearing. Our goal: bring him back. Introduce new kids — and new people in general — to his music, and remind old fans how much they love him.

How did we do that?

To Get Ear(ball)s, We Started with Eyeballs

As someone who was big when the internet was still in its infancy, this client’s online presence was a bit lacking. He had a website, but it was decades old and didn’t really reflect the joy, tone, and style of his music. Also, largely due to age, it didn’t look particularly professional or offer people ways to engage with his music that reflected our modern sensibilities. In other words, there was a shopping cart where people could buy CDs, but little else.

So one of the first things we did was completely overhaul his site to really make it feel like a fun, useful place for kids, parents, and educators to go. This meant not only a visual redesign with children’s art that matches his aesthetic, but also pages detailing how specific songs could be used as teaching tools. 

Additionally, we worked with him to create regular social media content and ensure that his messages were all on-brand. Even more importantly, we made sure those posts were actually seen by running boosts and ad campaigns for his specific target audience.

More Clicks, More Follows, More Visitors 

The strategy has resulted in a slow but steady rise over the past few years, with more people engaging with his accounts.

December Performance
Year-over-Year Comparison

All of which is fantastic. But remember that his ultimate goal was to keep the music alive. Make sure more people discovered it and fell in love. 

And of course, there is a business goal behind that. In this case, that means people purchasing CDs or listening to music on streaming services, which pay a royalty.

Social media metrics don’t bring in revenue. So we’re always careful to ensure our focus is on doing work that does more than merely create vanity metrics; we want to bring in more dollars for our clients.

That’s where things really get good with this story!

Sales and Streams and Such

Modernizing the site and streamlining the shopping cart has also led to a slow-but-steady increase in sales. But the real explosion over the past year has occurred in streaming:

His overall 2023 streaming numbers are up by a staggering 3872% from 2022. Streams on Spotify and Amazon have gone up by 4896% and 6139%, respectively. 

Those streaming numbers mean more people discovering – or rediscovering – his music, and it also means there is a financial result from our efforts. That’s how we measure our success with clients.

Marketing Takes Time and Consistency 

This is how it works. This is how it happens. You build something that is worth people’s time and attention. You keep hitting them with your message to make sure you stay top-of-mind. And, over time, you can see exponential growth.

There’s no shortcut or magic bullet. Like every other aspect of running a business, marketing is a process, and it’s one you should take seriously, since it impacts your ability to grow.

Interested in how we can help your business grow? Set up a free consultation.