When it comes to music, the ‘build it and they will come’ mentality rarely plays out the way artists would like, and the vast majority of the time, fans have to be found and actively converted. Here, Chris Robley guides us through this process and how artists can practically go about growing their listenership.
By Chris Robley from CD Baby’s DIY Musician
FANS! (But they don’t invent themselves.)
There’s a movie where a ghost tells a guy to build a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield, promising that when he does, thousands of sports fans — and a few more ghosts — will show up and pay the guy money.
Sounds great, right?
Except nothing like that has ever happened in real life. Not in baseball, and not in music.
Okay, sure, Woodstock might be the closest thing, but even that required a big promotion effort.
New listeners have to be found and converted.
Every artist wants to grow their audience. We forget though that “grow” is a verb; and just because your song is on Spotify doesn’t mean anyone will hear it.
First they need to know. Then they need to wonder. Then they need to care.
We need to lead new listeners on a journey, in this order:
- Awareness
- Curiosity
- Enjoyment
While we WANT new fans, what we first NEED is reach. Reach, plus good music and a message that makes people want to click.
That’s why CD Baby built a tool to help you reach targeted music listeners effectively and affordably. You create great music and a compelling story, and we’ll help you spread that message to the right music fans.
See your music and message on Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard, MTV, and more.
Show.co’s Ad Builder is the most powerful and cost effective way to run premium ads.
With Ad Builder you can announce your latest single, album, video, or tour by placing banner ads on the best music websites in the world, including:
- Rolling Stone
- Billboard
- Complex
- Pitchfork
- MTV
- NME
- Dancing Astronaut
- EDM.com
- Consequence Of Sound
- Brooklyn Vegan
- Stereogum
- And many more
No one else has a curated ad network with such a deep music focus.
In fact, you get more possible ad placements through Ad Builder than… LITERALLY ANY OTHER METHOD! Plus, it’s extremely difficult or even impossible to place ads on these premium websites via Google AdWords, Facebook, Instagram, or other advertising solutions. Ad Builder makes it not only possible, but simple and affordable for independent musicians on a budget.
Better ad results at the lowest cost possible.
Carlos Santana recently ran a campaign using Ad Builder and the results far outperformed going direct with the website publishers, saving his team roughly 75% on their ad spend.
No matter what your budget or level of acclaim, Ad Builder can similarly help you get your message out there, and drive results at a lower cost. Going direct to place a banner on RollingStone.com, for instance, would require that you spend a minimum of $5,000, and cost you $17 per thousand impressions (CPM). To say that again: For every thousand people who’d see your banner when you advertise directly, you’d pay $17.
With Ad Builder you can place banners on RollingStone.com for a minimum budget of $50, and our users’ average CPMs have been under $3. That’s a thousand peoples’ eyes on your ad for an average of $3.
Average CPC (cost per click) through Ad Builder has been $0.28 with lows as low as $0.05.
CPC is the amount you pay every time someone who sees your ad actually clicks on it. Ad Builder’s average cost per click has been 28 cents, and gone as low at 5 cents; those rates are really good.
Compare that to:
- Google Banners: Avg. CPC $0.56
- Facebook Ads: Avg. CPC $0.44
- Instagram Ads: Avg. CPC $1.41
Ad Builder is cheaper than anyone else.
We built this tool to help you extend your reach.
It’s easy to use, and more effective and affordable than other banner ad solutions. So get your message out there.
Try Ad Builder next time you want to spread the word about your latest release, tour, or video.
If you’re a CD Baby client, you can create a free Show.co account from within your CD Baby dashboard. Just click “Free Marketing Tools” under the “Featured Tools” section. Go HERE to get started.