Here’s how it typically works. You devote endless hours, your entire being, and perhaps even the soul of your firstborn child to a song. You put it through production, mixing, mastering, and recording. You just adore it. You choose a release date at random, spread the word on social media, and become too excited. You anticipate the day with great enthusiasm. When the release day arrives, nothing happens.

You might receive a few thousand plays. Maybe your mother sends you a congrats text. A week after your music is released, you realise that no one will actually hear it. You see one saved playlist when you look at your Spotify artist statistics. You did it. Your own playlist is where you saved the song.
Yes, being an independent artist can be really difficult.

The good news is that there are legitimate services for independent music promotion. Here is our evaluation of the top 10 independent music promotion services.

1. Promozle

I love Promozle, just so you know. They does pretty much everything, including press releases, and YouTube video promotions, and (this is a key selling point). They are quite open about what to expect when working with them. Promozle and I have communicated for a number of campaigns, and  promozle has always been incredibly helpful and responsive. You may read our thorough and frank review of an Promozle campaign here.

They are also worth mentioning because  their services start with just minimum amount. Promozle is expert in Hip Hop Music Video Promotion. If you are a musician and want to promote your music then you must take service from them. They are making themself a relatively accessible entry point for many independent artists.

He shares music on YouTube with his millions of fans. He adds songs to playlists for Spotify. With several geographic targeting choices available depending on your budget, YouTube is a little more challenging.

2. Push Playlist

Another excellent choice for independent musicians who are just concerned with Spotify streaming is Playlist Push. Although they have broadened their offerings to include Tik Tok marketing, in my opinion Spotify is still where they excel. I just conducted a campaign with them to drive streams, and it was rather effective — there were more than 40k streams, and the algorithm continued to expand. Here is a comprehensive evaluation I wrote.

They essentially collaborate with a number of independent playlist curators to promote independent music to a wide audience; at the moment, they work with 900 curators, who collectively have a listening audience of over 25 million people. Campaigns start at roughly $300, and the typical campaign costs $450, making them also reasonably priced. (Fun bonus because I’m an affiliate: you can save money if you use the code CXUFDQ2.)

3. Independent Music School

Ryan Waczek’s Indie Music Academy is a third excellent choice for Spotify-specific advertising. Ryan is a fantastic guy, a friend of mine, and a pro at creating Spotify playlist positions due to the strength of his curator network. Using his service, I recently launched a playlisting campaign that resulted in 25k+ streams in less than a month.That is fantastic.

And Ryan is careful to point out that they are legitimate streams. You may get a tonne of useful information on how to tell whether playlists have real involvement or not by visiting Indie Music Academy. To cut a long story short, the Indie Music Academy team searches Spotify for lists that are actually appearing in search results, and then verifies that listener engagement patterns correspond to, you know,

Indie Music Academy is an excellent choice for hands-on Spotify promotion even if they don’t offer the same range of services as some other businesses on this list.

4. Starlight PR

These individuals are slightly larger. A couple names you may be familiar with are among their former clientele, including, oh, Post Malone and Cardi B. And the starting price for their package is $39,999. (If you had that type of money lying around, it would probably be wiser to buy a Tesla.) But they also offer genuine and practical startup packages for independent artists.

Their independent beginning bundle is now priced at $479, which is still quite a bit of money. However, it also includes a press release, a promise of an interview, and at least seven blog placements. In all honesty, it’s not a horrible deal given everything.

5. Planetary Group

Another substantial one From Ray Lamontagne to Katy Perry to Kings of Leon, these men have collaborated with everyone. However, they also provide promo packages for individuals like you and me who are little, unimportant independent artists. I’ve spoken with Adam, the company’s creator, and everyone I’ve heard about them from has said they’re “professional and good to work with.”

their service page states:

We can find a method to assist you whether you’re a well-known musician, working on your debut album, or have just finished recording your first song in your bedroom.

Customization is the main focus of Planetary. Since they sell more services than packages, you must have a good understanding of your wants and objectives prior to working with them if you want their campaign to be successful. However, they are certainly excellent.

6. YouGrow

YouGrow is focused on two areas: Spotify and YouTube. Although I haven’t (yet) worked on a YouTube campaign with them, I was pleased with the outcomes of their Spotify efforts.

I worked with Matt, who is incredibly kind, knowledgeable, and responsive – definitely a plus in terms of providing excellent customer service. We were successful in securing four good placements for my client’s track, which generated about 10,000 streams. Although I’ve conducted campaigns with better results, those results were good considering the cost.

And after looking over the playlists and streams, I could see that the content was created by actual people, not robots. It’s encouraging that the algorithmic reach of the music has kept expanding.

7. Promotions for independent music

These guys are appealing to me because they emphasise “music with depth”—a notion that is important to my own heart. I.M.P. founder James Moore explains it like this:

We exclusively support talented, original bands and artists. We want to hear from you if you are a musical prodigy who epitomises creative fervour and is bold enough to try something novel.

I adore it. It might not be your thing if you’re purposefully creating generic pop songs. But I believe it’s worthwhile to try if you put passion into your song.

Standard campaigns from I.M.P. start at $795, which is a bit more expensive than some of the other options on the list (although that intro option comes with 10 guaranteed placements, which is solid). However, the more expensive cost is acceptable given the extent and intensity of the labour these people accomplish. In each of our campaigns, we reinvest a sizeable portion back into targeted advertising, sponsored news content, etc., James explained why they “start (at $795).” So, yes, you are receiving more than just the usual press release request.

Additionally, you will receive a 5% discount if you mention code TWOSTORY when contacting them. Excellent work there.

8. FORCED PR

One of the first individuals I spoke to when I started delving into the area of independent music promotion was Dawn from PRESSED PR. She had kindly agreed to jump on the phone with me and discuss how she operates her business after I had graciously agreed to her request for coverage on a Corey Kilgannon track. Overall, she is quite good.

She does everything, including branding, visuals (including live photography work), tour assistance, and music promotion across essentially all platforms. Almost every time I’ve participated in one of her initiatives, I’ve been impressed because she’s great at adapting them to artist needs (very slight pun).

PRESSED PR is without a doubt a fantastic option for promotion if you’re an independent singer-songwriter, and Dawn is a wonderful person.

9. Promotion of Playlists

They promote playlists rather than press releases or other social media sites, as implied by the name, and I can personally witness to their effectiveness.

Through Steven, their PR manager, I ran a campaign for one of the musicians I collaborate with. We were added to three playlists with a total of roughly 28,000 followers in a matter of weeks. The tune we were working on received roughly 10,000 streams throughout the course of the following month.

Even though the band is from the US, a few of those places came from international playlists; nonetheless, the streams were all legitimate, even if they won’t translate to concertgoers anytime soon, and the playlists all contained songs in English. Playlist Promotion requests applications from musicians, so a) they don’t accept everyone because they want to make sure the material fits their network and b) they won’t just take your money and disappear (which, sadly, happens too often from some of the scammier promoters out there).

Playlist Promotion is a service that’s absolutely worth checking into if you want to improve your streams. Additionally, because I’m one of their affiliates, you can use the code 20off to get $20 off your campaign.

10.Shorefire

I’ve been familiar with Shorefire for some time because I’m on their press mailing list. In essence, this means that I frequently receive fantastic emails from this company about fantastic musicians, and I occasionally write about their roster (which includes Dave Matthews Band and Jewel). Without a question, Shorefire excels at public relations.

But there was one reason I didn’t include the business on this list: I had them marked in my mind as a location for signed artists to obtain publicity, and this list is meant to be a list of the greatest services for independent artists.

But as it happens, Shorefire does collaborate with independent artists. Ari Herstand, who has been dubbed “the poster kid for independent music,” actually employed the business to manage promotion for his most recent record. I thus updated my categorisation, and they are now listed.

All things considered, these people are excellent. This is one of your greatest chances if you’re seeking to launch a large press campaign, which would entail getting your work recognised in sources like Rolling Stone, NPR, Stereogum, and other extremely top-tier publications. Although it will cost more than most of the other companies on this list, the work will be of high quality.

Conclusion

I wish you luck in selecting the best website to market your music. These websites are experts at promoting videos, so that you can get more YouTube views, likes, subscribers.