Ten Ways to Reach One Million Streams in 12 Months or Less

Three years ago, I had a desk job working for a large consulting firm on government contracts. Although I felt I was making an important contribution in that role, I felt it was time to tap into my creative interests once again. That’s when I decided to take up being a DJ to expand my opportunities for self-expression.

A few months later, after my local parties started gaining success, I started dabbling in production to make my own classic Nu Disco anthems. Three years later, my productions have now amassed over 2 million streams with FVYDID and Proton Radio, and I’ve gained over 10K followers across social media by supporting award-winning producers like Cedric Gervais, Martin Jensen, Oliver Nelson, Yung Bae, and Lost Frequencies at top US venues like the 9:30 Club, U Street Music Hall, Soundcheck, Artisan Hotel Las Vegas, and Hamilton Live.

I wanted to share some insights and experiences from my own career into how one can maximize the success and reach of their releases in their production career.

1. Make social media work promote itself: Use social media marketing sites like View Maniac, The Falling Apple, and Submithub to connect with organic followers that will interact and share your releases.

2. Feature your content on other artists’ projects: Pitch your releases to the radio shows and mix series of influential producers in your genre like Armin Van Buuren's "State of Trance," Defected Records' "Glitterbox Radio," and Above & Beyond's "Group Therapy" Radio shows.

3. Get placements on Spotify and Soundcloud Playlists: Connect with playlist-pitching services like PlaylistPush and Soundplate or email independent playlist curators like Joe and the Juice and Blisspop to get your releases heard on some of digital music sites’ most popular playlists.

4. Create Unique and Visually Appealing Advertisements: Download Adobe Creative Cloud to create GIFs and live audio images with Adobe After Effects and Photoshop that will grab audiences’ attention of your latest releases on social media.

5. Connect with Bloggers and Publicists: Reach out to genre-specific blog sites like YourEDM, We Rave You, EDM Sauce, and DJ Mag for potential track and album features to introduce your music and artist profile to new audiences.

6. Build a Robust Email Listserv: Keep track of your listeners’ email addresses and build a robust listserv to keep fans up-to-speed with your latest releases by embedding unqiue GIFs and track previews in your messages. Websites list MailChimp, ReverbNation, and Wix all have robust email platforms that can help you do this.

7. Make "how to" videos to bring your audience into your process: Purchase video tutorial software like Camtasia or hire a local videographer to film a 20-30 minute tutorial on how you made one of your hit tracks or what tools you typically use to produce your music.

8. Brand your release catchy title and image: Connect with designers from sites like Fiverr, 99 Designs, and Thumbtack to emphasize how you want the title and image to look on your release to best drive your branding strategy and familiarize your release among your target market.

9. Conduct special promos and release giveaways: Use popular “download gate” providers like ToneDen, Hypeddit, or Hype Machine to offer special merchandise and promotional copies of your records to build audience loyalty and connect with fellow artists that can help push your releases.

10. Host Remix Competitions to Engage New Audiences with your Release: Promote your release by collaborating and breaking new talent by hosting remix competitions for your originals on popular production sites like WAVO, Splice, and Remix Comps.