Spotify Showcase Campaign: A Case Study on Boosting Streams for dylAn’s Intertwined

Spotify Showcase allows you to select various headers from New Music & You Might Like.

At Wayward Publishing, we pride ourselves on designing innovative campaigns that maximize exposure for our artists. Our recent Spotify Showcase campaign for dylAn's single Intertwined (October 18–20, 2024) is a testament to how tailored advertising can effectively build an audience and create lasting engagement.

Here’s a breakdown of the campaign, its results, and the actionable insights we’ve gained.

What Is a Spotify Showcase Campaign?

Spotify Showcase is a powerful advertising tool designed for artists to promote their music directly within the Spotify app. These ads target potential listeners who haven’t streamed the promoted track recently (within the past 21 days) and appear as banners in the Spotify mobile app. The Showcase feature enables artists to reach users likely to engage with their music based on listening behavior and preferences.

With Showcase, you can:

• Target specific audience segments, such as super listeners, light listeners, or previously active fans.

• Promote individual tracks, albums, or releases to drive intentional streams.

• Analyze detailed performance metrics, including saves, playlist adds, and listener conversions.

For artists like dylAn, this feature ensures that promotional efforts are both efficient and impactful, reaching audiences ready to discover new music.

Campaign Overview

• Objective: Promote Intertwined to untapped audiences on Spotify, specifically targeting "Super listeners" and four additional audience segments.

• Budget: $100

• Reach: 10,237 individuals in the United States who hadn’t intentionally streamed Intertwined in the last 21 days.

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Key Metrics & Results

1. Reach & Engagement

• Clicks: 295 listeners engaged by clicking on the campaign link.

• Conversion Rate: 0.8% of those reached intentionally streamed the track after exposure.

2. Active Audience Development

• New Active Listeners: 83 first-time listeners joined dylAn's audience after intentionally streaming Intertwined. These listeners had no prior engagement with dylAn's music on Spotify in the last two years.

• Reactivated Listeners: 1 listener, previously part of dylAn’s audience, returned and streamed the track.

• Amplified Listeners: 2 listeners intentionally streamed Intertwined for the first time after seeing the campaign.

3. Intent to Engage Further

• Save Rate: 12.8% of converted listeners saved a track or album from the campaign.

• Playlist Add Rate: 5.8% added Intertwined or other tracks to their playlists.

• Overall Adds: 24 saves and 7 playlist additions, demonstrating genuine interest in dylAn’s work.

4. Cross-Release Engagement

• Other Streams: 4 converted listeners explored additional releases by dylAn, streaming them intentionally.

What Worked

• Targeting Untapped Audiences: By focusing on listeners with no recent engagement, the campaign reached new ears. The potential audience segment alone drove the most significant results, converting 83 new active listeners.

• Strong Call-to-Action: Showcase ads effectively positioned Intertwined in a way that encouraged immediate streams and saves.

Room for Improvement

• Segment Engagement: Despite targeting super and moderate listeners, these segments didn’t convert. Adjusting messaging or delivery for these audiences in future campaigns could yield better results.

• Increased Intent Metrics: While intent rates (17.4%) and playlist adds (7) were solid, experimenting with ad creatives could help boost these metrics.

Takeaways for Artists

1. Invest in Building Active Audiences: The campaign proved that intentional streaming leads to increased likelihood of repeat engagement—up to 4x more plays in the next six months.

2. Use Data to Refine Targeting: Continuous refinement of audience segments ensures that your music reaches those most likely to become loyal fans.

3. Sustained Growth: The combination of saved tracks, playlist adds, and cross-release streams demonstrates the potential for campaigns to build a sustainable fan base.

Conclusion: Best Practices for Evaluating Your Spotify Showcase Campaign

At Wayward Publishing, we don’t just run campaigns; we analyze their performance to refine our strategies and deliver better results for our artists. Based on our experience with dylAn's Intertwined Showcase campaign, here are some best practices for evaluating and maximizing the impact of your own Spotify campaigns:

1. Check in on Your Results Regularly

Spotify Showcase provides metrics about 24 hours after your campaign starts, and updates continue until the campaign ends. However, it’s important to revisit your campaign results 14 days after it concludes—this is when Spotify finalizes all metrics, giving you a complete picture of its performance.

2. Focus on Intent Rate for Long-Term Impact

While immediate metrics like clicks and conversions provide a snapshot of engagement, the intent rate is a strong indicator of future streams. Listeners who save your track or add it to playlists are likely to continue streaming beyond the 14-day attribution window, creating sustained growth.

3. Gain Insights on Your Audience

Understanding how different audience segments (like super listeners, light listeners, or potential listeners) interact with your release can offer valuable insights. Use these data points to refine your targeting and optimize future campaigns. If audience segments aren’t available yet, compare results across your catalog to see how different projects resonate with your listeners.

4. Remember: Depth Over Breadth

Spotify Showcase automatically tailors your audience to relevant listeners. Unlike other platforms where you manually filter for audiences, Showcase emphasizes reaching engaged listeners who are more likely to become long-term fans. Focus on the quality of engagement rather than just the volume of reach.

5. Manage Expectations Based on Release Type

Metrics like streams per listener, saves, and playlist adds vary significantly depending on the release type (e.g., single vs. album) and its lifecycle (new vs. catalog). When evaluating campaigns across different releases, focus on percentages (like save rates or playlist add rates) to ensure a fair comparison.

Summary of Best Practices

• Monitor Metrics Over Time: Revisit results 14 days after your campaign ends for finalized data.

• Use Intent Rate as a Future Indicator: Intent rates reveal likely ongoing engagement.

• Leverage Audience Insights: Segment-specific data helps refine your next campaign.

• Prioritize Quality Engagement: Showcase ensures you reach relevant listeners, driving depth of results.

• Compare Fairly: When analyzing campaigns, consider percentages for differences in release types and stages.

By applying these best practices, you can maximize the value of your Spotify Showcase campaigns and turn data into actionable insights. At Wayward Publishing, we’re here to help artists like dylAn grow their audience and deepen their connection with fans through data-driven marketing strategies. Let us help you craft campaigns that make an impact.

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Ready to take your music marketing to the next level? Contact Wayward Publishing and let’s get started!