Service Guidelines

 

Overview:

 

→ 1. Welcome to Organic Music Promotion 

 

→ 2. Understanding Our SEO Playlist Strategy

 

→ 3. Our Promotion Packages for Artists

 

→ 4. Setting Realistic Engagement Expectations

 

→ 5. Our Refund and Cancellation Terms

 

→ 6. Detailed Scope of Our Services

 

→ 7. Your Role in the Promotion Process

 

→ 8. Analyze Your Promotion’s Impact

 

→ 9. Ethical Compliance and Quality Assurance

 

→ 10. Post-Promotion Strategies for Sustained Growth

 

→ 11. Service Limitations: Our Playlist Network

 

→ 12. Verifying the Authenticity of Your Music Promotion

 

 

1. Welcome to Organic Music Promotion

 

Welcome to Moonstrive Media, your organic music promotion partner.

 

Our company specializes in promoting music exclusively with SEO playlists on Spotify and YouTube. To ensure that our clients have a clear understanding of our services, we have established these guidelines. Our approach is focused on achieving real growth and platform compliance, which will help you sustainably increase your digital music presence.
By choosing us, you are investing in a strategy that prioritizes your success and helps you achieve your goals.

 

 

2. Understanding Our SEO Playlist Strategy

 

It’s crucial to understand SEO playlisting to comprehend how genuine playlist promotion works.

 

● SEO Playlist Benefits

 

At Moonstrive Media, we use the power of SEO to increase the visibility of your music on Spotify and YouTube. By pitching your song on playlists that appear in the top search results (SEO playlists), we ensure that it reaches listeners who are searching for music in your musical style.

Unlike fraudulent playlists that fake engagement, we focus on authentic playlists with real audiences. Our difference is that we promote your music through highly-ranked playlists, ensuring that your growth is both meaningful and sustainable.

 

 

To start a promotion with us, please select and purchase the package(s) on our website. Please note that one package represents the promotion of one song.

 

 

● Process Insights after ordering

 

Step 1. Song Evaluation

Your song will be carefully reviewed by our team to assess its potential for promotion. This first step involves evaluating the overall quality of the song and its suitability for SEO playlists. Quality, both in terms of musical composition and technical production (mixing and mastering), plays a key role at this stage. If we are unable to work with your song, you will be notified, and the promotion will be canceled, and your money refunded.

 

Step 2. Playlist Pitching

Once your song passes our review, it’s pitched to our exclusive network of SEO playlists designed to maximize organic exposure. Our focus is on placing your music in environments where it’s most likely to be discovered and appreciated by listeners. This stage is critical to ensuring your music reaches the best possible audience, contributing to organic traffic and engagement that is royalty-eligible and accepted by streaming platforms.

 

Step 3. Playlist Selection

Playlist selection is a meticulous process driven by the goal of driving organic traffic directly to your music. All playlists in our network either get traffic through SEO or no traffic at all. Playlists are selected based on the following key criteria:

 

• • Musical Vibe Matching: The essence of your song is matched with playlists that have a similar musical vibe, ensuring a harmonious fit.

 

• • Activity level: When in doubt, our team chooses the more active playlist to ensure your music is heard.

 

• • Fulfillment of package requirements: We strive to meet the specific requirements (scope of service) of your chosen promotion package, including playlist follower reach, number of placements, and expected stream range, to ensure your music gets the exposure it deserves.

 

 

3. Our Promotion Packages for Artists

 

Moonstrive Media offers playlist promotion packages for Spotify and YouTube to meet different artist needs.

 

●

 

• Follower Reach:

  We specify the total follower reach across all playlists where your music will be featured, ensuring a wide audience base. While not a direct indicator of engagement, follower reach helps us scale our packages.

 

• Placement Expectations:

  Clearly defined range of playlist placements. All placements combined must be considered as promotion results.

 

• Expected Streams:

  An estimated range of streams your track is likely to achieve, providing a clear expectation of the impact of the promotion. Results may exceed the high end of the estimate, and we will ensure that the minimum stream estimate is met.

 

• Promotion Duration:

  Duration options range from a few weeks to several months, allowing for flexibility and sustained exposure.

 

• Start of promotion:

  Your promotion begins typically within 1-4 business days when your song is placed on the selected playlists. You will receive a summarizing promotion report once all anticipated placements are done.

 

 

●

 

• Views Guarantee:

  Our packages are designed to guarantee a minimum number of views and are tailored to support both emerging artists and established acts seeking broader exposure.

 

• Number of Placements:

  Depending on the package selected, your video will be featured in a numbered series of our curated YouTube playlists. These playlists are chosen for their SEO effectiveness and ability to drive significant daily views.

 

• Delivery Time (Approximate):

  While we strive to fulfill the view count guarantee as efficiently as possible, delivery times are approximate and may vary. Smaller packages may see faster fulfillment, while larger packages may take longer due to their ambitious view targets. This timeframe allows for the accumulation of views to appear as natural and organic as possible.

 

• Start of promotion:

  Your promotion begins when your video is placed on the selected playlists, kicking off the period of increased exposure. The effectiveness of the placement, particularly the position within the playlist, can have a significant impact on the number of views, with videos placed in the top positions often receiving a higher share of the playlist’s total viewership.

 

 

4. Setting Realistic Engagement Expectations

 

Our promotions drive real growth and engagement for your music on Spotify and YouTube. Understanding the engagement nature is key to having realistic expectations.

 

● Variable Results:

 

• Search volume and playlist SEO:

  The effectiveness of a playlist in attracting listeners is largely influenced by the search volume of its associated keywords and its SEO positioning. While we optimize playlists for high search visibility, shifts in listener search behavior can affect the actual number of streams your song receives. For example, spikes and dips in traffic can be a result of temporary trends.

 

• Playlist dynamics:

  Your song’s position within a playlist and the number of followers the playlist has can affect its performance. However, a high number of followers does not necessarily guarantee active listening. SEO playlists are found by new listeners every day, so a playlist’s listener base is not static. Our focus on keyword optimization and SEO ranking is aimed at driving organic traffic to the playlists where your song is featured.

 

 

● Typical Engagement Insights for Playlist Promotion on:

 

 

 

• Saves and playlist adds:

  Generally moderate. Direct listener saves from playlists are typical, but save rates can vary due to listeners’ passive engagement habits. A song’s performance may also influence this outcome, suggesting a correlation between song appeal and listener interaction.

 

• Artist Profile Followers:

  Typically low. Spotify’s interface design does not easily support following artists directly from playlists. This interface design contributes to lower rates of new follower acquisition for artists featured on playlists.

 

• More playlist additions:

  Generally moderate. Your track may be added to listeners’ own playlists, extending its reach beyond our curated network. Like saves, this type of passive engagement tends to be more common than directly following the artist.

 

• Influencing Spotify’s algorithm:

  It is possible to activate Spotify’s algorithm for song promotion, but it is not a frequent occurrence. The chance of triggering the algorithm relies on several factors such as the genre, mood, style of your song, and the overall performance of the promotion. While some of our clients have succeeded in activating the algorithm, it is essential to note that there is no guarantee of such results.

 

• Royalty-eligible streams:

  Yes. Streams earned through this organic promotion are eligible for royalties and will contribute to your revenue.

 

 

 

 

 

• Like Increase:

  Generally moderate. Likes are an easy way for viewers to express their interest and potentially save your video for future viewing.

 

• Subscribers Increase:

  Typically low. It is unlikely that playlist listeners will become channel subscribers as people tend to have short attention spans online. This trend reflects the passive engagement of most playlist listeners who are often hesitant to actively subscribe to channels. Case in point: Our video Jay Sean – Maybe (Bajton Remix) with over 18 million views has attracted “only” 8000 subscribers to the channel.

 

 

 

• Comments:

  Typically low. Active engagement in the form of comments is rare among playlist listeners, who often consume content passively.

 

• YouTube algorithm influence:

  Possible but rare. Similar to Spotify, YouTube algorithm influence is highly dependent on the results of the promotion and the characteristics of the video.

 

• Watch Time:

  Typically high. The passive nature of listening to a playlist is beneficial for accumulating watch time, which is a critical factor for YouTube’s algorithm.

 

• Monetizable Views:

  Yes. Views generated by our promotion are monetizable, contributing to your content revenue if you enable video monetization.

 

 

● Underestimated Benefits

 

SEO playlisting is an essential aspect of music promotion. It helps to give your song a wider exposure through top-ranked playlists. These playlists are popular and attract high search volume, which translates into a larger audience for your music. Additionally, songs that are ranked higher on these playlists tend to receive more listeners. However, Spotify and YouTube moderate this trend by using shuffle mode to ensure a fair distribution of streams.

 

SEO playlists have an interesting dynamic of being replicated across multiple platforms by users. These popular lists are often cloned not only on Spotify and YouTube but also on other platforms, which can extend the reach of your song and increase cross-platform promotion. This passive traffic can significantly increase the visibility of your song and help you gain new listeners.

 

Playlist promotions can offer more than just online exposure, as they can also result in public play in various venues like restaurants and coffee shops, which can significantly increase your song’s reach. It is essential to note that Spotify counts a stream only when a song is played for at least 30 seconds, meaning that the actual number of listens could be higher than the number of streams recorded. This highlights the significance of comprehending the indirect effects of promotion, such as increased activity on other platforms or Shazam hits, which can reflect more extensive engagement.

 

Our promotion services bring immediate online growth and extended reach and engagement across both Spotify and YouTube.

 

 

5. Our Refund and Cancellation Terms

 

At Moonstrive Media, we strive to maintain a flexible, fair, and transparent refund and cancellation policy.

 

● Scope of Service

 

It’s important to understand that once a promotion achieves the results outlined in the Scope of Service of your package, no refunds will be given. Therefore, before contacting us with a cancellation or refund request, make sure you have solid proof, such as screenshots from Spotify for Artists or YouTube Studio analytics, that the promotion did not meet the agreed-upon Scope of Service.

 

 

● Full refunds

 

We issue these when we determine that we cannot promote your track or video from the outset. In these cases, the 10% service fee will be waived.

 

 

● Partial refunds

 

If the promotion has started but is canceled either by you or due to our inability to continue, you are entitled to a refund for the portion of the service that wasn’t delivered. This refund will take into account the work completed up to the point of cancellation, less a 10% service charge. For example, if a promotion is canceled after partial delivery, we will calculate your refund based on the remaining undelivered service, less the service fee. The minimums for the several scopes of service are guidelines.

 

 

● Adjustments

 

We reserve the right to adjust promotions that don’t meet initial expectations but are within the expected variability of organic promotion results. If the promotion falls significantly short of the promised Scope of Service without achieving the minimum expected results, we will take additional steps to fulfill our commitment.

For refund and cancellation requests, please contact contact@moonstrivemedia.com with your order number, a reason for the refund and cancellation request, and supporting evidence (screenshots) of Spotify for Artist or YouTube Studio analytics to verify that the request complies with the policy.

 

 

6. Detailed Scope of Our Services

 

Our promotion services have clear expectations and deliverables outlined in the Scope of Services you agree to when purchasing a package. It is important to understand and accept these terms as they define our commitment to promoting your music.

 

● Understanding and Acceptance

 

• By using Moonstrive Media’s services, you acknowledge the scope of services outlined for your chosen package. This mutual understanding is crucial for a transparent and successful promotion.

 

 

● Results Within Scope

 

• If the results of the promotion are within the defined scope, including playlist placements, stream counts, and promotion duration, our obligations under the service agreement are considered fulfilled. Adherence to the agreed-upon scope precludes refunds and underscores our commitment to achieving the promotional goals set at the beginning of the campaign.

 

 

 

● Addressing Discrepancies

 

• In cases where results do not meet the agreed-upon scope, we are committed to taking corrective action. This may include increasing, tweaking, or extending the campaign to ensure that results fall within the promised scope. Our goal is to achieve the best possible results for your music within the context of organic promotion, which inherently has a range of possible outcomes.

 

 

● Organic Promotion Outcomes

 

• It’s important to remember that organic promotion can lead to a wide range of results. Moonstrive Media is committed to helping you achieve at least the minimum scope of the package you’ve chosen, using our expertise and network to maximize your music’s exposure and engagement.

 

 

We encourage our clients to approach their promotions with a clear understanding of these terms to ensure a productive partnership aimed at achieving significant, organic growth for their music.

 

 

7. Your Role in the Promotion Process

 

In the success of your music promotion, you play a critical role. We ask for:

 

● Prompt communication

 

If you are not satisfied with the promotion, please quickly reach out to the support page or contact@moonstrivemedia.com with your order number.
Before reaching out, gather all the information you have collected. Most likely our support page can answer your questions directly.

 

 

● Realistic Expectations

 

Understanding the organic nature of promotion and the variability of results based on the search volume and ranking position of the playlists.
While we strive to get you the best results possible, we don’t have full control of the organic outcome of your promotion!

 

 

● Complaint Handling Within Scope

 

Our commitment to your success includes addressing any concerns that arise within the scope of our agreed-upon services:

 

• • Understanding Scope:

    Recognizing the limitations and opportunities within the organic advertising landscape. Check whether the results are or seem to going to be in the Scope of Service from the package you’ve bought.

 

 

• • Feedback Process:

We welcome constructive feedback and are committed to making adjustments within our services to improve promotion results.
If the results don’t seem to match with the expectation ranges of the Scope of Service, please get in touch with screenshots to prove your claim.

 

 

• • Refund Policy:

Refunds will be considered based on the scope of the service, with partial refunds for active promotions minus a  10% service fee for work completed.

 

 

Read the following points, on how to positively influence your promotions results!

 

 

8. Analyze Your Promotion’s Impact

 

Moonstrive Media will send you a Campaign Overview Report (PDF) at the start of your campaign.

 

The promotion report outlines your campaign’s placements, duration, and start date. Check your inbox and spam folder for the report. (This feature will be available soon: You can also download it from our website’s “Downloads” section under “My Profile”.)

For a detailed analysis of your promotions’ impact on Spotify and YouTube, use each platform’s analytics tools.

 

⇒ Spotify for Artists

 

This tool provides in-depth insights into your music’s streaming numbers, audience demographics, and how your tracks fit into playlists. It’s important to interpret these statistics in the context of your promotional campaign, taking into account additional marketing efforts, the timing of your review, and the relevance of the data to the songs being promoted.

Questions to consider include the percentage of traffic coming from playlists, whether the promotion activated Spotify’s algorithm, the geographic and demographic distribution of listeners, save rates, additional playlist inclusions, and the ratio of listeners to streams. Stats are updated daily at 3 PM EST / 8 PM UTC, with new releases receiving real-time updates every 2 seconds for the first week. Streams are counted when a track plays 30 seconds or more.

 

 

 

⇒ YouTube Studio Analytics

 

Dive into detailed metrics like views, engagement, and watch time to measure the impact of your YouTube promotion. With this in-depth data, you can spend a great deal of time evaluating various aspects, including viewer interaction (likes, dislikes), subscriber growth, and revenue. Pay special attention to the source of your traffic, especially playlist posts, and explore metrics such as search performance, geographic reach, and device usage.

 

 

● Advice for artists

 

• Visit your Spotify for Artists and YouTube Studio dashboards regularly to track the immediate impact of your promotions.

 

• Use Moonstrive Media’s initial promotion report to draw connections between your promotional efforts and the trends you see in your analytics.

 

• For a well-rounded perspective, consider the timeline of the promotion and any external influences that could affect your data, such as other marketing initiatives or external playlist features.

 

• By working with these analytics platforms, artists can gain meaningful insight into how their music is performing, understand audience growth, and evaluate the effectiveness of Moonstrive Media’s promotional strategies.

 

To effectively determine the impact of your promotion, consider several elements within the platform’s analytic apps. Identify which of your songs were promoted, the playlists they were featured on, and the duration of the promotion, and observe any statistical changes post-promotion. Post-campaign traffic fluctuations are expected. Analyzing these factors ensures that you’re evaluating your music’s performance in the right context and time frame.

 

 

9. Ethical Compliance and Quality Assurance

 

At Moonstrive Media, we promote your music ethically and organically, adhering to the terms of service of Spotify and YouTube.

 

● Adherence to Platform Terms

 

• Our services are fully compliant with Spotify and YouTube policies. Our promotion strategies are similar to influencer marketing, focusing on leveraging our expertise and curator network to organically increase the visibility of your music.

 

• When you hire Moonstrive Media, you’re investing in our professional efforts to review, pitch, and manage your campaign, not in the direct purchase of streams, placements, or followers.

 

• Because we work exclusively with SEO playlists, we use the platforms’ own user traffic to promote our clients. This way, we can guarantee 100% real traffic and not saturate the platforms with bots.

 

 

● Organic Promotion and Algorithmic Influence

 

• Organic promotion is critical to potentially triggering Spotify and YouTube algorithms, which can significantly increase the reach of your music. Consistent traffic and engagement through our SEO playlisting and targeted advertising provide a balanced approach to growing your audience organically.

 

• Despite our extensive experience and success in obtaining editorial and algorithmic support for our projects, it’s important to acknowledge that there is no guaranteed method of triggering these algorithms. Organic growth is a mix of strategic promotion, quality content, and sometimes a bit of luck.

 

 

Moonstrive Media’s ethics and quality assurance are at the forefront of our operations, ensuring that your music benefits from a promotion strategy that is both effective and in line with the highest standards of digital marketing ethics.

 

 

10. Post-Promotion Strategies for Sustained Growth

 

Keep building momentum and expanding your music’s reach after your promotion ends. Try these strategies:

 

● Promote & order again

 

Consider doing additional promotions with Moonstrive Media. Ongoing exposure helps keep your music top of mind and engagement levels high.

 

 

● Engage with your new fans

 

Use the insights from your promotion, such as demographics and listener locations, to connect with your new audience. Engaging directly through social media, responding to comments, and sharing behind-the-scenes content can deepen the relationship with your listeners.

 

 

● Leverage credibility

 

The exposure and data gathered from your promotion provide valuable credibility. Highlight playlist placements and listener growth in your press kit, on your website, and in pitches for gigs, tours, or collaborations. This credibility can also strengthen your positioning for brand partnerships and sponsorships.

 

Remember, the end of a promotion is just the beginning of capitalizing on its results. By actively engaging with your audience, seeking further promotional opportunities, and leveraging the credibility gained, you can sustain and amplify the growth achieved through Moonstrive Media’s services.

 

 

11. Service Limitations: Our Playlist Network

 

At Moonstrive Media, we want your music to reach more people. However, our playlist network has limitations. Here’s how we work with different types of music and select the playlists.

 

● The Types of Music We Promote

 

• Popular Genres:

We’re good at promoting big music genres like pop, hip-hop/rap, rock, and EDM. We have a lot of playlists that will help get your music out there. How well your song does can depend a lot on its mood or style, not just its genre.

 

• Sub-genres:

Music that is heavily divided into sub-genres can be harder to target. While we may have certain niche playlists, we may not be able to properly target sub-genres across larger packages. Especially sub-EDM genres are hard to work with.

 

• Unique Music Styles:

If you make jazz, classical, or a specific type of electronic music, it may be a little harder for you to find the perfect playlists for your songs. There aren’t as many playlists for these genres, so it’s a little harder to reach listeners.

 

• Songs in Other Languages:

Music in languages for which we don’t have many playlists can also be tricky. If we don’t have a lot of playlists in your song’s language, it can be hard to find the right place for your music.

 

 

● How We Select Playlists for Your Music

 

We have about 200 playlists that we use to promote music, covering many different moods, styles, and genres. We’re always looking for new playlists that are great for search engines (that’s what we mean by “SEO playlists”), but it takes time to carefully add new ones.

 

We try hard to match your song to the best playlist. But not every playlist is a perfect match. We look at the mood or vibe of your song, not just the type of music. So the name of the playlist may not seem like an exact match, but it’s more about finding listeners who will like your music.

 

 

● What to Expect

 

• Be Open-minded:

We will do our best to get your music in front of the right people, but it may not always be a perfect fit. We want to find people who will enjoy your music, even if the playlist isn’t exactly what you expected. These SEO playlists are found by new users every day. Most of the listeners are not regular playlist followers, but users who have recently found the playlists. That’s why your song is being played by new ears most of the time. Also, remember that each person is unique, with different preferences and unique listening habits. Even if the listener doesn’t interact with your song digitally, the physical reaction can be very different.

 

• Think About the Big Picture:

We look at how your music performs across all playlists, not just one. We prefer to look at the entire promotion rather than looking at just a single placement to evaluate the results of the entire promotion.

 

• Patience Helps:

If your music is unique or in a different language, finding the best playlists for it may take a little more time. Because we are waiting for feedback from our curators, it is normal for the promotion to start differently. We want to help all musicians, but sometimes things don’t go as planned.

 

 

We hope this gives you a better idea of how we want to promote your music and what you can realistically expect from our service. We look forward to working with you and helping your music find its audience!

The good thing about us is that even if we do not meet your expectations in terms of suitability, we have a pretty flexible refund and cancellation policy designed for your safety!

 

 

12. Verifying the Authenticity of Your Music Promotion

 

At Moonstrive Media, we use only organic promotion methods and never involve bots in our processes. To ensure the legitimacy of your promotion and the integrity of your streams, follow these steps:

 

● Platform’s Analytics

 

Make sure to regularly check your account for detailed insights into stream sources and listener demographics, as this data is critical to understanding the impact of your promotion.

 

 

● Sudden Traffic Spikes

 

Be on the lookout for unexpected traffic spikes that don’t coincide with promotional activity. While positive spikes are welcome during promotional periods, unexplained increases may require further investigation.

 

 

● Listener Behavior

 

Monitor listener behavior. Streams generated by bots often exhibit patterns such as extremely short listen durations and come from accounts with no followers or playlists.

 

 

● Geographic Inconsistencies

 

Evaluate the geographic distribution of your streams. Authentic promotions typically result in a diverse listener base across geographies, while inconsistencies may indicate artificial manipulation.

 

 

It’s important to recognize that streams can be artificially inflated by third parties without the consent of the artist or promoter. Spotify’s advanced detection systems are designed to identify and filter out such artificial streams, ensuring that only genuine streams contribute to your royalties.

 

 

Moonstrive Media is committed to maintaining the highest standards of promotion, ensuring that your growth is organic and in line with the platform’s terms of service. If you have any concerns or need assistance, our customer support team is available to assist you and give you the peace of mind that your music promotion is being done ethically and effectively.

 

 

For any clarification regarding the Service Guidelines, please contact us at contact@moonstrivemedia.com or check out our support page.

 

 

 

Date of last update: 26th February 2024.