Nic D Breaks Down How He Gets 1 Million Spotify Steams A Day

Nic D Breaks Down How He Gets 1 Million Spotify Steams A Day

In this video Nic D sits down with L Dre and explains how he gets 1 million Streams a day on Spotify.

Video Transcript

I do a million streams a day and right now 2% of those streams come from editorial playlist. So if you're not familiar that was Nick D he's an independent artist that makes Dope music and he's an absolute content Wizard and he also has a really intelligent mind for business. I took the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with him and really pick his brain on how exactly it is that he gets 1 million streams per day and let's keep it real if you knew someone with 4 million monthly listeners what would be the first question you would ask them.

I guess my first question would be what everybody wants to know how much money did you make this year I'm just playing I'm just playing.  uh so no but in all seriousness we had a nearly hour long conversation and to boil it down in this video there are two key takeaways that I feel like are the true keys to his success and those are releasing frequently and making great content now I know that might sound obvious but he gave me some real action able strategies to make all this happen let's start with what I mentioned in my previous video as a part of my 2024 release plan which is  focusing on releasing frequently and pitching for release radar as opposed to releasing every 3 to 4 weeks so that you can pitch for editorial playlist.  I got that concept from him and here's what he had to say about it um the only thing that I care about is my release radar when I'm releasing cuz I got followers on Spotify and so I do pitch right technically because you pitch your song then it will go to your release radar that's just how that works for right now.  but usually when I'm pitching I just write a joke or I say you know hey how are you uh hope you like it just something quick like I'm I'm not trying to write a book in there.  I'm not trying to convince anybody I could care less if you put my song in there I do.

I do a million streams a day and right now 2% of those streams come from editorial playlist but they did not come from editorial playlist because I pitched them they came from editorial playlist because I my song did well when I was promoting content. So like for example my song Sundown with v Wills making content on Tik Tok content was doing well had a few viral videos it got into the top 50 most viral songs on Spotify. And then as a result of that it got put into editorial playlist there's over a million songs uploaded every day.

You know and you're trying to hit the lottery when you're trying to get into these playlists.  I'm not saying it's not possible I'm just saying it's not practical. So I I don't care about it one bit I rely on my ability to make better content or good content to drive traffic to the song and if by a result of that I get into an editorial playlist it's a bonus I'm not going to hold up my release schedule just to try to get an editorial playlist I want to be consistent in front of the people that care about my music. I want to release frequently and I want to have more chances. Like I said to more darts to hit a bullseye I want you to pay attention to what he said right at the end more darts to hit a bullseye so instead of holding up your releases for the off chance you'll get into an editorial playlist. You would instead focus on putting out more music cuz each new song you release is another chance for your fans to like it. You never really know which release you put out that might be the one but again a lot of people tend to try to chase the one as opposed to just putting a bunch out and the one chasing you and that's the importance of catalog. Take a listen to this one thing is that it adds up but everybody's trying to get one hit right one song. Imagine you want to do a million streams a month right one and if you got five songs out each one of those songs has to do like 33,000 streams a day.

To get a million streams a month if you got 100 songs, out each one of those songs has to do 350 streams a day on average which one's more attainable than have five songs trying to get 30k each a day or to have 100 songs out each that have to get 350 streams day each. It's just more attainable it's more realistic it adds up your catalog adds up everybody's trying to get a dang hit when you can just take care of your audience feed your audience and have it add up over time and build a catalog.

Another thing you might have noticed is that he says he relies on his ability to make good content now we all know that content is king. And you really got to make it but one thing I wanted to know about from Nick is bro what's the sauce do you have some Secret Sauce like you have multiple viral videos a viral podcast how do I make content that actually engages the fans and get people to listen to your music? 

So I always recommend you keep your audience in mind when you're thinking of your content ideas right and you have to kind of look at your content objectively you have to look you have to detach yourself. Like if I was scrolling past this piece of content would I stay and watch it ? Because if I wouldn't and you have to like I said remove yourself from this as my piece of content remove your bias scroll past does this video catch my attention is this video worth my time see yah.  If it's not, there's a better more entertaining video one swipe away. There's endless videos on the internet one swipe away, so if you're not catching people with your video they don't care right they're like oh all right that video was boring next video.

Very easy right so I think what you have to do unfortunately to the artsy artist is prioritize the viewer. How can I best serve the viewer? The viewer is on an entertainment app they're not there to find your music, they're not even there to find your video most of the time. They're just there to be entertained right. So, you have to entertain them, and you have to assume that everyone scrolling past your video has no idea who you are.  They're in a hurry and they're not there to listen to music, right? You have to kind of assume that how can I entertain the person who doesn't care who I am doesn't even want to hear my music and is just trying to detach from their reality for an hour how do you entertain that person.

​Now sometimes you get into an algorithm like with a lofi or something you have a video do well. You're like what the heck was different about this one it's the same video that I made 10 times but this one went uh you know exponentially more than a previous one. Maybe you got into an algorithm of people you know studying students and sometime for a reason that algorithm got into studying student's algorithm right somehow um and you got lucky but that's what it is. I think you just you just got lucky right. Or that beat was just better right ? You might think all your other beats are  just as good but like I said quality is subjective.  Something that you think is  amazing, you spend you know a couple hours a week perfecting it, you think it's amazing you put it out other people could still hate it. You know they still just could not be their vibe so and that's what I mean when I'm talking about getting reps and releasing more frequently is you get more darts to hit a bullseye.

You know you kind of remove yourself from the sentimental attachment to your releases.  And you just kind of operate more like a business you're throwing more darts you get more a bat to hit a home run.  That that's where my mindset is when I'm talking about kind of operating more like a business.  I just think differently than an artsy artist.

I think in most case scenarios now what does he mean by artsy artist. I know there's probably some people in the comments or somebody watching this video that might take a little offense to that, but what we want to do here is just separate the art from the business real quick. Because when it comes down to it when he says something like you have to prioritize the viewer the artsy artist is someone who just has a passion for music, and maybe doesn't care about the business side of things or are you know they don't want to sacrifice their artistic integrity for the sake of the viewers.  You hear it all the time from certain creatives that say don't focus on the viewer focus on yourself focus on what makes you happy and you'll find your people

Now that is definitely something that can happen and that still happens till this day. There's so many people out there just being themselves putting the camera up and you know maybe at some point something might pop off. I mean it comes down to consistency at that point all he's saying is if you're someone that is more business-minded and are really willing to do what it takes to make this a career.  As opposed to just like a fun hobby or a fun passion of Music there are some sacrifices artistically that you might have to make and that's just it is what it is

Now once you move past that and you're actually making content with your viewer in mind and you start making good content that's taken off going viral whatever it may be. What are some actionable steps to take those viewers likes and commenters and bring them over to platforms like Spotify to follow you and listen to your music and get a part of that release radar system. Where they're listening to your music every week every two weeks, however often you're releasing. My experience is that people care more when they think they find it unless when they tell you about it . Or less than when you tell them about it,  so my strategy was always I'm going to post this much content. So much music out there to digest it's important to have it available for people when you're posting about it I feel personally um so for artists specifically I feel. Like I said it's more important when people feel like they found it discovered it on their own than when you're telling them about it. 

So I personally don't think you should shout "hey this is my song check it out, Blah Blah Blah by blah blah blah hope you like it" and then play it . That's an ad that feels sad, yes it's out and so when people check the comments they see that I responded to a comment it feels much more natural it feels much more you know less salesy. It just feels like oh yeah I was I was just a guy doing my thing and if you enjoy it feel free. But it doesn't feel like I'm begging you to go stream my stuff you know and I think people can feel that energy that they don't like that when you feel like you're begging them or you feel like you're selling them something or promoting himself. 

Going viral on Tik Tok you got people literally begging me for the link like my Frank Ocean remix I put that out.  I only had it on YouTube so I had people begging me overnight to put it up on Soundcloud. So I did it the next day it had like 15,000 plays so first make sure the music's good make the creative content that gets them in the zone and just wait for people to ask where to listen to it.  I mean obviously have your link set up in your your bio and you know post on your story on Instagram about it dropped this incredible gem on me kind of blew my mind and I couldn't gate keep it. I got to share it from my fellow producers here's his idea on promoting playlist instead of your beats.

Now, if I'm you and I'm doing lofi beats um obviously one thing you can do is do 50/50 collabs with artists you can put vocals on it and you can try to get into that world. But what I would personally maybe do for you and I don't know if you've done it already if there's people that are doing it but it's really hard for me to come acotss this lofi beat stead of doing an album of Loi beats I would just constantly update playlists make a few playlists and I don't know if you've done it already but you have like your own personal Loi playlist and I would promote the playlist.

​ I wouldn't promote the individual beat per se the beat could be the part of the content that you're making and then you know but the end goal is to get people to go listen to this playlist so instead of getting one song right that's getting streamed by people now you're getting a would and like I said you might have done it already um but that's what I think would be a great way to get more streams on Loi U production I mean come on that's a fire idea like I've done something similar with my chill Beast to stream to and a few other playlist that I have um but it's not like I promote them with every single song so let's say like I've been working on this Jilla inspired album and I could just make a playlist called J Loi Vibes or something and instead of promoting each s e that into account so before we close out this video I wanted to leave one last Super inspiring gem from Nick but before we get into that you guys know that I like to be super personal and super transparent on this channel this video I focused on the parts of the conversation that were specific strategies for releasing your music and making better content blah blah blah to achieve the millions and millions of streams that he has had but we also talked about more personal transparent like mental pendent music industry it's super dope it includes a podcast an audio book and a workbook to help you work through these things with him so definitely check that out the link is below shout out to Nick D and now I'll leave you with some mindset wisdom from me what most people are willing to do is work hard on their work but they're not willing to work hard on themselves and working hard on yourself is what sets you up to be able to receive the success that you desire you can work hard on your wo to work on yourself just as much as you're willing to work on your art or on your business and I think that's really important I think a lot of people don't do it"