Most music marketing case studies are useless.
They show you the success but hide the process. They celebrate the destination but blur the map. "We grew 500%!" Great. How? With what budget? What failed along the way?
This is different. I'm showing you everything.
The Starting Point (April 2024)
Artist: Proper Youth Genre: Indie Rock Monthly Listeners: 5,579 Previous Marketing: Years of playlist pitching, publicists, and schemes that didn't work Monthly Budget: Started at $659, scaled to ~$2,000 Goal: Build sustainable growth with real fans, not vanity metrics
The Strategy: Progressive Campaign Building
We didn't throw money at everything at once. We built systematically:
Phase 1: Foundation (April-May)
- playlist.spark campaigns: Testing different playlist audiences
- spotify.spark campaigns: Direct Spotify promotion
- Budget: $659-900/month
- Focus: Find which audiences actually engaged
Phase 2: Expansion (June-July)
- Added ig.spark: Instagram growth campaigns
- Continued spark campaigns: Scaled winners from Phase 1
- Budget: $1,200-1,500/month
- Focus: Build multi-channel presence
Phase 3: Optimization (August-October)
- Added .charge campaigns: Retargeting warm audiences
- Launched cart.charge: Direct merch sales to fans
- Budget: $1,800-2,000/month
- Focus: Convert attention into revenue
The Targeting Approach
No spray and pray. Every dollar had a purpose:
- 40% US targeting: Higher value fans, better playlist placement
- 30% "green light" countries: US, CA, UK, AU, NZ - engaged English speakers
- 30% "trigger" countries: Lower-cost markets with passionate music fans
- Age range: 18-46 (tested narrower, performed worse)
- Interests: Broad genre + specific similar artists
The Content Strategy
This changed everything:
What We Thought Would Work:
- Professional music videos
- Polished content
- High production value
What Actually Worked:
- iPhone-shot "mimed" performance videos
- One monthly shooting day = 30+ days of content
- No cuts, minimal editing
- 3-5 posts per day during peak months
- Authentic > Professional (tested hundreds of times)
The Exact Numbers
Ad Spend by Month:
- April: $659
- May: $897
- June: $1,456
- July: $1,892
- August: $2,234
- September: $2,876
- October: $3,806
- Total: $13,820
Monthly Listener Growth:
- April: 5,579 (start)
- May: 8,234 (+48%)
- June: 11,891 (+44%)
- July: 15,234 (+28%)
- August: 18,567 (+22%)
- September: 21,234 (+14%)
- October: 24,516 (+15%)
- Total Growth: 340% (18,937 new listeners)
Cost Per Listener:
- Total Spend: $13,820
- New Listeners: 18,937
- Cost: $0.73 per monthly listener
The "Flywheel" Effect
Here's how we created compounding growth:
- See Instagram video → Algorithm shows another → "Discover" band on playlist
- Click to Spotify → Hit follow → Get served more content
- See free CD offer → Join email list → Become superfan
- Continuous optimization: Test campaigns weekly → Scale winners → Kill losers
Every touchpoint fed the next. No single channel dependency.
The Revenue Side
Marketing isn't just about streams:
September Cart Campaign:
- Spend: $389
- Revenue: $719
- ROAS: 1.85x
October Cart Campaign:
- Spend: $1,248
- Revenue: $2,510
- ROAS: 2.01x
Key Learning: Warm audiences (people who already engaged) buy merch. Cold audiences stream music. Different campaigns for different goals.
What Failed (And What We Learned)
Failure 1: Expensive Video Production
- Spent $2,000 on "professional" content
- Performed 60% worse than iPhone videos
- Learning: Authentic beats polished
Failure 2: Narrow Age Targeting
- Tested 25-34 only (thought it was "core demographic")
- Cost per result increased 40%
- Learning: Let the algorithm find your fans
Failure 3: Playlist-Only Focus
- First month was 70% playlist targeting
- High streams, low engagement
- Learning: Direct promotion builds real fans
The Tools That Made It Possible
- barely.fm: Clean attribution tracking
- Meta Ads Manager: Primary advertising platform
- iPhone: All video content (seriously)
- Basic video editing app: For text overlays only
- Spreadsheet: Daily tracking and optimization
No fancy tools. No expensive software. Just consistent execution and measurement.
Key Success Factors
- No Playlist Schemes: Every stream came from real people who chose to listen
- Attribution Tracking: We knew which ad drove which stream/sale
- Content Volume: 3-5 posts daily beat 1 perfect post weekly
- Progressive Scaling: Started small, scaled what worked
- Direct Response: Every ad had a clear action (stream, follow, buy)
The Client's Perspective
"We spent years throwing money at playlist pitchers and publicists with nothing to show for it. Barely's scientific approach - testing what works, ditching what doesn't - took us from 5K to 24K listeners in 6 months. Turns out honest iPhone videos beat expensive productions, and targeting real fans beats playlist schemes every time." - Proper Youth
Your Takeaways
- Start with $500-1000/month: You don't need huge budgets
- Test everything: Your audience will surprise you
- Track attribution: If you can't measure it, you can't improve it
- Volume beats perfection: More content, more tests, more learning
- Build systems: The "flywheel" compounds over time
What's Next for Proper Youth?
- Maintaining 20K+ monthly listeners with $1,500/month spend
- Cart campaigns now generating 2.5x ROAS consistently
- Email list of 3,400 engaged fans
- Planning first profitable tour based on geo data
This isn't a miracle. It's not luck. It's just good engineering applied to music marketing.
P.S. - Yes, these are real numbers. Yes, you can verify them. Transparency isn't just a buzzword - it's how we operate.