Welcome [back] to another week of your weekly dose 🎶

Every Tuesday, I’ll be sharing tips, updates, and must-know music marketing insights to help you get your music heard!

By Finch Bergling 🙂

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Quick Update:

My new program Your First Hit Song 2026 is finally live 🥳

First 25 musicians: $97​
​Next 25: $147​
​After that: $197

​👉 [Get your spot here]​
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Your Weekly Reel Idea

Most artists overthink how to make something that stands out.
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But sometimes, all it takes is one bold, clever idea - not a big budget.

And in this case? There's probably almost zero planning as well.

📝 Content Summary: In this reel, the artist tapes his phone to the outside of a moving train, then rides his bike beside it while lip-syncing his own song. The train acts as the cameraman - capturing him singing as it moves

🎦 How to create a similar Reel:

1. Think of a simple but surprising way to film yourself using your surroundings. It doesn’t need to be extreme (or illegal) - just something that makes people stop and look.
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2. Add motion to your video. Perform or lip-sync while walking, driving, or riding - anything that gives a sense of movement and energy.
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3. Record your performance clearly so viewers can connect what they see with the song they hear. Make sure to capture the before and after of your lip-sync.
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🤔 Why does it work so well?

1. It’s a real scroll-stopper. The setup is so unexpected that people can’t help but watch till the end.
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2. It’s 100% original and bold - proving you don’t need expensive visuals to stand out, which keeps it fresh and daring.
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3. It sparks reactions, both in real life and in the comments. Some people love it, some complain - either way, they engage.
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4. It shows personality and guts, which instantly makes you more memorable than the 99% who play it safe.

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Your Weekly Tip

3 shortcut strategies for 100K streams:

You can buy a car and drive it for 20 years. It's a shortcut - gets you from A to B faster than walking.

But first, someone needs to build that car.

That's what marketing systems are. Vehicles that make promoting your music feel effortless. But you need to build them right.

My new program Your First Hit Song 2026 shows you exactly how to build these vehicles.

The strategies I'm about to share with you are based on "cars" I've built - they all got me from point A to another point, but some were slower, some were more expensive, and some got me to point F instead of B.

Let's break them down:​
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Strategy 1: The Fake Shortcut (Don't do this)

Buy your way onto cheap Spotify playlists for $50-100.

Here's how it works:

• You find "playlist promotion" services on Instagram or Fiverr
• They promise 10K-100K streams for under $100
• Your song gets added to playlists with names like "Chill Vibes 2025" or "Summer Hits"
• Streams pour in overnight

Sounds amazing, right? Here's the reality:

I found an artist yesterday with these stats:

• Total streams: Over 1 million
• Monthly listeners: 1,500
• Instagram followers: 19

Do the math. If 1M people heard your music, wouldn't at least 1% follow you somewhere? That's 12,000 fans. But he has 19.

Why? Because those aren't real people.

They're bots in data centers. They don't buy merch. They don't come to shows. They don't even exist.

Worse: Spotify knows. They can ban your music or remove you from algorithmic playlists forever. I've seen it happen to talented artists who made one desperate decision.

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​Strategy 2: The Expensive Maybe (Might work, but...)

Combine massive ad spend with playlist campaigns. The "throw money at it" approach.

Here's the typical playbook:

• Spend $500-1,000 on Meta ads
• Another $500 on Playlist Push or similar services
• Reach out directly to big playlist curators
• Target genre-specific audiences
• Hope the algorithm notices and adds you to Release Radar or Discover Weekly

What usually happens:

My campaign example:

• Budget: $1,500
• Results: 100K+ streams over 5 months
• Growth: Slow but consistent

The problems with this approach:

1. It's a rental, not ownership - Stop paying, stop growing. I've seen artists spend $5K, hit 100K streams, then drop to 500 monthly listeners when the budget runs out.
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2. Quality varies wildly - Even legitimate playlist services can't guarantee engaged listeners. You might get on 50 playlists where people just hit play and walk away.
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3. Zero fan connection - These listeners don't know you. They found you on "Deep Focus" playlist while studying. They'll never buy a ticket to your show.

It works well when: Your song stands out and makes listeners go, “Wow, who’s this artist? I want to hear more! I even want to know what they eat for dinner!”

Don't get me wrong - ads and playlists CAN work. But only as part of a bigger system...

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Strategy 3: The System That Compounds (This is the way)

Build a three-part engine: Content → Ads → Playlists

Phase 1: Social Media Testing (Weeks 1-4)

• Post 10 different song snippets before release
• Try different hooks: emotional story, behind-the-scenes, lip-syncing your song
• Track everything: views, comments, shares, saves
• The best performing video will be your ad creative (already tested for free)

Why this matters: You're skipping the testing phase. Your audience already told you what works. The content that does well organically will work even better with an ad budget behind it.

Phase 2: Strategic Ad Amplification (Weeks 5-8)

• Take your best organic content (the one with the highest engagement rate, not just views)
• Run it as conversion ads
• Start with $5/day, scale what works
• Key: You're amplifying proven content

The strategy: If a video got strong organic engagement, ads to similar people should maintain that rate.
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Example:

I recently tested 14 different ads across 3 ad sets for an artist’s new song.

The one that performed best - with a cost of just $0.10 per conversion - was the viral video the artist sent me.

Since the video had already gone viral on social media, it naturally delivered incredible results on Meta ads too.

Phase 3: The Artist Playlist Strategy (Ongoing)

This is the game-changer most musicians miss.

Instead of promoting individual songs, create "This is [Your Name]" playlist:

→ Add your 5-10 best songs

→ Include 2-3 songs from similar artists (trains the algorithm)

→ Update monthly with new releases

Why this multiplies everything:

• Song campaign: Listener streams once, maybe twice
• Playlist campaign: Average listener streams 5-10 songs
• Spotify sees extended listening = higher quality signal
• The algorithm is more likely to recommend you

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The Real Secret

Strategy 1 gets you vanity metrics. Strategy 2 gets you temporary results. Strategy 3 gets you a career.

The difference?

You're not buying streams. You're building an engine.

Want the complete blueprint? Your First Hit Song 2026 shows you exactly how to build each phase, with templates, targeting guides, and real campaign breakdowns.

But start today:

1. Post 3 different song snippets this week
2. Note which one performs best
3. That's your first ad creative

And I hope to see you inside my new program. Your First Hit Song 2026 changed everything for me, and I wish the same for you.

Finch

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Let's work together 🤝

• ​Submit your music to my Spotify Playlists.
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• Grow your music career with Your First Hit Song 2026​
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• ​Book a 1-1 consultation​
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• Learn how to become a professional playlist curator and make a living from your Spotify playlists.

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Discounts & Links 🔗

• Get 10% off on SubmitHub​
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• Get ​7.5% off your first campaign on Playlist Push - use code finch
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• Get 40% off your first month on PlaylistSupply - use code finch40
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• Get 40% off your first month on Booking-Agent.io - use code finch40
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• Get 40% off your first month on RadioPromo.io - use code finch40​
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• Get 7% off on DistroKid​
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• Get 7-day free pro on Hypeddit​

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That’s it for this week! Hope today’s email gave you something useful to work with.

Until next week, Finch 🎶

P.S. Newsletters aren’t social media - I can’t see what you’re enjoying unless you tell me. Hit reply and let me know what you liked (or didn’t) - I’d love to hear from you! 😊

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