The function of the algorithm is to recommend users content it predicts they would engage with based on their history. Likes, shares, comments, saves, and watch time all indicate to the system that it should show the user similar content.

The algorithm largely decides whether two pieces of content are similar by analyzing whether they have shared audiences. When it detects this overlap, it forms a link, causing cross-pollination.

For example, if 10,000 people regularly listen to songs from both artists A and B on Spotify, a link between them will form. New listeners of artist A will have music from artist B shown to them, and vice versa, which is how the “Fans also like” section is formed. The same applies to social media.

It is this interconnectedness that gives way to online spaces, bubbles of fandom and community regarding certain topics.

Finding The Associations

For an artist, the goal is to cultivate the strongest possible connections with other artists whose fans would likely resonate with their own music. By doing so, an artist’s music will be organically recommended to users who are likely to enjoy listening to it.

This is one of the most powerful and cost-effective methods for gaining fans organically and can launch an artist into stardom. In order to successfully do so, it is critical to first establish who an artist should associate themselves with.

Step 1: Artist Analysis

The first and most crucial step is to listen to the artist’s music, and create a list of similar-sounding artists or artists whose fans would like them.

These do not always align, rappers Earl Sweatshirt and JPEGMAFIA do not sound anything alike, but have a strong connection in the algorithm because the communities that like them massively overlap.

A profound understanding of the niche and genre the artist occupies is invaluable for this reason. Without a proper understanding of the scene, you’re likely to miss which artists have the best fan bases to tap into.

Step 2: Spotify & Chartmetric Connections

After establishing a list of about ten artists, look at Spotify’s “Fans also like” and Chartmetric’s “Similar Artists” section on each of their pages to find other artists in the same niche. Explore the interconnected web of artists, listening to their music and noting who sounds similar and who is most strongly connected to whom.

The paid version of Chartmetric can give more data, including recent trends in their popularity as well as information about their audience demographics. If you’re a bit tech-savvy, you can even code a relatively simple program using Spotify’s API to pull an artist’s similar artists and their genre tags..

From these artists, filter for those that have a similar amount of monthly listeners as the artist. If the artist is brand new, artists with less than 100k monthly listeners will do.

While it may be tempting to associate with the biggest names in the genre, they are likely to have a higher proportion of casual listeners when compared to the smaller artists, who are often followed by fans who are much more engaged with the scene.

When these hardcore fans find the artist’s music through Discover Weekly, they are more likely to save it to their library than casual listeners, leading to a higher boost in the algorithm.

Step 3: Explore Social Media

It isn’t enough to have a list of artists to associate with in Spotify’s algorithm, it’s also important to understand what kind of content the artist’s target audience engages with on social media. Applying this knowledge allows the artist to be pushed to the right online community, giving them another avenue to be organically discovered.

First, create new accounts for social media. This sets up a clean slate to minimize bias from personal past data going into the algorithm. Follow the artists from the earlier list, taking note of the accounts that pop up under “Suggested for you” on their page. Save or share the artists’ content, specifically from accounts that regularly post short-form content and have an engaged following.

The same method can be applied to YouTube, but take into consideration not just short-form content, but full-length videos as well. Continue until the algorithm begins recommending tailored content on the explore page, then start engaging with those posts.

All the data here is valuable; pay attention to who is posting, what kind of content it is, and details about users in the comments.

All of this further specifies where your artist belongs within the massive interconnected web.

How to Strengthen Associations

• A list of the right artists to associate with on both Spotify and social media to leverage the algorithm

• A strong grasp on the artist’s target audience and the spaces they occupy

• A direction for the artist’s content on social media inspired by similar artists in the same niche

The final step of this method is building the strongest possible associations to these artists, creators, and online spaces.

To learn about the most effective ways to do this, sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned for our upcoming blog post on how to strengthen connections to those pages.