Case study

2025

·

Playlist and Pre-Save Campaigns

·

4 Months

Independent artist: 1,718 to 58,371 monthly listeners on $4,919

Independent artist: 1,718 to 58,371 monthly listeners on $4,919

Independent artist: 1,718 to 58,371 monthly listeners on $4,919

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01

01

MeansMGMT case study

1,718 to 58,371 monthly listeners

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 01

02

02

The headline

51,649

streams, phase 1, Feb 10 to Apr 6

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 02

03

03

The numbers

1,480

pre-saves, release 1

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 03

04

04

The proof

$4,919

ad spend, three phases

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 04

05

05

How we did it

Playlist and Pre-Save Campaigns

4 Months

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 05

Monthly listeners
58.4K
from 1,718 at the start
Ad spend$4,919
Length4 Months
PlatformsMeta, Spotify, Feature.fm
Start a campaign
Spotify for Artists, artist daily, Feb 1 to Jun 30, 2025.

01

/ The brief

Playlist and Pre-Save Campaigns

4 Months

2025

Ouroboros is an independent artist. The 2025 plan ran in three steps: grow Ouro's Mix, a playlist of earlier releases, then run a pre-save for each of the next two releases. Monthly listeners were 1,718 on Feb 1. MeansMGMT ran Meta ads to Feature.fm links in three windows, each with its own spend. The playlist ran Feb 10 to Apr 6 on $2,661. Release 1 ran Apr 14 to May 15 on $896, and release 2 ran May 20 to Jun 15 on $1,362.

Ouroboros is an independent artist. The 2025 plan ran in three steps: grow Ouro's Mix, a playlist of earlier releases, then run a pre-save for each of the next two releases. Monthly listeners were 1,718 on Feb 1. MeansMGMT ran Meta ads to Feature.fm links in three windows, each with its own spend. The playlist ran Feb 10 to Apr 6 on $2,661. Release 1 ran Apr 14 to May 15 on $896, and release 2 ran May 20 to Jun 15 on $1,362.

02

/ The report

Ouroboros case study, page 1: a playlist and two pre-saves
Page 2: three phases at a glance, monthly listeners 1,718 to 58,371
Page 3: the goal for phase 1, grow a playlist of earlier releases
Page 4: phase 1 playlist results, 51,649 streams
Page 5: phase 1 spend vs streams, 420 to 1,355 streams a day by Apr 6
Page 6: phase 1 beyond the ads, Ouro's Mix from 2 saves to 3,572
Page 7: release 1 pre-save, 1,480 pre-saves at $0.61 each
Page 8: release 2 pre-save, 2,393 pre-saves at $0.57 each
Page 9: release by release, the two pre-saves side by side
Page 10: both releases, song saves spiked 1,521, then 3,335
Page 11: phase by phase, landing-page CTR up to 75% on release 2
Page 12: phase 1 engagement, daily plays and profile visits
Page 13: phase 1 engagement, 564K post engagements and 2.8M reach
Page 14: what people said, comments under the playlist ads
Page 15: what people said, comments under the first pre-save ad
Page 16: what people said, comments before the second release
Page 17: what people said, comments in the week of release
Page 18: change log, what changed and when
Page 19: campaign impact, three campaigns, each in its own window

03

/ The result

No. 02

51,649

51,649

51,649

streams, phase 1, Feb 10 to Apr 6

No. 03

1,480

1,480

1,480

pre-saves, release 1

No. 04

$4,919

$4,919

$4,919

ad spend, three phases

How it worked

Monthly listeners went from 1,718 on Feb 1 to 58,371 on Jun 30, across the three ad windows. In phase 1, the artist logged 51,649 streams, and Ouro's Mix went from 2 saves to 3,572.

Monthly listeners went from 1,718 on Feb 1 to 58,371 on Jun 30, across the three ad windows. In phase 1, the artist logged 51,649 streams, and Ouro's Mix went from 2 saves to 3,572.

Phase 1 sent 8,290 Feature.fm clicks at $0.32 each, and streams went from 420 a day to 1,355 by Apr 6. The release 1 pre-save logged 1,480 pre-saves at $0.61 each. Release 2 logged 2,393 at $0.57 each, with a 75% landing-page CTR, the highest of the three phases.

What it built

In its first 28 days, release 1 logged 38K+ streams and 22K listeners, and release 2 logged 92K+ streams and 52K listeners, as reported. Ad spend was $4,919 across the three phases. Monthly listeners reached 68,969 on Jul 20.

In its first 28 days, release 1 logged 38K+ streams and 22K listeners, and release 2 logged 92K+ streams and 52K listeners, as reported. Ad spend was $4,919 across the three phases. Monthly listeners reached 68,969 on Jul 20.

Next time, we would build a playlist audience before the first pre-save and split budget across Tier 1 and Tier 2 locations. We would offer Future Saves again, which reached 791 and then 1,221.

Work with us.

Tell us about your project, like a new single, label marketing, a catalog revival or a merch offer.

Quick response.

We reply within one business day.

Clear next steps.

After the first call, we send you a plan and a timeline. Most campaigns run $2K+ a month in ad spend.

550M+

Streams generated

600+

Campaigns since 2017

$2M+

Ad spend managed

Have a project in mind?

How do you want to start?
Start your campaign nowBuild your plan and check out. Your card is held, not charged, until we approve the song.
1 of 2
Who are we working with?
2 of 2
What do you need?
Pick one

Work with us.

Tell us about your project, like a new single, label marketing, a catalog revival or a merch offer.

Quick response.

We reply within one business day.

Clear next steps.

After the first call, we send you a plan and a timeline. Most campaigns run $2K+ a month in ad spend.

Have a project in mind?

How do you want to start?
Start your campaign nowBuild your plan and check out. Your card is held, not charged, until we approve the song.
1 of 2
Who are we working with?
2 of 2
What do you need?
Pick one

Work with us.

Tell us about your project, like a new single, label marketing, a catalog revival or a merch offer.

Quick response.

We reply within one business day.

Clear next steps.

After the first call, we send you a plan and a timeline. Most campaigns run $2K+ a month in ad spend.

550M+

Streams generated

600+

Campaigns since 2017

$2M+

Ad spend managed

Have a project in mind?

How do you want to start?
Start your campaign nowBuild your plan and check out. Your card is held, not charged, until we approve the song.
1 of 2
Who are we working with?
2 of 2
What do you need?
Pick one

Launching a release, growing a catalog or running ads across a whole roster? Tell us the goal and we’ll map the campaign.

Launching a release, growing a catalog or running ads across a whole roster? Tell us the goal and we’ll map the campaign.

Launching a release, growing a catalog or running ads across a whole roster? Tell us the goal and we’ll map the campaign.

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