Case study

2025

Debut Album Launch / Spotify Streaming Campaign

2 Months

Debut album on Spotify: under 20 to 900+ daily streams in 2 months

Swipe the campaign →

MeansMGMT case study

Under 20 to 900+ daily streams

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 01

The headline

900+

daily streams, up from under 20

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 02

The numbers

40,407

streams for a debut album

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 03

The proof

3,300%+

increase in song saves

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 04

How we did it

Debut Album Launch / Spotify Streaming Campaign

2 Months

ADMIT ONE · MEANSMGMT

No. 05

Start Yours

/ The brief

Debut Album Launch / Spotify Streaming Campaign

2 Months

2025

Darker Lighter hired MeansMGMT to run a two-month ad campaign for their debut album, from June to August 2025. The primary challenge was to introduce a new project to the market and build a foundational audience from a near-zero baseline, driving meaningful consumption and engagement on Spotify.

/ The report

Quick look at Darker Lighter's debut album campaign: $3000 budget, 40K+ streams, 3K% increase in song saves, and music marketing strategy by MeansMGMT

Campaign overview for Darker Lighter's Spotify promotion: 40K+ total streams, 18K+ song saves, and a $0.28 CPC from their debut album launch

Feature.fm data graph showing the two-month progression of a debut album campaign, tracking 40K+ streams and 18K+ saves.

First 28-day Spotify growth for Darker Lighter's debut album: 18,908 song saves and 3,490 playlist adds, a 3300% increase over the previous period.

Spotify for Artists graph showing daily streams for Darker Lighter increasing from under 20 per day to over 900 per day after campaign start.

Spotify for Artists graph showing daily song saves for a new artist increasing from 0-4 per day to over 400 per day via a targeted ad campaign.

A collage of positive user comments from social media for Darker Lighter's debut album, showing fan excitement from the music advertising campaign.

/ The result

No. 02

900+

daily streams, up from under 20

No. 03

40,407

streams for a debut album

No. 04

3,300%+

increase in song saves

How it worked

We tested creative angles and audience segments to find what worked for a new artist. That testing let us scale fast. Song saves rose 3,300%+ and the artist's Spotify Popularity Index went from 5 to 30.

Our methodology involved extensive A/B testing of multiple ad creative hooks, styles, and copy variations to determine which assets generated the lowest Cost Per Click and highest engagement. Concurrently, we tested a mix of cold, interest-based audiences against targeted, niche audiences to identify the ideal listener profile.

A strategic, tiered budget allocation was implemented across different geographical locations, allowing us to capitalize on both high-cost, high-intent markets and lower-cost, high-volume regions. Final cost per click landed between $0.28 and $0.40, with 7,300+ clicks to the album on Spotify.

What it built

The album drew 40,000+ streams and 18,000+ song saves from 8,000+ new active listeners. The campaign successfully increased the artist's daily streaming velocity from under 20 per day to over 900 per day.

We drove 40,407 streams and achieved a 765%+ increase in streaming velocity compared to the pre-campaign period. The most significant result was a 3,300%+ increase in song saves, with 18,908 saves in the first month alone.

Listeners averaged 4.5 streams each. The ads served 825,000+ impressions at a 60% landing page CTR.

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358,000 streams in 30 days

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Let’s work.

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.

550M+

Streams generated

600+

Campaigns since 2017

$2M+

Ad spend managed

Have a project in mind?

1 of 2

Who are we working with?

Takes about three minutes in total.

Let’s work.

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.

Have a project in mind?

1 of 2

Who are we working with?

Takes about three minutes in total.

Let’s work.

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.

550M+

Streams generated

600+

Campaigns since 2017

$2M+

Ad spend managed

Have a project in mind?

1 of 2

Who are we working with?

Takes about three minutes in total.