The underlying forces that compel you to buy or pay for certain products and services are called marketing drivers. As an artist, these are the key details you want to be shared with DSP’s like Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, YouTube, Soundcloud, Pandora, etc. to help you stand out. In this post, we’ll break down everything you need to know and more.

What Are Marketing Drivers And Why Do I Need Them?

Here’s the rundown…

For artists, marketing drivers are what will help you and your release stand out above thousands of others that our partners receive every day. With these unique details, our team can help your music catch the attention of the tastemakers in the industry. The more details that you can provide, the better chance you’ve got of catching the eyes and ears of the people who can get you playlisted, featured, and more.

To help you out, some examples of these include:

• Music videos
• Social media followers and engagement
• Third-party Spotify playlists
• Previous DSP playlist placements and features
• Advertising to be run for this release
• Premieres on media outlets and general press pick-ups
• Radio campaigns or plays from direct DJ relationships and other DJ support
• Tour dates and other POI – “shared stages with,” notable festival appearances, etc.
• Charting, ie. iTunes, Billboard, etc.
• Brand and media partnerships
• Other marketing campaigns – wildposting, print, etc.
• Pre-save and pre-sale campaign data (iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp, etc.)
• Sync and other licensing information
• Other artist development POIs – management, booking agent, TV/film appearances, etc.

What do you need to do?

Providing marketing drivers is absolutely mandatory for editorial consideration by DSPs. If your deal with Symphonic entails you receiving Marketing support from us, which is typically a % based deal and not our fee based deal “Starter”, then you need to fill out our Marketing Drivers Submission form.

To do this:

• Log on to the SymphonicMS (where you deliver music)
• Under “Marketing”, select DSP Features & Playlisting
• And then select the Marketing Drivers form that works for you.

(The form is currently available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.)
(DSP Features & Playlisting is only available for % based accounts)

If this is the first Marketing Drivers submission you’ve made for a track, select “new” and a series of questions will open up to answer.

Every answer you give helps us create a compelling story, but the most important questions to thoroughly detail are “WHAT’S THE STORY OF THIS RELEASE?” and “MARKETING DRIVERS (MANDATORY).

• Select each area where you have a bullet to include: Confirmed Press, Upcoming Shows, Visual Asset, Advertising, Radio, Physical Product, etc.
• To be considered for playlist pitching, this form must be completed and submitted no less than 5 weeks prior to release date.

//

For Partner Clients:

For Symphonic Partner clients, our team has implemented marketing drivers right in the SMS. Now, clicking Submit Marketing Drivers will load the Marketing Driver page for the release you just submitted, getting you right into the action, easier and faster than ever.

Learn everything you need to know about this new update here.

Good luck!