Digital Marketing | Creative Production
SLIDEWAZE
Custom Direct Digital Marketing & Creative Production for Independent Artists, Labels and Small Businesses
Music Marketing Customized For You
Whether you’re a brand-new artist getting ready to release your first single, or a seasoned vet looking to more effectively monetize your music business in the digital world, we will design and execute a custom strategy built for your specific needs.
We’ve helped artists gain millions of real streams from engaged listeners, but beyond streaming we’ve helped artists build systems that turn those fans into paying customers. We are here to help you build a flourishing, profitable business based around creating authentic, genuine relationships and interactions with real people.
Why Direct Digital Marketing?
We specialize in direct advertising with Meta (Instagram & Facebook), Google (YouTube, Google search & affiliates), and TikTok.
“Direct advertising” means that we market your music or product straight to your potential fans/customers without any middle-man.
By marketing directly to the consumer we're able to have much more control over the results. We're able to see where a campaign is succeeding or failing and adjust accordingly.
With every campaign we run we learn more about how to connect with your audience.
Direct Marketing is one of the most effective ways to build a new audience while acquiring valuable information about your fans that will help to grow your business.
Direct Advertising Vs. Other Marketing Tactics
Looks like news, but this is an ad.
Click the image to learn how it works with music.
Public Relations (PR)
PR services in music often revolve around paid-for "news" posts on blogs and news sites. While this coverage can be good for adding a veneer of legitimacy to an artist, they are very expensive, it is hard to accurately track a campaign’s success, and if an artist does gain new fans from a write-up they have no way to directly follow up with those fans.
Unless you already have a very large audience PR is most likely not going to be beneficial for you in the early stages of your career.
Playlisting
Our specific goal is to create fans, not just generate streams. The biggest issue with playlisting (aside from the fact that many playlists are filled with bot-listeners), is that users engage with playlists passively.
Songs on playlists typically receive a far smaller rate of valuable engagement (profile follows, saves, adds to personal playlists) than songs being streamed from direct advertising.
These passive plays send bad signals to a streaming platform’s algorithm. If a song is getting thousands of streams but only a few saves it makes it unlikely that the algorithm will organically recommend the song to new users. Also, as soon as a song is removed from a playlist it often loses almost all of its streaming volume.
There is a place for playlists in your marketing strategy, but it should only account for a small percentage of your budget.
Two Keys of Successful Marketing
Good Data
One of the biggest benefits of digital advertising is that we are able to accurately track how our audience is responding to our marketing. If we use tactics that don't allow us access to this information or gives us false signals from shady sources, it will make our campaigns less precise and less effective.
If streaming is your focus the purpose of your campaign should be to get as much engagement on a song as possible. This good data will signal that people enjoy the song and prime it to be recommended by the algorithm to thousands of new users once the data reaches a certain threshold.
When it comes to streaming, direct advertising is the best way to drive real engagement on your songs. Our best performing campaigns have resulted in artists receiving millions of streams just from Spotify's algorithmic playlists.
Good Data Helped This Artist Get Over
1,200,000 Streams
Just From Spotify's Algorithm
Months After Our Campaigns Ended
Good Data Helped This Artist Get Over
1,200,000 Streams
Just From Spotify's Algorithm
Months After Our Campaigns Ended
Return Path
The most important aspect of any direct marketing strategy is the Return Path. This means that no matter the tactic, it is necessary to have a way to directly follow up with anyone who has interacted with our marketing.
We make sure we are gathering all the available data on your audience during a campaign so we can adjust your strategy wisely. With our tactics we can build a relationship with your audience, develop it over time, and reach out to the right people with the right offer when we want your fans to take an action.
With PR and Playlisting services it is almost impossible to know who is engaging with a campaign. This makes these tactics less attractive when you are trying to build a lasting busines.
Our Services
We offer services based on our clients' specific needs rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.
Some of our most popular services are listed below.
Spotify Campaigns
We will drive relevant listeners to your song, get them to engage with it meaningfully, and boost your streams while also priming your music with the data needed for addition to Spotify's algorithmic playlists like Radio and Discover Weekly.
Social Content Campaigns
Have great social content but not enough people are seeing your work? We can run campaigns on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Facebook to get your content in front of the right people and build audiences of your most engaged fans.
Spotify Playlist Development
Instead of paying to be on a playlist that may be filled with bots, we can create and market your own playlists. You will know the listeners are 100% real and you can confidently give your streams a boost with a playlist you own.
Merch Sales Funnels
Whether your're sitting on merch leftover from a drop that didn't sell out, or launching a new product for the first time, we can help you create the right offer and the right funnel to turn casual fans into paying customers.
Video Production
Are you based in the greater Los Angeles area and looking for help making social content or music videos? Our partners have shot 100's of music videos and 1000's of hours of content. Tell us your vision and we'll make it a reality!
Other Business
Want to work with us but you aren't in music? No problem! We can help with any business or creator that is looking to grow their brand and revenue online. Feel free to reach out and let us know what you are looking for!
Who Are You?
Our ideal client is passionate about their craft, has a clear business goal in mind, and is ready to commit to at least three months of campaigns.
We pride ourselves on building sustainable systems to grow a music business and that requires time and testing to execute.
The work we do is not magic. We cannot promise you instant fame and stardom.
However, we can help you on your path to make music your full-time career or take your current business to another level.
If you have great music, and you're looking to build a real business by turning real fans into real customers, we can't wait to work with you!
Who Am I?
Hi. I’m Verlondon C. Harris III, founder of Slidewaze.
I’m a lifelong creative born in Kansas City and raised in Los Angeles.
After many years working for music and film production companies in various roles I pivoted away from entertainement and found myself working in E-Commerce.
As the Director of Operations, I oversaw every aspect of business for companies annually selling millions of dollars of high-ticket goods through traditional terrestrial and online channels.
While holding my corporate position I began helping a few friends in music with their digital marketing needs. I have known many talented artists who have had trouble making a living from their passion and I have witnessed the predatory nature of artist service companies.
I was happy to help my friends avoid some of the mistakes a lot of artists make when trying to build a career, and together we have generated millions of streams, sold thousands of dollars of merch, sold out our own shows and built a solid foundation for growing businesses.
Witnessing the development of my friends' careers inspired me to pivot once again and dive back in to entertainement full-time.
I created Slidewaze as means to empower independent artists with the tools necessary to create stable, profitable careers without wasting money on pointless marketing tactics or having to sacrifice ownership of their art.
Let's Get To Work
Please fill out the form below and we will follow up with you within 48 hours.
