With Spotify promoting already popular music, it is a nightmare for the small artist to break through its algorithms. The Bristol’s Local Artists Playlist is a non-profit project to help local artists find a wider audience.
As an aspiring musician, I am saddened when I see how difficult it is for small musicians to receive any kind of reward for their work. Unfortunately, to get your music out there, musicians are pretty limited to using Spotify and Apple Music as the major streaming services. Spotify have now made it so that any song with less than 1,000 streams will not receive its reward. The artists are those putting all the work in to give you the music you listen to, but it is the shop front who makes all the profit.
Bristol’s Local Artists Playlist is my response, effectively allowing all the local artists to team up in marketing their work. I have made the playlist and am moderating it, adding new tracks when asked by local artists. I am having posters printed (shown below), which I will take to local pubs in an effort to reach a wider audience. This means that local people will be able to easily find all the local talent that have published their songs.
Obviously, this does take a fair amount of my time and resources. I have already invested £43 into the project and a day of time. While this is something I am happy to do, with the hope that my music will also reach a wider audience when I publish on Spotify, this work benefits a significant community of musicians and listeners. If you would like to support me in this, please consider donating by buying me a coffee!
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