How to Choose a Music Marketing Agency: 12 Questions to Ask First

Most artists have been burned once. The offer sounded confident, the numbers arrived, and nothing changed afterwards. The problem is rarely bad intent. It is usually that nobody agreed what success meant.

Use this checklist before signing anything.

1. What exactly are you buying?

Ask for the deliverable in plain language. Paid media management, creative production, landing pages, reporting. If the answer is only a number of streams, walk.

2. Where does the traffic come from?

The answer should be named platforms and ad accounts: Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Google. If the source is vague, assume it is not real.

3. Who owns the ad account and pixel data?

You should. If an agency runs everything through their own assets and you leave with nothing, you have rented results rather than built an audience.

4. Do they use a landing page you control?

Sending ads straight to a streaming platform means no pixel, no retargeting and no learning. A proper setup routes through a page with your tracking on it.

5. How do they test creative?

Ask how many variations they launch and how they decide a winner. A serious answer includes a testing structure and a kill threshold.

6. What is the reporting cadence?

Weekly reporting with the actual platform metrics, not a screenshot of stream counts.

7. Which metrics do they optimize?

Look for cost per click out, save rate, repeat listener rate and follower growth. Streams alone are a weak proxy.

8. Can they show comparable work?

Anonymous case data is fine and often necessary. What matters is that the metrics are specific, the timeframe is stated, and the method is explained.

9. What do they refuse to do?

A good partner will say no to bought streams, bot traffic and engagement farms. If nothing is off the table, everything is.

10. How do they handle a losing campaign?

The honest answer includes diagnosing whether the creative, the audience or the song is the constraint, and saying so.

11. Who is actually doing the work?

Ask who runs the account day to day and how often you speak to them.

12. What happens when the contract ends?

You should keep the pixel data, the audiences, the landing pages and the creative learnings.

Red Flags

• Guaranteed stream counts
• Guaranteed placements of any kind
• No access to the ad manager
• Reporting that only shows totals
• Reluctance to explain method

Green Flags

• Clear testing structure
• Shared dashboards and account access
• Honest reporting on what failed
• Focus on audience assets you keep
• Willingness to turn work down when the fit is wrong

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a music marketing agency actually do?

Plans and runs paid campaigns, produces and tests creative, builds tracked landing pages, and reports on listener behaviour.

How do I know if an agency is legitimate?

They give you account access, explain their method, report weekly, and never guarantee streams.

Should I work with an agency or do it myself?

If you can run structured creative testing and read the data, do it yourself. Most artists want the time back.

What should I prepare before hiring one?

Access to your streaming analytics, existing creative assets, and a clear goal beyond a stream number.