Long term growthDJ and house producer
John Elle
150 million streams in a year from zero, with 77 percent coming from the algorithm
150M
Streams in a year
694,208
Playlist adds
27,811
Followers
Working since
June 2023
Daily budget
$20 to $50
Algorithmic share
77 percent
Platform
Spotify
The challenge
A house producer starting from nothing, with daily budgets of twenty to fifty dollars. The goal was not a spike on release week but a growth curve the algorithm would keep feeding long after the ads paused.
The approach
Hyper A/B testing on paid social to bring qualified off platform traffic to Spotify first, then carefully timed playlist placements around it. Overusing placements too early is the most common mistake we see: it suppresses the algorithm instead of triggering it.
The result
150 million streams in twelve months from a standing start, 607,420 saves, 694,208 playlist adds and 27,811 followers, with 77 percent of streams arriving through Spotify algorithmic sources.
Straight from the campaign
How the campaign ran
01
Traffic
Paid social sends real listeners to Spotify first
02
Filter
Custom audiences built on interaction quality
03
Time
Placements sequenced so the algorithm is triggered, not blocked
04
Sustain
77 percent of streams keep arriving algorithmically