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Your Song Is Live. Now What? Promotion Playbook for Indian Indie Artists

Distribution gets your song onto Spotify and JioSaavn. Promotion gets people to press play. Most independent artists spend 90% of their energy making the song and 10% promoting it — flip that ratio and watch what happens.

Week 1: Ignite your existing audience

• Your profiles: update bios everywhere with the song link. Pin the announcement post.
• Stories + reels: post the hook (the catchiest 15 seconds) as a reel on the release day. The hook is everything — lead with it.
• WhatsApp broadcast: send your song to your personal broadcast list. In India, WhatsApp shares drive real streams.
• Ask for saves, not just streams: Spotify's algorithm weighs saves, playlist adds, and follows far more than passive streams.

Weeks 2–4: Expand the circle

• Playlist pitching: submit to independent playlist curators (not just Spotify editorial). Find curators in your genre on Instagram and send a short, polite DM with your link.
• Creator seeding: send your song to 20–50 small reels/shorts creators in your niche. One viral reel can 10x your streams overnight.
• College and community pages: meme pages and city pages often promote local artists for free or cheap.
• Radio: community and online radio stations (including Kashmiri/Kashmir-focused ones for regional artists) still break songs.

Ongoing: Feed the algorithm

• Release consistently: the algorithm favors active artists. A single every 6–8 weeks beats one album a year.
• Spotify Canvas + clips: visuals increase shares and saves.
• Reply to every comment in the first month — engagement compounds.
• Collab with artists slightly bigger than you; their audience becomes yours.

What NOT to do

• Don't buy fake streams. Spotify detects botted streams and can remove your song or ban your profile. It's not worth it.
• Don't spam. Mass-tagging strangers kills goodwill.
• Don't stop after week one. Most songs grow in weeks 3–8, not week 1.

The 85% rule

Promotion costs money — ads, creator fees, artwork. That's exactly why keeping more of your royalties matters. With TIR's upto-85% artist share, your promo spend earns back faster than on platforms that take 20–30%.

Distribute your next single with TIR →