Thinking about using Partnered Projects to promote your music on Spotify? You’re likely wondering if they truly deliver on their promises. After personally experiencing a campaign, here’s a straightforward answer:
Partnered Projects offers a legitimate and effective service for increasing Spotify streams and engagement.
My own campaign, a complimentary trial valued at $189, generated approximately 10,275 streams from two highly engaged and authentic playlists. This resulted in a cost-per-stream of around $0.02, which is highly competitive in the Spotify promotion landscape. Having tested numerous Spotify promotion services, I can confidently say this is an impressive result, especially considering these streams originated from genuine listeners, not bots.
This positive experience has led me to recommend Partnered Projects as a top choice for playlist pitching services currently available.
It’s important to understand that playlist campaigns aren’t a magical solution for overnight fame and a massive fanbase. Streams from playlists can sometimes be less targeted and less engaging, as listeners often use playlists for background music. However, Partnered Projects surprised me by delivering placements on relevant playlists that drove better engagement than I initially anticipated.
In this review, I’ll delve into the specifics of my experience with Partnered Projects. If you’re interested in the detailed breakdown, keep reading. If you’re ready to explore their services immediately:
Explore Partnered Projects and start your campaign today.
Full disclosure: the link above is an affiliate link. My recommendation comes from genuine positive experience. Let’s now explore the details of my Partnered Projects campaign.
My Experience with Partnered Projects: A Detailed Campaign Breakdown
As part of a broader experiment in Spring 2023, I tested various Spotify promotion services, and Partnered Projects stood out positively. For a comprehensive overview of my service testing, you can read my detailed analysis here.
My introduction to Partnered Projects came through a conversation with Andrew Southworth, who mentioned his collaboration with them to offer direct ad campaigns alongside their playlisting services through Forbid Media. I personally advocate for combining ad campaigns with playlisting for Spotify promotion, as this dual approach maximizes both cost-effective streams and strong engagement metrics. For artists interested in mastering this strategy, I offer a course covering both methods in detail here.
Andrew’s high regard for Partnered Projects prompted me to include them in my testing. In April 2023, I submitted a track to initiate a campaign.
Initially, my track was declined.
Image alt text: Screenshot showing campaign declined notification from Partnered Projects, emphasizing their selective song acceptance process.
Ironically, this initial rejection impressed me. Partnered Projects’ policy of not accepting payment until they are confident in placing your song is a significant advantage. This protects artists from ineffective services that take payment without delivering results, a common issue in the industry.
While initially surprised that Partnered Projects didn’t accept my first submission—a well-produced, straightforward pop track that typically performs well with promotion services—it highlighted their selectivity and high standards for their curator network.
Just a week after the initial decline, Dalton Piche, the founder of Partnered Projects, personally reached out and invited me to submit another track.
Image alt text: Screenshot of email from Dalton Piche, Partnered Projects founder, offering a free trial campaign and requesting a second song submission.
I submitted a second song from the same artist, and Dalton generously offered a complimentary trial campaign, which would typically cost $189 and guarantee 10,000-15,000 streams. Although Dalton offered direct submission, I chose to proceed with a standard website purchase to experience the typical user journey.
And so, the campaign began.
Navigating the Partnered Projects Campaign Process
The chosen track for the campaign was:
Again, this is a pop song with broad appeal, characterized by its energetic vibe and relatable lyrics. Its mainstream style and high-quality production made it a strong candidate for playlist promotion success.
Once the track was accepted, the process was largely hands-off. Partnered Projects initiated their pitching process to secure playlist placements.
Shortly after the campaign commenced, I received an email confirming the song’s acceptance:
Image alt text: Screenshot of campaign confirmation email from Partnered Projects, indicating song acceptance and start of playlist pitching.
Beyond this initial confirmation, there were no specific notifications about individual playlist placements.
Partnered Projects provides a customer portal to monitor campaign progress, but initially, my account setup encountered an issue.
Image alt text: Screenshot of Partnered Projects customer portal login error message, highlighting initial account access issues.
Dalton promptly resolved this by manually granting me access to the backend, acknowledging some display issues within the portal. Here’s how my campaign data appeared in the customer portal:
Image alt text: Screenshot of Partnered Projects customer portal campaign dashboard, showing placement approvals section with minor display inconsistencies.
The “Placement(s) Approved” section was somewhat unclear, listing only one playlist with a title that didn’t directly match the provided Spotify link. While slightly confusing, cross-referencing with Spotify for Artists confirmed the two playlists, “for the mirrorball girlies” and the linked playlist, as the placements secured.
Despite an expected campaign duration of three to four weeks, our song remained on these playlists for approximately six weeks. This extended placement duration contributed to a significantly higher stream count than initially anticipated.
Let’s now examine the campaign performance data.
Spotify Promotion Results: Analyzing the Data
As initially stated, my experience with Partnered Projects was successful and legitimate. The raw data supports this: a $189 value campaign resulted in over 10,000 streams from two playlists.
The two playlists were:
Both playlists demonstrated healthy growth patterns. Their growth curves show consistent upward trends without suspicious spikes, indicating organic growth. Spotify for Artists data further validated these positive trends:
Image alt text: Spotify for Artists data screenshot highlighting campaign activity period, showcasing stream and listener metrics during Partnered Projects promotion.
The red box in the image indicates the active campaign period. Key observations from the data:
High Streams-per-Listener Ratio: The Streams/Listener ratio during the campaign was notably high for a playlist promotion. Typically, playlist campaigns average between one and two streams per listener. During this campaign, we consistently exceeded two streams per listener, indicating higher listener engagement and repeat plays.
Significant Playlist Adds: Over 315 playlist adds occurred during the campaign, most coinciding with the promotion period. This is a strong indicator of genuine interest and adds further value, as many of these user-generated playlists also contributed streams.
Here are the top playlists driving streams over the past 28 days:
Image alt text: Spotify for Artists top playlists screenshot showing “Pop Hits” playlist in fifth position, highlighting organic streams alongside Partnered Projects placements.
The “Pop Hits” playlist, ranking fifth, contributed approximately 1,000 streams independently, despite not being a Partnered Projects placement. Several other user playlists showed similar organic traction. However, the playlists attributed to the campaign were by far the largest stream drivers.
Geographically, the United States was the top source of streams. While US streams alone don’t guarantee legitimacy, combined with other positive metrics, it reinforces the genuine nature of the streams, aligning with the artist’s target audience.
Image alt text: Spotify for Artists audience location data screenshot, indicating the United States as the top streaming location during the Partnered Projects campaign.
Overall, the campaign data was overwhelmingly positive. The only notable area for improvement was algorithmic traction.
Despite strong engagement metrics, the song gained minimal traction from Spotify’s algorithmic playlists.
As shown, the vast majority of streams originated from independent playlists, with only 1% from algorithmic playlists, primarily from radio. This reliance on playlist placements means stream counts are likely to decrease significantly once the campaign ends.
While Partnered Projects isn’t directly responsible for algorithmic performance, achieving only 29 radio streams after 10,000+ playlist streams is lower than typically expected. It’s possible the track’s age or pre-existing data influenced this, or Spotify’s algorithms didn’t favor re-discovery of an older track. Regardless, the low algorithmic stream percentage is a point to consider.
Partnered Projects: Pros and Cons – A Balanced Perspective
Having reviewed the data, let’s summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using Partnered Projects.
Partnered Projects: The Pros
- Affordable Entry-Level Pricing: With packages starting around $50, Partnered Projects is accessible for emerging artists with limited budgets, contrasting with services like Indie Music Academy that start around $300.
- Excellent Cost-Per-Stream: Partnered Projects delivered the second most cost-effective results among all services tested.
- Payment Protection: Their policy of not charging until song acceptance minimizes risk and ensures budget isn’t wasted on undeliverable services.
- High-Quality Playlists: The playlists used are active, healthy, and show genuine growth patterns.
- Genre-Appropriate Placements: Placements were well-suited to the song’s pop genre, suggesting effective playlist targeting.
- Solid Engagement Metrics: Campaign engagement metrics, including streams-per-listener and playlist adds, were consistently strong.
- Experienced Team: Partnered Projects is affiliated with Members Media, which manages campaigns for major label artists, bringing significant industry experience to their indie artist services.
Partnered Projects: The Cons
- Limited Algorithmic Growth: Despite strong engagement, the campaign resulted in minimal algorithmic playlist inclusion, potentially limiting long-term stream sustainability. This may be influenced by factors outside of Partnered Project’s control.
- Selectivity: Their selective acceptance process, while beneficial in ensuring quality, may make it harder for artists, particularly those in niche genres, to utilize their services.
- User Experience Quirks: While functional, the customer portal had minor glitches and usability issues, which, though addressed by support, could be improved for a smoother user experience.
Final Verdict: Is Partnered Projects Worth It?
While playlist promotion isn’t a guaranteed path to viral success, Partnered Projects excels in providing effective playlisting services. They offer competitive pricing, strong cost-per-stream performance, and valuable engagement from authentic playlists. For artists in mainstream genres seeking to expand their Spotify presence, Partnered Projects is a highly recommended option, ranking among the top-tier services in this field.
Ready to try Partnered Projects? Click here to explore their campaign options.
Regardless of your chosen promotion strategy, I hope this review provides valuable insights for your music journey. Whether your next release garners 10 or 10 million streams, remember the value of your music and persevere.
Wishing you the best in your musical endeavors.
