Is SoundCampaign legit, what does a typical campaign cost, and how do I ensure streams are real?
TL;DR - SoundCampaign is a pay-per-placement Spotify-playlist service with vetted curators, seven-day feedback or automatic refund, and typical budgets of $100–$500. Aim for ≥ 30 % playlist acceptance and ≤ $0.06 CPS while tracking save-to-stream and geography to confirm streams are organic.
1 │ Legitimacy & Safeguards
• Curator Vetting - playlists screened for fake followers, low engagement, bot spikes.
• Pay-on-Success - you pay only when a curator adds the track; declines or timeouts auto-refund.
• Seven-Day SLA - curators must respond within a week to keep campaigns moving.
• Transparent Stats - acceptance rate, past placements, and playlist quality shown before you spend.
2 │ Typical Costs & Performance Benchmarks
• Lean budget ($100–$150) - reach about 10–15 curators, expect ~3–5 adds, ~2 500–4 000 streams, CPS ~$0.05–0.06.
• Core budget ($250–$350) - reach about 20–25 curators, expect ~6–10 adds, ~5 000–8 000 streams, CPS ~$0.04–0.08.
• Expanded budget ($450–$600) - reach about 30–40 curators, expect ~10–15 adds, ~10 000–15 000 streams, CPS ~$0.04–0.06.
Assumes genre fit and strong hook; results vary.
Traffic-light guard-rails
• Playlist Acceptance: green ≥ 30 % | yellow 15–29 % | red < 15 %
• Cost-per-Stream: green ≤ $0.06 | yellow $0.07–0.10 | red > $0.10
• Save-to-Stream: green ≥ 12 % | yellow 6–11 % | red < 6 %
• 30-Day Follower Lift: green ≥ +15 % | yellow +5–14 % | red < +5 %
Scale spend on green, refine targeting on yellow, pause and re-tool on red.
3 │ Steps to Ensure Streams Are Real
• Pre-vet Playlists - look for steady follower growth and healthy listener/save ratios. Tool: Chartmetric or free playlist analyzers.
• Inspect Curator Stats - favor playlists with recent activity and ≥ 25 % acceptance. Source: SoundCampaign dashboard.
• Monitor Saves & Skips - healthy adds deliver ≥ 12 % saves and < 25 % skip rate. Check: Spotify for Artists → Audience/Song Performance.
• Check Geography - sudden spikes from unlikely regions without saves = red flag. Check: Spotify for Artists → Locations.
• Watch Algorithmic Lift - legit placements should trigger Discover Weekly or Radio within 2–3 weeks. Check: Spotify for Artists → Streams from other.
4 │ Fast Fixes for Common Rejections
• Genre mismatch - use narrower sub-genre tags and research curator playlists.
• Production quality - tighten mix/master and reference editorial tracks.
• Slow intro - provide a radio edit or highlight the chorus timestamp.
• Generic pitch - add social proof like editorial adds, viral clip views, or a press quote.
Key Takeaways
• Legit platform with vetting, pay-on-success, and refunds protects budget.
• Start small ($100–$150) to test acceptance, CPS, and save rate before scaling.
• Confirm stream quality via save-to-stream, geography, and skip data - organic playlists fuel Discover Weekly, bots don’t.
• Iterate quickly: refine genre tags, improve production, and personalize pitches to push acceptance above the 30 % line and keep CPS under $0.06.
