How to encourage a higher volume of pre-saves on a release

Pre-save campaigns through streaming services are undoubtedly one of the very best ways to drum up excitement ahead of the release of a track or album. Allowing you to ensure that your most dedicated fans receive your new music instantly, the feature is a great method for generating an increased volume of streams and building an even bigger following across streaming platforms. It also provides artists with the opportunity to collect data on their fans for use in further campaigns like email newsletters. But, the benefits of using a pre-save campaign rely on your ability to encourage a larger number of fans to hit the pre-save button. In this article we’ll take a look at the best methods for ensuring a large volume of fans pre-save your track or album.

Running a competition

The single most popular method for encouraging fans to pre-save your track or album is by running a competition. Steve Angello is a great example of this style of campaign. Early in 2018, the Swedish musician released his long-awaited ‘HUMAN’ album, and prior to release he encouraged his fans to sign up and pre-save the album. In order to encourage the maximum number of fans to sign up, he ran an exclusive competition that required fans to pre-save for a chance to win an unlimited number of AAA (access all areas) passes to any of his future solo shows. Naturally, this proved incredibly popular, as it provided a prize that fans would be unable to find anywhere else. This really enabled Angello to encourage a huge volume of worldwide fans to pre-save his album, thus receiving it straight into their Spotify library as a result.

Although Steve Angello has the advantage of being one of the most popular DJs in the world, any artist can run a similar campaign in order to generate a larger volume of pre-saves and thus a larger number of streams across platforms. You may choose to give away a free ticket to a major festival you’re performing at like Tomorrowland, Ultra, or EDC, or even a solo show. You could even arrange an intimate performance at a smaller venue and offer people who pre-save the chance to attend, providing rewards for a larger number of fans and using exclusivity as a means for encouraging engagement.

Many artists choose to run pre-save campaigns that offer fans the chance to win a limited piece of merchandise or even an item of merchandise that is not yet for sale. By providing one or more fans with a physical reward, you are extremely likely to experience a much more vast number of pre-saves. Whether the prize is big or small, giving away an item is one of the best ways to encourage the maximum number of pre-saves.

Social media exposure

Another method for encouraging a higher volume of pre-saves is to make sure that you publish your pre-save link effectively across all of your social channels. Make sure your posts capture the attention of your audience by using captivating imagery; don’t simply expect people to click the link if it doesn’t look appealing to do so. Make sure that your audience feels that your posts look enticing, this way you’ll have a much greater chance of generating more engagement.

Paid advertising

You may also choose to run a paid advertisement on your pre-save link. This could be done through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and would be a great opportunity to reach a much broader audience. This method is ideal when used in conjunction with a competition. Facebook, in particular, makes it difficult to reach your entire audience without paying for advertisement at some level. For this reason, it is vital to allocate budget to paid advertising on social media, regardless of the size of your audience. Combine a post offering the chance to win a meet and greet with a paid advertisement that targets your full-page audience for the best possible results. Using this method, you’ll soon achieve the results you’re hoping for.

Exclusive content

When asking fans to pre-save, you can send them to any link of your choosing. So as well as all of the perks that come from pre-save clicks, you’ll also have the chance to give exposure to anything of your choosing. For example, you may want to send your fans to a page where they can preview the album that you’re asking them to pre-save. This is a great opportunity to build excitement even further and reward the fans that are choosing to support your music.

There are plenty of options out there for encouraging a higher volume of pre-saves, but the best method is simply to combine them all. Advertise on social media, allocate budget, and offer fans the chance to win a tantalizing prize. This could range from a meet and greet to a limited edition jacket. Regardless of what you’re offering fans, even the smallest prize can kickstart a much larger volume of fans deciding to click the pre-save button. Simply put, you cannot expect fans to selflessly choose to pre-save your album or track without offering them something in return. You’re asking fans to give you access permissions that allow you to add playlists to their Spotify account, there has to be something in it for them. Even though giving away a limited item could be costly, the cost will undoubtedly be outweighed by the reward of a large volume of fans pre-saving your brand new track or album.