How to Earn Money in The Music Business

How a Dancing Elmo Got 112,000 Streams

I believe the ads I made for this campaign are the best of my career, and the idea came from a meme of Elmo dancing on the moon. In this episode I reverse engineer how $683 in ads turned into 112,000 streams for Karner H's track Extra Bite, with more than half coming from Spotify's algorithmic playlists. You will hear the exact targeting settings and creative approach I used, so you can copy them whether you run ads yourself or hire someone. Resources and links: 🧩 Hire me to run ads for you [https://www.morethanstreams.com/services/ads] 🧩 More Than Streams Website [https://www.morethanstreams.com/] 🧩 Free 100-page marketing guide [https://www.morethanstreams.com/challenge] 🧩 Free Tools for Musicians [https://www.morethanstreams.com/free-tools] 🧩 Your First Hit Song Program [https://www.finchbergling.com/yourfirsthitsong?utm_source=podcast] Connect with Finch: 🧩 Finch on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/finchbergling/] 🧩 Subscribe to my Weekly Newsletter [https://finch.kit.com/7ba2f8efc0] 🧩 Also on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@finchbergling]

How I Use AI to Save Hours on My Music Marketing

I've barely slept the past few days because of what AI can do for music marketing right now. In this episode I show you how I use Claude to segment email lists, translate newsletters into any language, build a website, and handle the tasks most musicians never have time for. If you have twenty dollars a month, you basically have a marketing team. Resources and links: 🧩 Hire me to run ads for you [https://www.morethanstreams.com/services/ads] 🧩 More Than Streams Website [https://www.morethanstreams.com/] 🧩 Free 100-page marketing guide [https://finch.kit.com/100pageguide?utm_source=podcast] 🧩 Free Tools for Musicians [https://www.morethanstreams.com/free-tools] 🧩 Your First Hit Song Program [https://www.finchbergling.com/yourfirsthitsong?utm_source=podcast] Connect with Finch: 🧩 Finch on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/finchbergling/] 🧩 Subscribe to my Weekly Newsletter [https://finch.kit.com/7ba2f8efc0] 🧩 Also on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@finchbergling]

The Reason Most Musicians Never Reach Their Goals (and How to Fix It)

In this episode, I break down the SMART goals system and show you how to turn a vague dream like "grow on Spotify" into something specific you can actually hit. You still have six months left in 2026, so this is the perfect time to build a plan and stick to it. Resources and links: 🧩 Hire me to run ads for you [https://www.morethanstreams.com/services/ads] 🧩 More Than Streams Website [https://www.morethanstreams.com/] 🧩 Free 100-page marketing guide [https://finch.kit.com/100pageguide?utm_source=podcast] 🧩 Your First Hit Song Program [https://www.finchbergling.com/yourfirsthitsong?utm_source=podcast] Connect with Finch: 🧩 Finch on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/finchbergling/] 🧩 Subscribe to my Weekly Newsletter [https://finch.kit.com/7ba2f8efc0] 🧩 Also on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@finchbergling]

Music Marketing, Playlists & Building Fans, Live From Vietnam w/ Jon Gilman (The Racket House)

A month ago, I met Jon from The Racket House in Vietnam, and while we were there, we recorded my first-ever live, in-person interview, with me as the guest on his show. We got into my whole story, from making music on a cracked copy of FL Studio at twelve to realizing I was a better marketer than musician, why I gave up on so many dreams to grow, and how getting scammed by a botted playlist is what led me to start More Than Streams. We also talked about the digital nomad life, how I use playlists to trigger the Spotify algorithm, why hyper specific ad targeting beats generic campaigns, and what it really takes to turn listeners into fans. Resources and links: 🧩 Hire me to run ads for you [https://www.morethanstreams.com/services/ads] 🧩 More Than Streams Website [https://www.morethanstreams.com/] 🧩 Free 100-page marketing guide [https://finch.kit.com/100pageguide?utm_source=podcast] 🧩 Your First Hit Song Program [https://www.finchbergling.com/yourfirsthitsong?utm_source=podcast] Connect with Finch: 🧩 Finch on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/finchbergling/] 🧩 Subscribe to my Weekly Newsletter [https://finch.kit.com/7ba2f8efc0] 🧩 Also on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@finchbergling]

How to Get Verified on Spotify (Part 2)

Spotify's Verified badge has three requirements, and Part 1 covered the hardest one. In Part 2, I walk through what your profile needs to pass the authenticity check, including linked social accounts, concert dates, and why most artist bios give people no reason to follow. I also get into a release strategy GAYLE used to turn one song into seven separate releases and how to turn one video into a full week of content. Resources and links: 🧩 Free 100-page marketing guide [https://finch.kit.com/100pageguide?utm_source=podcast] 🧩 Become a Successful Playlist Curator Course [https://www.finchbergling.com/successful-curator?utm_source=podcast] 🧩 Your First Hit Song Program [https://www.finchbergling.com/yourfirsthitsong?utm_source=podcast] Connect with Finch: 🧩 Finch on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/finchbergling/] 🧩 Subscribe to my Weekly Newsletter [https://finch.kit.com/7ba2f8efc0] 🧩 Also on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@finchbergling] I hope you enjoyed this episode 🙌 Please follow More Than Streams so you never miss an episode! Thanks for listening 🙏