Connor Price | How to go viral & make millions on Spotify

Introduction

Sixty thousand new songs are uploaded to TikTok every single day, yet the vast majority of them go nowhere. At best you might have a one-off ‘viral hit’ with 100,000 views but the artist is soon forgotten. At worst (and most likely) your music goes nowhere, the algorithm fails to pick it up and no one discovers or listens to it. Connor Price is the exception to that rule. In only a few short years he has amassed over 5M Tiktok followers, 650M streams on Spotify and he is making millions of dollars in the process. Want to know how he scaled so fast? Let’s break down the secrets to his growth.

#1 Disrupt the market

There are many different approaches to building a new business or brand. Some choose to incrementally improve upon what has gone before. Others build what Peter Theil calls a monopoly. These businesses tend to be wildly different from anything that has gone before. They are inherently different & disrupt the marketplace. And Connor and his team have embraced this disruptive mentality across everything they do, from the content they create to the music they write.

When Connor started on Tiktok in 2020 the majority of the platform was heading in the same direction. Most creators at the time were simply trying to emulate the biggest stars on the platform (ie Charli D'amelio & Addison Rae) by creating yet more dance content. Even established musicians who had jumped onto Tik Tok either performed dance videos or reuploaded clips from their back catalogue of music videos or live performances. Cooner & his team disrupted this approach. They established a unique approach to music content that was custom-built to the TikTok platform. It's an approach that hooks people in, keeps them watching and blends music with light-hearted comedy. Exactly the type of content that performs well on TikTok.

Perhaps one of the best examples of this approach is Connor’s ‘Carrot Flute’ video which has amassed over 32M views. Most musicians would simply jump straight into the song. Connor however has a clever little comedy sketch at the beginning which draws you in, builds intrigue and makes you want to watch more. It gets the viewer more emotionally invested in the content and ultimately gets them to watch to the end.

@connorprice__

Carrot flute >

Beyond this content, they have also disrupted when their songs are promoted. The traditional music industry would typically promote an up & coming album or song, weeks or months in advance. They would have their artist doing magazine interviews or appear on shows promoting their up & coming release. Connor & his team, however, have radically shortened the window between promotion and publication. Instead of waiting weeks or months for the track to be released, they drop the song instantly, as soon as the TikTok goes live.

Finally, this idea of disruption goes well beyond the content. They also apply disruption to the very music they make. Whereas traditional musicians would create a piece of music & only then think about the content they create to promote…Connor and his team do the complete opposite. They first come up with a ‘viral idea’ for content and then build a new song around it. Essentially everything is in service of winning on the TikTok algorithm game and maximizing the eyeballs they get.

2 Keep them hooked

Whilst the TikTok algorithm is ever-changing, one thing tends to remain the same. Fundamentally the algorithm looks for and promotes videos that do two things very well; click-through rate (CTR) and view-through rate (VTR). To simplify TikTok likes (and therefore promotes videos) that get people to click and keep watching.

All of Connor’s content is designed with the algorithm in mind. Turning back to the carrot flute example we can see that every inch of the video is designed to keep you hooked, watching and ensure you get right through to the end. This idea of keeping people hooked is so very important because the real enemy on Tiktok is distraction. Every time Connor uploads a new track they aren’t just competing with the 60,000 other songs uploaded that day. They are also competing with all the other thousands of potential distractions that could take people away from the platform.

This idea of ‘hooking people’ goes way beyond individual content, however. It operates at what Breanna calls a ‘series’ level. The carrot video is one in a series of many videos with a similar format (see below). A format that hooks people & keeps them hooked throughout.

@connorprice__

Well that’s one way to handle it 💁🏻‍♂️

#3 Flywheel

Now at this stage, you might be thinking "ok got it, Conner is a clever TikTok influencer”. Wait a minute. To dismiss Conner merely as another TikTok influencer doesn’t give him, his wife Breanna or their team credit. You see, TikTok is simply one arm of the mini music empire they are building. In fact, they are building a flywheel approach to brand building and business. An approach that not only helps to unlock exponential brand growth but seems to generate millions in revenue. Let me break down each element of this flywheel below.

TikTok

We went into detail above on their disruptive approach to Tik Tok above. However, I think it's important to briefly highlight how TikTok fits into their broader approach. TikTok is their primary acquisition channel. Everything they do is designed to broaden their reach, get more eyeballs and ultimately funnel more people onto their Spotify page. It is the reason everything is so focused on hooking people in and through the music. It is the reason that everything they post has one clear CTA - Spotify.

YouTube

Recently Conor & his team have been re-purposing their Tiktok content onto Youtube shorts. This saw Conner become one of the fattest growing musicians of all time on the platform. This was an easy win for Conner & the team to secure more eyeballs, views for the brand & ultimately drive more people to Spotify. However, it also provides an additional revenue stream as the ad payments on YouTube are far superior to Tiktok. Beyond this it also allows them to lay the groundwork for building their Youtube channel and begin to host longer-form content, which if built properly, could potentially surpass the revenues achieved by Spotify. Spotify

Spotify 

Spotify is very much the engine of the business. On average a creator will receive $4000 for every 1M listens. Conner & his team average around 60M streams a month, which nets out to around about $240,000 a month! However, their flywheel doesn't stop there and there are many more ways in which they grow their brand and their business.

Partnerships

When it comes to partnerships Conner & his team have many approaches. First, they do traditional brand partnerships with the likes of KFC & Ruffles. Second, they do creator partnerships working with musicians around the world from countries such as Zambia & Holland. And third, they do syncs which see their music used with other IPs (ie games & films). Beyond the revenue that each of these partnerships provide all three are another great way for the brand to grow and reach new people (and as we know reach is the single biggest driver of brand growth). Once again fuelling the flywheel and driving more people to Spotify.

Live shows

Finally, the smallest part of their media business is live shows. And whilst it does provide a decent additional revenue for Conner & his team, it is first and foremost about deepening engagement with their loyal fans. It’s about giving back for all the commitment and support their fans provide.

Before I get to the conclusion can I ask that if you found this content useful please just share it with your network, by clicking on the Tweet link below & hitting the retweet button. ✌️

CONCLUSION 

Connor Price, Breanna Price & their team are reinventing the music business model. They are independent by choice not because cannot sign with a label. In fact, they have turned down several others. Whilst they are in the music niche there are lessons for any brand.

1. BE DISRUPTIVE - don’t follow the herd and find a unique approach to content

2. HOOK THEM IN - on social attention is always your enemy & so you need to find a way to hook them in.

3. FLYWHEEL - think about how your media channels work together and generate different revenue streams.

Thanks for reading.

Many thanks,

Will Poskett
Founder Defiant