This will be the third time, and probably the last, that we’ve talked about this subject, but we’ve been asked some questions and two months ago we also came across some incredible practices that could be the beginning of an explanation for the fact that despite everyone’s efforts, views on the official channel are progressing so slowly.

There’s strength in numbers and we could learn a lot from the organisation and cooperation of a colony of ants, even if rigour and patience aren’t always signs of efficiency, right?

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What follows is only the fruit of our little experience and everyone will obviously do as they please.

Things are constantly changing; what we know now will probably no longer be valid tomorrow.

That’s why, those who continue to apply recipes from 10 years ago would   ask themselves whether the results of their efforts really live up to their expectations.

 

So here’s a summary that we’ve tried to translate as clearly as possible
(S: usastreamguide)

 

SUMMARY/GUIDE TO STREAMING

💢 WHY IS STREAMING IMPORTANT FOR AN ARTIST?

The results of the streaming counters on the various platforms enable agencies to assess the popularity of their artists; their music is broadcast and listened to worldwide thanks to the many existing platforms, giving them greater visibility.

Streaming not only helps to rank artists’ music, but also helps decision-makers to gauge their audience’s expectations.

💢 WHERE CAN YOU LISTEN TO KIM HYUN JOONG’S MUSIC?

On various platforms, here are a few:
YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Audiomack, Qobuz, Spotify, SoundCloud Stationhead, Tidal and certainly plenty of others, particularly specific to the Asian zone to which we don’t always have access :

As the official content is posted on Youtube, we feel that priority should be given to the official channel on this platform.

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💢 HOW MANY LISTENS OR STREAMS CORRESPOND TO THE SALE OF AN ALBUM?

According to the RIAA certification body
(The world’s oldest responsible investment programme, and its certification symbol, a registered trademark owned and managed by the RIAA, is the most trusted mark for responsible investment products and service providers)

 

・150 streams/listenings = 1 sale of a track
・1,500 streams/listenings = 10 track sales
・10 sales of tracks = 1 album

In other words, 1,500 streams are equivalent to 1 unit (one album sale).

According to the Billboard Charts

・1,250 streams on a premium account = sale of an album
・3 750 streams/listens on a free account = sale of an album

Important: Billboard only takes into account listening in the United States for its rankings.

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💢 HOW TO MAKE VIEWS/LISTENS COUNT

Act like a human being rather than a robot.

Building playlists and looping songs in the hope that they’ll do the job for you is utopian.

You need to interact with the platform from time to time, leaving lists running for days or nights on end is absurd and pretending that the method works is a lie.

Even a Premium account stops and has to be relaunched after a certain time.

Views are counted according to the different platforms; the minimum is 30 seconds, but it seems that some platforms have increased this slightly.

Warning: do not use speed accelerators (VPNs).
If the platform detects this as cheating, all views/listens/streams will be deleted.

 

💢 PHYSICAL OR DIGITAL PURCHASES?

Buying music is one of the most effective ways of helping it obtain RIAA certification, as well as rankings such as Billboard
(for the US, each continent has its own specific ranking system).

Music can be purchased in digital or physical form.

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🧿 DIGITAL PURCHASES

As albums are now “produced” sparingly, and you have to wait a minimum of 5 weeks to have a chance of finding them at our usual sellers, buying digitally may be an option.

Where to buy digital music: Amazon, iTunes, Qobuz…

WARNING: FOR YOUR DIGITAL PURCHASES TO COUNT :

– Limit your purchases to one copy per person
– For albums, buy each track separately; do not select “Complete My Album”.
– Download what you buy onto a computer
– Avoid giving albums/tracks as gifts, even if the intention is good and you want to combine business with pleasure.

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🧿 PHYSICAL PURCHASES

Depending on the country, everyone knows the best seller.
For everyone: Amazon of course.

WARNING: TO MAKE YOUR PHYSICAL PURCHASES COUNT:

– Limit your purchases to 4 copies per person.
(Pre-orders are taken into account for Billboard as soon as they are dispatched).

–

In the USA, Single Music has indicated that if a customer purchases up to 4 copies of an album, EP or single, each copy is counted as a single sale.

Purchases of 5 to 9 copies only count as 4 sales.

Purchases of 10 copies or more constitute wholesale sales, and none will be taken into account in the Billboard rankings.

IMPORTANT: This limitation applies per customer.
Multiple orders from the same customer will not count as more than 4 copies.

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ON STREAMING VIDEO CLIPS/MUSIC VIDEOS

 

💢 HOW MANY MUSIC VIDEO STREAMS/VIEWS CORRESPOND TO ONE ALBUM SALE?

For Billboard Charts
1,250 views/streams on a premium account = sale of an album
3,750 views/streams on a free account = sale of an album

Please note Billboard only takes into account listening in the United States for its rankings.

 

💢 HOW ARE MUSIC VIDEO STREAMS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT?

Only streams from officially licensed music videos are taken into account in the Billboard rankings.

On Facebook
Make sure the clip is uploaded to KIM HYUN JOONG’s official Facebook pages.

YouTube
Make sure the video is on KIM HYUN JOONG’s official YouTube channel.

Don’t act like a robot, interact like a human being.
Manually search for the video clip you want, click on it and play the video in its entirety.
At the end of the video, watch another one.
Don’t use a playlist, especially not for the first 24 hours.
Remember that when you watch/listen to videos contained in playlists, only one view is counted, no matter how many times you watch them.
(Yes, that’s got to shake up a lot of people’s habits, doesn’t it?)

Obviously no VPN, and only use your YouTube Premium account to stream to one device and one browser at a time.

 

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SUMMARY

 

💢 TIPS AND TRICKS FOR STREAMING ON YOUTUBE

• Log in to your YouTube account.
• Search for the video clip you want by name.
  (Hence the importance of correctly translated titles in a language that everyone can read!)

• Watch/listen to the clip in its entirety.
• Make sure you watch the video from the artist’s official YouTube channel
• These videos are verified by YouTube and often end up on VEVO.
• Log out of YouTube several times, delete your cookies/cache, log back in, search for the video and play it manually.
• Not only does this increase the number of views, it also increases search volume, which can help improve SEO.
• Broadcast videos from one account on your computer and another on your phone (use your neighbour’s device if necessary).
• Always keep the YouTube volume on, but you can mute the device.
• Always act like a human being: comment, like, but don’t spam.
• Pause, read and rewind from time to time to avoid giving the impression of being a robot.

 

 

 

💢 TIPS AND TRICKS FOR STREAMING ON SPOTIFY AND APPLE MUSIC

From a playlist–

• Create a playlist and add the songs a few times, and make sure you add a few more songs by the same or a different artist.
• Use playlists created by streaming services, such as “A-List Pop” on Apple Music or “Today’s Top Hits” on Spotify, to stream songs.
  If the artist has created a playlist, use that too.
• During streaming, do not mute the song(s), otherwise they will not be taken into account for streaming.

 

The typical Billboard 200 chart is based on streams from several regions.

The platforms have realised that fans from other regions use VPNs to increase the number of streams, and they no longer count these streams.

Spotify and Apple Music count streams of a song when it has been listened to for at least 30 seconds, so try to listen to the song for that length of time before moving on to another track.

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These are just tips, and as we’ve said, we’re not experts.

There are other ways of increasing music views and listens, but these tips are the simplest and most accessible.

Now, of course, you can go on compiling endless lists, which may be taken into account from time to time by Youtube, but the results will be slow in coming and may discourage everyone.