Create a Music Marketing Plan Backed by Real Data

Avery Malone

Jan 2, 2026

Creating a music marketing plan isn’t about guesswork or viral luck. It’s about understanding your audience, identifying your strengths, and using data to guide each move. Whether you're an emerging artist or an experienced label manager, building a structured music marketing plan is essential for success. This guide walks you through the process and highlights the best tools to execute it effectively.

Today, data is everything. Without insights into fan behavior, playlist placements, streaming performance, or social trends, your promotional efforts will likely fall short. That’s why music analytics platforms have become vital for crafting a solid strategy. Below, we compare four top tools to help you decide which one best supports your music marketing plan.

Pricing Comparison Summary

• Viberate: €19.90/month (billed annually at €239)
• Chartmetric: $1400/year or $150/month
• Songstats: €999.99/year
• Soundcharts: From $129/month or $1548/year

Viberate is the most budget-friendly option without compromising on features. Chartmetric and Soundcharts are significantly more expensive, while Songstats falls in the upper-middle tier.

Step 1: Set Clear Goals and Define Your Audience

Before launching a campaign, define your objectives: Do you want to grow followers, boost streams, secure playlist placements, or land gigs? From there, determine who you need to reach.

With tools like Viberate, you can analyze your current fanbase by age, gender, and geography. Its demographic insights help tailor messaging and choose the right channels. You can also separate mature markets from those needing growth, allowing you to prioritize your efforts more efficiently.

Chartmetric offers similar fanbase insights across streaming and social platforms, while Songstats keeps it lighter with engagement monitoring. Soundcharts provides detailed regional data from airplay and playlist performance but at a steeper price.

Step 2: Understand Your Performance Metrics

Evaluating current performance gives you a baseline. Viberate's artist analytics dashboard lets you track streaming growth, playlist reach, and fan engagement across platforms. You can benchmark against competitors and receive weekly performance reports.

Chartmetric also provides in-depth cross-channel performance tracking with advanced visualizations. Soundcharts focuses heavily on real-time airplay and playlist tracking, especially useful for radio-centric campaigns. Songstats offers notifications and performance summaries but lacks the in-depth customization seen in Viberate or Chartmetric.

Step 3: Plan Your Content and Campaigns

Once you know your goals and baseline, you can plan your campaigns. A strong music marketing plan includes social media rollouts, streaming pushes, and targeted playlist outreach.

Viberate helps identify the most effective playlists for your genre and track. Their playlist analytics tools show daily adds/drops and highlight priority placements. With TikTok, Instagram, and other social integrations, you can pinpoint top-performing content and replicate it across campaigns.

Chartmetric enables release tracking across major platforms with a focus on campaign effectiveness. Soundcharts provides campaign tracking with customizable dashboards but lacks some content-specific insights. Songstats allows you to connect with fans via direct social shares, which is handy for building momentum.

Step 4: Find Opportunities and Take Action

Planning is half the battle. Acting on insights makes the difference. Viberate's venue and festival finder can identify performance opportunities based on your fanbase's location and size. This feature is especially valuable for booking managers or artists planning tours.

The platform’s talent discovery and benchmarking features also allow labels and managers to scout collaborators or compare artist trajectories. Chartmetric provides similar tools for spotting rising talent and setting campaign benchmarks. Soundcharts emphasizes scouting through radio, playlist, and chart data. Songstats offers artist and label dashboards but doesn’t cover gig opportunities.

Step 5: Export Reports and Track Progress

As your campaigns unfold, reporting becomes key. Viberate supports tailored dashboards and CSV exports for easy integration into business workflows. Weekly reports are automatically emailed, saving time and helping you stay organized.

Chartmetric and Soundcharts also offer custom reports, although their interface can be more complex. Songstats provides mobile-friendly dashboards but less robust reporting capabilities overall.

Conclusion: Which Tool Best Supports Your Music Marketing Plan?

For professionals seeking a comprehensive, affordable solution, Viberate stands out. It offers deep insights into audience demographics, streaming performance, playlist strategy, and venue opportunities—all at a fraction of the cost of Chartmetric or Soundcharts. Its marketing tools are robust yet easy to navigate, making it ideal for independent artists, managers, and labels alike.

If your budget allows and you require ultra-detailed social + streaming trend visualizations, Chartmetric is a strong contender. Soundcharts excels in radio analytics and industry-level scouting. Songstats is best suited for artists who want streamlined data and mobile access without deep customization.

Ultimately, the right tool depends on your specific needs. But if your goal is to build a strategic, data-driven music marketing plan without overspending, Viberate is the clear choice.