SoundCampaign pays music lovers with large Spotify playlists to listen to, critique and (sometimes) add new songs to their playlists
Expected pay: $1 – $14 per song
Husl$core: $$$
Commissions & fees: NA
Where: Nationwide
Requirements: An engaged and active Spotify playlist with at least 1,000 followers and 20 or more tracks.
SoundCampaign Review
SoundCampaign, like PlaylistPush, aims to help new recording artists improve their songs and get them heard. It does this by paying people with large and active Spotify playlists to “curate” new songs. Potential curators must have Spotify playlists with at least 1,000 real followers. (The site will monitor and kick you out if your followers are bots.) If accepted, curators will be sent new music that matches the stated genre of the playlist and be asked to listen, review and, potentially add, the songs to their playlist.
How much you get paid for this service initially depends on the number of people who follow your playlist. As you review songs, the site will boost your pay if it turns out your followers are particularly engaged and likely to listen to the new songs you recommend. It also gives you credit for keeping new songs on your playlist for at least one week.
Concerns
However, when reading through SoundCampaign’s rules for curators, we found some items of concern. First, where PlaylistPush matches your Spotify playlist to a genre using artificial intelligence, SoundCampaign appears to ask you to identify the genre and take anything related to it. Specifically, it says: “We expect curators to set up only relevant genres and vocal settings for their playlists. Adding a specific genre to the playlist means the curator is ready to review all songs falling into any of the selected genres. (emphasis added)
Additionally, if a playlist has a genre’s name in its title, the site expects the curator to review “all main genres, as well as subgenres” that are related. “If a track is matched based on selected genres, but a curator refuses to add it because of the track’s genre, it may lead us to believe that the genre settings were set incorrectly by the curator. This would cause us to withdraw payment.”
The site also says that it expects “curators to add a track to their playlist if it fits.” It doesn’t say what you’re supposed to do if you simply don’t like the track and don’t want it in your playlist.
This may be why some musicians complain about the site’s curators, who sometimes quickly take their newly-added tracks off their playlists. It seems curators who pay attention to the rules might add tracks they’re not wild about, but not for long.
Finally, the site’s terms also say: “If an artist disputes the review and the complaint is found to be justified, the curator’s payment for that review will be withdrawn.”
Recommendations
You aren’t getting paid a lot to review music here. So you shouldn’t have anyone threatening to withhold payment because they haven’t been careful about matching you with the genres of music that you like. Nor for some unspecified complaint by the artist.
For this reason alone, we think PlaylistPush is the better alternative for curators. However, PlaylistPush also appears to be more discriminating about the curators it accepts. So, if you’re not accepted there, SoundCampaign might be worth a try.Â
What their users say (from TrustPilot)
(Artist review) “The problem is rather with their matching system. Basically, the system places your song / track automatically based on the genre only. The same type of genre that curators also choose on their side. It does not consider the mood and theme of the playlist and it doesn’t allow you to choose the playlist. As an example, I have submitted a dark & gritty progressive house track, but it was placed in “Swedish House Mafia & Weekend”, “EDM, Big Room” named playlists. Got rejected by the curators saying “We only list songs similar to Swedish house mafia”. Really? So how did my track reach you? Even when [the song] got listed, it’s was not my target audience…”
5/2/2022
Suggested Options.
Blogging as a side hustle
Larry Ludwig may well be the poster child for why people recommend blogging as a side hustle. He…
Side hustle success stories: Selling on Etsy
Helen Spallas has worn many hats--investigator, janitor, tax preparer --but she didn't make six…
Great holiday gift experiences
Want to give someone something unique this holiday season? Consider holiday gift experiences.
Jobs for military spouses
The typical military family moves every two or three years. And with all that moving around, jobs…
3 Best tutoring sites
The best places to find a tutor are also the sites that are the best places for freelancers to…
Holiday hustles
One-quarter of Americans are looking for a holiday hustle to help defray the high cost of seasonal…
Learn to teach for free
Have a skill? You can make money teaching it online. And this month two of the best teaching…
5 New hustles — good, promising and pretty bad
We've reviewed 5 new hustles this week, which provide good opportunities for designers, notaries…
Strategies to survive inflation
Basic strategies to survive inflation involve spending (or saving) less or earning more. Or, if…
No college? No problem
No college? No problem. A wide array of jobs -- many of them well-paid -- don't require a degree.…
They do not behave ethically. They change the rules as and when they want retroactively.
There are always many technical problems on the platform.
Payments are always late.
They have a choice of music genres that does not correspond to reality.
They do not properly associate songs and playlists
Not recommended