5 takeaways from releasing my song exclusively on Substack
Sorry for the wifi trouble, I'm writing this from my private jet
Two weeks ago… I released my first single exclusively on Substack.
(If you haven’t checked it out, you can here.)
When I wrote that post, I was just a kid with gastrointestinal issues…. a dreamer……. typing away at a local coffee shop, hoping that maybe, just maybe, this might work.
Well… just two weeks later, I’m beyond excited to FINALLY announce….
My gastrointestinal issues have eased up.
I don’t know if it was diet… or more of a mental biofeedback thing, but WOW have I been feeling really good.
As for the music, here’s the initial takeaways from my first exclusive Substack release:
Not knowing my stream count is incredibly refreshing
Last time I released music, I admittedly obsessed over my stream count.
I remember desperately refreshing Spotify for Artists to see if I had crossed the dreaded “< 1000 streams” threshold, worried about what it meant about my music career if I didn’t.
What would people think? Does this mean I’m a failure?
Now, as an older, wiser, 30-year-old man…. I realized that this obsession with my stream count kept me constantly focusing on who didn’t hear my song yet, rather than building a community around the people who did.
No matter how many streams I got, I always wanted MORE.
Me, circa 2020, telling my Mom to stream my song on her computer AND her iPad.
Me, circa 2020, telling my Mom to stream my song on her computer AND her iPad.
Now, in hindsight, I see that this….
……
……. was a terrible way to live my life.
And a terrible way to make art.
Now, releasing through Substack (and remaining relatively blind to my stream count) has made me really appreciate the folks who have listened, instead of obsessing over who hasn’t.
Which means I’m now free to be the totally chill guy I always dreamed I’d be!
The release process is wayyyy less hectic
I remember the first song I ever released back in 2020.
I remember paying for distribution, pitching the song to Spotify, running Instagram ads, reaching out to radio promoters, and most importantly, texting my entire contact list in my phone, begging them to stream, save, and share my song.
It was really exciting, and the song performed pretty well for a first release.
But when it came time to release my follow up single, I immediately felt an immense amount of pressure to do it all over again.
Was I supposed to just…. text everyone again?
“yooooo man, it’s Michael again (aka telco lol). Saw your grandma was in the hospital, that’s brutal, prayers up my king. Anyways, my new song is OUT AT MIDNIGHT TONI-”
Surely not.
By releasing through Substack, the process was refreshingly simple.
By simply distributing the song via a Substack post, anyone who cares about me (or my music) automatically gets the new song in their inbox.
I don’t have to worry about distribution, or paid ads, or “triggering the algorithm”…. or landing on an editorial playlist… I just had to post.
Now I know what you’re thinking… that sounds nice, but doesn’t it make it harder for the song to reach new audiences?
To which I say….
No, it’s actually easier to grow your audience
One of the biggest worries I hear about ditching Spotify (and the streaming platforms), and releasing through Substack is that it will “limit my potential audience”.
And on one hand, that is true.
My single likely won’t get the same top line stats that it would if I released it on Spotify…
But my question to you is…. how do you define your audience?
At the peak of my music streaming career, I had 50,000 monthly listeners - enough to fill a small stadium.
But was that actually my audience?
Not even remotely.
Sure, the numbers looked pretty, but in reality, I could only sell a handful of tickets (thanks Mom + friends).
The top line numbers were not reflective at all of my actual audience. They were a distraction, a farce….
Get 10% off at makeagif.com by using promo code……… i’m joking…. this is a joke.
Get 10% off at makeagif.com by using promo code……… i’m joking…. this is a joke.
Your real audience is the people who you can actually build a relationship with, and you can’t do that on Spotify (for reasons I outline in my article here).
On Substack however, because I collect the actual data (email address) of my audience, I’m able to actually build a relationship with them, and reach them directly.
This single note that I posted, for example, netted me 6 new subscribers. It’s a far cry from 50,000 people… but those are 6 emails that I now own that I can now reach out to FOR THE REST OF TIME (unless they unsubscribe 🤓….).
Those 6 subscribers are my real audience.
Shoutout to my core 6.
Monetization is way easier
I picked up a handful of paid subscribers from my single release, which may not seem too exciting….
But at $8/mo, that is the equivalent of 2,667 streams per subscriber, per month.
That means if I add 10 subscribers at $8/mo… that’s the equivalent of 26,000 streams every single month.
Which of those sounds easier?
It’s much less crowded (for now)
There is somewhere between 40,000-100,000 tracks uploaded every single day on Spotify.
Even if you release a 100% certified BANGER, it’s still insanely difficult to stand out.
By simply stepping out of the Spotify cesspool and releasing on a platform with a much smaller music footprint, I’m able to cut through the noise a lot more easily.
In fact, we added a boatload of subscribers before I even released my first single, simply because they were interested in this alternative approach.
Sometimes the easiest way to stand out is to zag when everyone else insists you must zig.
I do think that this space will get more crowded pretty quickly, but for now, there are only a handful of us releasing music through Substack.
And as far as I know, I’m the only one doing it exclusively on here (if I’m wrong please show yourself so we can be friends).
…. and I’m just getting started.
Some additional takeaways since the release (August 14th, 2025):
4,415 views on my release post which exceeds my subscriber count, which means it is being shared
44.93% open rate on release post
Added 89 free subscribers
Added 4 paid subscribers
Have had multiple artists commit to joining me in releasing exclusively on Substack, which is cool
I’ll continue sharing data + insights on this approach, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already!
Now I ask you… what questions/concerns do you have with this strategy?
And what unique strategies are you trying with your music career that I should know about?
Drop your answers in the comments!
Long live good music 🫡⚔️
Michael from MAD Records (aka telco)
(**** Check out the release of my song, “Petrified”, available exclusively on Substack by clicking here)
