Mark Roberge says musicians complain ads don't work because they're buying the wrong thing. Sending money to Spotify or YouTube gets temporary streams but no lasting asset. Instead, use ads to collect email addresses and build an owned audience you can reach for future releases and tours.
Every artist who's gotten burned spending money on promo usually walks away saying the same exact thing. Ads don't work. That's not really the problem though. Ads do work. The problem is what you're paying them to do. If you spend money sending people straight to Spotify or YouTube, you might get some streams and views. Cool. But when you stop spending, what do you actually have? Right? Spotify has the listener. You have a stream. Now take that same money and use it to get an actual fan onto your list. Email, phone number, someone you could talk to again when the next song drops. When you have merch or when you're actually, you know, coming through to their city on tour. Now you actually built something. Same meta ads, same money, completely different result. So stop renting your audience, start owning what you're paying to build.
