Repost trading began as a great concept and idea. A platform to cross-promote. Which is nothing new, just the means to do it changes with the times.

Think of a concert or festival. You always have a headliner and openers, right? These lineups are not coincidental. In most instances, you put a new and upcoming artist as an opener and pair them with a headliner you think that the fans would enjoy based on their liking of the headliner. The same goes for genre minded compilations and playlists. This is also the way you need to look at repost trading in order to get REAL results.

We have built a system of numbers. Then we found a way to manipulate that system just to make our own number count seem higher. One thing you cant manipulate is money in the bank. You can have as many "followers" as you want, but when it comes time to cash out and no one is buying, how many numbers do you really have? 0. So now we need to be strategic about building our network to ensure we are getting real results, and real numbers.

The More Followers The Better, Right?

The idea of going after Artist X who has 500k followers and 100k plays doesn't necessarily mean that the trade would be beneficial. How many of the followers are from fake accounts? duplicate accounts? or accounts that haven't even been logged into for months, years? That could be accounting for 200k of those followers. So the REAL number for Artist X is around 300k. What Artist X likes to do is repost everything under the sun. This means songs from any genre, songs of any quality. Songs posted by the 2 labels he wants to get on, songs from his friend down the street. So he is reposting about 3-5 times per day. Posting original content once every 3-6 months.

What do you do when all you see in your feed is a repost, repost, repost. And it isn't even of things you would be interested in. It gets annoying and you end up deleting them or ignoring it. So how many of those 300k followers do you think are thinking the same thing? Do you think that there may be a handful of those people sitting there listening to every single repost from not only Artist X, but the other Artists that are doing the exact same thing?

You'd think that just because the number of followers is higher that your chances will be higher, right? Not always the case. In fact, that is rarely the case.

The Ratio

Now let's look at Artist XXX that has 25k followers and 18k plays. He reposts tracks that are similar to his own genre and only does this about 2 times a week. He posts original content once a month.  He is interactive, replies to comments, leaves comments and chats with people. Not only does he have 18k plays, but he also has several "hearts" and comments on his tracks.

The next thing to consider is the number of plays to engagement ratio. Artist X has 9k plays and 10 comments. Artist XXX has 1.2k plays and 38 comments. The higher the engagement is, the more beneficial the repost will be. It shows that the followers are real and active. So now you know what to look for.

- Similar in style and genre.

- Followers Vs. Plays ratio.

- Plays Vs. Engagement ratio.

Repost Services

Now how to select a service. Of course, we are going to tell you to run with pumpyoursound.com and our Repost Trader.

Since we are confident in our services we feel we should leave it in your hands to make the final decision. There are a lot of services out there. Even in a google search, result #4 goes to a downed website. Here are some things to look for BEFORE you sign up for anything.

- Tutorials. Do they explain how everything works and how to use it?

- Support. Is there contact information readily available?

- Visible Services. Can you actually look at things like campaigns and reposts wanted?

- Services Offered that are guaranteed, not "maybe" or that "could possibly" happen.

- Testimonials. Do they have user reviews posted?

- Pricing. Do they have upfront pricing?

Lastly, there is a way to track your actual reposts. It does require some skill. You can access the Soundcloud API and create code that will show you the real numbers. You can access that HERE

In Closing

Repost Trading is a great way to build your network, reach fans, get exposure and make money from your music. Just like anything else in life, if you want real results, you get what you give. If you honestly believe in your creation and want to market yourself, you need to do your research. you need to be thorough and strategic. Put in the time to make careful selections and choices when building your network.