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4 Months, 300M+ Streams: The Blueprint for Explosive Brand Growth for Stargazing by Myles Smith
Discover how a targeted brand audit can unlock viral success and global recognition.
Create With Tom
September 04, 2024
Spotify: 370M+ streams
"Stargazing" is the song of the summer for 2024. Released back in May, just before the season kicked off, it quickly captured attention.
Personally, it’s one of my favorite songs to blast in the car right now.
This has been one of the most effective marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen, which inspired me to take a deep dive into what worked for Myles. I wanted to break it down to offer inspiration for others aiming to go viral with their own projects.
Pre-Hype (4/14):
This was the first-ever live listen, where Myles shared a heartwarming reaction with his producer. He chose the main chorus, knowing it would be a hit. His excitement is contagious, and the song itself gives off feel-good vibes.
What this did was build major hype. I know it worked because from that moment, I started following along with the entire journey. I was eagerly waiting for the next preview and the official release date.
Fans loved it too, based on the engagement in the video. Many began talking about how this would be the “perfect” wedding song for the upcoming summer.
As of today, this first video has over 3.5 million views on TikTok.
The soundtrack is also easy to create TikTok videos with, which is key to expanding reach.
4-16: Myles has his first call to action to the fans — asking everyone to pre save the song and letting everyone know about the upcoming song drop.
If you look at the comments it’s basically screaming FOMO and everyone is commenting along.
Look at the crazy stats below. 3M+ views on TikTok.
4-21: Another video on a BTS preview of Myles jamming out and having a good time to the song. It’s again him telling everyone to pre save the song.
This one picked up 15M+ views. This is the part where everyone has that FOMO of “OMG when is the song coming out??? I need it!!!” This is perfect for a music artist that needs big views to get the song to the top of the charts for when it drops.
Now what I want you to recognize is he now has a lot of UGC from regular fans and how they apply it. Since he has the “hype” he decided to use a clip from his fans as a hook before diving into him jamming out into the song.
Here everyone reading can relate to what is being shown and feel what the song is all about.
Look at all the SAVES
4-22: Similar to 4-21 he does the same video but with a different hook
This video reached over 6M views.
4-23: Save video as 4-21 except he’s in Paris
Look at that hook and how romantic it is… everyone seeing this is going to think about them and their significant other that they want to share this song with.
He post 2 more video that are similar then on 4/27 he drops news about his LIVE tour
https://www.tiktok.com/@mylessmithuk/photo/7362634553166531873
This is a good way to promote his show to FANS who are now engaged and want that song drop
4/30 - we're gonna call this the UGC impact hook. If you notice all the BODY are the same. It’s always him jamming out to it. It feels authentic and wholesome
This one received over 5M views
May 1 — We finally have a drop date: May 10.
It's a 10-day countdown. Like the first video, this one features the "final" cut of the song he envisioned.
The release is set for a Friday, which is when many top songs debut.
To reach the charts and gain maximum exposure, he needs to build momentum and gather as many saves as possible on release day.
Spotify metrics that matter:
- Playlist additions
- Featured playlists (e.g., Top Songs) for greater exposure
- Likes
@mylessmithuk PRE SAVE 'STARGAZING' ✨ MAY 10 ✨ TO BOOST YOUR SEROTONIN #newmusic #singersongwriter
For the rest of the week he does the same thing. Except on May 9th I saw a photo carousel and this is the first time I’ve seen him do so.
Why this is interesting: It shows a lot of different ways the SAME song can be promoted. Also song is out at midnight so it’s the final call to action for help.
5/11 — song is out people are loving it at the live show
5/12 - he’s done his work. He waits for the audience to help him out. I love this clip because it’s so wholesome. People really do care and his team did a great job. They deserve all the accolades and early success
To go viral on mainstream you need the following:
Radio — Being played a lot leads to more streams. More streams leaders to higher standings on the music platforms.
Summary:
This is proof that the song was a huge hit. This is a chart of all the playlist that were reached on Spotify
Myles Smith's song "Stargazing" has sparked over 300,000 videos on TikTok, many of which have gone viral. This is how songs start trending in the real world—it begins on TikTok.
If you’re looking to launch a song, your first thought should be, "How can I get people to make TikToks with my song?"
To make that happen, it’s all about creating FOMO (fear of missing out) and finding ways to tie your song to real-life situations.
When launching a song, here are some key metrics you should track:
The hashtag associated with your song
The number of videos created using your song
The total views generated from UGC (user-generated content) videos
If I were launching a song, I’d connect with creators who’ve already made UGC content with it. I’d ask if I could feature a clip from their video, and then integrate that clip into my own content.
First, I’d show their UGC, then follow it up with a clip of me jamming to the song, just like Myles did. The key is to give the audience a clear idea of what the song is about and how it connects to their lives.
Persistence is the secret sauce here. Even if your content doesn’t blow up right away, keep pushing across all social platforms until something sticks.
What we can all learn from Myles Smith is not just about leveraging UGC, but about his tenacity. He tried everything, and not every video hit 1 million views— and that’s okay.
Here’s what he experimented with:
Using Google voices for variety
Testing different TikTok captions
Responding to comments and creating videos from them
Adding emojis to video hooks, along with fan comments
If you’re looking to launch a song like Myles, here are some actionable steps:
TikTok/IG Clip: Find the perfect snippet of your song that resonates with your target audience. This is the clip people will use to make their videos. It should speak to their lives in some way.
Pre-Launch: Like Myles, create a few videos showing how excited you and your friends are when listening to the song for the first time. Share what the song means to you.
UGC Strategy: As you build momentum during your pre-launch, watch how people are recreating TikToks/IG reels with your song. Start reaching out to those creators and feature them on your social platforms. Use their videos as hooks for your own content, and incorporate clips of yourself jamming to the song in different versions.
Launch Date: As your launch date approaches, keep building the hype. Think of this as a campaign. Here’s a launch day checklist:
UGC: Get as many people as possible to repost or create videos using your song.
PR: Reach out to local press and radio stations to talk about your song before the official release.
Spotify:
Encourage people to listen to the song and share it.
Get them to tweet the song to their local radio stations.
Ask fans to add the song to their playlists and share it with friends.
Encourage them to like the song—more engagement leads to higher rankings, bringing your music to more ears.
Campaign Wrap-Up:
After launch day, soak it all in and reflect on what worked. Enjoy the process and learn from your campaign.
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe and follow createwithtom on social for more. Feel free to send suggestions on what I can audit.