How #R!sK Reached 10,000 Monthly Listeners With "You've Been On My Mind"

His release “You’ve Been On My Mind” (in combination with two other songs) has gained, and maintained strong momentum through a playlist campaign exclusively executed on PlaylistsForYou. With a custom plan of €499, the track secured 28 playlist placements and reached 9,785+ listeners in June 2026. A few months prior to this, he even reached around 26,000 monthly listeners due to a strong increase in algorithmic streams in combination with consistent new song releases.

#R!sK is a dynamic musical project that blends elements of rock, pop, EDM, and synthwave to create a unique sound. His music is influenced by musicians like Deftones, Crosses, Depeche Mode, and more. With his consistent efforts, #R!sK has garnered a loyal following of listeners, reaching ~4,300 followers on his Spotify For Artists profile.

“When I first started making music, I honestly struggled to find an audience that connected with what I was creating. I believed in my songs, but getting them in front of the right people felt almost impossible. Like a lot of independent artists, I was releasing music and hoping it would somehow find its way to listeners. Working with PlaylistsForYou completely changed that.”

In this case, we pitched multiple of his songs at once. This allowed us to stay more targeted towards his niche, leading to a better match with his song’s style, mood, and audience. Through our targeted playlist pitching campaign, #R!sK secured 28 total playlist placements. These placements helped the track reach new listeners and gave the Spotify algorithm strong signals that allowed this song to be further boosted by algorithmic playlists.

“From the beginning, they (PlaylistsForYou) have been incredibly supportive not just by promoting my music, but by genuinely caring about my growth as an artist. They took the time to understand my sound and consistently placed my songs on playlists that matched the vibe and emotion of each release. That made a huge difference because my music was finally reaching people who were looking for songs like mine instead of just being thrown onto random playlists.”

The campaign helped his artist profile reach 10,000 listeners, and at its peak it was closer to 26,000. Beyond the direct placements, his music also saw a strong increase in algorithmic streams. The campaign did not only support the new release, but also helped bring extra attention to older songs in his catalog. With a current Cost Per Stream (CPS) of 0.04€, this campaign has shown the potential of using PlaylistsForYou. Around his monthly listener peak, the CPS was around 0.02€ showcasing how much influence the Spotify Algorithm can have to make or break a release.

“Since partnering with PlaylistsForYou, I’ve watched my streams, monthly listeners, and overall audience continue to grow with every release. More importantly, I’ve started building a real fan base of people who genuinely connect with my music. Seeing listeners come back for each new song has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey.”

“As an independent artist, it’s hard to find people you can trust in the music industry. PlaylistsForYou has been honest, professional, encouraging, and supportive every step of the way. They’ve become more than just a playlisting service — they’ve been a partner in helping me grow #R!sK into something I’m truly proud of.”

It is more difficult to know which share of his new followers are coming from his algorithmic push, or from the PlaylistsForYou playlists. Both playlists are known to contain many listeners eager to discover new (niche) artists. If we look at the locations his music is played most often, we see a very strong German audience enjoying his music. The playlists of PlaylistsForYou target all English speaking countries, so US, EU, but also IN, GB, AU, etc. Still, it could potentially be explained that his music resonates a slight bit more with our German listeners, though that is just an educated guess.

“If you’re an independent artist who’s struggling to get your music heard by the right audience, I can’t recommend PlaylistsForYou enough. They’ve helped turn my songs into opportunities to connect with listeners around the world, and I’m genuinely excited to keep growing with them.”

This testimonial shows how PlaylistsForYou approaches a €499 monthly budget and how it can leverage its playlisting network to create some strong momentum for #R!sK. By intentionally expanding the submitted song amount, PlaylistsForYou keeps targeting highly relevant playlists.

With his investment of €499, the release landed in 28 Spotify playlists and reached 10,000 listeners and helped increase listeners for both his new, and older releases.