Your first Meta ad campaign, drawn from what your niche already runs
For an independent artist or their manager, a first Meta ad campaign is one goal, one destination, three to five creatives in the format your niche runs, the button your niche uses, and a start day set against the release. Opah fills each field from the Meta ads the artists you add have run and puts your own Spotify numbers beside them.
| Field | What the niche runs | Your decision |
|---|---|---|
| Goal and destination | What the niche runs: Tickets 38% of the ads with a link, a link page 31%, a streaming service directly 4% | Your decision: One goal. For a release, a link page you own so the campaign counts every store; for a show, the ticket page. Straight to Spotify only if the release is only there. |
| Format | What the niche runs: Video: 72% of ads | Your decision: Shoot vertical video first. A single still can be the second creative, never the only one. |
| Creatives in the first flight | What the niche runs: 4, the median day an artist starts two or more ads; these pages start ads every day or two | Your decision: Launch 4 creatives on the same day with the same copy, so the only difference between them is the creative. Take the flight size, not the pace. |
| First line of the copy | What the niche runs: Names a date or a show: 37% of ads with copy; says it is out now 17% | Your decision: Open with the fact: the city and the date, or the record name and that it is out. The question and the lyric come second. |
| Button | What the niche runs: Listen now on 3,183 ads, Shop now on 2,042, Book now on 1,759 | Your decision: Match the button to the destination. Listen now for a streaming link, Sign up for a pre-save page, Buy tickets for a show. |
| Start day | What the niche runs: Starts peak on release day; the median start is 2 days after it; 36% of starts come before it | Your decision: Start the main flight on release day and keep one creative starting into the second week. A flight before the day is the minority move; if you run one, make it the pre-save. |
| Where it shows | What the niche runs: 33% of placements on Instagram | Your decision: Instagram feed, Stories and Reels, with Facebook on. Leave Audience Network off for a first campaign. |
Niche figures: 60 charting artists across 8 genres that Opah follows for its own research, ads started in the last 12 months; the start day from every artist Opah tracks with a dated release, anonymous. Measured 18 October 2026.
The release flight and the second wave, on one day axis
Set every ad start against the nearest release day and the rollout shows its shape: starts peak on release day, the median start is two days after it, and a second wave runs through the second week. About a third of starts come before the record lands. Plan your start days against this, then watch your own niche’s version in the Playbook.
How to read these numbers
- Your niche may differ
- The figures on this page come from one set of artists. Add the artists in your own niche and the brief fills from them.
In Opah, the brief fills itself from your niche
Add your own artist and up to five others to a Niche Playbook and the fields above are read from their ads: Creative Recipes for the format, mood and button the group keeps returning to, the release cycle for the start day, and Next Moves for the city to test first. Your Spotify popularity score, listeners and cities sit beside it, so you can watch what the campaign does to them.
Questions about a first campaign
More on the FAQ.
How much should a musician spend on a first Meta ad campaign?
Should my first ad send people to Spotify or to a pre-save page?
Video or image for a music ad?
When should I start ads for a release?
Does Opah tell me whether an ad worked?
Add the artists in your niche and read the brief they fill
The first ads arrive the same day. Cancel any time. Chartmetric is $60 a month for 10 artists and shows none of their ads; Opah Pro is $39 for 10.