Indie Music Academy Reviews 

Used them once. Not really impressed at all. Their dashboard is quirky and never kept up to date.

Paid for a 10k promo and thought these guys were legit because they are more expensive than everyone else. Four months later we are barely over the halfway mark and I’m on 3 playlists that are rated “unsafe” by Submit Hub. Don’t over pay to get ripped off by these guys.
They did respond and get me to jump through hoops like a circus animal to prove the weak performance but 2 months later and they want me to jump again but I’m done at this point.

Very pleased with my work with Indie Music Academy so far! Ryan's been incredibly knowledgeable and helpful through one of the workshops I took earlier this summer, and am planning to work with IMA over the next year as a tiny DIY band hoping to ditch some of the DIY-ness and use his team's expertise to get some initial traction.

More than anything, working with Ryan feels genuine. At several points in the workshop I was surprised at how realistic his advice was, and it was refreshing to hear a different (and truer) approach to many of the challenges an independent musician faces today.

Would highly recommend IMA to anyone who's serious about a career in music and is tired of DIY or falling for many of the gimmicks/lies out there that promise shortcuts to success.

I have used this service for previous releases with good results but this time results are exceptional. In 6 weeks my new album has songs on 500+ playlists and has gotten 100,000 streams on Spotify. I think IMA is good at what they do but I also think there is a degree of luck with what hits and what doesn't, based on current trends in music.

They have placed me on one playlist, but it has generated more streams than being on 3 or 4 that only have limited time spans. The song has only been out a month and already has 5000+ streams

Very dedicated and committed to customer success. Never gave up when initial attempts to place songs were unsuccessful. Very professional and courteous. Offered to return fee if promise of views not attained.

I tried their low tier Spotify campaign for a melodic house track. I got on two playlists, one had a medium following in terms of numbers, and the other was a bit pointless as it had a tiny following. It’s a genuine service that doesn’t seem to use bots, which is witnessed by continuation of streams after the campaign. However, streams dropped sharply after and the vast majority of streams throughout the campaign were passive. While playlist ads during my campaign were not too bad, the save rate was very low. This sort of playlist service is worth it if you’re promoting your music in any other way possible, mainly because even a few consistent active streams on Spotify push your music to Radio, etc and you’ll get some new active listeners. But it’s overpriced considering overall engagement numbers and long term results.

I emailed them to find out more about their company. After no response I googled their address. Comes back to a UPS store. Do they even exist in the U.S.? You connect the dots!

Their customer service will ignore you as long as possible to keep your money for as long as possible. Even when you do get added to a playlist, the playlist is either heavily botted or takes months to be actually placed by the owner. Lack of communication and my suspicion that these playlists will get your music REMOVED from streaming services is why this used to be a premier service, but is now akin to scammers like Boost or Push. Do not do business with these losers. I am still trying to get my money back, after three months of not being placed. Customer service has decided to ignore me and make me purse the refund in as difficult a manner as possible (with my issuing bank).

I hope as disputes pile up, they will consider the criminal implications of what they are doing. Trust that if my case isn't resolved in a timely manner, and no refund is issue, I will be pursuing legal pathways instead.

Indie Music Academy’s Spotify playlist promotion FAR outperformed three other companies I used before.

We saw streams spike.

Just ONE of their playlist placements garnered close to 10 times more streams than about 150 playlists by services I used before IMA.

I would like to retract my 1-star review and apologize to Indie Music Academy. They actually stood by their guarantee and refunded two of my songs that did not achieve 10,000 streams. One song did reach 19,000 streams which I commend Indie for helping me achieve this. I would highly recommend Indie Music Academy now and will try another release.
Nick Antonecchia

Trust me , they will keep contacting you to sign up with the promises of your dream. They do not deliver, they run you the risk of having bots streaming.through. This is against Spotifies laws so you may get deleted music or run risk of fake streams. Seriously consider. To what cost you need streams and why?

Legit yes. Good maybe but beware - does your music fit with their skill package?. I received dismal results from my personalized marketing campaign. They offered concrete suggestions to improve my online presence but nothing earth shattering substantive.
Finally, they admitted they were having trouble working with the “demographic” of my music. If so, why did they agree to work with my songs?

Indie Music Academy is wonderful to work with! I have used them on 5 of my playlist campaigns for my music as well as taken their Facebook Ads for Musicians course. I keep returning as a customer because what they offer is simply amazing. They have really advocated for my music to the curators getting my tracks placed on some fantastic playlists. I have gotten great feedback from fans who have found my songs through their playlist placements. They seem to always answer all my questions quickly. As an indie musician, I love having their strong support system to help and encourage me on my marketing journey. They have really helped push my music forward and grow in ways I never dreamed possible.

I have used them twice and they are excellent! They are not a scam ai bot farm. They got my songs placed on legit playlists and delivered what was advertised. Was recommended by my mixer whose clients have had success as well. Well worth the investment.

Are they legid? Yes, I got my money back. Are they any good? Not really, slow and not very informative. It took two months to get on playlists that gave 300 streams in 7 days.

Working with Indie Music Academy (Simone Curry) was easily one of the best decisions I’ve made for my music career. I had them promote just two of my instrumental acoustic guitar tracks, and they did an outstanding job from start to finish.

Unlike so many services that just dump your song onto random playlists, IMA’s approach felt intentional, strategic, and organic. I didn’t just see streams — I saw real growth: actual followers, saves, and even new fans reaching out to me because of their discovery campaigns.

What really stood out:
• They were always in touch with updates and clear communication
• Their ads were well thought out and strategic
• The results were well worth the investment

If you’re an independent artist looking for real exposure and not just vanity metrics, I couldn’t recommend Indie Music Academy more highly!

I have tried Groover and Soundcampaign without much succes, but the I saw this site promising a full refund if the goal was now met and I thought that was a good deal.
I did get the number of streams I paid for, so that was good. I just didn't feel that they lived up to the long winded explanations on the site of "building an audience instead of just empty streams", since the playlists I was added to was hardly relevant. The biggest streams came from a spanish list that translates to something like "most beautiful hits of the 70's, 80's and 90's". Not really what yoy what for you newly released music. Another was devoted to Bee Gees which I don't think I sound like.
I got my streams, but a bit under false pretences.

I wanted to believe in Indie Music Academy’s TikTok promotion, but unfortunately, my experience was very underwhelming. I paid $997 expecting a strong push for my clients music, but in return, only got a few videos total, with just under 30k views combined and no organic ugc videos were being made after. That’s not even close to the kind of exposure we were hoping for, especially considering the high price tag.

If you’re an indie artist trying to stretch your budget and make every dollar count, I’d strongly recommend looking elsewhere. You’re better off running your own ads or hiring an influencer directly. Definitely not worth the money, and I wouldn’t waste your time.

I wish I could've given their Spotify Growth Formula program a better review. It's a comprehensive program. Ryan is quite helpful. You will learn how to effectively gain attention through FB Ads and build Spotify followers. I completed the full program, checked off all the boxes, applied everything correctly to a tee. In fact I was widely acknowledged as the #1 contributor. They have a helpful FB group where you can offer contributions of your knowledge to other students as well as ask Ryan direct questions. Everything was working. Public feedback on the original songs were great. Listeners were growing for several months.

However, there is a caveat: it only works as long as you continue to pay for FB daily ads. Indefinitely. You will also need to regularly perform live shows of your song releases to coincide with the timing of new releases. Does not matter how good your product is. As soon as you stop paying for FB ads, all your listeners will evaporate returning to where you started from.

I plan to return to SGF only whenever I have a strong new release and also plan to follow up with a string of live shows. The good thing is you pay only one-time and will have access to the program for life.

Unless you are planning to live perform frequently AND are willinging to pay a minimum of $12- $15 per day ($360 - $450 per month) for ads indefinitely, save your money. Go for this program if money isn't an object for your music marketing goals and you have "deep pockets" (and expect to constantly be "feeding the beast") and where you carefully can plan live performance dates to coincide in timing with at least some of your song releases. Otherwise anticipate the reality that your Spotify listener gains will only be temporary.