Indie Music Academy Reviews 

Joining IMA for the SGF course was one of the best decisions I made in my life. Carefully following Ryan's strategy, I managed to grow my Spotify monthly listeners almost by the factor of 30 in only 4 months, more than doubling the number of followers, not to mention other stats... Other than the above-mentioned immediate benefits, the program also improved my general understanding of how things work -- or don't work -- in modern music industry. Under Ryan and the crew's careful guidance I was able to mobilize my personal resources and achieve some of the things I never believed possible to manage on my own. Another important thing is the fact that I, just like everyone else who joined the program, is now a lifetime member: whenever I have a problem or a question, or simply want to share something that I learned and/or achieved, I can share it in the community chat -- and get help and/or feedback from Ryan himself or our senior members. It feels absolutely terrific being a part of a global community of music marketeers!

This course was a real turning point for me! It really helps to reach the right people, the ones who really like your music and then follow you, instead of just throwing money out and hoping you'll reach someone by chance.
Now I can also actively engage with the marketing of the record label and tell them exactly what we want to spend our budget on.

Customer Service! Ryan and his team at the Indie Music Academy are simply the best in the business at answering every question (no matter how ignorant), giving encouragement (for even small successes), and teaching the crucial skills for online music distribution, promotion and connecting with fans around the world. Available, personal, educational, talented, and genuinely kind humans; this is my experience at Indie Music Academy. Thank you so much!

This program gave me the tools to finally reach listeners. Highly recommend to any artist or band looking to get ears on their tunes.

I’m the director of Unstoppable Media and co-artist of music duo, Always Hope. I can’t say enough how thankful I am to work with Indie Music Academy for our music promotion. Because of their fantastic group of playlist curators, our music and message has been put in front of more people than we could have done by ourselves. We look forward to having a continued partnership with them for our future music releases.

Indie is the ONLY company I have trusted my streaming platform music Promotion to, as they work is legit network pitching my songs on my behalf, with 100% organic streams, great playlists and no BS. Helped me to kick start my music career, and find listeners. Because of their manual process, it does not always happen quickly, not all songs find home, but they never overpromise either. My experience has been nothing but majorly great - thank you.

I am so glad I signed up to Indie Music Academy!
Here's what I wrote about their program The Spotify Growth Formula:
I think the biggest factor in deciding to join SGF was that I had already joined Indie Music Academy and had been impressed with the high quality and value packed education Ryan was offering. So when he announced the new program I really didn't have to think twice I immediately asked to join. It did not disappoint. The system Ryan has built based on his years of marketing experience puts the powerful tool of "Meta Business" in our hands. We were taught in fine intelligent and patient detail how to create campaigns to "warm up" and lead up to the all important conversion campaign. A fellow student said of the course that it was like being at college, and I agree. It is a college level course. Now I have the tools to create my own campaigns around new releases, and watch my followers grow on Spotify, also I can create lead campaigns and start to build my own business. It feels very gratifying.

The community Ryan has built around him is also very supportive, and is a powerful way to learn in itself. Watching others solve problems and meeting people dealing with similar challenges has been such a positive experience. We learn from and support each other. When a problem arises Ryan and his team are quick to respond. The regular zoom calls also are invaluable and Ryan will go in depth into peoples issues, which often answer your own questions. This course has handed me such power and has given me new confidence in myself as a business person and as an artist. I would highly recommend this course to anyone.

One thing I keep finding myself saying is "I never thought I would be doing THIS". It is exciting! I really love this course.

I signed up and paid for my song to be pitched. How many streams did it yield? 0, Zero, none.

So why have I gave them 5 stars? Because once the 15 business days was reached they asked if I wanted to push on or take my money back. I opted for the later and as promised my cash was returned in full.

And if you want to hear my tune you can click here
-->> https :// fanlink.to/ iKZS or view it here >> https ://youtu.be / tIvXF8yzR_k

Music is very unpredictable, so while its disappointing nobody wanted to play my song, what was clear was that there were no bots being used and they were legit trying to push my song.

I'm a newbie and with so many scams out there, handing over hard earned cash over the net on the back of a promise is very nerve racking to say the least.

I can say with full confidence - these guys are legit, they will get your song played or you will get your cashback. So no need to hesitate if you're wondering if you're going to get ripped. Have a crack and see how you go.

Ryan is great. One of the best people I’ve found helping Indie Artists find their way.

I’ve been following Ryan and watching Indie Music Academy YouTube videos for over 2 years. He showed me how to spot and stay away from bot Spotify playlists, which distributors were right for our music and most recently taught me how to use Facebook ads to find the right audience for our music. I joined the first ever group for his Spotify Growth Formula class and have found it to be incredible. I’ve talked to many…many support reps at Facebook and no one knows more about the Facebook ads engine and how to strategize to find the best audience for your music than Ryan.

I got so much out of the first Spotify Growth Formula class that I joined the second group and plan to continue meeting with Ryan and the other students in the community he’s set up for us to share what we’ve learned as we continue to become more experienced Facebook advertisers and musicians.

Ryan is legit and gets results. You could not find a more trustworthy mentor – he cares and does everything he can to help his students move forward as they pursue their indie music careers.

The Spotify Growth Formula that Ryan teaches is top notch. He does a great job teaching us all every detail on how to properly create custom audiences, events, and ultimately run conversion ads. He's genuinely a great guy to learn from, and I'm really glad I took a chance on his course!

I have really enjoyed IMA's Spotify Growth Formula course. It has been 3 months, and we are almost finished. While my Spotify growth isn't where I'd hoped it would be by now, it definitely has increased, and I know it's going to get better as my ad creatives improve. More importantly, I have honestly learned so much about how to run PROPER Facebook ads. I have a much better understanding of the way things should be done and WHY they should be done that way. Ryan has been very hands-on, and he is not only knowledgeable, but also just a genuinely NICE guy. Thanks for your patience, Ryan. I know I was tough at times!

Firstly, I don't normally write reviews.
Secondly, I'm a skeptic at heart, and not normally or easily impressed. There are many, many DIY programs designed for independent artists these days. But, in Ryan, you have not only found a tech/ marketing genius, you have not only found a fellow artist.. you have found an articulate, empathetic young man whose true calling in life is teaching, nurturing, and supporting fellow artists and like-minded souls.

Many online programs will tell you how many "thousands of dollars" can be made as an indy artist. But, Ryan has created a college-level course which actually walks you through the process step by step. You will not only learn basic marketing skills, you will not only learn how to navigate the Meta Facebook universe, but, you will also learn the very same marketing & business techniques used by record companies today to promote their artists. Ryan gives you the tools you need to be successful in today's market. And he has also created a community of knowledgeable, artistic souls who are eager to help and offer guidance.

I strongly urge every indy artist to sign up for this program. Again.. I do not work for Ryan, and he is not paying me to say this. But, I'm gonna say this:

"If you are an indy artist and do not take this course, you are not giving yourself a real chance for success in this lifetime."

Hard work is important.
But, "smart work" is the name of the game today.

I've taken several courses at the Indie Music Academy. I started out as a member of the Indie Growth Coaching Community 3 years ago and found immense value in the Song Launch Formula, which was a course built into that community. I was also super impressed with Ryan Waczek's teaching and the amount of attention he gave each student.

Later I took the Music Selling Through Storytelling course, which massively improved my copywriting skills and made all my communications with my fans better.

Since then I've also used the IMA's Spotify promotion service and was very happy with the communication from the team. I had one of my songs placed within 2 days the first time and the second time it took a few months for my song to be placed (but I understand that's the nature of influencer marketing).

Over all, my experience at the IMA has always been a 5 star one.

Ryan and his team are so awesome. As a lifelong musician but a complete beginner with marketing, Ryan’s Spotify Growth Formula class has completely changed my ability to market my own music and I’m so appreciative of his time and dedication. Couldn’t be happier with my experience.

So they do what they say they are going to do, they delivered the streams.

However...they placed us on a playlist that was not a good fit for our music and threw off our algorithm/recommended artists/etc.

They don't ask for any input as to what kind of playlists you want to be found on, similar artists/songs, etc.

The communication from them was meh at best and all super automated and spammy, they are great at getting you to sign up, but not great at actually engaging with you.

My advice to indie music academy: spend more time with your clients, automate less, and actual interact with customers. A lot of us try out the lowest package and are ready to spend more if we feel cared for and listened to.

For anyone that wants reference tracks, band name is Six Foot Blonde, and track was Lady.

edit: trying again with another track on their next tier, will update this review based on second experience.

They are fantastic professionals who do what they say. I have excellent results that have far surpassed any of their competition. Highly recommend them.

Ryan Waczek and the Indie Music Academy is -- hands down -- the best music training I have received as an independent songwriter/music artist in my attempt to set myself up for success in today’s digital music world. Ryan help me organize my entire ecosphere for royalty collection from ALL the possible sources. He taught me how to run successful FB ads, along with the importance of using those ads to build an email list of fans. He pounded home the need to create a fan journey, allowing potential fans to first begin to get to know me, then like me, and then trust me. And his 4-Week Song Release Calendar? I still use this invaluable tool for every song I release. Since starting to work with Ryan just three years ago, I’ve been able to SUCCESSFULLY release 11 new singles -- with 10 of the 11 playlisted on Spotify with real, generic streams. In the past 28 months, Ryan’s Spotify promotions have helped me go from 0 to more than 680,000 streams. A very happy musical camper I am!

Overall it worked in a way, but very very suspicious. I’m on Official Editorial playlists and I see very very big differences on the data analysis. It seems so odd that the track I submitted to Indieacademy, got 300 streams a day and then boom, nothing.
Regardless the fact that the playlist was very weird. I’m not an expert some people told me it looks fake, I really didn’t get any real engagement as I got on other playlists that has nothing to do with indiemusic, and the MAIN THING, It’s sooooooo expensive for what it is. There’s a lot to improve!

My experience was practical wasted time. I had purchased a package for $537. After the purchase, my email account was bombarded with newsletter emails about their courses daily. But at first no problem. I had asked on 5th January, if I could get the placements sent to my email. I was answered 6 days later by "Mandy", which is a bit late. Thereupon I had also answered and again 6 days later an email received. I have to say that 6 days is too long. After my answer there was no answer from Mandy.

Other companies respond within 24 or 72 hours. Therefore 0 stars in terms of contact.

After 18 days and no answer I still had not received a single placement. Therefore, I have then finally requested a refund.

Therefore also 0 stars in terms of promotion.

I have to note that I still receive daily newsletter emails aimed at buying a course from them. I think this is the real strategy of the company, selling courses.

My time was totally wasted, so not recommended.

After paying for the campaign, it started off promising by getting emails with helpful links and tips to get started. And then you get reassurances of getting onto real playlists with genuine streams. They state that you will get fully refunded if they can't get you on any playlist. Sounds good! I'm in! Where do I sign?
Then I heard nothing for 2 weeks. All I get are impersonal generic emails which are the same that they send out to everyone I'm sure. I sent an email saying that "instead of asking for a refund, can we just switch songs for my campaign". Maybe I'll have better luck getting placements for it....no response from anyone for 3 business days. You figure surely someone can check an email and respond by then right? Then I get another generic email saying "how's everything going? If you need anything please don't hesitate to respond to this email" So I responded with my frustration with the process thus far and would just like a refund at this point. Still haven't heard back from this email either. Why send a generic email and not deliver on its contents?
Very frustrating and I feel like I can't get in touch with anyone to help resolve my issue. So far I've spent over $200 for my campaign and feel like I've been ripped off.