How many DJs should you send a promo to? The instinct is "as many as possible". We looked at every promo sent to a label's own list on PromoLink, and the numbers say otherwise. The share of DJs who download falls steadily as a list grows, from 21.7% on lists under 50 to 1.4% on lists of 1,000 to 3,000. Past a point, a bigger list does not even bring more downloads in total: all the lists of 1,000 to 3,000 DJs together brought fewer downloads than the lists of 50 to 99. Here is what the data shows, and the size we recommend.
The numbers by list size
The smaller the list, the more of it downloads. Download rates per send on PromoLink, by the size of the label's own list for that release:
- Under 50 DJs: 21.7%
- 50 to 99 DJs: 18.7%
- 100 to 299 DJs: 9.1%
- 300 to 999 DJs: 4.8%
- 1,000 to 2,999 DJs: 1.4%
Only four releases went to lists over 3,000, so that figure (0.3%) is too small a sample to lean on. The rate falls at every step, and fastest past 300.
Past a point, more DJs means fewer downloads
A falling rate would be fine if a bigger list still brought more downloads in total. Up to a point it does: lists of 300 to 999 DJs brought the most downloads of any size, 6,537 in total. After that, it reverses.
- Lists of 50 to 99 DJs: 11,863 sends, 2,224 downloads
- Lists of 1,000 to 2,999 DJs: 38,035 sends, 541 downloads
Three times the sends, a quarter of the downloads. A list that big is mostly people who no longer open what it sends.
Why big lists fail: the contacts get old
Big lists fail because they age. DJs end their careers, change addresses, or stop playing the music the list was built for, and the list keeps sending to them.
The bounces show it. On lists under 100 DJs, 1.7% of promo emails bounced or failed; on lists of 100 to 299, 2.3%; on lists of 300 to 999, 3.8%; on lists of 1,000 or more, 12.1%. One email in eight to a dead address. Every bounce is a promo that never arrived, and a sender with many of them looks worse to the inbox providers that decide where the next promo lands.
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The size we recommend: 400 to 500 active contacts
We recommend a list of 400 to 500 contacts, with the active part kept growing. That is the size where the data shows the most downloads in total, before age and bounces take over.
"Active" is the word that matters. A DJ who has downloaded one of a label's promos before downloads its next one 25.2% of the time; a DJ on the same list who never has, 0.3%. And the top 10% of downloading DJs bring 70% of all downloads. A list of 450 DJs who know your label beats a list of 4,000 who once did.
Keep the list alive
A list stays useful when it keeps changing. Three habits do most of the work:
- Remove what bounces. A dead address will not come back. Take it off.
- Send each release to the DJs who play its sound, not to the whole list. Twenty DJs who play your genre beat two thousand who do not.
- Keep adding active DJs. The list grows best from DJs who asked for your music, not from addresses you collected.
On PromoLink, active DJs come to a label in a few ways: DJs who chose your genre in the DJ pool get your releases; DJs who find a release on its page or on your label page can ask you for the promo; and the label's pool view shows which DJs download a lot but have not yet downloaded from you. Our guide on how to build a DJ mailing list covers the rest.
When to send wider
Widen the send when the release earns it. A big name on the label is the moment to go past your core list; a small release, or one you are not fully sure of, is not. Sending everything to everyone teaches DJs to stop opening your promos, and that trust is slow to win back. Our article on promo pools for record labels shows how your own list and the DJ pool work together.
FAQ
How many DJs should a label send a promo to? We recommend 400 to 500 active contacts. On PromoLink, lists of 300 to 999 DJs brought the most downloads in total, while lists over 1,000 brought fewer.
Is a bigger promo list better? No. Download rates fall as the list grows, from 21.7% under 50 DJs to 1.4% at 1,000 to 3,000, and past about a thousand a bigger list brings fewer downloads in total.
Why do big DJ lists perform so badly? They age. DJs end their careers or change address: on lists of 1,000 or more, 12.1% of promo emails bounced or failed.
How do I clean a DJ promo list? Remove addresses that bounce, send each release only to the DJs who play its sound, and keep adding DJs who asked for your music.
What is a good download rate for a DJ promo? Across all promos on PromoLink, about 5.6% of sends end in a download. Small, well-kept lists reach 18 to 22%.
Where do I find active DJs for my list? From DJs who ask for your music: the DJ pool, requests from your release and label pages, and DJs you meet and play with. Not from bought or scraped lists.
Send your next release on PromoLink to your own list, to the DJ pool, or both, and see by name who downloaded. Your first 20 releases go to the pool free, and the list-size table from this article is below as a PDF.
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