NO1 Noah understands the career-altering power of social media: The 22-year-old singer, songwriter, lyricist, and producer was initially discovered when people began sharing and re-sharing his work on Twitter and Instagram. But as he hurtles toward mainstream success, he still has to pay the bills. So he sells reposts on the music-discovery site SoundCloud, quote-tweets on Twitter, and swipe-ups on Instagram stories to other up-and-coming artists looking to promote their music.
For artists or producers trying to get their careers off the ground, money can be tight. Many work day jobs until they catch a big break, but more recently, they’ve found another way to supplement their income: not by doing traditional sponsored-content posts, but by micro-monetizing their every online move.
Noah wouldn’t tell me exactly what he brings in every month from social-media promotion, but deals such as the ones he does can quickly add up. “For a repost, depending on how long they want it up, it can go from $70 to $200,” he said. He charges $80 for an Instagram Stories swipe-up or a standard Twitter retweet, $100 to $150 for a quote tweet, and $150 for a tweet or a post to his Instagram feed. But everything is negotiable based on time: A post that’s live for only three hours will be much cheaper than one left up for 48 hours. He currently has 33,000 followers on Instagram and more than 80,000 on Twitter.