Framework
Entertain first, sell never: lead TikTok with a skit, not a pitch
Connor Price's core content rule: the moment a viewer feels you're selling them ('check out my song'), they swipe away. So you provide entertainment first via a skit, then deliver the track — never opening with the ask.
“But yeah, so the whole goal with these videos is to not make it seem like you're selling someone, especially on TikTok. The moment you feel like someone's like, hey, check out my song, you're gonna swipe away. So you have to provide entertainment first. And we have found the best way to do that is through skits.”
Steal thisOpen every promo video with entertainment value; never let the viewer feel the sell in the first frame.
Number
First Spin the Globe video hit 72M views on TikTok AND 72M on YouTube Shorts
The debut Spin the Globe video, where Connor landed on Zambia and collaborated with local artist Killa, racked up 72 million views on TikTok and an identical 72 million on YouTube Shorts.
$72M
Views on the first Spin the Globe (Zambia) video · views per platform
“Yeah, that took off like crazy. That, that first video that we did where we landed on Zambia and found the Zambian artist, that, that video has 72 million views on TikTok and 72 million views on YouTube Shorts.”
Story
A sub-1,000-listener Zambian rapper hit 1M+ after one collab
Connor found Killa, an independent rapper from Lusaka, Zambia, who had fewer than 1,000 (in fact 189) monthly Spotify listeners. After their Spin the Globe collaboration, Killa crossed a million monthly listeners — a life-changing jump from a single song.
“So it was an idea where I had this song with this artist named Killa, who's this independent artist from Zambia. When we first worked with him, he had less than 1,000 monthly listeners.”
Number
'Spinnin'' crossed 100M Spotify streams in under 9 months
The second Spin the Globe song, 'Spinnin'' (with Dutch artist Bnnyhunna), surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify in less than nine months — all while remaining independent.
$100M
Spotify streams for 'Spinnin'' in under 9 months · streams
“And it— that's the song that now has over 100 million streams on Spotify in less than 9 months.”
Framework
Write the song around the content, not the other way around
Once content drove the streams, Connor inverted his creative process: he starts from 'what's the contentable moment?' and builds the song to fit it. The carrot-flute video worked, so they hunted for other weird instruments and made a xylophone beat to match.
“Like, yeah, when once we started seeing how well the content was doing for the music, I started approaching my my creative process with writing the music, thinking about what the content would be. And a lot of times the content would come first. So I would think, you know, that whole carrot flute video did so well, and then we started thinking, what other weird instruments could we use? And then we would think of a weird instrument like a xylophone, and then we made a xylophone beat.”
Steal thisStart from the contentable hook and reverse-engineer the product to fit it, instead of making the product then bolting on marketing.
Tactic
Repurpose your watermark-free TikToks to Shorts: 800K subs in a month
Connor edits his own TikToks, so he had the clean source files. He reposted his popular ones to YouTube Shorts (no TikTok watermark) every day for a month and gained 800,000 subscribers — YouTube named him the most-subscribed artist that November.
“Yeah. So I got 800,000 subscribers in one month, just, just from posting every day for a full month, all my popular videos, including the glow stuff.”
Steal thisRe-upload your best short-form videos from the original watermark-free files across every platform — don't let proven content live on just one.
Tactic
Use YouTube's pinned comment to convert views to streams — TikTok hides links
On YouTube, Connor pins the streaming link in the top comment (one has 40K upvotes), making it easy to convert viewers to streams. TikTok actively hides any comment containing 'link in bio' or 'Spotify' — they tested it from a second account and the comment vanished.
“That video, um, that First Glow video that I post on YouTube, I was able to make the pinned comment the streaming link for the song. Yeah. And that comment has like 40,000 upvotes. And so it definitely allowed people to get to the streaming way easier than TikTok. TikTok at this point too, even if you try to write the word link in bio or even Spotify, they'll hide the comment.”
Steal thisPin your conversion link in the top comment on YouTube; don't waste effort trying to route TikTok viewers off-app via comments.
Tactic
Make your music DMCA-safe so every creator becomes free distribution
Connor publishes a 'copyright-free' Spotify playlist of his own songs that creators can use in videos, podcasts, and intros with unlimited use, and he disables YouTube Content ID. His logic: the long-term value of creators using your music dwarfs the few dollars from claiming someone's vlog.
“I think the long-term value of having creators use your music is way more than like trying to get a few dollars every month cause somebody used your song in a vlog. So yeah, if you're a creator and you are looking for copyright-free music, I have a bunch of that that I want people to use.”
Steal thisGive your IP away free to other creators as distribution; the reach compounds far beyond the licensing pennies you'd otherwise collect.