How to Use Spotify Playlists to Grow Your Fanbase
Love it or hate it, Spotify isn’t going anywhere. For as long as they’ve been around, playlists have remained at the top of most musicians’ priorities, often attached to stories about overnight success and skyrocketing to fame. While playlists aren’t the whole strategy, they are a significant piece of it. Any artist wanting to make […]
How to Create a Strong Community Around Your Music
If there’s one thing I love more than anything about this industry, it’s the community that can be built around a single song. A feeling. A moment. The way we can rally together in the toughest of times just as well as the best. It’s what makes me love being in the music industry. That’s […]
How to Find the Right Collaborators
Collaboration is the cornerstone of the indie music scene. In my own career, and the careers of artists I’ve mentored, it’s single handedly been one of the things I’ve seen make the biggest difference. Why then, does it sometimes feel so hard? Here’s our guide to finding the right collaborators for your music, and making […]
The Power of Influencer Marketing for Indie Musicians
For as long as I’ve been in the music industry, influencers have been a vital part of an indie musician’s success. When I first started, it was blogs. Then it was playlists. Niche websites and even more niche festivals. And while all of those still bring a lot of value to an artist’s press and […]
5 Ways to Root Out Your Superfans
Being a full-time career musician is not easy – but it is doable. Before, you had to rely on a label, a manager, a booking agent, and a whole team of people to thrust you into the spotlight. This meant you were heavily dependent on what other people could do for you. Now, between the […]
Spotify’s Royalty Changes Revisited
Remember when Spotify announced all those changes to their royalty systems? I’m guessing you do, because it was only a few months ago and because a lot of people (including the folks on this reddit thread, the guy in this video, and maybe, dare I say it, you) were very upset. It was a hot topic. So, naturally, […]
An Indie Artist’s Feedback Loop
I am addicted to checking my email. I am definitely not addicted to responding to my email, as you know if you’ve ever tried to communicate with me. I live clean there, thank goodness. But I don’t think I’ve gone a day without checking my email in like five years. I get a dopamine hit […]
Lessons from Super Bowl LVIII Commercials
I was struck by a trend in this year’s Super Bowl commercials: A ton of them featured celebrities. If you watched the game (hello, 37% of my fellow Americans), I bet you noticed this, too. It felt like you couldn’t go a couple of seconds without seeing some famous person – and no, I’m not just […]
A Spotify Scam in 2024
Here are some words I wrote about a year ago: “I’m tired of artists calling things ‘scams.’ Most things just are not scams. Most people in this industry are trying really hard to do good work. I think our tendency to call things scams is symptomatic of an underlying cultural issue: We’re a grace-impoverished people.” […]
I might finally try TikTok this year.
I said “might,” okay? I’m still waffling, so don’t hold me to it. Truth be told, I still don’t like short-form video content in general, and I like TikTok in particular even less. I’m old, I’m grumpy, and I’m set in my ways, kind of like Tom Cruise in Maverick except with less charisma and aerial combat […]
