The Future of Music isn’t in Streaming – It’s Happening on Social Media

The rise of social media has revolutionized the way artists get discovered. Justin Bieber made it thanks to YouTube, Shawn Mendes broke through on Vine, and, more recently, Lil Nas X went from Tik Tok jokester to one of the world’s most streamed artists on Spotify.

Instead of looking for talent the old-fashioned way via local gigs or personal recommendations, labels and promoters are now turning to data. Realizing the need for specialized analytics in the music business, Viberate (co-founded by acclaimed DJ and producer UMEK) has recently announced the newest addition to its platform: a comprehensive social media analytics tool for artists, labels, and other music professionals.

Music pros using them can work with up-to-date information via the Viberate platform, where every artist’s key Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, and Facebook metrics such as audience demographics, fanbase and engagement growth through time and top-performing posts are rounded up and neatly visualized in a single tool.

UMEK explains: “Social media demands quick action, so we wanted to give the artists and labels managing them a tool that helps them work faster, and more cost-effectively. Our analytics are also connected to each artist’s radio airplay, Spotify, and other music channels, therefore offering a full scope of insights for easier talent discovery and more effective promotion.”

The Viberate platform has already gained the trust of prominent industry names such as Glastonbury and Roskilde festivals, Insomniac Music Group as well as the management team of the world’s most popular DJ, David Guetta. Any artist or music professional who wants to leverage data can start by checking their own stats on Viberate, and work from there.

The Future of Music isn’t in Streaming – It’s Happening on Social Media

Crucial Music review: How NBC got ahold of my song

One of my songs landed on NBC. And it was thanks to Crucial Music. 

So I thought I’d share my experience.

To be clear…

This blog post has no secrets, no guarantees, and no “special formula” for getting your songs placed.

(And if anyone promises you those things, be very suspicious).

This Crucial Music review is just my experience with this one sync licensing company. 

I tell my story in hopes it will give you insight into the sync licensing industry and encourage you to keep making and submitting music.

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Music Royalties Explained: Where To Register To Get All Your Music Royalties

The right song, registered correctly, can pay your bills for the rest of your life if you’re lucky. The problem is that music royalties are complicated, and many artists don’t know where to register to collect all the royalties they may be owed. Here are the 5 places you need to register to ensure you’re being paid properly:

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How To Find A Music Publicist You Can Trust

You’ve decided you need a music publicist you can trust to help you promote your next album release. You’re nervous. There are stories you’ve heard from bands who hired a publicist who took their money and disappeared, or maybe the publicist stuck around but made huge promises they simply couldn’t deliver.

The result? Thousands of dollars down the drain.

I’m not telling you this to scare you, but to prepare you to hire a publicist you can trust so it doesn’t happen to you. There’s always some sort of inherent risk in hiring a music publicist, but there are also some things you can do to increase the chances of hiring the right publicist for your band’s needs — and one you ultimately trust.

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Social Media And The Music Industry: How Is Online Sharing Changing The Game?

It’s no secret that digitization is proliferating into almost every corner of our lives. We can order our groceries delivered, communicate in an instant with someone halfway around the world, and yes — share a song with our Facebook friends and other social media followers whenever we want, introducing an entire audience to music they might never have experienced.

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Why DIY Musicians Need To Be Pressing Vinyl

Vinyl records are on a 25-year sales high. It’s projected that 40 million units will be sold in 2017 alone. That makes it the first time it’s come close to the 1 billion benchmark this millennium. With the death of many music heavyweights this year and the availability of budget record players the combination of nostalgia and low barrier to entry is leading to many taking the leap back into vinyl. 

So what does this mean for the DIY musician?

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How To Get Your First Sync Placement: Live Webinar With Cathy Heller And Lisa Occhino

Want to learn the secrets of a DIY songwriter who figured out how to earn six figures each year licensing her music for TV and film?

The early stages of your songwriting career can be both exciting and frustrating: you’re sitting on dozens of songs with lots of promise, but you have no idea what the next steps are to actually start earning money with those songs.

In this webinar on June 11 hosted by SongwriterLink founder Lisa Occhino, special guest Cathy Heller will share tried-and-true tips, advice, and action steps to start licensing your music and turn your passion into your career.

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Top 7 Ways To Know If Your Song Is Ready For Release

Often, whenever an unready indie musician approaches me about possible music promotion, they say things like “You must hear this amazing song that I made” or “I am ready to explode onto the scene” or worse yet “I have created something no one has ever heard before!” 

Look, I get the enthusiasm, I really do, but the on-the-surface excitement felt by a musician hyped on their own new music must be scaled back a bit, in-order to see the whole picture that is.

There are always going to be those who rush to the finish line, those who think that paying their dues, or putting in the effort do not apply to them; but, they apply to almost everyone, and how you craft your song is one part creative, one part skill, and another part industry rules.

It is great to have enthusiasm and confidence, but let’s focus on the music here. 

So, without further ado, here are seven great ways to tell if your song is ready to release.

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Ideas For Bonus Content To Add To Your Releases

A handy list of ideas for possible bonus content you might like to include when you package and put together your own release, or your label’s releases.

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How To Release Music As An Independent Artist (Infographic)

I was asked to do a presentation for Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO on How To Release Music As An Independent Artist. It’s mostly from an EDM/Rap perspective, but I figured it would be beneficial for everyone to learn from. Some of the details are missing since I explained it to them in person, so if you have any questions or anything here needs to be corrected, please post them, and I’ll be sure to reply to all of them so we can disuss further.

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How To Make Money With Music Part 1: Gigging

Hello all, and welcome to Part 1 of what I hope will be a ongoing series on how to better make money in your music career. Whether you want to earn a full time income from your music or you simply want to make enough to cover recording or equipment costs, this series should go a way in helping you achieve that.

Today I’m going to look particularly at how you can make money from gigging. I often see musicians leaving money on the table from their gigging efforts, either through shyness, or simply because they didn’t know how best to monetize their performances. With that in mind, here are some of the main ways you should be making money from each gig.

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Musicians, Should You EVER Pay-To-Play?

Payola, in one form or another, is as old as the music business:

Labels pay radio stations to broadcast their music, producers pay DJs to spin their records in the club, and promoters ask live bands to pay-to-play at their event.

And it’s always been a hot topic amongst musicians.

So if you’re an artist, should you ever have to pay-to-play?

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The Top 5 Biggest Mistakes To Make When Clearing Music For Licensing

The Top 5 Biggest Mistakes To Make When Clearing Music For Licensing

By: Chris Rucks | Music Dealers

There are various aspects to music licensing that can get pretty complex, pretty quickly. Among these is music clearance, essentially the process of locating the owners of a song and obtaining permission from them to license their music in your project. It’s wise to approach the clearance of a song with some important ideas in mind. So, we’ve compiled a list of a few of the most common pitfalls to avoid when clearing music for licensing.

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Thom Yorke vs. Spotify: Rebel Without a Plan

More subscribers, more problems. As Spotify continues to grow, in both users and catalog, so do its detractors. Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich recently took a stand against the streaming music service, citing that it’s “horrible for new artists.” 

We’ve seen this before.  The Black Keys recently refused to put their newest album “El Camino” on Spotify citing its detraction from album sales.  

There’s a common thread here.  Only established bands who have already made their money are the ones taking the stand against streaming music.  New and upcoming bands are more willing to cast a big net to get ears to their music. It’s been proven time and time again that artists make more money off touring than album sales, so why not do everything you can to maximize your exposure to potential new ticket buyers?  

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