Review: 10 of the best digital music distributors
Getting your music released is no longer a matter of finding the right record label that is willing to sign your music based on a demo. A multitude of digital distributors, aggregators and DIY music delivery platforms are available, just a few cli...
The top 10 highest-paying streaming services
Can modern-day artists make a living from streaming music? That’s a very relevant and much-heard question in the music industry. The market of music streaming depends on the masses, scalable solutions and worldwide marketing efforts. But is ther...
Web 3.0 for the music industry
To explore what Web 3.0 has to offer for artists and record labels, we first need to understand what this term exactly means. To fully understand Web 3.0, it is useful to also learn more about its ‘predecessors’ called Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. So ...
How to get your music on the radio
Radio is still a major source when it comes to discovering new music. For many artists radio is undoubtedly still a big goal: airtime on large national radio stations means reaching millions of fans through a well-respected medium. Having tracks o...
Beatport for artists guide
Beatport is the most important DSP for DJs. Established in 2004, it became the biggest in a wide range of digital download stores. Long gone competitors like Audiojelly, Track it Down and DJTunes all tried to compete with Beatport. Some smaller DJ...
Sample clearances
Every day over 60.000 tracks are added to Spotify. Most of them go unnoticed, a small portion ends up on the radio and even a smaller portion ends up as hits. With such a huge amount of tracks being produced on a daily basis, it is almost impossib...
Spotify royalty calculations explained
Streaming music consumption is still reaching new heights year on year. It has proven to be a solid business model, replacing physical carriers and increasing the total amount of annual revenue accrued in the music industry. It makes music easily ...
The power of Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an online music service for bands, artists, record labels and fans. A place where fans can find all there is to know about their favourite artist or band, and for bands the perfect place to market their music with a personal touch. ...
How to improve fan interaction
“Buy my album….stream my new single…. visit my concert…” All too easy to use as posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram if you’re an artist. Tell people where you will be performing or when your new release hits the stores, is part of...
A guide to maximising features on major DSPs
Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, Beatport… getting featured on one of these portals means the world to most artists. It’s like getting your cd featured on the top shelves of a record store: everybody can see your release. Important for ma...
Get started with Spotify for Artists
Spotify for Artists is a free platform of Spotify that allows you to claim your Spotify artist profile, become verified, and access statistics and tools to develop your musical career. It is accessible to any artist who has at least one song on Sp...
The YouTube Marketing Starters handbook for musicians
With an abundance of music platforms available for musicians worldwide, one might ask why YouTube is so important. Artists often go above and beyond to create music, why is it so important to add an extra step by also creating (and promoting) a vi...
6 Creative music video ideas
Power of a music video: added value
Back in the ‘80-ties and ‘90-ties music videos were without a doubt the most important creative content to support a new release. Pre-internet era music releases involved videos to stand out in the ...
4 ingredients to boost music revenue: a short guide to kick-starting your new single release
Every artist can relate to the feeling of excitement when the release date of a new single is coming up. Months or weeks of preparation, mastering, composing and fine-tuning. But what happens when the creative process is finally done? A new one be...
How to promote music on YouTube
On June 17 2016 Korean brand Pinkfong released their video ‘Baby Shark Dance’, and the rest is history. On February 11 2021 the video was the most viewed ...
Spotify Discovery Mode: a curse or a blessing for independent artists?
Spotify Discovery Mode is a new marketing tool made by Spotify, aimed to serve new tracks from artists to a new set of listeners....
The future of NFT’s in the music industry
It’s one of those terms that has been going around the internet for months now: NFT. Here’s an overview of what NFT’s are, some examples and of course what they can mean for the music industry....
Guide: how to use Clubhouse as a music industry professional
‘Join me on Clubhouse’.
It sounds like some kind of chic high-end exclusive club but in fact, it is an app. And what does it do? Simply put: it lets you eavesdrop on other peoples calls.
How can you use ...
How to design and promote your new album cover
Many people think it’s not important to judge an album by its cover. Because what matters is not the outside, but the music on the inside. However, the outside image, which is the visual cover, should attract the attention of new listeners, even...
How to promote music on TikTok
TikTok, a social media giant which by now is known by virtually any musician or record label in the world, is still a mystery for most of the music industry experts. It grows in such proportions and speed, and especially in a target group so young...
The importance of digital music distribution
The creative process of a musician is always the starting point for any musical career. But from the first notes and words to appear on paper until a sold-out venue there is a long way to go. Figuring out how to get music on Spotify often seems li...
Soundcloud or Spotify? The best streaming service for music promotion
To be a musician it isn’t only about music production, performing, and being creative in general, nowadays it is also about self-promotion of your releases. ...
The importance of SEO and SEA for the music industry
SEO and SEA are two of the most underestimated parts of online marketing for musicians and record labels. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a shift toward advertising on social media instead of other ads giants like Google. Let’s take a closer ...
Instagram blog part 2: how to get the most out of your caption
Managing social media accounts requires a well thought out strategy and a good knowledge of your marketing goals. One of the most important social media channels is Instagram, a medium perfectly fit for artists and record labels. Learning all ther...
Instagram blog part 3: how to write the perfect bio
Managing social media accounts requires a well thought out strategy and a good knowledge of your marketing goals. One of the most important social media channels is Instagram, a medium perfectly fit for artists and record labels. Learning all ther...
Instagram blog part 4: how to get the most out of your Instagram stories
Managing social media accounts requires a well thought out strategy and a good knowledge of your marketing goals. One of the most important social media channels is Instagram, a medium perfectly fit for artists and record labels. Learning all ther...
Instagram blog part 1: how to become a content king
Managing social media accounts requires a well thought out strategy and a good knowledge of your marketing goals. One of the most important social media channels is Instagram, a medium perfectly fit for artists and record labels. Learning all ther...
Coronavirus: How to adapt music marketing for artists and record labels
The world is facing its biggest humanitarian challenge since WWII: COVID-19. Lockdowns, crises, overcrowded hospitals and economic malaise in almost every country in the world. For the music and entertainment industry a problem of this scale is de...
Spotify playlist marketing: how to get your music featured
Streaming services play an important role in the modern music industry. A crucial step to mainstream success is being able to reach the masses. Generating revenue is incremental to reaching large crowds. Spotify is a key player when it comes to mu...
The power of artificial intelligence in online marketing
What is IBM Watson?
The IBM Watson platform and database has data of over 800 million people. It can identify and understand any audience by combining over 175 attributes, using artificial intelligence....
The importance of online ads for artists and record labels
“Half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the problem is I don’t know which half”- John Wanamaker (1838 - 1922).
A famous quote from a department-store magnate, describing a well-known problem with advertis...
Happy Hongbao for the music industry: get inspired to share your music
Happy Hongbao! For those of us that don’t speak Chinese, it means Happy New Lunar Year.Hongbao is a Chinese tradition, a red envelope filled wit...
Music marketing handbook: a guide for indie record labels
Indie label promotion guide
Successful promotional campaigns drive traffic and sales for independent record labels. Whereas majors have big budgets, resources and time, a smaller record company faces challenges. We have analyzed our campa...
How to create the ultimate link building page for free
Looking for a high-quality music landing page? Look no further, our link-building tool Complete.me.
Any artist can relate to this issue: needing to commun...
Dance music: a guide to increase revenue on Beatport
Since 2004 the world of digital dance music has been dominated by Beatport. The largest DJ download portal in the world, surviving other landmark DJ shops such as Trackitdown, Audiojelly and DJTunes. Amongst DJ’s, Beatport is a benchmark for new...
Music marketing: A guide to successfully promote a music album
Have you got an album coming up and are you looking for a killer way to promote it? We’ve put together a guide for record labels and artists with useful tips for a successful album promotion.
The magic number: 4 weeks
Make sure...
Spotify marketing guide: how to improve your music marketing strategy
Releasing music is one thing, but successfully releasing music and getting it featured on Spotify is a whole different challenge. Artists, bands and record labels should always focus on their music, that is why we focus on online marketing. Here i...