Category: Shorts

Walking on stairs

Moving up the music curation food chain

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

Time for a quick lesson in free publicity. The increase of easy access to information and entertainment, combined with the democratisation of creation thereof, have led to the need for curation.

As an artist, you want to get your music noticed by curators, so it gets spread around further. But how do you get them to give a damn?

 

Curators follow curators

How do you think curators get their content? They follow other curators. It can be the DJ getting selected tracks from a trusted label rep, or a blogger learning about new releases through a mailinglist.

The easiest way to get noticed by top curators, is making sure you get noticed by smaller curators.

You have to be consistent about it. People have to see your name a few times before recognising you. Only then will they start giving a damn. How you do this depends on the category of music curation.

It will take time. It can be a year if you work hard at it – or even longer. If you don’t work hard at it, it will never happen, unless you hire someone that already has the network.

 

The categories of music curation

The actual dynamics differ from category to category, but the basic jest is that you start small and try to move up the curation food chain. Follow the curators who you want to be noticed by closely, so that you can figure out where they get their music from.

Some domains to think of:

  • Radio airplay: start with local and genre-specific, and slowly work your way up. This is probably the slowest process of all, since nationwide airtime is highly valued.
  • Genre-specific publications: there are dozens of decent publications and blogs per genre, perhaps a bit less for younger genres.
  • Location-specific publications: can even be location/genre-specific, like a local rock magazine.
  • Channel curators: think YouTube, Soundcloud.
  • Theme publications: these are similar to genre publications, but generally broader. Might also report on fashion, or a certain set of genres and sounds that can be loosely grouped together.
  • Live DJs.
  • Playlist curators.

There are plenty of other areas to explore, but if you’ve never really thought about this topic, then these are a good place to start.

 

The music business is a network business

You have to build your connections. Start with the more approachable curators. You can find them at events or in online communities like Facebook groups or Reddit. Your music might be really, really good, but when you hit the inbox of a curator, chances are it’s going to look like just another promo. They might not even listen to it.

Be creative about it, like these guys who wanted to get noticed by a prominent DJ in their genre:

If you’re intent on being able to arrange your own publicity, then check out the books Made to Stick and Contagious. They’re great books for learning how to construct strong stories to communicate ideas.

And a little hack: get a free Hubspot account, so you can see when people open your emails and whether they’ve clicked your links. It will help you to determine where you’re succeeding or failing, and adjust accordingly.

Why nobody cares about your free download

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

You spent years honing your skills. Countless hours putting together your latest song or album. You value your work immensely, so you decide to give this valuable thing away to your fans. Maybe it will even get you some new fans.

But they don’t care.

In the age of constant connectivity, free downloads have lost their value.

Music has become ephemeral

People jump from playlist to playlist, see music shared in their social media feeds, and are presented with a radio station button on each page of the streaming service they use. Research done by Nielsen asked people what they do when the music they want to access can’t be streamed: most people just move on. There is so much music one can access, immediately… a free download won’t make your music stand out.

Nielsen streaming availability graph
Via eMarketer

Why download?

There are certain use cases for downloads, and I’ve written about them below, but if it’s easy to retrieve tracks on YouTube, Soundcloud, or Bandcamp and stream them… then why would you bother with downloading? Especially when the user flow often looks something like:

  • Click download
  • Get sent to another site
  • Click download again
  • Prompted to connect to Facebook
  • Prompted to like the page of the band, label and lead singer
  • Prompted to share the track on Facebook
  • Prompted to do the same things on Soundcloud
  • *curl up in a ball and cry a little*
  • Download starting
  • Select location for your file

Is that worth it? How many times do you expect people to listen to your download?

Overused

Free downloads have become such a standard part of the strategy of artists, that it’s actually not that special anymore. Think about it: seeing FREE DOWNLOAD next to a track used to pique our interest to give it a listen. No more. Now, the only ones who get excited by seeing that are dedicated fans of the artist, label or genre.

Nobody cares about your free download

Or at least less than you’d think.

But free downloads still work in certain cases.

Free downloads can be a good way to please fans

Fans will care about your free download. Make sure it fits into a broader strategy, like I’ve shown with Yellow Claw. For instance, you can use mixtapes to hype an upcoming release and a tour you’re doing. Definitely offer those mixtapes for free.

yellow claw hype cycle social media

Know your audience

There are some easily identified types of audiences that would actually care about a free download, other than hardcore fans. For instance:

  • Very young teens who can’t afford a streaming subscription. This may be changing due to Spotify pushing family plans.
  • Audiophiles. They often complain that streaming audio quality is not good enough and they want higher definition sound, typically best offered by downloaded files.
  • (Bedroom) DJs. If you’re making electronic music, chances are a lot of your fans are also aspiring producers or DJs. Most DJing requires files, whether you use software on your laptop, a USB drive, or burn tracks to CD.
  • Older audiences. Many people in the older demographics want to be able to listen to ‘owned music’. They care less about music discovery – making music less ephemeral for them.
Important features for streaming services by age group
Source: Jackdaw Research

Audience first, strategy second

I wouldn’t want the elderly to get bombarded by trap producers. So, to avoid people thinking “so THAT’S who I need to target with my free downloads”, let’s get your strategy sorted first. I wouldn’t want the elderly to get bombarded by trap producers.

Look into the data you have on Facebook and Twitter. Look at the faces you see when performing live. Research the audiences of other artists who make similar music. Understand how they use the web, what they do, what they like, whether they’re streaming subscribers or not.

This is your point of departure.

Then set goals: what do you want to achieve? A bigger fanbase? More people at your shows? Make it tangible if you can. Now, free downloads become a method to achieve something. A tactic, rather than just something you do.

Free downloads should be something that makes people excited.

Make it so.

Further reading:

Music Business Growth Hacking 101: How to Scale Your Fanbase & Revenue Sustainably
Click here to continue

5 Big Ideas for the UK Association of Independent Music

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

The Association of Independent Music (AIM) recently put out a call for ‘big ideas’ to be discussed at their Annual General Meeting.

“The goal is to produce and publish by the end of this year a manifesto which sets out 10 big ideas to help the indie sector to thrive in the coming years.”

I’m not a member, but not shy to give a bit of unsolicited advice.

Here are my 5 big ideas:

Streaming exclusives

The indie sector needs to widely speak out against streaming exclusives. After years of hard work, we’re now sending music fans back to pirate services. Let’s keep working on sustainability, instead of sacrificing it for short-term gains.

  • Streaming exclusives may be making the music piracy problem even worse >>>
  • Why streaming exclusives are bad for the music business >>>
  • Spotify: Streaming exclusives are bad for artists and fans >>>
  • Why exclusives are terrible for fans, artists, and the streaming music business >>>

Startup license

Establish a framework which allows startups to quickly and flexibly license music from indie labels for a set duration. The prospect of spending years in licensing negotiations stops entrepreneurs and investors from supporting innovation the independent music sector desperately needs. Let’s remove the necessity to negotiate for the most common use cases.

  • The case for a startup license: why startup founders choose to ignore music copyright law >>>

Focus on dance

The Netherlands is stealing the UK’s spotlight as the centre of global dance music with events like Amsterdam Dance Event, major DJs, and a huge global dance event business. The UK has a rich history of dance music and is home to some of the best artist, clubs, and labels in the world. It needs an action plan to assert itself. With Sadiq Khan as London’s Mayor, there has never been a better time.

  • London Mayor Sadiq Khan is looking for the UK’s first night czar >>>

Refugees

Develop an initiative to help artists and aspiring musicians among the refugees arriving to the UK. They bring a unique cultural and musical perspective, which could blend into the UK’s rich multi-cultural musical tradition. They need material assistance in the form of access to equipment and instruments, as well as contacts in local radio stations, venues, etc. Besides the musical benefit, there is also the advantage of contributing to better assimilation of new arrivals.

New anti-piracy research

A research initiative looking into the return on investment of money spent on countering digital piracy. With countless anti-piracy companies popping up, it should help indie artists and labels determine whether their money’s best spent growing their fanbase and making more music. It’s important to know what anti-piracy methods pay off, and what’s just a way to use the threat of piracy to get musicians to pay up.

Foster my ideas

Since I’m not a member of AIM, I cannot officially submit these ideas. If you’re an AIM member and interested in fostering the streaming exclusives, dance music, or refugees idea, get in touch: bas@musicxtechxfuture.com

Use Facebook Messenger to Access Spotify Discover Weekly and Release Radar – in 4 Steps

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

A bot for Facebook Messenger lets you access your Spotify Release Radar and Discover Weekly playlists from inside Messenger. Since it currently lacks an interface, here are the steps to follow to get new music recommendations delivered to Messenger.

Discover Messenger

1. Add the bot

You can add the bot by clicking this link.

2. Sign in

Tell it you want to sign in, by typing sign in. Then login to Spotify & give the bot the necessary permissions.

3. Play something

You can now choose to play tracks on Spotify or get 30 second previews.

4. Extra commands

Got lost and want to bring back the playlist? Type current week. You’ll also be able to tell it playlist 1 week ago to get last week’s playlist, but first you’ll need to be using the bot for a while.

At the time of writing, there are still some bugs to iron out. If you run into any difficulties, you can contact the bot’s maker, Daniel Noshkin, on Twitter or on Product Hunt.

If you ever want to revoke the app’s access, you can find all apps that have access to your Spotify account in your settings.

5 Bots You’ll Love

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

Since launching its chatbot API last April, Facebook’s Messenger platform has already spawned 11,000 bots. Bots are popular, because they allow brands to offer more personalized service to existing and potential customers. Instead of getting people to install an app or visit your website, they can do so from the comfort of their preferred platform, whether that’s WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter or something else.

Bots, basically automated scripts with varying levels of complexity, are ushering a new wave of user experience design. Here are some of my favourite bots.

AutoTLDR – Reddit

AutoTLDR bot

AutoTLDR is a bot on Reddit that automatically posts summaries of news articles in comment threads. tl;dr is internet slang for “too long, didn’t read” and is often used at the top or bottom of posts to give a one-line summary or conclusion of a longer text. It uses SMMRY‘s API for shortening long texts.

The key to its success is Reddit’s digital darwinism of upvotes and downvotes. Good summaries by AutoTLDR can usually be found within the top 5 comments. If it summarizes poorly, you’re unlikely to come across its contribution.

Explaining the theory behind AutoTLDR bot.

Subreddit Simulator – Reddit

Subreddits on Reddit center around certain topics or types of content. Subreddit Simulator is a collection of bots that source material from other Reddits and, often quite randomly, create new posts and material based on that. Its most popular post is sourced from the “aww” Subreddit and most likely sourced two different posts to create this:

Rescued a stray cat

Check out other top posts here. Again, the reason why it works well is because of human curation. People closely follow Subreddit Simulator and upvote remarkable outcomes, like the above.

wayback_exe – Twitter

Remember the internet when it had an intro tune? wayback_exe takes you back to the days of dial up and provides your Twitter feed with regular screenshots of retro websites. By now, it’s basically art.

It uses the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which has saved historic snapshots of websites.

old site 1

old site 2

pixelsorter – Twitter

If you’re into glitch art, you’ll love pixelsorter. It’s a bot that re-encodes images. You can tweet it an image and get a glitched out version back. Sometimes it talks to other image bots like badpng, cga.graphics, BMPbug, Lowpoly Bot, or Arty Bots. With amazing algorithmic results.

 

Generative bot – Twitter

Generative bot

Generative Bot is one of those bots that makes you realize: algorithms are able to produce art that trumps 90% of all other art. It uses some quite advanced mathematics to create a new piece every 2 hours. Seeding your Twitter feed with occasional computer-generated bits of inspiration.

Want more inspiration? We previously wrote about DJ Hardwell’s bot.

What are your favourite bots? Ping me on Twitter.

 

If you want to learn to code, don’t learn to code

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

Code requires purpose.

You must want the computer to do something specific, such as displaying this text in the font you’re seeing right now.

When you learn to code, just for the sake of it, there is no purpose. Your enthusiasm will wane and as things get complicated, so will your motivation. If you want to learn to code, start with a purpose.

Try phrasing it like: I want to build X for (or to) Y.

  • I want to build a newsletter for fans of secretarybirds;
  • a web page to showcase my skills;
  • a mobile app to send me new music when my favourite artist releases some.

Once you start, go for MVP: minimum viable product. It doesn’t have to be as good as other sites, it doesn’t have to be as beautiful, just get it to work. Figure out how you can tweak the CSS of WordPress themes to get your site to look like you want. You are now learning to code.

You’ll learn that what you code is never finished. Something can always be improved and it will stick out like a sore thumb to you, but nobody else will notice.

If you want to learn to code, start a side-project. Build something for yourself. Then make it useful to others.

Don’t have a side-project in mind? Start smaller. Automate one thing in your life using IFTTT. IFTTT stands for IF This Then That, which is one of the first lessons you’ll get in programming: if/then statements. If a certain condition is met, then execute this command.

IFTTT connects services that you use and then lets them interact based on conditions. Not only does it teach you about the basics of programming, you’ll also learn about APIs. Read what I wrote about IFTTT before.

Now get to work. 😉

Maybe some of these cool products can inspire you:

Shout out to Jelle for always reminding me of this.

Written for my weekly newsletter MUSIC x TECH x FUTURE. If you enjoyed reading this, please consider sharing and subscribing — it’s of great help.

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