#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation Podcast (byta.com)
Explorez tous les épisodes de #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation Podcast
| Date | Titre | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Jun 2024 | Music Publicity 101: Your Next Release | 00:57:14 | |
I think PR today is more of a content coordinator or content facilitator because content right now is so fragmented across so many different mediums. Our job is really to generate awareness for what our clients are doing. Today’s guest on #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation is Nancy Lu a seasoned New York-based publicist with over a decade of experience, she describes her journey from healthcare consulting and tech startups to establishing her own PR firm, Fancy PR. Nancy discusses her initial reluctance to pursue a career in the arts due to the instability perceived by her immigrant family background and societal expectations. However, her passion for music and involvement in the music scene in Washington D.C., where she made significant connections and wrote about music for pleasure, eventually led her to shift her career path toward her true passion. Nancy explains the complexities of modern public relations, which has transcended traditional media to include various content platforms, making the role of a publicist more about content coordination and opportunity creation. She emphasizes the importance of understanding and personally connecting with artists to effectively communicate their stories and project visions. This approach not only enhances campaign strategies but also aligns with her belief that resonating with an artist's work can significantly improve a publicist's efficacy. Throughout the conversation, Nancy discusses the strategic aspects of PR, such as managing expectations, defining the scope of work with clients, and the importance of strategic planning in campaign success. She touches on the challenges faced by independent artists and the role of publicists in amplifying their existing momentum rather than building it from scratch. Nancy also addresses the critical need for more inclusivity in the industry, praising initiatives like incubator programs aimed at underserved communities. During their conversation Marc and Nancy also explore how the digital age has changed the expectations and methodologies in PR, requiring publicists to be more creative and integrated in their approach to media and content. They discuss the importance of data and analytics in shaping PR strategies and the continuous need for adaptation to the ever-evolving media landscape. The conversation wraps up with Nancy advocating for a realistic and informed approach to PR, where understanding the artist's current standing and potential trajectory is crucial for effective publicity. She stresses that while AI may assist in streamlining processes, the creative and human aspects of public relations remain irreplaceable, underscoring the artistry behind crafting impactful public relations campaigns. Fancy PR The Fancy PR Story – Founded in 2013, Fancy PR is a boutique full-service public relations agency committed to storytelling. From crafting artists’ narratives to placing high-impact stories and driving cultural conversations, they love what they do. As an AAPI woman-owned Business, we’re moved by diversity, equity and inclusion in the arts and believe in the power of fans and building community. Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 02:44 - from Health Care to Tech to Music 04:24 - Wanting music but no one to look to 07:00 - DC and music connections getting started 10:15 - Moving to NYC and Girlie Action 11:36 - Post intern and Vitalic Noise 13:17 - move to Fancy PR and getting started 14:39 - Is PR today all about being a content coordinator or content facilitator 16:22 - Define the scope of work 17:30 - strategy for small vs bigger artists 20:37 - Onboarding a new client and transparency, goals 23:25 - PR usually works on retainer 24:39 - Live events are now key 26:00 - #1 set up foundation of awareness… 30:00 - Integrate your publicist into the team, share the stats 31:00 - Byta.com 32:00 - “The Report”, delivering good and bad news 36:00 - Timelines, when to pitch & when to go back 38:30 - The cold call 39:00 - Do not paste a press release into a DM 40:30 - Where do new artists need to start 42:55 - Make it personal, its not just about the music 46:00 - Don’t be a clown, unless you are a clown 48:00 - Timelines, scheduling 50:00 - Too early, too late 50:30 - Do you need a PR? 54:30 - AI, Publicists are humans 56:00 - Byta.com Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 25 Jul 2023 | Helping Creators Promote Their Music & Manage Careers | 01:03:58 | |
"If you really, really love an artist, reach out and buy their record, buy their T-shirt, send them money, and appreciate how much blood sweat and tears go into that song that you listen to every day." Our guest on today’s episode is Andee Connors, Pandora’s Senior Manager of Catalog & Creator Services. Pandora is only accessible in the USA, but it has over 60 million subscribers. The streaming service has a great history of human-led curation. Andee’s background is steeped in the DIY music ethos. His band bought a van, toured pre-cell phone and circled the USA, with stops in Europe, many times even before a record deal was on the table. He is an anomaly, both old school and very much a part of the modern music ecosystem. He brings to this conversation a great many insights, perhaps the most important being, to make sure you know what success means to you and then go after it. Andee discusses how a Black Metal drummer with DIY coursing through his veins ended up working with Pandora at a job that no one wanted. He also explains what makes Pandora different from other streaming services, one thing is AMP, which stands for Artist Marketing Platform. This discussion also goes in the direction of modern-day music discovery. Is it better today? How have things changed, and how can people take advantage of those changes? When should you send your music to Pandora to get playlisted? Pandora has 60 million subscribers!! What about Radio VS streaming services, what role do they each play today? Why is Bandcamp awesome, because streaming your favourite artists is really not enough to support an them if you really love the music and they make you happy, you need to buy merch too, so says Andee. Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 05:09 - Running Aquarius Records 07:15 - I also had a label: tUMULt Records 09:52 - Listing to thousands of demos 11:35 - The early days at Pandora 13:10 - The effect of things going digital 15:50 - Touring & recording back in the day 17:20 - How Pandora got its start 22:00 - Pandora is only in the USA but you can still use it to find fans 23:00 - Mike Warner - Book: Work Hard Playlist Harder 25:00 - Send your art to those that inspired you 29:00 - Community was your only connection before the internet 32:00 - What are your expectations, your barometer of success? 38:00 - Being a musician in 2023 is a lot of work 40:00 - Houston Pandora has a problem with submissions 45:00 - Timelines to get your music to Pandora 48:00 - Metadata 50:00 - AMP (stands for Artist Marketing Platform) 52:30 - Radio VS streaming 57:40 - How to better support the artists you love 59:30 - Are there too many platforms? 102:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 20 Jun 2023 | Breaking the Mold: Record Label & Sync A&R | 00:48:41 | |
"Sometimes I feel like smaller labels are often better because they can help you without you having to do things you don’t want to do. When you sign to a big label, you need to play the game if you want to get the max benefit."
Our guest on this episode is May Mahmoudi, A&R at Ninja Tune’s Big Dada Records, as well as working in the sync department of Ninja Tune’s Just Isn’t Music. This episode is an insightful introduction to publishing and record label deals. How to get your music synched and what are the expectations from artists at the various levels of the music ecosystem? May was brought on to do A&R when Big Dada decided to do a big relaunch in early 2021. The label put a new focus on where they wanted to go and who was going to take them there. They are now actively working to amplify Black, POC and racialised voices. Big Dada Records looks to shift the narrative around this music, bypassing stereotypes to allow and encourage the freedom to express oneself for who they are and want to be. The goal: supporting and offering resources to a new generation of artists. May approaches music first by relating the vibe and the artist’s community. Then it is the nitty-gritty of how the music might be properly promoted and what the artist’s vision is, who they are and what they want. Having someone who works both the publishing side as well as the label side of the music ecosystem in for a conversation brought up a lot of new strategies. May is also very interested in having artists develop their music and career, being ready for their next step, whatever level that might be.
Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation May Mahmoudi reviewed by Pitchfork 00:10 - Byta.com 03:36 - Virginia Tech, Beach Fossils, Wild Nothings 05:00 - Me and my friends all moved to LA, I got a job at Universal Music 06:23 - How got my job at Ninja Tune 08:36 - The difference between the publishing world and the record label world 10:00 - What don’t artists know about publishing 10:35 - Just DM Beck… 11:24 - What does May’s day-to-day look like 12:51 - What are publishers looking for in an artist 14:42 - Chicken and Egg, how do artists get synchs? 15:28 - What does synch-able mean exactly? 17:03 - Bid Dada is looking for people pushing boundaries 18:11 - How do most indie labels approach new signings these days? 19:18 - The luxury of being Big Dada Records, under Ninja Tune. 20:42 - What are publishers looking for in an artist 21:10 - Why would anyone sign a record deal? 23:25 - Bandcamp is your best option 25:22 - May’s back story and her music career 27:50 - Byta.com 29:00 - You need to be ready for the level of label you sign to 31:16 - Music pollution 34:45 - Technology has changed everything & made music more accessible 38:09 - The importance of giving back to your community 40:00 - HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 41:18 - How does May find new music and artists 43:41 - How does A&R work inside the label 46:12 - What makes a great songwriter 47:30 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 18 Jan 2023 | The Future of Music Discovery: 2023 & Beyond | 00:56:45 | |
"A fan a day" is basically anything that you’re doing to grow. Everything that you do should be cognisant of building an audience... This episode features a panel discussion moderated by Marc Brown, Founder & CEO, Byta / byta.com Our guests are: Mira Silvers (Head of Music, FORT Agency), Nikisha Bailey (GM, Nvak Collective Executive Board, The Recording Academy Global Co-Chair, Diversity & Inclusion, Women In Music) & Phil Loutsis (VP Community, AWAL) Live music, festivals, and conferences. All of a sudden people were back in the same rooms listening to and talking about music again. 2022 was the year music finally came back from COVID. Some of the same old challenges that have always been there did not go away. This episode comes up with a few ideas to move a music career forward. Here is a little more information on our panelists: Mira Silvers Originally from Atlanta, Mira Silvers is a young music executive & polymath, who serves as the General Manager/Co-Founder of VICEVERSA, an emerging social-based record label and artist incubation platform. Additionally, she is an artist manager and the Head of Music at FORT, an independent female-led and Brown-owned agency focusing on a highly curated roster of artists for live development. Phil Loutsis Phil focuses his energies on helping indie artists build their careers. Part of his role at AWAL includes curating content to help creators and managers make the best use of their resources. A big part of building and sustaining those music careers – harnessing community with artists, creators and their teams. He enables artists and their teams to better tell their stories. Nikisha Bailey Forbes “Next 1000 list 2021” honoree, Nikisha Bailey is a community-driven entrepreneur, entertainment executive, and philanthropist with a lifelong commitment to music. Professionally, she is the General Manager for the Nvak Collective – a next-generation record label & artist advocacy collective that embraces web3 to drive change for creators and intellectual property. She also serves as Vice President for The Recording Academy’s New York Chapter and is an Ambassador for the Academy’s Black Music Collective (BMC). Even if you stumble on this podcast deep into 2023, or further down the road, the ideas, strategies and inspired conversation that take place in this episode are well worth a listen, are still relevant. Sustaining a career in music has never been easy but the landscape seems to be changing at an increased pace... or is it. Some things remain the same- like hard work and treating your music and yourself like a business, other things- streaming, TikTok offer up new opportunities and challenges. #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 02:49 - FORT Agency, MMF Canada, VICEVERSA Records 03:51 - AWAL 04:32 - Nvak Collective, The Recording Academy, Women In Music 14:13 - Chartmetric 19:57 - Girl In Red 25:53 - 1000 Super Fans 30:49 - Byta 33:00 - Muni Long 33:31 - Jazmine Sullivan, Denzel Curry 40:15 - Artist as CEO 51:57 - SubmitHub 55:21 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Bonus Material: #MethodToMyMusic weekly interviews Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 18 May 2022 | Independently minded & globally ambitious: Learning from Latin America’s music scene with Bruno Duque, Head of TuneCore Brazil & Latin America | 01:03:09 | |
Our next guest is the Head of TuneCore Brazil & Latin America, Bruno Duque. Bruno brings not only a love of music but a wealth of experience to his new role as Head of TuneCore Brazil, which is already expanding throughout Latin America. He has become an advocate for independent artists in Brazil and continues to work closely with artists while forging new relationships with key partners and growing brand awareness for TuneCore Brazil. Bruno talks about his journey into the music industry by way of the USA and then his return to Brazil and we are introduced into the way the Brazilian music industry works and how it developed. Brazil as a cultural phenomenon & how digital played a part in that happening. Marc and Bruno also talk crossing over into the Spanish and English speaking worlds.
“...I started in music about fifteen years ago here in Brazil. Long story short, I moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and I had the opportunity to work at Sony Music in the Latin division. I stayed there for a couple of years before I returned to Brazil to work in different parts of the music industry. I was invited to join Tunecore in 2020 to start strategic operations in Brazil. Then it extended it to all of Latin America which is an amazing opportunity to bring Tunecore to this part of the world. The first step for any local artist is to not think outside of your market. For a Brazilian musician to be successful, they need to be a successful artist in their country. This is one of the most important and difficult steps in their career, to develop their music and career inside of their own country.” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:00 - Rio 2:30 - Stockholm 3:18 - SONY Latin Music 6:40 - TuneCore 10:00 - DSPs 16:11 - Brazilian Funk 21:35 - Anitta 41:45 - Brazilian Telenovelas (Soap Operas), Chavez 51:52 - YouTube Music 53:00 - WhatApp 54:54 - North Eastern Music 56:00 - Cumbia,
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 22 Mar 2024 | Preparing for Online Success as an Artist: DSPs & Social Media | 01:01:02 | |
“The first tip that I give all artists is to be organized and cohesive. You don't know what someone's entry point is going to be to you and your music”. Today's guest is Brian “Z” Zisook is the Co-Founder & SVP of Operations & Artist Services at Audiomack. In this episode, Brian and Marc discuss preparing for online success as an artist by strategizing DSPs & Social Media. Zisook’s extensive experience in the music industry surprisingly includes conducting over 500 interviews with artists and industry professionals over 13 years. Artists include- J. Cole, Big Sean, Rick Ross, John Legend, Nipsey Hussle, DJ Khaled, and Anderson.Paak, among others. Zisook was even selected to join the Recording Academy as part of their new member class in 2022. Brian’s main gig is co-founder of Audiomack. As SVP of Operations, Zisook leads a team of 10 across three continents, overseeing and managing relationships with over 180 record labels and distribution partners, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and over 80 Merlin members. Before Audiomack, Zisook was the VP and EIC of DJBooth, a New York-based digital music publication and media house he co-founded with Audiomack co-founder David Macli. At its peak, DJBooth generated 8M page views monthly and annual revenue exceeding one million dollars. Audiomack is an on-demand music streaming and audio discovery platform that allows artists and creators to upload limitless music and podcasts for listeners through its mobile apps and website. In February 2021, Billboard announced Audiomack streaming data would begin informing some of its flagship charts, including the Hot 100, the Billboard 200, and the Global 200. In March 2021, Fast Company magazine named Audiomack one of the 10 most innovative companies in music.
Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 02:44 - Where Brian is from 03:14 - College Radio is where it all started / DJbooth.net 06:24 - Why we started Audiomack 08:28 - How the idea progressed 12:41 - Empowering creators is our jam 16:53 - How do we make money 19:48 - Advice and educational tips, pay attention to your fans 24:28 - There is a need now more than ever for connection. 29:35 - Artistic development is really like human development. 31:10 - If you're trying to appeal to everybody, you end up appealing to nobody. 33:36 - Present as organized 38:30 - A variety of ways that you can engage your audience 45:26 - Ridiculous to paint a picture that this is not a lot of work 48:11 - What what might be obvious to one is not correct to another 50:27 - Create a spreadsheet 53:00 - Campaigns that are really engaging, innovative or inspiring 57:29 - Who is your target audience? The mainstream is too broad a target 60:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 21 Nov 2022 | Transforming Audio Culture: Elevating the Art of Music Discovery | 00:58:01 | |
"Radio will never die…" "You have to define yourself and create your own brand. I normally don’t like that ethos that you have to create a brand, but you can definitely do it in a way that stays true to yourself." Our guest on today’s episode is Saidah Blount, Executive Producer at SONOS Radio, she is also their Primary Impact Storyteller. What does that job title mean exactly? She lets us know. Storytelling is at the heart of what Byta believes is one of the most important elements of promoting one’s self: always control your narrative. So Marc and Saidah get into it. Saidah followed a very unique path from the midwest to New York, one that included music journalism, stopping off at NPR for a few years and eventually landing at SONOS. Her north star was always music and trying to figure out how she could somehow incorporate that into her work life. She realized early on that working in the music industry proper was not for her, so she had to figure out another way, to do it on her own terms. She is a big fan of radio, having grown up in Kansas City one of the first big radio markets in the USA, plus both her parents were big music fans. Marc has a long history in Radio as well, so they discuss the differences between curated playlists (by real people VS AI), and old-school radio, and the future of “radio”. How can musicians make contact with the people at SONOS to have their music heard and played? Spoiler alert- persistence seems to be the answer. It is a great conversation that goes down some surprising and very insightful paths and Shazam. Saidah spoke to us from Brooklyn, New York #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 01:58 - Sonos Radio 05:14 - Kansas City Radio 08:22 - NYC 2000s 11:15 - Interview Magazine 14:05 - National Public Radio 16:06 - radio.SONOS.com 22:40 - Shazam, auto Shazam 25:25 - Byta.com 26:00 - Imaginary Sound Track 28:10 - Black is Black, DJ Lindsey Caldwell 29:00 - Jamaican & country music 30:00 - Women in Sound, Women in Sound ‘zine 32:00 - Bob Boilen 34:00 - Bandcamp 42:00 - Huw Stephens 45:00 - DEI initiatives 50:00 Thom of Radiohead 51:00 - Erykah Badu 52:00 - Dolly Parton 53:00 - Tems 57:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 13 Jun 2022 | Prepare for Takeoff: Release Planning & Building A Team with AWAL's VP of Community, Phil Loutsis | 01:05:27 | |
The next conversation is with Phil Loutsis, the VP of the AWAL Community Team. His job revolves around release planning, securing editorial support, building a team & marketing your music. All extremely important when it comes to moving a music career forward. At AWAL, Phil focuses his energies on helping indie artists build their careers. Part of his role includes curating content to help creators and managers make the best use of their resources. He enables artists and their teams to better tell their stories. He wants you to think of digital distribution as the canvas for the campaign rather than a bolt-on service. Phil talks about how he went from recording and playing live in a band out of Sheffield, England to being one of the early hires at AWAL. Marc and Phil get into playlisting, how to work with DSPs (Digital Service Providers/streaming platforms) and some tips and tricks on getting a little more traction when you release new music. There is also advice offered up regarding paid marketing. “From a delivery standpoint, having your cover art, your audio and your metadata nice and early is really important. Assets like photos for your marketing efforts should all be in a folder where everyone can easily access them from the get-go. Similarly, I’d be thinking about your video content very early too. It’s less of a concern getting your short-form videos out early as a lot of them like Instagram or TikToks are in real-time, but music videos and things like that can be done early. “ #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:23 Phil’s band, AWAL 4:56 Getting “There” 7:00 Getting noticed 17:53 Byta.com 24:59 Huw Stephens on #HowWeListen Live 27:00 Mike Warner’s book Work Hard Playlist Hard 34:38 Bandcamp, merchandise focused 38:24 Junior Foster 39:37 LAUV album 41:36 Spotify daily uploads 49:41 Paid marketing 50:26 SubmitHub and PlaylistPush, B00ST.com 57:00 Collaboration, Mental health 1:04:00 Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 21 Aug 2022 | Understanding Africa’s Music Ecosystem: PR & Promotion with Chioma Onuchukwu | 00:49:35 | |
" … I do not often hear “I love South African music” or “I love Nigerian music”, it’s more of a genre thing. " This episode’s guest is Chioma Onuchukwu, Head of TuneCore, West & East Africa. Chioma is perfectly positioned to provide insights and opinions on the African music ecosystem. Before joining TuneCore, Chioma worked as the Marketing Manager at uduX Music, a Nigerian music streaming platform, where she worked with artists like Davido, Yemi Alade, Patoranking, Kizz Daniel and more. Starting in August of 2021 she also sits on the Women in Music Nigeria board as the chapter’s Co-Chair. Based in Nigeria, Chioma oversees West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. She also looks after East Africa: Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and more. Chioma is dedicated to understanding and supporting the needs of local artists, which involves education and securing partnerships beneficial to their success and the growth of TuneCore in her markets.
"I tend to see a lot of people saying that they love Afrobeats or they love one specific artist but a lot of times they won’t know where this artist is from, whether it’s from South Africa, Nigeria, or anywhere else." #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 01:48 - Chioma Onuchukwu 02:07 - TuneCore 02:41 - Master's degree 04:14 - African Music Market 05:33 - South Africa 09:14 - African popular music, The music industry in Africa today 09:30 - Grammys 10:00 - African streaming service Boomplay 11:31 - Afrobeats, Best African music 13:39 - Amapiano 14:43 - James Brown 15:49 - Highlife: Prince Nico Mbarga: Sweet Mother, an example of Afrobeats: WizKid - Don't Dull 17:44 - Ghana music, Nigerian music 20:00 - #HowWeListen 21:00 - Music Business Academy by Godwin Tom, Godwin Tom & Sony 22:00 - Juls 25:00 - Women In Music, Women In Music, Nigeria 30:54 - African sub-genres 33:00 - African music conferences 34:00 - The 4 P’s of marketing 40:00 - Ice T, Power record 44:00 - Grants 45:40 - Afrochella 46:00 - Lagos music festival 48:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 29 Jul 2024 | The Power of Targeted Music Marketing | 00:55:30 | |
It’s all about people and its all about network. Today’s guest on #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation is Alex Brees CEO and Founder of un:hurd music, a music tech company that uses proprietary technology to help artists reach their most valuable fans via data-led marketing campaigns. Throughout this conversation, Alex offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of the music industry, the importance of data in crafting effective marketing strategies, and the challenges and opportunities for artists in the digital age. He emphasizes the need for artists to be adaptable, understand their audience deeply, and leverage data not just for short-term gains like playlist placements but for building a sustainable and engaged fan base. The conversation begins with Alex detailing his educational path, studying psychology at university, which unexpectedly paved the way to a career in sales and marketing. Despite not having a formal education in sales, Alex highlights the crucial role that selling skills play in entrepreneurial success, a realization he came to understand during his university days. After university, he moved to London to tap into more significant opportunities in tech, driven by a fascination with data's power to influence marketing strategies as inspired by books like “Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)” Transition to Tech and Data Analysis: In London, Alex transitioned from basic sales roles to more complex positions where he could analyze data to drive marketing decisions. Then his tenure at a Global Investment firm, Carlyle, where he worked as a trading analyst. Here, Alex's role was pivotal in converting consumer behaviour data into actionable marketing insights, helping the company optimize its advertising spend and grow its market presence rapidly. In the Music Industry: Parallel to his tech career, Alex's love for music led him to organize music events, particularly in the UK rap scene, which was then burgeoning. His efforts not only provided a platform for emerging artists but also challenged the negative stereotypes often associated with the genre, thus opening more venues to these performers. This side venture eventually steered his career fully into the music industry. Universal Music: Alex's passion for music and data culminated in a role at Universal Music as a global analyst. Here, he was responsible for using data to optimize marketing campaigns for top-tier artists like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. His work involved a mix of quantitative analysis—looking at streaming and social media data—and qualitative research, such as market surveys to better understand fan desires and expectations. un:hurd: Drawing from his many experiences, Alex founded un:hurd, a platform designed to support underrepresented artists by using data-driven strategies to boost their careers. The platform helps artists understand their audience through detailed analysis and effective marketing strategies, mirroring the analytical approaches he honed in his previous roles but focusing on empowering smaller artists and indie labels. un:hurd music is powerful, seamless music promotion at your fingertips. It offers you the ability to build effective promotional campaigns across all of your platforms that matter. Their technology creates a tailored list of marketing suggestions based on the user’s data and in just a few clicks, one can pitch to playlists, reach new fans on social media and launch a fan hub. Since launching, un:hurd has worked with over 65,000 artists from 129 countries, has raised over £2mil from some of the worlds most influential music investors, been featured as one of Music Ally’s start-ups to watch and has featured on BBC Dragons Den.
Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 06:10 - London Drill and Trap promoting 08:14 - Being an analyst at Universal Music 10:17 - Major label resources, what that means 12:00 - The transition from Universal Music to un:hurd 12:50 - My Analyst superpowers 15:50 - Competitor analysis for music 17:30 - Wanting to scale up to help millions of musicians 20:45 - learn by doing 21:55 - What does un:hurd do for its clients 23:30 - Byta.com 24:00 - Playlisting is important, but just a part of the puzzle 26:30 - Playlist is NOT the answer 28:30 - know what your goal is as an artist 32:00 - Spotify playlist pitching & third-party playlists 33:33 - Building momentum 35:00 - Be yourself? 36:00 - Be consistent & own your audience 39:00 - How do Majors do it and does it work for DIY? 42:00 - Create as much awareness as possible 43:15 - #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 44:45 - ABT (Always be testing) test your content types 45:50 - Always create what feels true to you, 48:30 - rasing capital for Tech. 52:42 - It's all about people, and it's all about network 54:30 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 18 May 2022 | Streaming & Playlist Mythbusting for Artists with Jenny Kaufman from Terrorbird Media. | 01:10:50 | |
Jenny Kaufman at the time of this interview was the Head of Digital Strategy at Terrorbird Media, a boutique music marketing firm with offices in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Sacramento. (She is now Head of Streaming and Sales at Crush Music). All through this conversation Jenny emphasizes a creative and authentic approach to digital promotion, facilitating meaningful positioning and support from online partners and digital storefronts. The conversation looks at Spotify, playlisting strategies, converting listeners to fans and positioning. Over the last couple of decades, when it comes to music, some things have changed but a lot has stayed the same. Playlists are perhaps the biggest new shift and opportunity. Jenny will discuss which platforms are best and to always remember to encourage fan engagement. Jenny even touches on TikTok, Twitch and advice on user-generated playlists. During her time at Terrorbird, Jenny facilitated campaigns for Toro y Moi (Carpark Records), Jay Som (Polyvinyl Records), Cloud Nothings (Carpark Records), and Hatchie (Double Double Whammy) among others. When she isn’t nerding-out about the ever-evolving digital landscape, Jenny is recharging with her three-legged tuxedo cat, Scooter. “...I interned at The Fader for a while. I was at Beggars Group, at XL Recordings for a while. I think that breaking into the music industry just doesn't always come easy. It required a lot of tenacity and having the mentors that I'd had along the way to help me, you know, push my career forward." #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:30 - Baby’s All Right 4:20 - Glassnote Records, Maggie Rogers 5:07 - Save Our Stages Act 9:00 - XL Recordings 14:10 - CD Baby 18:28 - DSP 29:34 - Virgin Megastore in Times Square 33:42 - Lorem Playlist 36:26 - Oyster Playlist 38:46 - Arlo Parks 40:53 - Paramour 41:08 - New Music Friday 46:07 - Good 4 U - by Olivia Rodrigo 50:56 - Hi Fi Audio 1:00: - YouTube Music 1:07 - DistroKid 1:09 - Byta.com Our music is by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 10 Jun 2022 | Damn Good Numbers: Backing Up Your Music with Data & Insights with Christine Osazuwa | 01:07:29 | |
Our next guest is the Founder of Measure of Music and was the former Global Marketing Director of Data & Insights at Warner Music Group, Christine Osazuwa. After Warner, she became the UK Director at shesaid.so and the Strategy Director at Pollen and then Chief Strategy Officer at Shoobs. Christine uses numbers for good and believes that business can be an art and art can be a business. Some of the questions this conversation answers: What does it mean to oversee and develop a marketing data strategy? How does one identify and break global priority artists by creating benchmarks and KPIs to ensure long-term global artist growth? Christine has managed to combine all of her passions, music, marketing, and data into consulting with various music startups, venues, festivals, radio stations and labels, bridging the gap between music, data & business. Christine explains how data and numbers are no substitute for a good story & passion (but, you better have some damn good numbers to back it up). She also reveals a giant list of stories and tips on making your way into and through the music industry. “I think people get overwhelmed by the fact that there are so many places that you could be looking at, so I think the first thing to do is kind of think about what has worked for you. As an artist or manager, you probably intuitively know some of those things, and you don’t need the data to tell you. Then experiment a bit. Let’s start with something really simple. Let’s say Spotify is your strongest platform and then figure out the other part of it, what’s your strongest social platform. Is it TikTok? Is it Twitter? It’s it Facebook? Is it Instagram?” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 1:15 - Christine Osazuwa 2:00 - All Time Low, Warped Tour 5:00 - Python 6:00 - Nigerian in Sweden, Chief Data Officer, Burna Boy 10:00 - Posting Jobs 11:20 - Baltimore Music 13:53 - YouTube 17:41 - Metadata panel 19:00 - Merch/sales 24:00 - Street Team 35:00 - Jenny Kaufman 36:15 - Measure of Music 47:00 - Representation in the Music Industry 51:29 - UK Music Diversity Report 54:57 - Christine web site / Blog 1:03:00- Chocolate City Music 1:06:00 - Byta.com, The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC)
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 14 Dec 2022 | Fairness in Future: Compensation & Advocacy for Artists | 00:58:08 | |
"DO IT TOGETHER- You learn by doing, you navigate the systems and the complicated processes, by jumping right into it with curiosity and humility, learn as you go, and then share what you're learning." Our guest on today’s episode is Kevin Erickson, Director of The Future of Music Coalition (FMC). Kevin has contributed opinion pieces to outlets as disparate as The Nation and Pitchfork, volunteers with Positive Force DC, and remains active as a musician and record producer, operating Swim-Two-Birds recording studio in DC, alongside husband Hugh McElroy. Before joining FMC’s team in 2012, he directed the All Ages Movement Project, a national non-profit network of all-ages music venues and youth music programs. The Future of Music Coalition is a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization supporting a musical ecosystem where artists flourish and are compensated fairly and transparently for their work. The FMC’s work is rooted in the real-world experiences and ambitions of working musicians, whose perspectives are often overlooked in policy debates. The FMC works with musicians, composers and industry stakeholders to identify solutions to shared challenges. They promote strategies, policies, technologies and educational initiatives that always put artists first while recognizing the role music fans play in shaping the future. This episode does not just talk policy and lobbying, but real work tips and tricks on helping musicians connect, develop community and more than anything else pay attention to what the world at large and larger corporations are imposing on creative musicians. Kevin spoke to us from Washington, DC Show Notes #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation Future Of Music Coalition, Staff 00:10 - Byta.com 12:00 - Universal Music Group 13:21 - Clear Channel, iHeart Radio 17:00 - Ticketmaster, Live Nation 26:00 - Music Modernization Act 30:00 - Byta.com 35:00 - Healthcare for Musicians USA 36:00 - Affordable Care Act 38:00 - Terrestrial Radio Royalties 40:00 - House Judiciary Committee 43:30 - Huw Stephens 55:00 - Future of Music Coalition YouTube 56:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 19 Jul 2022 | Hand in Hand: The Art of Booking Tours & Artist Management with Michelle Cable | 01:03:16 | |
"As a manager, you are involved in every aspect of an artist's career so it is an intimate relationship." This episode's guest is Michelle Cable, founder of Panache Booking and Panache Management. Michelle Cable founded Panache in 1998. Live music is quickly returning as artists scramble to get back out on the road. In a pre-COVID world, touring was becoming key to monetising a music career. After putting everything on hold for 24 months, “live” has never been more important. What does the future hold? Panache has been in the touring industry for over two decades and has always adapted alongside the live music industry as it has evolved. Michelle has had an incredible journey from 14-year-old Fanzine founder & publisher in Eureka, California, to a key player in touring and management. Panache prides itself in its ability to stay independent, resolute, and specifically cater to each of their Artist’s individual needs while helping them have sustainable careers while still maintaining its indie ethos. As both a booking agency and a management company, Panache led by Michelle have a unique perspective on helping to guide musicians’ careers, now more than ever. “I’ve always evolved when I needed to and that has worked for me so far. With booking, it was more straightforward and short term but with management, it’s more of a longer-term process over many years.” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:12 - Panache Booking 2:12 - Panache Artist Management 3:18 - Eureka, California 5:34 - Humboldt State University 5:40 - The White Stripes 7:17 - The Flaming Lips 7:20 - Scott Booker 7:35 - Raining Sound 7:45 - The Hives 10:10 - Panache Magazine #26 12:00 - Humbolt Country weed 12:10 - Twin Peaks 13:59 - Arcata 14:53 - Denny's 15:00 - Bummer Fest 17:50 - Shellshag 22:04 - AEG and Live Nation 23:12 - Ty Segall 23:30 - Mac DeMarco 26:50 - Black Flag Tour Callendar 30:42 - Peaches 32:34 - The 48 Laws of Power 36:51 - SheSaid.So 38:00 - Music Industry 41:00 - Jenny Kaufman 42:50 - Talent buyer 1:06:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 18 Oct 2022 | Building Your Streaming Audience with Kevin Breuner (CD Baby) | 01:06:00 | |
"The number one thing to never, ever do, would be to set a release date before your music is done." Our guest on today’s episode is Kevin Breuner, Senior VP of Engagement and Education at CD Baby. Kevin’s job at CD Baby is all about making sure musicians are as prepared as possible when planning to release their music into the world. Marc and Kevin talk about how Kevin went from being a Grammy-nominated musician to working with CD Baby. Along the way, Kevin also offers up all kinds of great advice on being ready when you release your next album or single. Previously VP of Marketing at CD Baby, Kevin’s new role reinforces what CD Baby is all about: making sure musicians are as prepared as possible when planning to release their music into the world. At CD Baby, Kevin created the DIY Musician brand, which has become the cornerstone of CD Baby’s mission statement. Kevin came to us from Atlanta, Georgia #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 02:14 - Music Biz 02:16 - CD Baby 02:55 - CD Baby podcasts, blog, conferences 04:03 - Smalltown Poets 04:11 - Belmont University 04:20 - Producer John Hampton 06:46 - The 90s Christian music scene 08:00 - GRAMMY nominated, Dove awards 11:15 - iTunes(Apple Music) 11:40 - MP3 players 12:15 - DIY podcast 14:30 - Streaming changed everything 26:555 - Grassroots marketing 28:30 - KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid 29:20 - Set a release date before your music is done 36:45 - CD Baby release plan generator 42:22 - Discover Weekly 52:36 - People like seeing videos 57:00 - You want to own the relationship 1:04:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 20 Oct 2023 | Supporting Independents and Championing Diversity in Music | 00:55:18 | |
" I think socioeconomic status and background is one of the key areas where the music industry isn’t diverse enough." Today's guest is Lara Baker, General Manager at FUGA for the UK & Ireland. On top of being named in Billboard's International Power Players 2022, she was also honoured with Music Week’s Women in Music Roll of Honour and SheSaidSo's Alternative Power List. She is passionate about improving diversity, gender balance and inclusivity in the music business. She has sat on UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce, supported the Love Music Hate Racism campaign and organised regular women in music and diversity-focused events. Lara joined FUGA in early 2023. She came from Songtrust/Downtown Music Publishing, where Lara worked for 4 years as Director of Business Development for the UK, IE and Australia. Lara's background and passion have always been supporting independent labels and artists. Her music career began in 2004 at AIM (the UK trade association for independent labels), where Lara spent 14 years serving the independent community, ultimately as Marketing and Events Director. During this time she created the AIM Awards, the leading celebration of independent music, as well as AIM's year-round programme events including AIM Connected, AIM Sync conference and Indie-Con (now known as Future Independents). There is a lot to talk about and Marc and Lara definitely get into it. FUGA is the world's leading B2B music distributor. FUGA is the number one choice for some of the world’s top labels, management companies and distributors, including Epitaph Records, Ultra, Curb, Mom + Pop, mTheory and Domino. As GM UK/IE, Lara's role leads new business and client relations for the territory. Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 03:52 - Getting started, school & first job 04:50 - Music business school 07:57 - Socioeconomics and background 09:00 - AIM getting its start 12:16 - Why indies needed help 15:52 - The Big wins at AIM when I was there, Spotify/MTV… 18:00 - Merlin and WIN explained 21:15 - Diversity in music not reflected in the organization 25:00 - Women in Music Awards, genesis 26:38 - Mentoring 28:50 - The gender pay gap, really bugs me! 36:45 - The Socioeconomic barriers 41:00 - Byta.com 43:00 - Things have changed, what artists need to do and how FUGA helps 46:00 - The Hives. 52:00 - More initiatives 54:10 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 12 Jun 2022 | Make Streams Come True: Using Streaming Platforms to Your Advantage with Junior Foster, Head of Global Artist Relations | 01:03:42 | |
Our next guest is Junior Foster, was Deezer’s Head of Global Artist Relations at the time of this conversation. Now he is over at Napster doing the same. No matter where he is, Junior works directly with artists, labels and managers to help with marketing campaigns across all major and independent labels. He talked about best practices when working with digital streaming platforms and how to build a proper music career. As the key contact for the international artist management community, Junior is responsible for implementing best practices for the entire artist marketing team to ensure the most successful outcomes and results. Junior talks about his long and winding road through the music ecosystem and what exactly a Head Of Global Artist Relations does. Marc asks about his process when working with artists and Junior explains the “conversation”. This episode offers up some great insights when it comes to DSPs (Digital Service Providers/streaming platforms), and we find out about a surprise release for Junior. “If you are a new artist, I feel that you need to not only think about streaming platforms and DSPs but you need to be, now that the world is re-opening, you need to be out there playing live. If you can. You need to be growing your social following, your fanbase. You have to do that because before you get to us, you need to be your best you. You need to understand your stuff, you need to know what your fans like, and you need to be building that fanbase because when you come to us, in the same way, you would’ve gone to radio, we will be asking you “Ya, ok we like this music but what else is going on?” Then we need to have those conversations.” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 3:39 London Sound System 5:23 Head of Global artists relations 9:26 J Balvin 17:19 Deezer playlists 22:00 Byta.com 22:33 #HowWeListen 27:17 Lewis Capaldi 31:54 Gerry Cinnamon 34:39 Inversions 80s 36:00 Holly Humberstone, Benny Sings, Laura Mvula, CSS 38:15 Amber Horsburgh 39:00 ASMR campaign, ASMR explained 41:00 Tom Jones whispering it to you, Alicia Keys 41:30 Beethoven Re-Mix 44:00 Fresh List, Brand New UK 45:52 Dry stream 55:27 Squat raves 1:02:00 Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 13 Dec 2023 | Putting Artists First: Music Publishing for Independent Creators | 01:17:53 | |
"So it's our job to get the best possible deal. So basically, there's no database, how long is a piece of string? Just make sure you're working with someone who knows the industry and who knows what music is worth?" Today’s guest is Simon Pursehouse, Global Director of Music Services at Sentric Music, an “industry challenging” music publisher. Simon works within the Business Development and Creative Departments at Sentric and is the point person for their roster of signed songwriters. Previously at Sentric, Simon headed up the sync division, which under his supervision was nominated as Best Indie Publisher at the Music Week Sync awards for six years running. Here he has developed relationships with global media organisations, broadcasters and advertising agencies which has resulted in Sentric’s catalogue being placed in adverts, films, games, TV shows worldwide. Simon has been featured in Music Weeks’ ‘30 Under 30’ list and regularly speaks at various industry conferences worldwide such as Reeperbahn, The Great Escape, BBC Introducing Live and AIM’s Sync Day amongst many others. He has been invited to discuss Sentric on BBC 6Music on multiple occasions and has consulted on judging panels for awards/grants for BAFTA, PRS, BRITs, Music Week and more. He is a regular guest lecturer at LIPA and BIMM amongst other educational bodies. Simon has been a core part of Sentric’s online identity; he is the author of Sentric’s Blog which offers advice to emerging artists and has received millions of hits Sentric Music: Sentric Music was formed in 2006 as the new age independent music publisher. Sentric disrupted traditional publishing by offering the fairest deal in the industry. We empower artists and songwriters to collect the royalties they’re owed. Their friendly and knowledgeable team are dedicated to ensuring writers and artists get the most out of their music. They enjoy giving artists and songwriters opportunities to elevate their careers and fulfil their ambitions. “To date we’ve put the power back in the hands of over 400,000 artists.”
Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 02:43 - The Beard 03:48 - Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts 04:14 - History of Sentric’s start 08:04 - Sentric’s growth and development 11:00 - The basics of music publishing 12:42 - Your local Performing Rights Organization 14:00 - The Sentric method 16:00 - The pie chart / AKA how publishing works 19:00 - Simon’s trip to Australia 22:26 - Democratization of Publishing 24:30 - Collecting royalties and new synchs 26:51 - Performance VS Mechanical income 28:53 - Marc’s recap 30:33 - Byta.com 31:05 - Neighbouring rights explained 34:51 - What the fuck is music publishing The Life Cycle of a music publishing copyright 37:00 - Sentric Vs TuneCore VS Song Trust 41:30 - Pitching Syncs 44:00 - Picking partners: Be careful (aka - wait and they will find you) 48:00 - Lawyers 52:38 - Sarah Hamilton (Ditto) 54:24 - Just be nice to everyone (if you are good, they will find you) 59:27 - Make sure your whole team know about all your wins, helps the pitch. 1:01:00 - More on sync 1:04:00 - The goal is to make your music, not just "sinkable music…" 1:08:00 - email tips, making contact 1:09:000 - Be nice 1:12:00 - Work with experienced people 1:14:30 - Finding the “Best people” 1:15:00 - How much do you charge for Synchs 1:16:48 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 21 Apr 2023 | Streaming: Tools for Musicians to Succeed | 01:14:18 | |
"When I first hear a song, it doesn't matter if it was released today, one year ago or 10 years ago. It's new to me, the moment I first hear it, and that's the same for your fans." Our guest on today’s episode is Mike Warner, founder of Work Hard Playlist Hard – The DIY playlist guide for Artists and Curators. Mike is also the Head of Editorial Marketing Partnerships for North America at Believe, the global music distributor. As the go-to authority at the forefront of the digital music world, for all things streaming, we get into it with Mike. Find out how he got started as a DJ in Australia and then eventually made his way to California. How unemployment can lead to some great ideas, opportunities and even a book. Let's find out about the path that led to Mike eventually ending up at Believe USA for his day job, yes he loves a day job. Throughout this episode, Marc brings a bucket of questions to the table. Mike gets more specific about some excellent strategies, timelines and how to approach building a team. He also explains a few unique ways artists can get noticed by the many Digital Service Providers (DSP) out there. The biggest lessons offered up:
Mike spoke to us from California, USA. Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation Work Hard Playlist Hard – The DIY playlist guide for Artists and Curators 00:10 - Byta.com 02:20 - I grew up in Australia 03:39 - All I wanted to be was a DJ 06:10 - I moved to the USA and could not work so researched streaming services 08:40 -Pay a fee & get on a streaming platform: DistroKidt, CD Baby, TuneCore 09:00 - Other platforms provide services on top of that- The Orchard Ingrooves and Believe 11:55 - The band Date Night 13:00 - Writing the book: Work Hard Playlist Hard 20:18 - Fill in the forms and pitch your music to the DSPs 27:52 - What is an editorial playlist 29:07 - Spotify only allow you to pitch one track at a time 30:18 - Amazon Music: Pitch your music everywhere 32:00 - Pandora, only in the US, but a lot of listeners and great artist support 36:15 - Tidal for artists, “Rising Artists” 40:23 - Make a plan, talk up your music 43:31 - 8 Weeks before release, stick to a schedule 47:05 - Don't be disheartened, people take longer to discover new music today 49:30 - Its new the first time you hear it 51:56 - Finding your team- ask lots of questions. 56:00 - How I got on the Starbucks playlist 59:00 - Reach out on LinkedIn 59:30 - Creating your own playlists and exchanging music with other curators 1:03:20 - Working with labels and distributors 1:04:00 - The New Spotify user interface, Spotify canvas 1:10:00 - What are publishers looking for? 1:12:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 16 Jun 2022 | Artist Development: What is a “Full Service” Music Company with Gourmet Délice | 01:05:41 | |
Our next guest is Bonsound Co-founder and Managing director Gourmet Délice. Understanding and planning for multiple angles in an artist’s career can be challenging. Today, full “services” for artists can mean many things. Twenty years ago one record label looked around and realised they might have to do more than just release recordings if their artists were to see any success. Marc is joined on this episode by Bonsound Co-founder and Managing director Gourmet Délice. Bonsound is a music company offering multiple types of services to artists. Established in a very unique marketplace: Quebec, Canada. Bonsound is an organisation that works at the service of its artists and does not own their intellectual property. The company offers a full range of professional and personalised services to contribute to the sustainable development of the careers of its artists. They are a record label, music publisher, booking agency, concert producer, artist management and PR team. They also run two sub-labels: Make It Rain and Blow the Fuse records. “(Bounsound) came out of a necessity for me and my other 2 business partners, and also the needs of musicians in Montreal. It has snowballed into a 30-employee company doing all of these services in the music industry. It created a kind of movement. We looked around and we saw that there were no services that understood the philosophy of the underground bands we were working with and also offered services at a reasonable price.” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:15 - Unison Fund 7:23 - Gourmet 9:19 - Montreal 12:40 - Dare To Care Records 19:31 - Malajube 19:35 - City Slang 19:40 - DJ Champion 22:07 - Pop Montreal 22:07 - Third Side Music 22:15 - Montreal -40 23:48 - SXSW 44:50 - Canada Council 44:55 - FACTOR 44:60 - CALQ 1:00:00 - Here To There 1:04:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 10 May 2023 | Signing, Releasing & Developing Music from Africa to the World | 00:56:08 | |
"I'm reaching out to people because of their work ethic and because of their consistency. I believe in their journey and I feel like it's only a matter of time before something huge happens" Our guest on today’s episode is Obinna Agwu. Newly appointed A&R Executive at Horus Music Nigeria, Obinna Agwu is also an artiste manager and music business consultant and podcaster with years of experience working in the Nigerian music industry. He is experienced in working closely with a variety of industry partners and managing internal/external relationships. As mentioned he also hosts a music industry-based podcast known as The Listening Sessions Podcast. Prior to joining Horus Music, Obinna worked at Boomplay as their Artiste Relations Manager, executing over twenty major releases and securing top talents like ILLBliss, Laycon, Hotyce and Ugochee for Boomplay’s Hip-Hop initiative, “Pass The Mic”. Obinna also oversaw planning and rollout for El Dee The Don’s ‘Undeniable’ whilst working at Trybe Records, and while at the Chocolate City record label (generally regarded as one of the most successful indigenous urban record labels in Africa) he oversaw the Plantation Boiz’s Plan B album, And The Bass is Queen by Lindsey Abudei, M.I Abaga’s debut album ‘Talk About It’, and many other projects. Marc and Obinna talk about how artists can be better prepared to help move their music and careers forward. They also talk about the history of the music industry in Nigeria, the Afrobeats explosion and why there is more to Nigeria than Afrobeats.
Obinna spoke to us from Lagos, Nigeria. Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation Trybe Records, and the Chocolate City record label The Listening Sessions Podcast 00:10 - Byta.com 02:35 - From Boomplay to Horace Music Nigeria 04:22 - Radio promotion back in the good old days & A&R 09:11 - Artists out front, maybe too soon 11:46 - People expect excellence 15:10 - South African music industry 17:00 - Nigerian music industry relationship with South Africa 22:53 - From radio to steaming and Boomplay 27:00 - How do new artists approach the music industry in Nigeria 29:30 - Are Nigerian artists looking to sign to major labels 35:35 - How does Horace Music support creators 37:25 - How do artists get to 20 000 streams 42:45 - How do artists decide how to develop their careers 45:43 - A&R is a new concept in Nigeria. Payola 50:40 - the vibrant music scene in Nigeria 54:00 - The Listening Sessions Podcast 55:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 22 Jun 2022 | Communities Are Key: Big Careers Start Local with Sarah Hamilton | 00:58:22 | |
This episode's guest is Sarah Hamilton, Regional Manager for Australia & New Zealand at Ditto Music. In the digital age do bands no longer have to break out of their small town, then leap to the big city to conquer their country in order to go international? What does community mean in the music streaming era? It is easier to get on an international playlist but is anyone listening? Marc speaks with Sarah Hamilton, Regional Manager for Australia & New Zealand at Ditto Music. Marc and Sarah talk about the best steps that artists can take to self realize their goals, “Stay Independent”. Sometimes it can be hard to promote yourself, but no one else will. Sarah explains how she pitches Australian music to the world. Sarah also talks about the charity she co-founded called One of One. A website that highlights women and non-binary people in the music industry. Sarah has been working in digital distribution in Australia since 2008, with a short stint in New York City. She loves working with independent artists and seeing them gain access to the same opportunities as artists signed to major labels.
“I do start by asking artists questions to gauge what they’d be like to work with and how well they know the market. It’s a bit of a red flag when I ask someone what kind of artists they like or might be similar to, and they say that they don’t listen to music or are just concentrating on themselves.” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:08 - Gig Life Pro 3:45 - Kulin Nations 4:51- Ditto Music in New Zealand and Australia 5:20 - One of One 5:58 - Queensland 7:44 - Netflix 10:37 - Ditto, DistroKid, CD Baby, Ditto Plus 14:06 - Joanna Cameron, The Power 50, One of One events 16:52 - Huw Stephens 25:23 - Canadian bands 35:37 - AViVA, My Chemical Romance, 36:30 - YouTube, Mr Suicide Sheep 37:00 - AViVA Book 40:16 - Qsic, Soundtrack Your Brand 41:52 - Junior Foster, Napster 44:59 - Timeline 45:59 - Ditto Philippines 47:50 - Filipino R&B 48:00 - MUNGMUNG 49:34 - Solomon Islands/Papua New Guinea, Record label 50:00 - Afrobeat in Australia 50:49 - Ghana 51:49 - Wallace 57:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 16 May 2024 | The Convergence of Music & Gaming | 01:17:53 | |
“I run my band like a startup and I run my startup like a band” Today's guest is Roman Rappak not only the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) at Ristband, but also the frontman for the touring band: Pivot. Roman shares his background, detailing his start in the music industry as a musician forming a band and making beats on a laptop, eventually signing record deals and touring the world. However, he realized that traditional revenue streams from touring and licensing were unsustainable. This realization led him to explore new ways to leverage technological advancements to support musicians. Roman describes the inception of the world's first mixed-reality live concert, funded by a Dutch government grant in 2017. This innovative concept allowed audiences to experience a live band performance through augmented reality, blending the real and virtual worlds. This approach proved financially successful and highlighted the potential for integrating music with immersive technology. The conversation shifts to Ristband's evolution, where Roman reflects on his initial reluctance to embrace the tech industry but ultimately recognizing the potential for music-tech convergence. He mentions the support from Epic Games, which enabled Ristband to develop tools and platforms to make immersive music experiences accessible to a broader audience. Roman emphasizes the importance of viewing musicians as startups, using technology to enhance their visibility and revenue. Marc and Roman discuss the historical context of music and gaming, noting how advancements like the PlayStation One and licensing real music in games brought the two industries closer together. They explore the potential for dynamic, ever-changing music integration in games and the challenges of creating new contractual relationships for music use in gaming. Roman highlights the shift in the music industry, where major labels now prioritize viral social media presence over traditional musical talent. He encourages artists to embrace new tools and technologies, leveraging the vast opportunities in the gaming world to reach wider audiences and sustain their careers. The conversation concludes with Roman urging artists to explore new mediums and tools, emphasizing the importance of curiosity and innovation. He mentions the Voices of VR podcast as a valuable resource for understanding the intersection of VR, AI, and music. Roman and Marc agree that the future of the music industry will be shaped by unexpected, underground innovations rather than traditional major label strategies. Overall, the discussion provides a comprehensive overview of Ristband's mission to revolutionize the music industry through technology, Roman's journey from musician to tech innovator, and the potential for artists to thrive by embracing new technological opportunities.
Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 04:25 - Roman’s background 06:00 - Pivots 08:10 - Ristband at SXSW 09:00 - Number of songs uploaded to Spotify 10:30 - Trent Reznor article 13:45 - Roman realizes he is in the Tech biz 16:10 - Major labels are not forward acting 16:50 - Gaming & Music, the new way forward 20:10 - How did Gaming get so music-friendly 26:37 - Where are the opportunities for smaller artists 29:45 - How it became way more easy to build games 31:00 - Byta.com 32:19 - Roman’s band is making money 35:20 - Gaming is the new MTV for music discovery 37:30 - Things have changed, artists need to break new ground 41:45 - #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 43:15 - People used to think the internet was “never going to work” & was genius 43:40 - We are in the Wild West 60:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 18 May 2022 | Navigating A Creative Career in Music with Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning | 01:04:18 | |
Our next guest is musician Brendan Canning, the co-founder of the Toronto supergroup Broken Social Scene, which includes members of Metric, Do Make Say Think and Stars, as well as Grammy-nominated Feist. One of the most enduring and influential alternative bands of the 00s. Their record 'You Forgot It In People' defined the "indie rock" era and paved the way for Canadian acts like Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade to break out. Canning also has released three solo recordings. Brendan talks about his early years of hustling his music, his strategy back in the 90s grunge era, was there a formula, and how Broken Social Scene came together and found great success. Marc and Brendan also discuss Brendan’s many side hustles, even when Broken Social Scene was a going concern he was busy with other things. We also find out how Brendan got into composing music for films and what Brendan might do if he was starting again out today.
“...I think it was just an innate sense. It's basic. You got to open up for the cool bands. You got to build up your own following, right. Then you build up your following and maybe that leads to your entering a radio station contest? And you get your songs on the radio? It was the Grunge rock era, sort of like the Bitcoin era, you know, there was money to be made. You could make money without being that talented. But because you looked a certain way you wore enough flannel or army shorts or long underwear under your army shorts, it was possible …” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:25 - Sled Island Music & Arts Festival 5:35 - Dodos 6:00 - Posies, Scott Kannberg 8:58 - Hhead, IRS Records, Elliot Lefko, Now Magazine 10:48 - CFNY 12:23 - Bare Naked Ladies 13:38 - Spooky Ruben 13:57 - By Divine Right 14:25 - Steal My Sunshine, Treble Charger, Cookie Duster 17:37 - Charles Spearing, Kevin Drew, KC Accidental 23:35 - Paperbag Records 23:53 - Stewart Berman, Rough Trade Records 26:11 - Jeffrey Remedios, 29:09 - David Newfeld 34:34 - Bruce McDonald 34:58 - Love Crimes, Snow Cake, Half Nelson 40:22 - Stereolab / Beetle 43:03 - Fitzcarraldo 49:42 - Much Music 54:26 - Howard Billerman 1:03 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 20 Jun 2022 | More Than Just Video: Maximise Your Promo Power With Corbyn Asbury | 00:42:28 | |
Our next guest is Corbyn Asbury, Label Relations Manager at YouTube. YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, but how do emerging artists best maximise their promo power there? How does one secure maximum discoverability? Marc speaks with Corbyn Asbury, Label Relations Manager at YouTube, If you are not quite sure what YouTube has to offer to the music community, Corbyn has you covered. He explains some of the tools that YouTube are continually working on in order to specifically help musicians? He also worked at Apple and Universal Music. Corbyn joined YouTube (owned by Google) at the start of 2018 to help with the launch of YouTube Music. Since then, he has worked on large scale campaigns with superstar artists, including Little Mix, The 1975, Dua Lipa, and Mabel. Corbyn also led YouTube’s emerging artist program, Artist On The Rise, which is all about breaking new artists and amplifying music’s most compelling up-and-comers. Corbyn is your indie on the inside. Marc and Corbyn discuss tips and tricks when using YouTube to launch new music. Strategies and the best practices that can help bring more attention to both singles and full albums on the platform also gets discussed. "YouTube.com is pretty much all algorithmic, but YouTube music is a playlist system so it takes you out of the echo chamber that you might get into on youtube.com and give you more of a genre or theme-specific playlist experience. It’s primarily audio with a bit of video, but 80% of the consumption that happens is audio first and background listening." #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 2:07 - Google 3:14 - Today At Apple Program 5:50 - Label Relations Manager 6:51 - Liverpool Sound City 7:00 - YouTube History 9:36 - YouTube’s Official Artist Channel. 10:00 - YouTube Premieres 12:48 - YouTube Music 15:33 - Gen Z 17:59 - YouTube 1st Video 22:58 - Youtube Shorts 27:27 - Foundry Fund 28:00 - MMF (Music Managers Forum) 30:15 - Metadata / Descriptions 30:26 - Edit the Metadata 31:44 - Youtube.com/trending 33:05 - Proper File Tags 35:10 - SEO (search engine optimisation) 36:43 - YouTube studio app 41:24 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 12 May 2022 | A Conversation about music discovery with BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Huw Stephens | 00:49:11 | |
We are delighted to announce that our first guest for the #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation series is Huw Stephens, a new music-ally for over 22 years and former BBC Radio 1 and current BBC Radio 6 Music & Radio Cymru DJ. This episode was recorded live from Cardiff, Wales. Huw joined us from one of his favourite music venues in Wales, Clwb Ifor Bach who, along with FOCUS Wales, an international multi-venue showcase festival, partnered with Byta for this event. Huw joined BBC Radio 1 at 17, becoming the youngest ever Radio 1 DJ. He has broadcast live from Glastonbury, Reading Festival, Sonar, South by Southwest, and Eurosonic on BBC Radio 1, as well as broadcasting live from Radio 1’s own Teen Awards and Big Weekend. His passion for new music has meant he has been the first to champion countless new artists early on. He has contributed to BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, 6Music and presented on BBC Radio Wales, and regularly presents on the BBC World Service. Huw talks about music discovery, which means sometimes being one of the only people in a club watching that new band play live for the first time. Also, the importance of musicians developing a supportive community, and how singing in Welsh can work for you. “...I ended up in the UK, where we had hospitals that have radio stations in them. It was a big thing for DJs to get practice. If you're a geek about radio, hospital radio was the place to start. It is still brilliant and doing great things. They play artists and they take requests from the patients. It's a real community. So that's how I started and then I managed bands…" Huw is much more than a radio DJ, he is the founder of the Swn Festival in Cardiff, Wales’ premier new music festival which he founded in 2007, and won Best Small Festival at the NME Awards in 2014. He curates the Lake Stage at Latitude Festival, which saw early appearances by The xx, Alt J, The 1975, Catfish & The Bottlemen and many more. Huw also DJs regularly around the UK to thousands and has DJ’d worldwide in Venezuela, Barcelona, Iceland, Norway, Austin Texas, New York, New Zealand and Patagonia. Since 2006, Huw Stephens Presents has been a monthly live music night in London’s The Social, playing host to new artists. #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation @BBC Radio 2:20 Focus Wales 3:27 Andy Jones 5:07 Ryan Reynolds 5:44 Cat Morris, Clwb Ifor Bach 7:46 Poptones Records 8:21 Hospital Radio 10:44 Zane Lowe, 12:30 BBC Radio Wales 15:05 Annie Mac 18:09 Upload your Music Here 24:00 Sŵn Festival 26:30 Flohio 30:00 Break Out West 33:00 Boy Azooga 34:00 Gwenno 44:00 M for Montreal, 9Bach 47:00 Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 11 Jun 2022 | Developing Your Branding & Marketing Strategy with Amber Horsburgh | 01:05:45 | |
What are the best steps when building a branding strategy? Our next guest is Amber Horsburgh, a music marketing consultant and digital strategist. Amber is expert in developing strategies for artists and music brands. She has worked as a marketing executive to majors, indies & brands including Interscope, Atlantic, Downtown Records, Spotify, SoundCloud & YouTube Music. Amber runs a music strategy newsletter called Deep Cuts, which is read by 15,000 music industry professionals globally. This led to her recently founding The School of Deep Cuts. The course is the sum of every tool, case study, best practice and quick tip she has learned and implemented throughout her career in helping to break artists. Amber has worked in NYC, LA, Seoul & Melbourne. “I think releases are your gateway into the music industry, it’s what you build your brand off of. If you don’t have the music, nothing else can happen. We’re in a very singles focused market, and I always encourage artists to treat each of those singles as a mini-campaign and come up with a blueprint for every release, that’s repeatable. In doing so, every time you launch and relaunch you learn so much more that will make your promotion more effective.” #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 1:42 - Amber’s #HWL interview 8:30 - SFX, EDM festival, OneLove 11:17 - School of Deep Cuts 17:58 - Byta.com 32:00 - Gatekeepers, brand building 36:47 - Huw Stephens 38:30 - Jenny Kaufman 42:25 - Triple R Radio 46:00 - Release timeline, Toolbox 53:45 - North Star 1:02:00 - Marketing 1:04:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 19 Sep 2022 | Music Publishing & Sync: Where to Start w/ Miller Williams, Senior VP Creative, Kobalt Music Publishing | 01:07:21 | |
"The better the song, the more likely it is to get synced and the more people will listen to it." This episode’s guest is Miller Williams, Senior VP Creative at Kobalt Music Publishing. Miller’s role at Kobalt covers A&R, songwriter services, and catalogue acquisitions. He also works with their international agents and sub-publishers to exploit their songs and help their writers with co-write opportunities. Signings include Becky Hill, Milow, Jef Martens, Houston Comma publishing, Carla Monroe, AJ Tracy, Martin Sjolie, and Alex Clare. Williams has also held similar A&R and/or creative positions at Sony ATV UK, BMG Records UK, PWL Records UK, and Terrace Music (Nashville). In this episode, Miller talks about going from zero to hero, getting synchs and how things work when you are writing and pitching songs to K-Pop and J-Pop artists. They also get into how things are working in Africa these days and of course how Miller made it into the music ecosystem to start with. Kobalt is one of the most successful independent companies for music publishing, label services and rights management. In his role as Senior Vice President of Creative there, Miller works across A&R, collaborations and music marketing.
"Yeah! Usually what I find is that if you scratch beneath the surface, the artists who have become successful have done a ton of work behind the scenes that no one has known about. I don’t think there’s any shortcut to success. Lil Nas X did become famous quite quickly through TikTok, but he’s proven that he can write hit after hit which is another important thing - longevity. That’s a real skill to be able to keep going and reinvent yourself." #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 02:06 - Kobalt 6:15 - Belmont College 6:20 - PWL 6:22 - Global Talent Publishing 10:18 - Berklee Music 12:12 - Orbital 16:55 - MP3s and downloads 23:00 - NTFs 27:35 - Japan 30:27 - Katie Gregson 36:13 - Vaccines 38:40 - Justin Bieber finds Omah Lay 41:44 - Ultra Records 44:10 - Adapter 45:42 - Ive released “Love Dive” 48:34 - emPawa Africa 49:09 - Chioma Onuchukwu. 51:24 - WizKiz, BurnaBoy, Mr Eazi, Tems 52:37 - SAMRO 53:00 - Sheer Music 53:42 - SOCAN 54:33 - Sentric Music 55:48 - Artist Journey 58:24 - PRS (Performing Right Society), MCPS (collects and distributes mechanical royalties to songwriters, composers and publishers) 1:01:43 - Corinne Bailey Rae, Like a Star, “Put Your Records On” 1:05:57 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 29 May 2024 | Cultivating Mental Wellness While Building a Sustainable Music Career‘ | 00:59:08 | |
"When you create the conditions to be able to cultivate the work that you want, then that's what's going to allow you to thrive." Today’s guest on #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation, in Emily White. Host Marc Brown sits down with Emily White to discuss her inspiring journey from Wisconsin to New York, and how her educational and professional experiences have shaped her successful career in the music industry. Originally from Wisconsin, Emily recounts her time at Northeastern University in Boston, where she balanced her studies in the Music Industry program with being a Division I scholarship athlete. She shares how her internships at Powderfinger Promotions, Live Nation, and ones in New York, provided her with practical, hands-on experience and helped her build a strong network within the industry. Emily highlights the importance of real-world experience, encouraging aspiring music professionals to immerse themselves in the field, make connections, and learn from their experiences. She also delves into her transition from internships to a full-time role as a tour manager for The Dresden Dolls, which ultimately led to her founding a successful music management company. Throughout the conversation, Emily emphasizes the significance of continuous learning and adaptation in the ever-evolving music industry. She discusses her work as an author, where she distilled her extensive knowledge into the Amazon bestseller "How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams," and her podcast, which is a top music business podcast globally. Emily also touches on her advocacy work, particularly her efforts to increase voter turnout through the #IVoted initiative, showcasing her commitment to using her platform for social good. This episode is packed with valuable insights and practical advice for anyone looking to navigate and succeed in the music industry. Collective Entertainment is a 100% women-run & owned company based in New York, Miami, & North Carolina. Their clients & projects span the entertainment industries specializing in music, sports, content creation, activism, & production. Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams 00:10 - Byta.com 02:51 - Wisconsin to New York 06:00 - Internships / Amanda Palmer / Dresden Dolls 14:02 - The 2nd Book How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams 16:35 - Get your art together & other tips to get started 21:00 - Understand what music publishing is & Performing Rights Organizations 23:17 - Publishing administrator 30:30 - my next series of books…. 31:50 - Byta.com 33:25 - Full night's sleep, daily movement, and then a short meditation 36:23 - #IVoted 38:28 - Taylor Vs Drake 40:00 - Elections are often decided by the size of a concert venue 46:31 - Voting, it's been a real problem in the USA 49:10 - Michelle Cable 52:48 - Things don’t always go the way you expect it to, that can be good too 56:25 - What is your WHY 58:00 - Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 17 Jun 2022 | From Discovery To Stage: Programming Tomorrow’s Artists with Adam Ryan | 00:47:39 | |
Our next guest is Head of Music for The Great Escape Festival, Adam Ryan. What goes into curating, booking and presenting Europe’s largest festival and conference dedicated to the discovery of new music? Marc’s guest, Adam Ryan, has spent the better part of his adult life tirelessly discovering, promoting and presenting new music locally, nationally and internationally. He is now the Head of Music at The Great Escape Festival, taking place annually in Brighton, UK. How different is it curating a renowned three-day festival versus booking a venue? What can today’s artists learn about building strong live promoter relationships? Can artists book themselves onto festivals before having a team? How important is it to “be nice” to your promoter and your sound person? COVID decimated the live music community around the globe. Has any good come from an entire industry needing to pivot and re-evaluate what it means to present live music? What does the future hold for the industry? Marc asks all of these questions, whilst finding out how we all bounce back (if we have not already). "I always say, to be export ready, you need to have the start of a team, it could be a manager, it could be your mum! It could be anybody, just somebody who comes with you, so when you’re performing, you only have to focus on that, and somebody else is doing your networking." #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 1:00 - The Great Escape 1:49 - Farringdon 4:19 - Radio One 4:29 - The Great Escape Conference 5:34 - Towcester (pronounced toaster) 5:40 - Fred Perry 5:45 - Barfly 9:03 - Creation 9:34 - KOKO 10:47 - Mama and Comp., Jon Mack, Reading & Leeds, Martin Elbourne, Glastonbury, 13:21 - Independent Promoters 14:55 - Partners, Showcases 16:49 - The First Fifty 23:55 - French export office, Sounds Australia, CIMA(Canada), Estonia, 24:30 - Mac Demarco 27:13 - Korea 29:03 - Canadian Music Associations 30:05 - USA 30:37 - Holland Music Festival 32:44 - Export ready 34:56 - The Great Escape online events 36:00 - Cancelled events 40:44 - Huw Stephens 41:37 - #HowWeListen, music discovery 42:04 - Coldplay 46:16 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 16 Feb 2023 | Connecting Artists, Creators, Curators & Influencers | 01:13:12 | |
“I didn't know anything about the music industry. I didn't know that there were publicists trying to push stuff. I was clueless. So getting emails at the start was really cool, especially when it was from artists that I recognized.” Our guest on today’s episode is Jason Grishkoff the founder of SubmitHub. With just a hop, skip and a jump, Jason moved from the world of high finance to working at tech giant Google. Then a side hustle and hobby – the Indie Shuffle Blog (it’s music discovery powered by real people.), led to founding SubmitHub. The goal was to efficiently and transparently connect artists with curators, the “right” people, in order to get music heard more efficiently. One of the key stages of getting your music heard and promoted outside of your own network is accessing the world’s music curators, but who are they? How can artists and creators access these curators and influencers themselves? This is what SubmitHub is an expert in. The platform was built with musicians and curators in mind. You upload your music, then use pay-for credits to submit it to trusted and user-scored curators (there is a free song-submission feature as well). They listen and then respond directly from within the SubmitHub platform. Byta’s Marc Brown has always tried to impart as much wisdom as possible to anyone wanting to operate within the music ecosystem. DIY is your best first step, finding out how everything works, by trying and often failing for the first time. There are no shortcuts. This was a great conversation between two people trying to do similar things in different ways. Jason spoke to us from Cape Town, South Africa Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 03:15 - NAPSTER 03:57 - 2007 music 07:54 - Indie Shuffle 09:00 - MP3 Blogs 09:40 - Web Sheriff 13:18 - The advantage of a publicist 17:36 - SubmitHub explained 21:23 - Solving the problem of email inconsistency 25:33 - Hype Machine 27:38 - Knowing who you are and what you want as an artist 33:30 - How to approach advertising your music 39:00 - Who should I send my music to? 43:03 - How to take advantage of playlists 48:32 - The difference between followers and listeners 55:46 - Playlist pitfalls 58:35 - Pay for playlisting/fake playlists 1:01:00 - What else is an artist to do? 1:03:00 - TikTok 1:06:00 - Take Spotify out for drinks, if you can find them 1:08:00 - Get as much traction in your first 28 days as possible 1:12:00 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||
| 17 Aug 2023 | Arts Curation: Championing Independent Music | 00:55:30 | |
" If you’re passionate you should be able to find the hustle because it’s what you love to do. Most people in the music industry are passionate, so if you’re not then it’ll be hard to get to the hustle. My main piece of advice: Find what you’re passionate about and the hustle will follow." Today's guest is Daniel Seligman who has been active in the Montreal and international music scene since 2000. He has managed Stars, The Unicorns, Socalled and Yves Jarvis through the company he co-owns called Danagement. In 2002 Seligman co-founded the multidisciplinary festival POP Montreal and remains the festival's creative director. An annual not-for-profit cultural event, POP Montreal champions independence in the arts by presenting emerging and celebrated talents. The 5-day festival showcases more than 400 performances to audiences of over 60,000. Founded in 2002, POP Montreal helped break countless emerging artists to the world while providing a dizzying and diverse array of headliners like RZA, Fever Ray, Bonobo, The Orb, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, Godflesh, David Byrne, St Vincent, Butthole Surfers, John Cale, Beck, Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Queens of the Stone Age etc. Danagement Artist Management oversees music management, business management, tour production and grant writing for a wide variety of artists including; Basia Bulat, Braids, Jean-Michel Blais, Le Ren, Owen Pallett, Sarah Neufeld, Socalled, God Speed You Black Emperor, Wolf Parade, The Besnard Lakes and more. In 20 years POP Montreal has produced thousands of shows and events throughout Montreal and around the world. On a festival landscape that’s persistently male and Euro-centric, POP succeeds in offering attendees respite. This year the festival takes place in Montreal, from September 27th to October 1st, 2023. The 5-day festival showcases more than 400 performances to audiences of over 60,000. Show Notes: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation 00:10 - Byta.com 02:26 - Ursa Pop Montreal HQ & Great venue 05:00 - Montreal is unique, Montreal was super cheap 07:08 - I started off managing Stars 08:51 - Music Management is not rocket science, if you have a driver’s license, you have a usable skill 10:15 - The basics skills required to manage a band 11:00 - How did Pop Montreal get started/Peter Rowan 13:20 - The importance of alternative weeklies 14:37 - Posters were cool 16:20 - Montreal’s moment in the sun (when it comes to indie rock) 20:15 - Why did you start Pop Montreal? 25:30 - Pop Montreal was for the artists 28:20 - Byta.com 29:35 - You can not just go and play at a festival, you need to do more 32:10 - Booking agents are now key 36:00 - Opinions on Social media 38:20 - there are more gatekeepers 41:20 - Michelle Cable artist manager 43:10 - Daniel’s work as an artist manager 45:42 - Have to have the passion, and do your homework 50:56 - You have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty - Chris Blackwell 52:44 - Find the passion & the hustle will follow. 54:25 - Byta.com Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
Episode Credits:Artwork by Jen Pmphrey Hosted by Marc Brown Series coordinated by Jamie Ford Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu | |||