Streaming: Tools for Musicians to Succeed
Episode Notes
“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:
- Don’t give up and don’t ignore any of the streaming services.
- Artists should always be talking about their work no matter when the music was released.
- A song is “new” the moment people hear it, even if it is 1 or 10 years old.
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
Show Contributors
Marc Brown
Jamie Ford
Mike Warner
Jen Pomphrey
Colin MacKenzie
Fin Productions
Oliver Lyu