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What Is Recommendation Media, And Why Does It Matter?

Believe it or not, social media is dying.

Social media was flawed from the start. At the dawn of digital connections, nobody anticipated how our real-world relationships and mutual interests would be weaponized for advertising campaigns. We probably should have considered it—maybe some even thought about it—but this was when smartphones were still a new idea.

After nearly two decades of making connections across various platforms, social media users often complain their most important relationships are nowhere to be found. “I never see ____ anymore,” people will tell you, often as a justification for missing an important event or detail. “The algorithm must not like them.”

But the problem with social media is far more complicated than simply showing you different posts. Algorithms learn from behaviors, and our behaviors have told algorithms that we don’t want to see our friends or parents in our timeline. We may like their posts from time to time, but we like memes, news, and viral content far more often. Those actions make it clear that the best way to keep you engaged is to give you more of what you already like, which creates a loop of relevant content.

Breaking these loops can be difficult, even when you no longer care about the content. In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell explains how the infrastructure behind an entire generation of social media apps was not built to adapt to modern times and which leading service is closest to getting it right. He also explains the rise of so-called “recommendation media” and how its popularity speaks to a positive future for creators everywhere.

Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.

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The World’s Simplest Social Media Marketing Strategy For Musicians

After many have promoted the idea of constant posting across multiple platforms, Haulix recommends taking a step back and starting over with a fresh perspective on all things social.

We messed up! Shortly after launching our month-long challenge to post daily TikTok updates, the video-sharing platform released new guidance for creators. After years of so-called gurus promoting the idea of publishing multiple videos every day—an idea that has led many creators to resent the platform—TikTok now claims daily content is not required for meaningful growth.

We, like you, were already weeks into our challenge when this news reached us. We thought about continuing ahead as planned, but then we stopped and gave TikTok’s advice some serious consideration. The more we thought about it, the more we realized our mistakes. Like many social media teachers, we’ve often cited the need to be persistent in publishing content to appease the algorithm. We put quantity over quality, and—more importantly—we put it over our sanity.

Nobody can post quality content every day. That is doubly true when discussing creators only on social media to promote their passion. Musicians who aspire to write life-changing songs can only afford so much creative space and time for marketing. The idea that the only way to get ahead is to produce thousands of pieces of social content for every song they write is unsustainable.

In his latest Music Biz update, host James Shotwell guides artists trying to make their mark on social media while grinding it out in the underground music scene. He also offers an apology, along with a new plan for social media success that should make your mind—and wallet—happy.

Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.

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What Is An Impact Date, And Why Do They Matter?

Impact dates make the radio world go round. Here’s everything you need to know before promoting your next single.

Have you ever wondered how songs reach radio stations? In certain circumstances, radio is the first place on Earth to hear new music, such as with the recent return of pop sensation Adele. Other times, the radio doesn’t play a popular song until months after it has trended online. Why? It all comes down to impact dates.

In the simplest terms, an impact date (also known as the “add date”) tells radio programmers when they can add a song into rotation at their station. The date has no connection to public release dates and may take place months before—or after—a song is available for sale to the general public.

Does every song/single have an impact date?

No, only songs actively promoted to radio have impact dates.

What should an artist consider when choosing an impact date?

A few things:

  1. Which songs are you choosing, and why? Is it your best song or the one most likely to find commercial success?
  2. What is the competition like? There tend to be more singles promoted to radio in the spring and fall than during the summer or winter.
  3. When will I be ready to promote the song? You shouldn’t set a date before you have your material in place.
  4. How will you promote the song and your career in parallel with your radio promotion? For example, are you also on tour? Do you have a new album that the song appears on? What is the urgency behind the song?

How do I reach radio programmers?

Haulix is the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Record labels, publicists, independent artists, and more use Haulix to share new and unreleased audio with members of the media and other music professionals. They also offer free, 30-day trials for all new accounts.

Haulix promos make it easy to share important release information with others, including release and impact dates, album descriptions, artist photos, photographer credits, music videos, and more.

Discover the difference for yourself and promote alongside the biggest name in music by starting a free trial today! Click here for more information.

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Unbelievable Marketing Mistakes Musicians Still Make

From too much social media to a total lack of payment options, we’re highlighting the worst mistakes musicians continue to make while promoting themselves in 2022.

Every music career is different. You can choose to write original songs on ukelele or write complicated harmonies that only the world’s best clarinet players can perform, and any one of a billion things in between. The beauty of music is that it can become whatever you make, but no matter your creation, you still need promotion.

We can talk all day about TikTok idea generation and the best ways to negotiate a sync deal, but none of that matters if you’re not prepared for success. That means being positioned for discovery, which requires being easily found online. That may seem easy enough, but it’s surprisingly simple for musicians to stretch themselves thin on social media, leaving them stressed over things that should be fun (engaging with fans).

Beyond those mistakes, we still encounter artists who shy away from asking for support. Follows and likes may give you a momentary serotonin boost, but neither pay your bills. Today’s musicians cannot afford to be coy. If you want people to give you money, you need to provide a means of receiving cash. That should be obvious, but experience tells us it is not.

In his latest Music Biz update, host James Shotwell breaks down three unbelievably common mistakes musicians continue to make in 2022. These problems often stem from fear, and James provides guidance to help artists overcome any obstacles that may stand between them and grow the community of fans who support their music.

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This Week In Music (September 2, 2022)

From Blackpink’s eye-popping PUBG event to the ‘Car Thing’ fire sale, we’ve gathered the biggest music news of the week.

September is here. Before you go making Billie Joe Armstrong jokes, please know we have no patience for it. Green Day wrote a hit song about grieving a dead parent, so now they become a punchline for one month each year? Nope. We have no interest in that.

It’s weird how moving from August to September feels like an event where the transition between others months does not. Almost overnight, our culture shifts from summer to fall, and it’s suddenly cool to wear hoodies again. We aren’t complaining.

We are in the final phase of multiple developments months in the making. Before the next edition of this post is live, our team will have deployed said update and made it available to our global client base.

We cannot ease your workload or give you more hours in the day, but we can help you stay informed. Below you’ll find the biggest stories of the week, all covered by the best outlets in tech and entertainment. Click around, learn what’s happening, and use the weekend to prepare for the end of the month.

But let’s be honest. There is no way we can hope to cover everything that happens. If you see a headline we missed that people need to know, please do not hesitate to send james@haulix.com an email. We’ll include your links in the next update.

The Biggest Music News Of The Week

Millions watch Blackbpink perform in PUBG Mobile

The in-game concert was promoted globally in physical locations including Times Square in New York, with Vincent Wang, Head of PUBG MOBILE Publishing at Tencent Games, calling the tie-up with the K-pop group, “PUBG MOBILE’s biggest partnership yet.”

Running over two weekends in July, the “immersive audio-visual experience” was watched by 15.7 million viewers globally across the concert series.

Additionally, the music video for the track Ready For Love, which was released as part of the partnership, has now been watched over 146 million times since its launch.

The concert won the ‘Best Metaverse Performance’ at the MTV Video Music Awards over the weekend, from a shortlist that included Ariana Grande in Fortnite, Charli XCX in Roblox, and Justin Bieber in Wave.


TikTok Propels a Ghost Song From 2019 To The Top Of The Charts

Swedish rockers Ghost earn their first No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hard Rock Streaming Songs chart, as “Mary on a Cross” crowns the list dated Sept. 3.

In the Aug. 19-25 tracking period, the song vaulted by 48% to 4.9 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.

Originally released as part of a two-song single in 2019 (longside “Kiss the Go-Goat”, “Cross” has been revitalized in recent weeks due to a trend using both the original and an altered version of the song on TikTok.

“Cross” also debuts at No. 11 on Rock Streaming Songs.


Accessible Festivals Announces New Grant Program Giving Concert Tickets to Disabled Music Fans

Accessible Festivals has announced a new program to give free concert tickets to fans with disabilities. The Dan Grover Memorial Ticket Grant Program will provide tickets to major music festivals including Austin City Limits, Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, BottleRock Napa Valley, Rolling Loud New York, Stagecoach, and more.

The program is spearheaded by Austin Whitney, founder of Accessible Festivals, and was inspired by his own experience attending concerts as a disabled person. A 2007 car accident left Whitney paralyzed from the waist down, causing him depression and anxiety. That year, he was able to attend the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, which helped him get through the difficulties of adjusting to life with disabilities.

“Ultimately my business life is all about working to improve festivals for people with disabilities and working promoters to reduce their liabilities and improve their businesses for all things ADA [Americans With Disabilities Act],” Whitney shared with Billboard. “At the end of the day, the mission of the company is very tied to a social purpose which is making helping people with disabilities find and attend music festivals which can be transformative events.”


Spotify Selling Remaining ‘Car Thing’ Inventory for $30

Spotify’s Car Thing had a short-lived life. Announced in spring 2021, the car accessory made it easier to interface with the Spotify app on your phone. It was of limited use, and as we noted in our review, it just made more sense to use your phone that you needed to have access to anyway. In late July this year, the music streaming giant announced that Car Thing would not be a thing anymore. Soon after the news, Spotify had a fire sale on the accessory, dropping it to $45—a 50% discount from its retail price. If you were patient and did not pull the trigger on the accessory, you can now get it for an even lower price.

Spotify is running a Back to School sale on the Car Thing, offering it for just $30. That’s a massive $60 discount off its $90 MSRP. If you are somehow still interested in the accessory, this is perhaps the deal you should not miss. With Car Thing no longer in production, the deal is unlikely to come back once Spotify exhausts its stock. Unlike the last deal, there’s no coupon code you need to use here. Just head over to Spotify’s store and buy the accessory.


SONG OF THE WEEK: Pierce The Veil – “Pass The Nirvana”

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The Six WORST Marketing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

With a busy fall tour and release season ahead, it’s time to ensure you’re not falling into bad behaviors that could spoil your marketing efforts.

Fall is the best time to be a part of the music community. It’s the busiest time of year but also the best. Between the avalanche of releases and the constant touring, there is always something to do and a hundred more tasks waiting for you tomorrow.

Every year, we encounter musicians and teams who are so excited by the season that they let simple mistakes slip by amid the rush to get everything done. These accidents may seem easy to overlook as isolated incidents, but combined, they can create slow-rising chaos that spoils any promotional efforts your team has planned.

Mistakes happen. Nobody that successfully does anything with their life reaches their goals without a few setbacks. But there are several common mistakes that industry experts and working professionals alike have been shouting about for four decades that still get made every day. Something as simple as knowing who you’re talking to and what it is they do seems never to cross the mind of certain artists. That oversight ultimately results in the artist not receiving the exposure or opportunities they seek.

In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell explores half a dozen common mistakes artists make when marketing their music. These are some of the worst and most abhorrent mistakes, all of which are covered again and again by industry experts of all sizes. Suppose artists can slow down and review their efforts before reaching out to professionals and fans alike. In that case, Shotwell explains, they will likely discover easy fixes that will lead to a bigger, more meaningful impact with their outreach. 

Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.

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