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Gifts Artists Should Give Their Fans This Holiday Season

Gifts for Fans

You don’t need to believe in Santa to shower the people who support you with love and music this holiday season. The latest Music Biz can help.

The holiday season is upon us. Even if the snow has yet to fall in your area, there are signs of Christmas and Thanksgiving in every department store in North America. Other holidays are present as well, of course, and the marketing machine promoting the impending arrival of those special days is already in full effect. There may be two months left in 2019 as we post this, but we might as well be preparing for the start of 2020.

You may not believe in Santa Claus. You may not celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving at all, but we can all agree the reason for the holiday season is good. Holidays exist to remind us what matters most in life. They are special days where we set aside the grind of work to focus on the people who love and support us, as well as those we love and support.

Fans love and support you, so why wouldn’t you include them in your holiday plans? You don’t have to spend a bunch of money remind your audience that you appreciate their work, but you do need to lift them up. Here are some ideas:

1. Free Music

There is an old adage about the best course in life often being the most obvious one, and that is very much the case with this suggestion. Your fans support you all year long in hopes that you will both come to their town and continue to release music that touches their lives. Though you are unable to be everywhere at once on Christmas, you can make your music available for anyone who has yet to add it to their personal collection. Whether you choose to make a song, album, or even your entire catalog available as a free download, you should see a rise in engagement as a result. People who have been waiting to buy your album when they see you live won’t be able to resist the free download, and there is a high likelihood they will recommend your friends take advantage of the offer as well.

2. Record and release a holiday cover (maybe give it away as well)

The world has heard countless covers of holiday classics, but the world has yet to listen to your take on great seasonal staples, and that is why you can still use them to give back to fans this Christmas. I know my favorite Christmas covers are those performed by my favorite bands, and I’m willing to bet the same can be said for most music fans. Record a holiday cover, be it in a studio or in your own home, and share it with fans in the days leading up to December 25. You can even take things one step further and ask fans about their favorite holiday songs in advance, that way your cover will have an even higher likelihood of being shared by your followers.

3. Surprise your fans with free stuff (no contest necessary)

Everyone is thinking of others during the holiday season, or at least they should be, so many fans may not have money to buy the limited edition winter merch items you have available in your online store. To show fans you understand their dilemma, consider offering a give away where you send a prize pack including numerous merch items, as well as items not available in your store (handwritten lyrics, drum head, etc.) to one lucky fan. Don’t make it a contest and don’t ask for contact information in exchange for consideration. Simply pick a fan, or four, and send them a present. With any luck, the fan(s) will share their surprise with the world, and you will earn brownie points for being one of the more thoughtful artists in music today.

4. Stream an acoustic performance from your home/studio/van/bus/basement

There are few things music fans love more than seeing their favorite artists playing bare-boned versions of their favorite songs. Since there is no way everyone who follows you could attend a single performance, especially one planned close to Christmas, make the event special by broadcasting your set on one or more of the popular live streaming services that have risen to prominence over the last year. If those services require you to charge consumers, like with StageIt, then you should also consider giving all the money earned to charity. This way, fans feel like they are giving back by tuning in, and you walk away having established yourself as an artist who hasn’t lost sight of the problems that exist outside your immediate surroundings. Win-Win.

5. Holiday scavenger hunt

This idea has become increasingly popular in the age of IG and Snapchat stories. The setup is relatively straightforward: In the hours before an event or while traveling to a new city, musicians leave merchandise/gifts for fans in public spaces. Clues on where the items can be found are then posted to feeds, which fans can then respond to as they begin their hunt. These activities encourage engagement and help bring fans together in the real world. As people converge on the location of whatever you’ve hidden they encounter others who follow your music. This can lead to community building, which in turn helps you.

6. Give the gift of other artists’ music via playlists

Mixtapes are dead. The once popular way to share your favorite music with others has gone the way of the dinosaurs, and in its play we have playlists. Many artists already maintain playlists on services such as Spotify and Apple Music, but the holiday season presents a unique opportunity to further connect with your audience through a well-curated playlist that takes the holidays or end of the year roundups. Select one song from all your favorite albums from the last 12 months. Gather your holiday favorites. Heck, put together a compilation of songs from artists who you wish to tour with after the new year. Create something that is personal to you and fans will feel more connected to your efforts as a result.

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News

Happy Holidays from Haulix!

It’s that time of year again. Regardless of your beliefs or chosen celebrations, December has a way of bringing people together. It is when we reconnect with the most essential thing in life, those we love and the people who love us, all while (hopefully) shutting out the chaotic world around us. It is when we catch our breath, rest, and prepare for the next twelve months ahead.

We wanted to take a moment before heading out to thank each and every one of you for continuing to support our company. Haulix was launched with the goal of creating a secure, cost-effective way for artists and their representatives to discreetly share music. We take pride in achieving that goal, but we celebrate the fact we’ve become something much more over time. We’ve helped artists find management, get record deals, and create albums that changed the way people think. We’ve also engaged with several generations of music professionals and aspiring minds alike, all of whom have helped us better understand this ever-changing business.

Moving forward, our goals remain the same. We want to create the best software possible. We also want to help educate and develop the next wave of music professionals so that they might make this business their own.

None of this is possible without your support and friendship. So again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. We cannot wait to continue working together in the new year.

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News

Maintaining Your Sanity While The Industry Is On Holiday Break

If you are reading this post, then there is a reasonably good chance you are feeling more than a little bored. Maybe you’re a blogger with no new stories to publish, or perhaps you run an indie label where business has slowed in the days since Christmas. Whatever the case, you still have several days until the industry is back in full swing, if not longer. Some industry businesses do not return to a regular work schedule until the week after New Year’s Day, which for 2019 means January 7.

While we admire and applaud your dedication to the craft, we also feel we must tell you that no one person has to be on top of everything all the time. Sometimes it makes no sense to try and do so. The music business is a difficult place where most professionals, meaning those paid and those working for free alike, put in long hours to help those they believe in getting ahead. The daily grind can be killer on even the most dedicated souls, but for two to three weeks every year, there is a lull that almost everyone has agreed to maintain. It is a safe place where people can exhale and stretch and return calls to the family that they have been putting off since before the leaves began to change. That period is the one we are in right now, and it stretches from the days before Christmas until after the start of the new year.

You can work as much as you want during this time, but unless someone is telling you to complete a specific task (or tasks), we encourage you to disconnect. Yes, the company that exists entirely online and relies on clicks to keep the doors open is inviting you to detach from the very thing that keeps its lights on. Some may say such comments are an exercise in self-destruction, but we tend to disagree. We see how much time people put into their work, both on the label side and on that odd the media, which means we also appreciate how much (most) people need a break. They deserve one.

Those who find the most success in life often cite their breaks or vacations as one of the reasons they perform so well. These people subscribe to the law of diminishing returns, which states that there is a point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested. In simpler terms, just because you work nonstop does not mean your success is also everlasting. You may succeed for a while, but at some point, you will no longer be able to do whatever it is you do as well as you did when you first started. The reason for this is relatively simple: You are a not a machine. You are not programmed to do one task over and over until you break down and/or are replaced by a superior device. You are a human in need of food, exercise, and – above all else – rest.

So as you stare at this post and continue clicking over to the tabs containing your various social media feeds we encourage you to consider taking a step back, even if just for one day. Turn off your notifications, leave your inbox unread, and instead spend time doing something solely because it sounds good to you. It can be anything, from time with family and friends, to reading a book, binging a new series on Netflix, or finally learning how to make that upside-down pineapple cake you’ve been talking about for months. Choose anything that interests you, just as long as you cannot turn it into work. You want to get the music business as far from your mind as possible. Not music, mind you, but the music business. Don’t write content. Don’t draft content. Don’t even think of things as potentially becoming content. Just focus on being present in your individual life and reconnect with the person you are away from the internet. After all, that person – the one you are when existing outside the grind of the industry – is the one who started you on this journey in this business. If you lose that part of you, there is no getting it back. As Against Me once sang, “Don’t lose touch.”

Categories
News

How To Survive the Holiday Slowdown

The holiday season is upon us, and in no time at all businesses across the industry will go dark so employees can celebrate this time of year with their loved ones. It’s a beautiful thing, especially in an industry notorious for long hours, but for a few professionals, it’s also maddening. Allow me to explain…

While many music professionals are able to set up out of office replies for the holidays, there are still bloggers, podcasters, and a wide variety of media people in between with audiences who demand a constant feed of fresh content. When the industry goes dark for a holiday, these poor souls (including yours truly) find themselves clicking through every pitch they receive in hopes of discovering something worth writing about. More often than not they settle on additional editorial content, generally in the form of telling you the best stuff you might have missed, and they pray it’s enough to keep clicks rolling in while the snow falls.

There is a saying in journalism that you should seek to tell stories you would want to read. If you should find yourself writing something you have no interest in reading it is highly likely those who see that article will feel the same. As much as fresh stories in a feed can be useful for business is it really worth whatever investment of time they require if next to no one cares to read them?

People care less about entertainment news around the holidays than they do practically any other time of year. Don’t take this personally though, as it is true for virtually every publication. Entertainment and entertainment news is the distraction we fill our days with when doing things we would otherwise avoid if we could, like work. Holidays are communal escapes, offerings friends and family the chance to do things they want to do, therefore lowering the need for distractions.

To put it another way, the demand does not exist because the need for something that brings joy is met through other (arguably far more important) means.

This year, I want to challenge all music writers out there to try something different. Rather than beat your head against your keyboard in between clicking refresh on your RSS feeds, take a little time to experience what the rest of the world does this time of year. Schedule tweets and make whatever necessary posts you feel you must make to maintain appearances, but as soon as that is done shut down your computer and experience this thing call life. Talk to the people who support you and tell them of your vision for the new year. Ask people what they have been up to with their time, and make it a point to really listen to their words. Be present, and remember you will never have two holiday seasons that work the same way. The people around you now may not be there next year, so don’t take a minute for granted.

This won’t be easy, but I have good news: The music industry will still be here when you get back. I know you will feel like you are slipping behind, but there is rarely a single headline in the last ten to fourteen days of the new year that drastically impacts the music landscape. You know this as well as I do, so quit lying to yourself and accept that it is okay to spend a little time offline. Who knows? It might even do you good to unplug.

Categories
News

Six Ways Artists Can Give Back to Fans During the Holiday Season

Everyone deserves a gift around the holidays, including your fan base.

Thanksgiving is basically here, and before long you will see images of Santa Claus everywhere (if you haven’t already). With Halloween behind us, retailers and marketers have wasted no time making it clear that the gift-giving season is upon us.

You don’t have to enjoy or even celebrate Christmas or Chanukah to appreciate their importance in culture. As much as we have become a global community connected through devices these holidays are still viewed as a time for people to come together in a shared physical space. They create opportunities to not only catch up with those we love but also to express that love through the exchanging of gifts and warm sentiments.

Musicians find themselves in a unique position during the holiday season. There are many opportunities to profit from this time of year, be it at holiday shows or through gift-related merchandise sales, but those who focus solely on how they can get ahead during this time of year are missing the reason for the season (which fans notice). Those who stand to benefit the most during the holidays are those who give as much, if not more than they get. Here are 5 ways to show your fans how much you appreciate their support in the coming weeks:

1. Free Music

There is an old adage about the best course in life often being the most obvious one, and that is very much the case with this suggestion. Your fans support you all year long in hopes that you will both come to their town and continue to release music that touches their lives. Though you are unable to be everywhere at once on Christmas, you can make your music available for anyone who has yet to add it to their personal collection. Whether you choose to make a song, album, or even your entire catalog available as a free download, you should see a rise in engagement as a result. People who have been waiting to buy your album when they see you live won’t be able to resist the free download, and there is a high likelihood they will recommend your friends take advantage of the offer as well.

2. Record and release a holiday cover (maybe give it away as well)

The world has heard countless covers of holiday classics, but the world has yet to listen to your take on great seasonal staples, and that is why you can still use them to give back to fans this Christmas. I know my favorite Christmas covers are those performed by my favorite bands, and I’m willing to bet the same can be said for most music fans. Record a holiday cover, be it in a studio or in your own home, and share it with fans in the days leading up to December 25. You can even take things one step further and ask fans about their favorite holiday songs in advance, that way your cover will have an even higher likelihood of being shared by your followers.

3. Surprise your fans with free stuff (no contest necessary)

Everyone is thinking of others during the holiday season, or at least they should be, so many fans may not have money to buy the limited edition winter merch items you have available in your online store. To show fans you understand their dilemma, consider offering a give away where you send a prize pack including numerous merch items, as well as items not available in your store (handwritten lyrics, drum head, etc.) to one lucky fan. Don’t make it a contest and don’t ask for contact information in exchange for consideration. Simply pick a fan, or four, and send them a present. With any luck, the fan(s) will share their surprise with the world, and you will earn brownie points for being one of the more thoughtful artists in music today.

4. Stream an acoustic performance from your home/studio/van/bus/basement

There are few things music fans love more than seeing their favorite artists playing bare-boned versions of their favorite songs. Since there is no way everyone who follows you could attend a single performance, especially one planned close to Christmas, make the event special by broadcasting your set on one or more of the popular live streaming services that have risen to prominence over the last year. If those services require you to charge consumers, like with StageIt, then you should also consider giving all the money earned to charity. This way, fans feel like they are giving back by tuning in, and you walk away having established yourself as an artist who hasn’t lost sight of the problems that exist outside your immediate surroundings. Win-Win.

5. Holiday scavenger hunt

This idea has become increasingly popular in the age of IG and Snapchat stories. The setup is relatively straightforward: In the hours before an event or while traveling to a new city, musicians leave merchandise/gifts for fans in public spaces. Clues on where the items can be found are then posted to feeds, which fans can then respond to as they begin their hunt. These activities encourage engagement and help bring fans together in the real world. As people converge on the location of whatever you’ve hidden they encounter others who follow your music. This can lead to community building, which in turn helps you.

6. Give the gift of other artists’ music via playlists

Mixtapes are dead. The once popular way to share your favorite music with others has gone the way of the dinosaurs, and in its play we have playlists. Many artists already maintain playlists on services such as Spotify and Apple Music, but the holiday season presents a unique opportunity to further connect with your audience through a well-curated playlist that takes the holidays or end of the year roundups. Select one song from all your favorite albums from the last 12 months. Gather your holiday favorites. Heck, put together a compilation of songs from artists who you wish to tour with after the new year. Create something that is personal to you and fans will feel more connected to your efforts as a result.

Categories
News

Maintaining your sanity during the holiday break

If you are reading this post then there is a fairly good chance you are feeling more than a little bored. Maybe you’re a blogger with no new stories to publish, or perhaps you run an indie label where business has slowed in the days since Christmas. Whatever the case, you still have several days until the industry is back in full swing, if not longer. Some industry businesses do not return to a regular work schedule until the week after New Year’s Day, which for 2018 means January 8.

While we admire and applaud your dedication to the craft we also feel it is our duty to tell you that no one person has to be on top of everything all the time. In fact, sometimes it makes no sense to try and do so. The music business is a demanding place where most professionals, meaning those paid and those working for free alike, put in long hours to help those they believe in getting ahead. The daily grind can be killer on even the most dedicated souls, but for two to three weeks every year, there is a lull that almost everyone has agreed to maintain. It is a safe place where people can exhale and stretch and return calls to the family that they have been putting off since before the leaves began to change. That period is the one we are in right now, and it stretches from the days before Christmas until after the start of the new year.

You can work as much as you want during this time, but unless someone is telling you to complete a certain task (or tasks) we encourage you to disconnect. Yes, the company that exists entirely online and relies on clicks to keep the doors open is encouraging you to disconnect from the very thing that keeps its lights on. Some may say such comments are an exercise in self-destruction, but we tend to disagree. We see how much time people put into their work, both on the label side and on that odd the media, which means we also appreciate how much (most) people need a break. They deserve one, in fact.

Those who find the most success in life often cite their breaks or vacations as one of the reasons they perform so well. These people subscribe to the law of diminishing returns, which states that there is a point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested. In simpler terms, just because you work nonstop does not mean your success is also unending. You may succeed for a while, but at some point, you will no longer be able to do whatever it is you do as well as you did when you first started. The reason for this is fairly simple: You are a not a machine. You are not programmed to do one task over and over until you break down and/or are replaced by a superior machine. You are a human in need of food, exercise, and – above all else – rest.

So as you stare at this post and continue clicking over to the tabs containing your various social media feeds we encourage you to consider taking a step back, even if just for one day. Turn off your notifications, leave your inbox unread, and instead spend time doing something solely because it sounds good to you. It can be anything, from time with family and friends, to reading a book, binging a new series on Netflix, or finally learning how to make that pineapple upside down cake you’ve been talking about for months. Choose anything that interests you, just as long as you cannot turn it into work. You want to get music business as far from your mind as possible. Not music, mind you, but the music business. Don’t write content. Don’t draft content. Don’t even think of things as potentially becoming content. Just focus on being present in your individual life and reconnect with the person you are away from the internet. After all, that person – the one you are when existing outside the grind of the industry – is the one who started you on this journey in this business. If you lose that part of you there is no getting it back. As Against Me once sang, “Don’t lose touch.”

Categories
News

A tip for surviving the industry holiday slowdown

The holiday season is upon us, and in no time at all businesses across the industry will go dark so employees can celebrate this time of year with their loved ones. It’s a beautiful thing, especially in an industry notorious for long hours, but for a few professionals it’s also maddening. Allow me to explain…

While many music professionals are able to setup out of office replies for the holidays there are still bloggers, podcasters, and a wide variety of media people in between with audiences who demand a constant feed of fresh content. When the industry goes dark for the holiday these poor souls (including yours truly) find themselves clicking through every pitch they receive in hopes of discovering something worth writing about. More often than not they settle on additional editorial content, generally in the form of telling you the best stuff you might have missed, and they pray it’s enough to keep clicks rolling in while the snow falls.

There is a saying in journalism that you should seek to tell stories you would want to read. If you should find yourself writing something you have no interest in reading it is highly likely those who find that article will feel the same. As much as fresh stories in a feed can be good for business is it really worth whatever investment of time they require if next to no one cares to read them?

People care less about entertainment news around the holidays than they do practically any other time of year. Don’t take this personally though, as it is true for virtually every publication. Entertainment and entertainment news is the distraction we fill our days with when doing things we would otherwise avoid if we could, like work. Holidays are communal escapes, offerings friends and family the chance to do things they want to do, therefore lowering the need for distractions.

To put it another way, the demand does not exist because the need for something that brings joy is met through other (arguably far more important) means.

This year, I want to challenge all music writers out there to try something different. Rather than beat your head against your keyboard in between clicking refresh on your RSS feeds just try and take a little time to experience what the rest of the world does this time of year. Schedule tweets and make whatever necessary posts you feel you must make to maintain appearances, but as soon as that is done shutdown your computer and experience this thing call life. Talk to the people who support you and tell them of your vision for the new year. Ask people what they have been up to with their time, and make it a point to really listen to their words. Be present, and remember you will never have two holiday seasons that work the same way. The people around you now may not be there next year, so don’t take a minute for granted.

This won’t be easy, but I have good news: The music industry will still be here when you get back. I know you will feel like you are slipping behind, but there is rarely a single headline in the last ten to fourteen days of the new year that drastically impacts the music landscape. You know this as well as I do, so quit lying to yourself and accept that it is okay to spend a little time offline. Who knows? It might even do you good to unplug.

Categories
News

The music industry may slow down, but it never stops

If you want to work in music then you need to think about it as a business, and this business is never closed.

Today is President’s Day in North America, which many of you already know on account of the fact you are not currently at work or in class. President’s Day is one of the strange holidays where many people are given a day of rest, but not everyone, and where you fall in that spectrum depends entirely on what it is you do.

For music professionals, today is just another Monday, one of fifty-two we will work in 2017. Aside from a few major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving), the vast majority of the music workforce wakes every weekday prepared to do business. Some even work on the weekend.

Many music professionals have no choice other than to work through holidays because that is a time when whatever it is they do is in high demand. a lot of musicians tour around the holidays because there is an increased demand for entertainment, which in turn means everyone who works for those musicians is in some small way working as well.

Every career demands certain sacrifices, and in the case of music almost every position you could dream of holding will demand your time and concentration far more than you may expect. This business never stops. The people who find the most success do so by working tirelessly, even when they should arguably be relaxing.

To be clear: You do not have to sacrifice your personal life to be a music professional. You can live a happy and successful career in music while also spending time with family and friends. Any career that demands otherwise is not a career you should aspire to call your own because everyone needs time for themselves. Even the people I mentioned above, who choose to work more than their peers because they feel it helps them get/stay ahead, need time to disengage from the business life. They might not know it now, and they might argue its necessity, but it’s nonetheless true and one day they too will agree.

All that said, you should be prepared to make sacrifices as needed to further your career. Especially for those just starting out, putting in extra time and effort can go a long way to establishing your reputation in this business. Once people see that you’re driven and hardworking they will want to align themselves with you. Jobs will come in time, and with the security of a paycheck comes the ability to exhale, step back, and relax. Not for too long, of course, but long enough to catch your breath.

This business never stops. If it one day should, we are all in deep trouble. Learn to ride the wave and take breaks when you need it. Learn to seek opportunities to showcase your skills and complete them. There is always something to be done.

Categories
News

Monday Motivation: Holiday Music

If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.

Anyone who reads this column on a semi-regular basis knows the title of each post typically highlights the artist or album I have chosen to write about, but this week is a little different. Christmas is coming in just four short days, and like many of you I have a longstanding belief that the vast majority of seasonal music is garbage. If not garbage, then at least far too middle of the road to elicit much, if any, emotional response from the listener. It’s as if all holiday songwriters knew their music would largely be background noise to other happenings, be it a dinner, holiday party, shopping, or something else altogether, so they spent very little time worrying about the feelings their words would evoke beyond the notion that, “Oh yea, it’s Christmas.”

That last paragraph may make me sound like a bit of a grinch, but having grown up in a house with two parents who adore classic holiday music I think have experienced enough to make these claims. I’m not saying all holiday music is bad, but I do think surface level holiday music is fairly forgettable. Songs like “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” will be sung and taught for hundreds of years to come most likely, but their prolonged presence in Christmas culture does not equate to musical greatness. If anything, the continued interest in these songs is proof they have become staples of this time of year, much like “Monster Mash” is a consider a staple of Halloween. 

As I continue to age, I have come to realize that you can complain all you want about the music that is played around the holidays, but unless you’re going to shut out the outside world completely there is very little you can do to avoid sleigh bells between the day after Thanksgiving and December 25. You can cry foul all you want, of course, but the only thing you are really going to accomplish is annoying the friends and family members who believe experiencing such music is key to having a fulfilling holiday season. You don’t want that, and I don’t want that for you, so I have written today to provide the only solution I have found.

The key to surviving Christmas as someone who dislikes Christmas music is to find holiday themed albums and songs you actually enjoy. That may seem simple, and if you’re lucky it will be, but for others such a task may be akin to climbing Everest. Not every genre has a wealth of great seasonal material, but many do, and if you are willing to put in the effort to search through the various holiday releases that exist in the genres prefer I can guarantee there will be something you can stand to hear while preparing for Santa’s arrival. I cannot promise that your family will understand your selection, especially if the lyrics are depressing or overly explicit, but if they see you making an effort to get into the quote/unquote ‘Christmas spirit’ they will be pleased. 

James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.

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Job Board News

Haulix Weekly Update #69: “Television! Teacher! Mother! Secret Lover.”

Good afternoon, everyone! We hope the holidays have treated you well so far, and that wherever you find yourself now is somewhere both fun and relaxing. The music business never stops, but this time of year it does tend to slow just long enough for everyone to catch their breath. We do not advise taking this time for granted, and have prepared the following soundtrack to help you enjoy your remaining free time:

Each and every Friday we like to take a brief break from our regularly scheduled programming to update and reflect on everything happening at Haulix HQ. We are far more than a music blog, as many of you already know, and posts like this give us an opportunity to share more our efforts with all of you.

This week has been a relatively quiet one as far as developments are concerned, but we did roll out the following updates at the tail end of last week:

Clients have always been able to send multiple promos in a single email. If it’s a one-promo email and the contact clicks the link, it goes directly to the promo screen — no passcode required. From there, if they click on Promos, it prompts for the passcode. If it’s a multi-promo email and they click the main link on the bottom of the email, it USED TO prompt for the passcode. We updated the system so that it passes them through — no passcode. They go to a screen that has all of the promos from the email. They can then click the one they are interested in, thus streamlining the process for everyone involved.

While our development side laid low this week, our blogging efforts continued as if it were any other work week. We released a new podcast, a great interview with one of our favorite clients, and an in-depth editorial on overcoming traffic slowdowns associated with the holidays that we take a lot of pride in. If you missed any of this, or the other content we recently ran, use this list of links below to catch up:

A Christmas Message from Haulix

Industry Spotlight: Curran Reynolds

Inside Music Podcast #13 – Thomas Nassiff (Bad Timing Records)

Journalism Tips: Overcoming The Holiday Slowdown Without Going Insane

Music Industry Job Board (12/21/14)

That’s all we have for this week. We have interviews with Tantric and The Banner going live early next week, as well as a great photo feature that will help us say farewell to 2014 in style. Have a safe and adventurous weekend.

Best,

Haulix

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