musician advice Archives

With a growing global audience and low startup costs, podcasts are the next step in digital marketing and fan engagement.

Did you know that 50% of all US homes are podcast fans? How about the fact that over 44% of the entire US population, or roughly 124 million people, listened to podcasts over the last twelve months?

On a global scale, more than one in four residents of Japan, France, Canada, Italy, the United States, Australia, Sweden, and Spain listen to podcasts monthly. In South Korea, more than half of the entire population (58%) listens to podcasts on a monthly is.

These figures and other available online are growing with each passing month. Podcasts were practically unknown a decade ago, but today there are more than 500,000 shows offering millions of hours of entertainment for listeners. Studies show the average podcast fan commits to six or seven shows each week, and most (80%) listen to each episode in full. Podcast listeners are, on average, smart and loyal listeners who actively support the shows they enjoy through either digital promotion, crowdfunding, or engagement with sponsors who make their favorite programs possible.

All this data is impressive, but what is even crazier is how few musicians have decided to engage their fans through podcasts.

A podcast can be anything you want. Some choose to interview people they find interesting, while others stick to a theme or subject. Pop-punk band Waterparks host a series where they read fan fiction about their group. The possibilities are endless!

The perks of having a podcast are numerous, including:

Direct engagement with fans
Ability to deliver new content to fans regularly
A promotional vehicle for tours, albums, and anything else
Creates future promotional material (you can share clips on your social media)
Allows fans to know you better (they don’t have to stalk you, they just have to listen)
Provides a platform to discuss and dissect your art
Potential to create new fans for your music through conversation
Fill time while at home or on the road that is otherwise spent scrolling social media or staring out the window
Potential for extra income, either through fans buying merchandise or sponsors getting behind the show

Podcasts are also incredibly cheap to create. Many shows are recorded using a smartphone voice memo app, but others use the same microphones artists use to create demos in their home studios. Hosting is available through a number of providers, including several that have offers for free hosting to first-time users, as well as free distribution to major platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.

Furthermore, with Spotify’s recent acquisition of Gimlet Media and Anchor the streaming giant — who already has a large stake in podcasting — is planning to promote podcasts heavily in the months and years to come. Artists with shows will not only be able to promote their music and vice versa through a single platform, but they will also be able to earn streaming royalties from their podcast. That’s money which, unless otherwise agreed to in a contract, goes directly to the artist behind the show. It’s a side hustle that helps the main focus of an artist’s career in many ways.

Competition is music is growing fiercer by the day, and most acts use the same tricks as every other artist or business or consumer to build their audience. But right now, for what will likely be a very short window of time, there is a market for musicians willing to open up in podcasting that is largely overlooked. Any artist would be foolish to not take advantage of this opportunity. Podcasting offers a chance to grow closer to fans, build an audience, and earn a few extra bucks. What more could you want?

Need more reasons to start a podcast? Watch this:

As much as you may like to believe your career in music is infallible, or that you have a gift for songwriting no one will be able to deny, I can guarantee you there will always be days when your best efforts come up short. Failure is an unavoidable byproduct of any creative endeavor, and regardless of what level of fame you reach in this business there will always bad days. The point of continuing to create is not to work towards perfection, but to take into consideration everything that has happened, both good and bad, and apply it to whatever comes next. Art, like life, is a constant progression, and the best you can do is learn how to frame each failure as something other that is ultimately beneficial to your career.

The number of ways you can screw up in music are numerous, and they range from writing a bad single, to performing in a such way that disappoints your fans. We cannot begin to breakdown every single instance of failure and how it can be viewed as a positive, but we can offer tips to help you deal with any instance where things do not go as planned. The advice that follows may seem fairly basic to some, but if applied to your next misstep we guarantee growth will occur. It might not be easy, but it will be beneficial to your creativity in the long run, and at the end of the day that is what matters most.

Start with the truth. Accept the situation for what it is, and be prepared to face it head-on.

Everyone has heard that line about how the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and the reason we’ve all heard it is because it’s absolutely true. You might have written the best song you believe yourself possible of creating, but for one reason or another it might not connect with listeners. Likewise, you may give what you feel is the performance of a lifetime, only to look at Twitter after the gig and read tweet after tweet complaining about the sound. In times like this it’s incredibly easy to take a defensive stance, but to do so would be an error. Accept that not everyone will experience things the way you do and try to see things from the outsider’s perspective. Be humbled by the fact you received any response at all, as most never do, and ask yourself how you could improve or change what you’re doing in the future.

The key to this step is honesty. It’s okay to say you love something that your fans do no, but do not blame them for not feeling the same. Art is subjective, but if you listen to your audience you should be able to find a way to do what you want while still playing to their demands. You don’t have to, of course, but most great artists find a way to compromise that satisfies everyone.

Look for the positive, no matter how small it may be.

Let’s say your new album was expected to sell ten thousand copies its first week and only sold fifteen-hundred. That disappointment would be quite a sting, especially from a financial standpoint, but considering the fact less than 1% of all the albums released in any given year sell more than a thousand copies you’re still among the most popular musicians in the world. You may not have ten thousand people clamoring to purchase your new album, but fifteen-hundred consumers is certainly nothing to scoff at. There are towns and villages all over the world that have populations far below fifteen-hundred people, and even less people outside those communities know they exist. You may not be where you want to be, but you are farther along than most, and that is something you should never take for granted.

The point is, there is also an upside. Your new demo may have gone over worse than Jar Jar Binks, but at least by sharing it with fans you learned something new about what they expect from you and what they hope to hear from future material. This knowledge can and should inform future recordings which, in theory, will be received better than whatever came before.

Do not be afraid to take time away from the internet

We are convinced there are at least two negative comments for every positive one on pretty much every song, video, or think piece posted online. People are far quicker to complain than they are to compliment, especially in a public forum, which is why you should consider taking time away from the constant barrage of commentary social media provides when things take a turn for the worse. If you know the incoming messages are going to be riddled with negativity there is no reason to wallow in the hurt feelings such commentary can cause. Absorb enough to understand why people are upset, then step away and take time to reflect on how you can improve your efforts in the future. You do not need the internet to do this, and in our opinion you shouldn’t use it. Stay offline until you have something new to share, and if that doesn’t go over then feel free to take more time away. In fact, take as much time as you need. The internet will still be here when you return.

Whatever you do, keep creating

No matter how you initially react to failure you cannot let the ensuing negativity defeat you. Keep creating, always, and do not stop until you decide you are finished. There will always be someone in the world who thinks you are not good enough, but you cannot let the opinions of a select few stop you from expressing yourself through art. Creativity is a gift that is all too rare in this world, and it should be expressed at every opportunity. Don’t let the haters win.