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The Top Priority For All New Artists

Top Priorities

Every artist has a unique journey to success in the music industry, but they should all start with the same goal.

Now is the best time ever to start a music career. The opportunities for exposure and success are at an all-time high, and virtually everyone can begin making money for their creative output as soon as it’s uploaded to the internet. Artists have never been as empowered to express themselves as they are right now, and that has made music as a whole far more interesting.

But regardless of who you are and the kind of music you seek to create, the goal of every musician starting today should be the same: Growth.

Jesse Cannon, music producer and author of numerous books geared at helping musicians succeed, says all new artists should prioritize growth until they have at least 20,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

Why Spotify? If you asked a few years back, Cannon would have said the goal growth on Facebook or Twitter. Online metrics matter significantly in the industry, and having a sizable audience on any platform is a clear sign to the industry at large that people care about what you’re doing.

These days, however, Spotify is the most sought-after platform for strong performance stats. After all, the streaming giant is where digital engagement transforms into money. Every stream on Spotify counts towards an artist’s income. When labels, management, and the like are looking for new talent, Spotify is the place most turn to gauge an artist’s value.

When asked for more information, Cannon said 20,000 was indicative of an artist having “buzz beyond those of us who talk about [music] all day.” Meaning, an artist with a large Spotify following confirms the general public has discovered and taken an interest in their music. There are many artists that critics and industry professionals love who may never reach a following that large, so it’s important — from a business standpoint — to know music consumers are embracing someone.

Cannon further suggested that artists should avoid releasing or working on albums until they hit the 20,000 listener goal. Until that time, Cannon recommends releasing singles regularly. Consistently giving people a new reason to care or give you a chance is a proven tactic for developing an audience. Until people are willing to wait for something that could take a long time to complete, stick with singles as a means of showcasing your talent.

Careers are built on fans. In the age of the internet, engaging with listeners is incredibly easy. You can tweet at people, post to Facebook, share stories on Instagram, create videos for YouTube, and maintain a mailing list, among other things, without spending a dime. Growth on any platform is excellent, but growth on Spotify makes a difference that other digital communities cannot. Focus your efforts, build a community, and in time you will have the audience needed to support a full-time career.

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TikTok bans all political and advocacy advertising

The fastest-growing social media platform on the planet is taking steps to ensure its community can escape the worries of the world for a few minutes.

TikTok has become the first major social media platform to ban all political and advocacy advertising. The news comes not long after the app came under fire for adhering to Chinese foreign policy by censoring certain topics. Pro-LGBT and the Hong Kong protests are just two topics the app has been working to censor. The upcoming US presidential election is likely another.

Blake Chandlee ⁠— TikTok’s VP of Global Business Solutions ⁠— says advertising needs to fit with the platform. 

“Any paid ads that come into the community need to fit the standards for our platform, and the nature of paid political ads is not something we believe fits the TikTok platform experience.

To that end, we will not allow paid ads that promote or oppose a candidate, current leader, political party or group or issue at the federal, state or local level — including election-related ads, advocacy ads or issue ads.”

TikTok is unique in the world of social media. While the vast majority of companies in the social space hail from America, TikTok started in China. The app was called Douyin at launch, which means ‘vibrating sound,’ but was changed to TikTok in 2018 when the it was made available in other countries. 

In addition to having a different name outside of China, TikTok also existed on different servers than Douyin, which was necessary to comply with strict Chinese censorship laws.

As TikTok became a global phenomenon, advertisers took notice. The app offers in-feed video ads, launch screen ads, and sponsored hashtag challenges. The TikTok Creator Marketplace recently launched to connect brands with TikTok creators for their marketing campaigns.

However, as political tensions around the world rise, TikTok is making the smart decision to remove itself from all conversations. The platform understands its young username is susceptible to the messaging its advertisers share. By rejecting all political and advocacy advertising the company is maintaining a space for fun and self-expression that cannot be accused of leaning one way or another on hot button topics.

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Tik Tok’s third music superstar is coming, and her name is Stunna Girl

Following the breakout success of Lil Nas X and Blanco Brown, Tik Tok users are currently creating a viral smash for Bay Area rapper Stunna Girl.

Tik Tok is unstoppable. Not only has the video-sharing app generated more than one-billion downloads worldwide, but it has (so far) created two new stars in the world of music. The first was Lil Nas X, whose success on the platform with “Old Town Road” lead to the longest-running number-one song in Billboard chart history. The second, Blanco Brown and his song “The Git Up,” took a talented songwriter from obscurity to RIAA certified Gold status in less than three months.

Now, Tik Tok is about to have its third star-making moment of 2019. The lucky artist connected to this moment is Stunna Girl, a Bay Area rapper with a moderate string of YouTube hits, but nothing that compares to the moment she’s about to have in the months ahead.

Recently, Stunna Girl uploaded her song “Runway” to Tik Tok. Users quickly discovered the song, and shortly thereafter a new trend emerged on the platform. Dubbed the #RunwayChallenge, Tik Tok videos using Stunna Girl’s song look more or less like this:

Currently, there are more than two-million Tik Tok videos that use “Runway.” Over 1.3 million of those videos were created after August 1. During this same period, “Runway” hit the top 5 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50 song chart, amassing more than 1.6 million plays overall as of August 12. The track also has more than 500,000 plays on Soundcloud and millions of streams on YouTube from numerous fan uploads.

That last point is important because fans and fans alone are the ones responsible for Stunna Girl’s breakout success.

“Runway” was initially released in February 2019 as part of Stunna Girl’s album, YKWTFGO. The song was not released as an official single, and it does not have an official video. Stunna Girl herself does not have a YouTube channel or a Twitter account (she does exist on Instagram). No major outlet has covered or highlighted the song outside of sharing Tik Toks on their social channels.

Google Trends reveals a huge jump in searches for Stunna Girl and her song “Runway” beginning in late July. The song was released in February 2019.

In short, no one would care about “Runway” if it did not connect with consumers.

Much like the success of Lil Nas X and Blanco Brown, Stunna Girl’s sudden rise through the internet ranks can be entirely attributed to music fans. It’s the users of Tik Tok that made “Runway” a hit, and it’s their enjoyment of the song’s opening lines that are quickly making Stunna Girl a name on tip of everyone’s tongue.

The virality of “Runway” cannot be manufactured. No amount of label money can force listeners to create original content based on a song from a largely unknown artist, let alone listen to the track in the first place. Stunna Girl has tapped into hip-hop culture by going straight to the source of its energy, the audience, and giving them something so catchy and fun that they cannot help making it their own.

Tik Tok has nothing left to prove. If Tik Tok users like a song there is no doubt the artist behind the track can have a career. Not everyone that goes viral on the platform will become the next Lil Nas X, but they will develop an audience that seeks out their music outside of the platform.

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MySpace has lost all media uploaded from 2003-2015, including 50 million songs

It has been said that nothing lasts forever, and the people behind MySpace just confirmed that to be true.

MySpace has confirmed the lost all media uploaded to its platform from 2003 to 2015. The data was deleted after the associated files became corrupted during a server migration that took place at some point in the last year two years. The company does not have backups of the content.

Questions over MySpace’s handling of data began to appear a year ago, in 2018, when songs posted to the social media site before 2015 stopped working. MySpace claimed at the time that they were aware of the issue and that it would be fixed, but no further information was provided to the public.

In a message recently sent to one concerned user, a representative for MySpace wrote:

“As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace. We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest that you retain your back up copies. If you would like more information, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Dr. Jana Jentzsch at DPO@myspace.com.”

Another, similar, email was sent to a concerned user who shared an image of their exchange on Reddit:

MySpace may not be as popular as it was a decade ago, but until its recent data loss it maintained an archive of alternative and digital music that may now be lost forever. Countless artists working today got their start on the platform and many uploaded songs or demos that cannot be found anywhere else online. The team at Consequence of Sound is claiming 50 million tracks have been erased, but it is impossible to know for sure exactly how much music has been lost.

The likelihood of similar data losses on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms is higher than most choose to believe. The Internet Archive will host anything freely distributable, for free, forever, and they have mirrors of their servers in California, Egypt, and Amsterdam. They’re a mission-driven nonprofit supported by philanthropists, foundations, and small-money donations (I’m an annual donor).

But don’t rely on someone else to back up your data. If you have songs, photos, videos, or any other information online that you want to keep, then you need to save it yourself. Keep backups, and keep backups of backups. Use cloud servers and external storage devices. No method is guaranteed to work all the time, so make sure you have multiple ways of accessing the data that is most important to you.

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The best (and worst) times to post on Facebook in 2019

Though its popularity among young consumers has waned in recent years, Facebook welcomes more than 2 billion monthly users.

The music industry loves to complain about Facebook. The social media juggernaut boasts more monthly users than any other service, but algorithmic changes made in recent years have severely limited organic post reach. So much so in fact that many believe the only way to ensure fans see their content is to pay for increased exposure (to people who already asked to see your content).

There may be some truth to that. Organic reach is undoubtedly down, but there are still tricks users can implement to help posts get in front of their fans without spending any money. It’s all a matter of timing, and thanks to the team at ShareLov we now know the best times to post text and video content to Facebook in 2019. Check it out:


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A simple, yet effective tip for growing your Facebook audience

Do you ever get tired of seeing post after post from so-called social media consultants who claim they can teach you anywhere from 10 to 120 tips for building a following on Facebook? We do. Not only are the bulk of these typically common knowledge, but they also rarely produced meaningful results. You always have to assume that any ‘secret’ you found via Google or other third party source is not really a ‘secret’ at all, meaning those tips will not get you any further than anyone else.

If we were any other blog about marketing this would be the part in the post where we claim to be different. We would tell you that our tips are pulled from experience, and that we have helped many people just like you find success in the social space. We would brag about how our system has helped people gain more likes and improve engagement without doing much, if any, more work than they were already doing. We would take all the credit, but that is not what happens on this blog.

The tip we have to share is as common as any you’re likely to find, but we guarantee it produces real results.

When you have a successful post, whether it reaches an audience organically or through paid promotion, invite everyone who engages with your content to like your page.

Let’s do a quick example: Silent Scream is a metal band who just posted a teaser clip of their new video to Facebook with a $5 promotion. As the promotion runs, more than 100 people like the clip, and several dozen leave comments asking when the full video will be available. Every single day, a member of Silent Scream clicks on the “_________ and ____ others like this” text located directly under the post. I’ve highlighted the area in question, can sometimes appears as a number rather than individual user names:

When the members of Silent Scream click that text, a pop-up like this appears:

As you can see, several people who liked the post have not yet liked Silent Scream’s page. The members can use this screen to invite everyone who engaged with the post to like their page. Not everyone will accept, but those that do will already have an interest in your music. They will be excited to see more of what initially drew them to you, and they will be encouraged to engage further because they will know you recognized their interest.

Will people decline your invite? Of course. But this kind of marketing, just like any other, is ultimately a numbers game. You case the widest net possible over people who you believe would like your content and you hope they respond. The more, the better, but any is better than nothing.

The best part? This marketing costs nothing! If you have time and the ability to click invite repeatedly you can grow your audience with each new update.

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5 Ways To Ensure Your Band Is Making The Most Of Instagram

Instagram has long been the go-to platform for anyone hoping to share photos and short videos of their lives with the internet, but in recent weeks the company has gone to new lengths improve brand relations and provide long-desired improvements to their platform (account toggling, video view counts). Social media tips and tricks are talked to death as is, but considering these new innovations now seems as good a time as any for a quick refresher on how artists can make the most of their IG marketing efforts. Whether you’re new to the platform (which probably means you’re also a new artist – HELLO!) or simply trying to figure out if having an IG account even matters for your musical endeavors, the followings tips offer easy to apply techniques that we guarantee will deliver results.

Strategize first, post second.

Your band or solo music account is not your personal account and it should not be treated as such. Where the former offers spontaneous insight into your life, the latter needs to offer a far more focused look at your life. Before you can begin to do that in a meaningful way you should first decide what it is you want the world to see and how you want those images to reflect the music you create. Who are you as an artist? What do you represent? Be real with your audience and those who connect will engage regularly in the content you share. More importantly, they feel as if they know you in a way simply hearing your art does not allow.

When you do post, make sure you provide fans with quality content

The basic outline for musicians on Instagram is the same everywhere you look, and that’s because it works. You want to share your journey from the bottom to the top, along with all the highs and lows that ensure in between. You want to share the place where you write, the studio where you record, life in your van (be careful on this one), life on stage, life in the green room (this one too), and the day you make your big signing announcement, as well as various newsworthy tidbits like tours and song premieres. Your brand’s Instagram should sell your music through photos and video the way your music sells people when they hear it through speakers or headphones. This is the visual representation of yourself as an artist, and as more users begin to follow each post’s impact on your overall image will grow in perpetuity.

As always, communication is key.

Did you really think you could get away with simply posting images and videos on Instagram? Fans are going to react to the things you post and you should respond whenever possible. Talk to the people who care enough to talk to you (except the haters – never engage those trolls), and be sure to @them so they know you are speaking directly to them despite being connected solely through the internet.

Use meaningful hashtags. Yes, hashtags can and should have meaning.

We’ve all had our fair share of fun with #silly and #meaningless hashtag use, but if you want to make the most of your Instagram following you would be wise to take the pound sign a bit more serious moving forward. A hashtag can make people aware of a new album, tour, single, or any other development you could hope to market. 

Hashtags can also bring people together. Take defunct emo rock deities My Chemical Romance, for example. Their fans, the creatively named MCRmy, uses #MCRmy whenever posting about the band online. Fans then use this hashtag to connect with others who enjoy the group, which in turns strengthens the fan base as a whole. Black Veil Brides’ fans have used a similar technique, with followers of that group posting #BVBarmy in their tweets and IG posts. Again, fans connect with each other while also sharing fun or meaningful media related to the group. The brand is spread, as is news about new albums and tours, all while fans are connecting with one another and developing a community built upon mutual admiration for the band. Everyone wins!

Make your Instagram a unique destination

While Ingstgram does allow users to share posts on other social media platforms it’s important to remember that not everyone will be connected with your brand on every site or app. With that mind, you should make an effort to treat each online community as its own hub for your group. Do not assume the people on Facebook know about the promotion you have on your IG and do not assume people on IG will want to give you a ‘Like’ on Facebook. Some of them probably don’t even have a Facebook! 

Make your IG community a unique place to engage with your music and fans will begin to view it as something special, which it is. This will aide in developing your online community, as well as increase overall engagement with your audience. It also means more work, but it’s worth it.

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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Haulix Advice: 3 Examples Of What Not To Do When Contacting Journalists

Hello, everyone. Happy Halloween! We don’t have candy or treats to hand out, but hopefully after today’s Advice column you’ll feel like you learned something (and maybe even had a bit of fun in the process). If you have a suggestions for a future installment of this column, or if you have a question you would like us to tackle, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts.

Here are two facts about the music industry you cannot avoid:

  1. You’re going to have bad reviews
  2. You are rarely, if ever, the only person trying to get someone’s attention

If these seem obvious to you, good! You’re already ahead of the curve. For everyone else, let’s continue…

Seeing as today is a holiday I thought it might be fun to keep the lengthy paragraphs at bay in lieu of something a bit more lighthearted. We often speak with journalists about the problems they encounter when being approached by independent artists, and for the most part those conversations have resulted in Advice columns that are, or will soon be live on this site. Today we’re going to try something different. Here are three examples of what not to do when contacting journalists, followed by reasons this behavior should be avoided at all costs. The music industry may seem large, but it’s a very tight knit community where people discuss the interactions they’ve had with artists they’ve encountered. You do not want to be the focus of those conversations.

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment at the end of this post.

1. No matter what, never letter bomb someone’s personal address (online or in real life).

I am hiding the identity of this person for professional reasons, but for the sake of this post know that they’re a PR representative for a very well-known record label. She’s perfectly happy to help any band she can and is willing to listen to new music, but by going around the submission system established by the label the band in this post has lost all chances of being signed to the label this person represents. She may not post the band’s name publicly (that would only give them more promotion), but if another professional were to ask her about her experiences with them it would not reflect well on the group, and slowly a ‘domino effect’ like sequence of closing doors will begin to occur.

2. Understand not everyone will enjoy your art, and do your absolute best to be okay with it.

There are battles worth fighting and then there are differences of opinion that won’t be swayed. Bad reviews fall under the latter of these two, and as such no battle is necessary. Some people will love what you do, some will hate it, and many will never experience it. This is a fact of life every artist must face, and it’s how they choose to handle criticism that says the most about their character to both fans and industry professionals. The job of critics are to critique, just like yours as an artist is to create art, and part of their job requires them to sometimes tell people they do not enjoy the art they chose to share. That doesn’t make them bullies (unless they get overly personal, which admittedly can happen), but if you call them out on social networks or otherwise go after them you will become a bully yourself. Fans respect you because you do something unique and are not afraid to hide that gift, but if you aren’t willing to let others express themselves freely their feelings toward you will begin to change.

3. Submit your music once and allow ample time for a follow-up. Anything more and you risk becoming a nuisance.

Social media has made everyone more connected than ever, which means we spend a lot more time communicating with one another than we did even a decade ago. That’s all well and good, but when it comes to running a music publication it also means there are a number of channels for bands to reach you through that are open 24/7 whether you like it or not. While some bands still send press kits and follow general submission guidelines, which is always the best way to do things, others have taken to Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram to try and grab the attention of publications. Too much contact can be a bad thing, and if you try and reach a journalist too many times they will block you or otherwise pay no mind to your communication. Recognize that they are busy and work at crafting a pitch so great no one will be able to move on to the next submission. Remember: It only takes one pitch being read by the right person to change your career.

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