Music Growth Talks: Podcast For Musicpreneurs

Jon Skinner, the founder and CEO of Music Gateway, is back to the Music Growth Talks podcast to talk about the latest platform developments, such as Sync Portal and Demo Space, as well as their just launched Kickstarter campaign aimed to fuel the October release of Music Gateway 2.0. The new version of the platform, which connects musicians and industry professionals, is promised to have a load of new tools for artists, including the mobile app. And the crowdfunding campaign is quite interesting, with the rewards including experiences such as a creative writing weekend on a yacht in Mallorca, various branded gear, or masterclasses on music business and sync licensing, and more. Listen to the show to find out the details. ⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt95-jon-skinner/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Damian Keyes is the founder of DK Music Management, a co-founder of The Brighton Institute of Modern Music, and an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building businesses in music. Damian had never been active on social media until August 2016, when he decided to start a new project: to immerse himself in social media every single day. Now, a year later, Damian shares with us his fascinating music industry journey, and the results of the experiment of living and breathing social media. This show is filled with actionable advice which will be interesting to all artists, and particularly those who are hesitant to become active on social media. Listen to the show for Damian's thoughts and tips on playing to your skillset, fitting social media into your already busy life, understanding how much interesting stuff you are missing to share, building an audience through social networks, quantity vs. quality, and much more. ⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt94-damian-keyes/ for the show notes

Loudr is a San Francisco based company which helps artists, digital distributors, and music services identify rights holders, secure mechanical licenses, and pay royalties to music publishers. The technology behind the service parses publishing metadata and matches sound recordings to compositions, making it easy for anyone to clear mechanical licenses. For example, it allows you to start selling cover songs you've recorded, hassle-free. To date, the company has distributed over $1 million in royalties to songwriters and music publishers worldwide. Loudr's CEO Chris Crawford, who used to be a part of the iTunes team at Apple, is a guest on the latest Music Growth Talks episode to explain how his company has been solving the challenge of clearing and releasing cover songs in the US. During our conversation, Chris talks about the different types of licenses, explains what businesses Loudr works with, and shows how the new version of their API makes it easier to link musical compositions and their owners. List

Rick Barker is a leading music marketing expert, teaching indie artists the business side of music, all while assisting major labels and big media companies. Rick is a former manager for Taylor Swift, current advisor to Big Machine Records, and the social media mentor for American Idol, just to give a few examples. On this Music Growth Talks episode, Rick names the only advantage majors have over indies, explains how to treat your social media strategy as a meal plan, shows one key approach to growth, and talks about the power of live streaming, on Facebook in particular. Listen to this episode to feel more confident and inspired to host a Facebook Live stream than ever, to learn the common live streaming pitfalls, and the tools to make a TV-quality stream. ⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt92-rick-barker/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Songtradr is a rapidly growing music licensing platform, delivering commercial music to brands, apps, TV and filmmakers. Their catalogue already counts over 60,000 artists and composers, across all genres and languages, and you're more than welcome to join the platform, as well. As you will hear from this podcast, it's risk-free... and literally free. The marketplace's features for music creators include real-time push notifications on the progress of your catalog and song submissions, a unique blanket license, stats on who's opening and listening to your playlists, and more. On this Music Growth Talks podcast episode, Songtradr's Marketing Manager Zac Harding and Creative Services Manager Ben Foy explain how exactly the platform works for artists and tastemakers. Listen to learn the way Songtradr's team helps you prepare everything you may need for a successful deal, why supervisors are often scared of working with indie artists, and how to avoid typical mistakes artists make entering the world of licensi

Mike Casey is a jazz saxophonist and songwriter, who released his debut album, “The Sound of Surprise: Live at The Side Door” in February 2017. He used PledgeMusic to raise funds for the record, reaching his crowdfunding goal in way under a month. On this Music Growth Talks podcast, Mike shares the nitty-gritty of the campaign, from preparation to fulfillment. While there is a few specifics to releasing a jazz album, Mike's tips are applicable to an artist in any music genre. Listen to the episode to learn how running a crowdfunding campaign is much more time consuming than you may think, why PledgeMusic may be friendlier than other platforms to someone who is new to crowdfunding, which social media channels Mike used the most to promote the campaign (and how he got disappointed with Facebook advertisement), and more. One of the insights we liked the most: if you want to succeed with crowdfunding, you can't be shy! ⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt90-mike-casey/ for the show notes and http:/

Bree Noble is the Founder and CEO of Women of Substance Music Radio, as well as the host of Female Entrepreneur Musician Podcast. An experienced singer/songwriter, entrepreneur, speaker, and coach who left a corporate job at a big Opera company to pursue her own music career, Bree now leads a whole suite of projects aimed to help female artists thrive in the music business. On this Music Growth Talks podcast episode we went through a number of topics which Bree Noble has been covering with her guests on Female Entrepreneur Musician: music monetization, crowdfunding, Facebook Live, house concerts, musicians' health, and much more. Listen to the show to also learn about Bree's Female Musician Academy, and other resources for female (and not only!) artists. ⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt89-bree-noble/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

This is a premiere of Musicpreneur Hub, founded by Tommy Darker. The Hub is "a music knowledge platform," created to connect handpicked music industry experts with musicians and students looking for advice, Quora-style. Listen to this Music Growth Talks episode to get a better understanding of Musicpreneur Hub, to see why it may be more like Airbnb than Quora according to Tommy, and to hear a few tips on asking questions on the platform. And then go to Musicpreneur Hub to ask a question yourself! And if you don't know who Tommy is yet, then we highly recommend you listening to the previous two Music Growth Talks episodes with him as a guest – you can find the links in the show notes. ⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt88-musicpreneur-hub/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Diarmuid Moloney is a co-founder of Rotor, an intelligent cloud-based app designed to help musicians create custom music and promotional videos. The platform doesn't require a big budget, or even any video editing skills, as it automatically matches video content to audio. While you can use your own footage, even that is optional, as you can choose from multiple free stock video clips. It's also free to create a video: you pay only for exporting a file to then post it on your YouTube channel, social media profiles, or elsewhere. On this Music Growth Talks podcast, Diarmuid talks about how the platform came into existence, explains the technology behind it, and tells us how much original video content you need to create a proper video. Listen to the show in full to learn if you can find use of this tool, already utilized by the likes of Warner and Universal. ⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt87-rotor-diarmuid-moloney/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podc

Kevin Breuner, CD Baby’s Director of Marketing, has spent over 14 years in the music business. And, as an artist himself, he knows what challenges musicians face well. His band, Smalltown Poets, grew from being a local indie act to securing a major label deal, with their debut album selling over 200,000 copies and bringing them a Grammy nomination. Still, the bandmates couldn't sustain their music careers and had to split. Kevin knew there had to be platforms to help artists make successful careers, and eventually discovered, and later started working at, CD Baby. Today, Kevin Breuner leads CD Baby's marketing efforts and hosts their DIY Musician Podcast. On this Music Growth Talks podcast episode, Kevin talks about the opportunities Spotify and the likes present, seeing "how different platforms cause success in different ways", and embracing the strategy of getting people to listen to something instead of buying something. Listen to the show for tips on using streaming analytics, a teaser for this year's

Same podcast, brand new name. Listen to this short episode to find out more!

Peter Hollens is an a cappella singer and producer who's built a massive loyal following on YouTube and Patreon. With over 1.5 million subscribers and 125+ digital singles released, his videos have reached more than 250 million viewers since 2011. Hollens is on the advisory board for artist-focused companies such as Patreon, Loudr, and Tubular, and has collaborated with the likes of Brian Wilson, Jason Mraz, Hunter Hayes, Lindsey Stirling, George Watsky, and Tyler Ward. In this WeSpin Recipes episode, recorded days before Christmas, Peter Hollens shares what it took to get where he is today, and, of course, talks about his new Christmas album (which is really good!). Peter is a goldmine of knowledge and inspiration for artists. Here are just some of the topics he covered: tips on collaboration and community building, reverse-engineering the success of others, the importance of knowing your platforms, analyzing Facebook vs. YouTube, and overcoming your fears. Listen to this episode to also learn what mobile

Jay Coyle is the founder of Music Geek Services, as well as a former marketing executive at EMI Nashville, a Berklee Online instructor, and someone who has worked with a myriad of bands over the years as an independent music marketing and business professional. Jay is also the author of the new Soundfly course called "Crowdfunding For Musicians". The course combines instructional videos, step-by-step guides, downloadable resources, and more to help you build a successful campaign. You can enroll in that course, or any course at Soundfly, with a 20% discount using the WESPIN20 coupon code as a WeSpin Recipes listener. In this podcast episode, Jay talks on occasional challenges of dealing with band managers, the types of clients he works with, and how brands should see crowdfunding as an opportunity to build a business – not as a bank. Listen to the show to learn why exactly a crowdfunding campaign is in fact a direct-to-fan campaign, and much more. Go to http://wespin.co/wsr84/ for the show notes and http:

Tommy Darker, the guest of the very first WeSpin Recipes episode, is back to our podcast! Over the past year, Tommy has been busy working on a new creative project called Kenophania. His goal is to get in front of no less than one million people, and Tommy will tell you how he's going to achieve that. Kenophania is described as "a docu-style arced reality series about an ex-military, now savvy musician, who embarks on a journey to create a new musical style and make it commercial success." What makes it particularly interesting: Tommy had never played music with others before. Throughout 2016 Tommy has toured the whole Greece and collaborated with hundreds of musicians, while documenting the whole process. In this podcast you are going to learn how Yossi Sassi from Orphaned Land inspired Tommy to start Kenophania, what it costs to record such a documentary (with a detailed breakdown of expenses), and why your creative process has little to do with the final product. Listen to this WeSpin Recipes episodes in

The big music industry conferences are where the bosses go, frequently leaving the junior staff in the offices. FastForward flips that upside down. The new annual event, which has created a lot of buzz in 2016, is aimed at under 35s in the music industry. This week's WeSpin Recipes guest is the FastForward founder, Chris Carey, a music economist having worked with the likes of Universal Music, EMI Music, and PRS. He also runs a boutique research company called Media Insight Consulting, and made it to Music Week's 30 under 30 in 2014. On this show, Chris' shared the highlights of the first edition of the conference, and named the music industry developments to watch in 2017. We talked about big data (and how asking the right questions may be more important than the data itself), streaming, finding inspiration in the gaming market, blockchain, and more. Listen to the conversation to hear Chris' insights, and a candid answer to the question "Who is FastForward for?" Go to http://wespin.co/wsr82/ for the show

Dave Kusek is the latest WeSpin Recipes guest, and he's here to share his passion for coaching indie musicians. The founder and former CEO of Berklee Online, today Dave is focused on helping artists develop successful careers through his New Artist Model online music business school. On the show, we talk about the program, how crazy and fascinating it is to be an artist these days, the need to understand what you're good at, building a team around your craft, time management, and why you may not want to chase the next shiny thing online. Listen to the show to also hear the tough truth about building a band (don't rush into firing your drummer after hearing it, but think about what Dave says carefully), and to learn how to "sell" yourself to other business professionals. TIME-SENSITIVE! If you are listening to the show or reading this post before December 6th, you can still sign up for a special Master Class for free as part of Dave's Ticket to Music Success Training. Sign up at https://newartistmodel.mykaj

You are about to hear a story on how far creating your own path instead of doing what you're "supposed to" can get you. The story is about a successful US country artist, golfer, philanthropist, and public speaker Steve Azar, and it's told by his manager, Aaron Bethune. Aaron is the founder of Play It Loud Music, Above the Noise and JAM, among numerous other projects. He's also the author of "Musicpreneur: The Creative Approach to Making Money in Music", which we covered in detail in the WeSpin Recipes episode number 29, over a year ago. After Aaron discovered that the key to everything Steve had been doing was the state of Mississippi, they turned it into a series of mind-blowing opportunities. From helping the state to improve its public transportation system, to becoming the first Music & Culture Ambassador of Mississippi (the title didn't even exist before), recording an album and filming a documentary with BB King's band in a legendary venue – these are just some of the events which the dedication

Over the last few years Sam Matla's EDMprod blog and podcast have become wildly popular among electronic musicians, and you most probably know why if you're a producer yourself. Even if you aren't familiar with the name though, we bet you will get a kick out of today's WeSpin Recipes episode with Sam. On this show, "The Producer's Guide To Workflow & Creativity" author shares his online blogging journey from skateboarding and self-development to music, gives actionable tips on improving your music production skills (also fully applicable to songwriters), names two most common mistakes up-and-coming producers make, and talks about EDM Foundations – a four-week online course which teaches the fundamentals of electronic music production through action and practice. You can join the waiting list to be notified on the next enrolment following the link at the show notes. Listen to the podcast to also find out what Sam's top productivity and collaboration tips are, and to learn a single hack that is guaranteed

Here's how StoryAmp works, in a nutshell. You create an account and add a "dispatch" either for a music release or a concert, providing all the related information. Then, StoryAmp emails relevant media contacts in each genre, or tour market, three separate times. The database of journalists (US and Canada only) is powered by the Rock Paper Scissors PR agency, and is updated all the time. You get the service either for a flat fee (for a release) or a monthly subscription (for a tour). Pretty cool concept, isn't it? We've been intrigued, too, and decided to learn more from the StoryAmp and Rock Paper Scissors founder and CEO, Dmitri Vietze. In this WeSpin Recipes podcast episode, Dmitri talked on storytelling, specifics of doing PR for records and tours, and StoryAmp's new copywriting offer. Now, you can request a press release or a biography from professional writers that have collectively authored pieces for Billboard, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Google Music, VICE, Thrasher, and more. Listen to the show

Soundcharts is a real-time charts, playlists, airplay, and social monitoring web app. And, as you will learn from this WeSpin Recipes podcast, there is much more to it than analyzing performance of your own music projects. Think of Soundcharts as a stock market (or a growth hacking!) tool, which allows you to see how well relevant or interesting to you artists perform in different territories. David Weiszfeld, the founder of Soundcharts, used to lead the International Development for Universal Music France, so the idea of building such a tool came from hands-on music marketing experience and understanding the importance of data analytics. Soundcharts is already used by the three major labels, but is available to everyone, even though at a price (check the Pricing tab on the Soundcharts website for the current subscription fees). Listen to the podcast to hear David's thoughts on running an international tech company from France and the enormous challenges startups face, and find out a few very specific use c