Afleveringen
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“The first tip that I give all artists is to be organized and cohesive. You don't know what someone's entry point is going to be to you and your music”.
Today's guest is Brian “Z” Zisook is the Co-Founder & SVP of Operations & Artist Services at Audiomack. In this episode, Brian and Marc discuss preparing for online success as an artist by strategizing DSPs & Social Media. Zisook’s extensive experience in the music industry surprisingly includes conducting over 500 interviews with artists and industry professionals over 13 years. Artists include- J. Cole, Big Sean, Rick Ross, John Legend, Nipsey Hussle, DJ Khaled, and Anderson.Paak, among others. Zisook was even selected to join the Recording Academy as part of their new member class in 2022. Brian’s main gig is co-founder of Audiomack. As SVP of Operations, Zisook leads a team of 10 across three continents, overseeing and managing relationships with over 180 record labels and distribution partners, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and over 80 Merlin members. Before Audiomack, Zisook was the VP and EIC of DJBooth, a New York-based digital music publication and media house he co-founded with Audiomack co-founder David Macli. At its peak, DJBooth generated 8M page views monthly and annual revenue exceeding one million dollars.
Audiomack is an on-demand music streaming and audio discovery platform that allows artists and creators to upload limitless music and podcasts for listeners through its mobile apps and website. In February 2021, Billboard announced Audiomack streaming data would begin informing some of its flagship charts, including the Hot 100, the Billboard 200, and the Global 200. In March 2021, Fast Company magazine named Audiomack one of the 10 most innovative companies in music.
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Audiomack
DJbooth.net
00:10 - Byta.com
02:44 - Where Brian is from
03:14 - College Radio is where it all started / DJbooth.net
06:24 - Why we started Audiomack
08:28 - How the idea progressed
12:41 - Empowering creators is our jam
16:53 - How do we make money
19:48 - Advice and educational tips, pay attention to your fans
24:28 - There is a need now more than ever for connection.
29:35 - Artistic development is really like human development.
31:10 - If you're trying to appeal to everybody, you end up appealing to nobody.
33:36 - Present as organized
38:30 - A variety of ways that you can engage your audience
45:26 - Ridiculous to paint a picture that this is not a lot of work
48:11 - What what might be obvious to one is not correct to another
50:27 - Create a spreadsheet
53:00 - Campaigns that are really engaging, innovative or inspiring
57:29 - Who is your target audience? The mainstream is too broad a target
60:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"So it's our job to get the best possible deal. So basically, there's no database, how long is a piece of string? Just make sure you're working with someone who knows the industry and who knows what music is worth?"
Today’s guest is Simon Pursehouse, Global Director of Music Services at Sentric Music, an “industry challenging” music publisher. Simon works within the Business Development and Creative Departments at Sentric and is the point person for their roster of signed songwriters.
Previously at Sentric, Simon headed up the sync division, which under his supervision was nominated as Best Indie Publisher at the Music Week Sync awards for six years running. Here he has developed relationships with global media organisations, broadcasters and advertising agencies which has resulted in Sentric’s catalogue being placed in adverts, films, games, TV shows worldwide.
Simon has been featured in Music Weeks’ ‘30 Under 30’ list and regularly speaks at various industry conferences worldwide such as Reeperbahn, The Great Escape, BBC Introducing Live and AIM’s Sync Day amongst many others. He has been invited to discuss Sentric on BBC 6Music on multiple occasions and has consulted on judging panels for awards/grants for BAFTA, PRS, BRITs, Music Week and more. He is a regular guest lecturer at LIPA and BIMM amongst other educational bodies.
Simon has been a core part of Sentric’s online identity; he is the author of Sentric’s Blog which offers advice to emerging artists and has received millions of hits
Sentric Music:
Sentric Music was formed in 2006 as the new age independent music publisher. Sentric disrupted traditional publishing by offering the fairest deal in the industry. We empower artists and songwriters to collect the royalties they’re owed.
Their friendly and knowledgeable team are dedicated to ensuring writers and artists get the most out of their music. They enjoy giving artists and songwriters opportunities to elevate their careers and fulfil their ambitions.
“To date we’ve put the power back in the hands of over 400,000 artists.”
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Sentric Music
Streaming Calculator
WTF is Music Publishing
00:10 - Byta.com
02:43 - The Beard
03:48 - Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts
04:14 - History of Sentric’s start
08:04 - Sentric’s growth and development
11:00 - The basics of music publishing
12:42 - Your local Performing Rights Organization
14:00 - The Sentric method
16:00 - The pie chart / AKA how publishing works
19:00 - Simon’s trip to Australia
22:26 - Democratization of Publishing
24:30 - Collecting royalties and new synchs
26:51 - Performance VS Mechanical income
28:53 - Marc’s recap
30:33 - Byta.com
31:05 - Neighbouring rights explained
34:51 - What the fuck is music publishing
The Life Cycle of a music publishing copyright
37:00 - Sentric Vs TuneCore VS Song Trust
41:30 - Pitching Syncs
44:00 - Picking partners: Be careful (aka - wait and they will find you)
48:00 - Lawyers
52:38 - Sarah Hamilton (Ditto)
54:24 - Just be nice to everyone (if you are good, they will find you)
59:27 - Make sure your whole team know about all your wins, helps the pitch.
1:01:00 - More on sync
1:04:00 - The goal is to make your music, not just "sinkable music…"
1:08:00 - email tips, making contact
1:09:000 - Be nice
1:12:00 - Work with experienced people
1:14:30 - Finding the “Best people”
1:15:00 - How much do you charge for Synchs
1:16:48 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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" I think socioeconomic status and background is one of the key areas where the music industry isn’t diverse enough."
Today's guest is Lara Baker, General Manager at FUGA for the UK & Ireland. On top of being named in Billboard's International Power Players 2022, she was also honoured with Music Week’s Women in Music Roll of Honour and SheSaidSo's Alternative Power List. She is passionate about improving diversity, gender balance and inclusivity in the music business. She has sat on UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce, supported the Love Music Hate Racism campaign and organised regular women in music and diversity-focused events. Lara joined FUGA in early 2023. She came from Songtrust/Downtown Music Publishing, where Lara worked for 4 years as Director of Business Development for the UK, IE and Australia. Lara's background and passion have always been supporting independent labels and artists. Her music career began in 2004 at AIM (the UK trade association for independent labels), where Lara spent 14 years serving the independent community, ultimately as Marketing and Events Director. During this time she created the AIM Awards, the leading celebration of independent music, as well as AIM's year-round programme events including AIM Connected, AIM Sync conference and Indie-Con (now known as Future Independents). There is a lot to talk about and Marc and Lara definitely get into it.
FUGA is the world's leading B2B music distributor. FUGA is the number one choice for some of the world’s top labels, management companies and distributors, including Epitaph Records, Ultra, Curb, Mom + Pop, mTheory and Domino. As GM UK/IE, Lara's role leads new business and client relations for the territory.
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
FUGA
AIM
WIN
Merlin
Songtrust/Downtown Music
Women in Music Awards
shesaid.so
Keychange
Black Music Coalition,
Women in CTRL,
00:10 - Byta.com
03:52 - Getting started, school & first job
04:50 - Music business school
07:57 - Socioeconomics and background
09:00 - AIM getting its start
12:16 - Why indies needed help
15:52 - The Big wins at AIM when I was there, Spotify/MTV…
18:00 - Merlin and WIN explained
21:15 - Diversity in music not reflected in the organization
25:00 - Women in Music Awards, genesis
26:38 - Mentoring
28:50 - The gender pay gap, really bugs me!
36:45 - The Socioeconomic barriers
41:00 - Byta.com
43:00 - Things have changed, what artists need to do and how FUGA helps
46:00 - The Hives.
52:00 - More initiatives
54:10 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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" If you’re passionate you should be able to find the hustle because it’s what you love to do. Most people in the music industry are passionate, so if you’re not then it’ll be hard to get to the hustle. My main piece of advice: Find what you’re passionate about and the hustle will follow."
Today's guest is Daniel Seligman who has been active in the Montreal and international music scene since 2000. He has managed Stars, The Unicorns, Socalled and Yves Jarvis through the company he co-owns called Danagement. In 2002 Seligman co-founded the multidisciplinary festival POP Montreal and remains the festival's creative director. An annual not-for-profit cultural event, POP Montreal champions independence in the arts by presenting emerging and celebrated talents. The 5-day festival showcases more than 400 performances to audiences of over 60,000. Founded in 2002, POP Montreal helped break countless emerging artists to the world while providing a dizzying and diverse array of headliners like RZA, Fever Ray, Bonobo, The Orb, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, Godflesh, David Byrne, St Vincent, Butthole Surfers, John Cale, Beck, Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Queens of the Stone Age etc.
Danagement Artist Management oversees music management, business management, tour production and grant writing for a wide variety of artists including; Basia Bulat, Braids, Jean-Michel Blais, Le Ren, Owen Pallett, Sarah Neufeld, Socalled, God Speed You Black Emperor, Wolf Parade, The Besnard Lakes and more. In 20 years POP Montreal has produced thousands of shows and events throughout Montreal and around the world. On a festival landscape that’s persistently male and Euro-centric, POP succeeds in offering attendees respite. This year the festival takes place in Montreal, from September 27th to October 1st, 2023. The 5-day festival showcases more than 400 performances to audiences of over 60,000.
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Pop Montreal
Danagment
00:10 - Byta.com
02:26 - Ursa Pop Montreal HQ & Great venue
05:00 - Montreal is unique, Montreal was super cheap
07:08 - I started off managing Stars
08:51 - Music Management is not rocket science, if you have a driver’s license, you have a usable skill
10:15 - The basics skills required to manage a band
11:00 - How did Pop Montreal get started/Peter Rowan
13:20 - The importance of alternative weeklies
14:37 - Posters were cool
16:20 - Montreal’s moment in the sun (when it comes to indie rock)
20:15 - Why did you start Pop Montreal?
25:30 - Pop Montreal was for the artists
28:20 - Byta.com
29:35 - You can not just go and play at a festival, you need to do more
32:10 - Booking agents are now key
36:00 - Opinions on Social media
38:20 - there are more gatekeepers
41:20 - Michelle Cable artist manager
43:10 - Daniel’s work as an artist manager
45:42 - Have to have the passion, and do your homework
50:56 - You have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty - Chris Blackwell
52:44 - Find the passion & the hustle will follow.
54:25 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"If you really, really love an artist, reach out and buy their record, buy their T-shirt, send them money, and appreciate how much blood sweat and tears go into that song that you listen to every day."
Our guest on today’s episode is Andee Connors, Pandora’s Senior Manager of Catalog & Creator Services. Pandora is only accessible in the USA, but it has over 60 million subscribers. The streaming service has a great history of human-led curation. Andee’s background is steeped in the DIY music ethos. His band bought a van, toured pre-cell phone and circled the USA, with stops in Europe, many times even before a record deal was on the table. He is an anomaly, both old school and very much a part of the modern music ecosystem. He brings to this conversation a great many insights, perhaps the most important being, to make sure you know what success means to you and then go after it.
Andee discusses how a Black Metal drummer with DIY coursing through his veins ended up working with Pandora at a job that no one wanted. He also explains what makes Pandora different from other streaming services, one thing is AMP, which stands for Artist Marketing Platform. This discussion also goes in the direction of modern-day music discovery. Is it better today? How have things changed, and how can people take advantage of those changes? When should you send your music to Pandora to get playlisted? Pandora has 60 million subscribers!! What about Radio VS streaming services, what role do they each play today? Why is Bandcamp awesome, because streaming your favourite artists is really not enough to support an them if you really love the music and they make you happy, you need to buy merch too, so says Andee.
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Pandora
SiriusXM
00:10 - Byta.com
05:09 - Running Aquarius Records
07:15 - I also had a label: tUMULt Records
08:13 - What is Pandora AMP
09:52 - Listing to thousands of demos
11:35 - The early days at Pandora
13:10 - The effect of things going digital
15:50 - Touring & recording back in the day
17:20 - How Pandora got its start
22:00 - Pandora is only in the USA but you can still use it to find fans
23:00 - Mike Warner - Book: Work Hard Playlist Harder
25:00 - Send your art to those that inspired you
29:00 - Community was your only connection before the internet
32:00 - What are your expectations, your barometer of success?
38:00 - Being a musician in 2023 is a lot of work
40:00 - Houston Pandora has a problem with submissions
45:00 - Timelines to get your music to Pandora
48:00 - Metadata
50:00 - AMP (stands for Artist Marketing Platform)
52:30 - Radio VS streaming
57:40 - How to better support the artists you love
59:30 - Are there too many platforms?
102:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"Sometimes I feel like smaller labels are often better because they can help you without you having to do things you don’t want to do. When you sign to a big label, you need to play the game if you want to get the max benefit."
Our guest on this episode is May Mahmoudi, A&R at Ninja Tune’s Big Dada Records, as well as working in the sync department of Ninja Tune’s Just Isn’t Music. This episode is an insightful introduction to publishing and record label deals. How to get your music synched and what are the expectations from artists at the various levels of the music ecosystem? May was brought on to do A&R when Big Dada decided to do a big relaunch in early 2021. The label put a new focus on where they wanted to go and who was going to take them there. They are now actively working to amplify Black, POC and racialised voices. Big Dada Records looks to shift the narrative around this music, bypassing stereotypes to allow and encourage the freedom to express oneself for who they are and want to be. The goal: supporting and offering resources to a new generation of artists. May approaches music first by relating the vibe and the artist’s community. Then it is the nitty-gritty of how the music might be properly promoted and what the artist’s vision is, who they are and what they want. Having someone who works both the publishing side as well as the label side of the music ecosystem in for a conversation brought up a lot of new strategies. May is also very interested in having artists develop their music and career, being ready for their next step, whatever level that might be.
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Ninja Tune
Big Dada Records
May Mahmoudi reviewed by Pitchfork
00:10 - Byta.com
03:36 - Virginia Tech, Beach Fossils, Wild Nothings
05:00 - Me and my friends all moved to LA, I got a job at Universal Music
06:23 - How got my job at Ninja Tune
08:36 - The difference between the publishing world and the record label world
10:00 - What don’t artists know about publishing
10:35 - Just DM Beck…
11:24 - What does May’s day-to-day look like
12:51 - What are publishers looking for in an artist
14:42 - Chicken and Egg, how do artists get synchs?
15:28 - What does synch-able mean exactly?
17:03 - Bid Dada is looking for people pushing boundaries
18:11 - How do most indie labels approach new signings these days?
19:18 - The luxury of being Big Dada Records, under Ninja Tune.
20:42 - What are publishers looking for in an artist
21:10 - Why would anyone sign a record deal?
23:25 - Bandcamp is your best option
25:22 - May’s back story and her music career
27:50 - Byta.com
29:00 - You need to be ready for the level of label you sign to
31:16 - Music pollution
34:45 - Technology has changed everything & made music more accessible
38:09 - The importance of giving back to your community
40:00 - HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
41:18 - How does May find new music and artists
43:41 - How does A&R work inside the label
46:12 - What makes a great songwriter
47:30 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"I'm reaching out to people because of their work ethic and because of their consistency. I believe in their journey and I feel like it's only a matter of time before something huge happens"
Our guest on today’s episode is Obinna Agwu. Newly appointed A&R Executive at Horus Music Nigeria, Obinna Agwu is also an artiste manager and music business consultant and podcaster with years of experience working in the Nigerian music industry. He is experienced in working closely with a variety of industry partners and managing internal/external relationships. As mentioned he also hosts a music industry-based podcast known as The Listening Sessions Podcast.
Prior to joining Horus Music, Obinna worked at Boomplay as their Artiste Relations Manager, executing over twenty major releases and securing top talents like ILLBliss, Laycon, Hotyce and Ugochee for Boomplay’s Hip-Hop initiative, “Pass The Mic”. Obinna also oversaw planning and rollout for El Dee The Don’s ‘Undeniable’ whilst working at Trybe Records, and while at the Chocolate City record label (generally regarded as one of the most successful indigenous urban record labels in Africa) he oversaw the Plantation Boiz’s Plan B album, And The Bass is Queen by Lindsey Abudei, M.I Abaga’s debut album ‘Talk About It’, and many other projects.
Marc and Obinna talk about how artists can be better prepared to help move their music and careers forward. They also talk about the history of the music industry in Nigeria, the Afrobeats explosion and why there is more to Nigeria than Afrobeats.
Obinna spoke to us from Lagos, Nigeria.
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Horace Music
Horace Music Nigeria
Trybe Records, and the Chocolate City record label
Boomplay
West & East Africa
Afrobeat
The Listening Sessions Podcast
00:10 - Byta.com
02:35 - From Boomplay to Horace Music Nigeria
04:22 - Radio promotion back in the good old days & A&R
09:11 - Artists out front, maybe too soon
11:46 - People expect excellence
15:10 - South African music industry
17:00 - Nigerian music industry relationship with South Africa
22:53 - From radio to steaming and Boomplay
27:00 - How do new artists approach the music industry in Nigeria
29:30 - Are Nigerian artists looking to sign to major labels
35:35 - How does Horace Music support creators
37:25 - How do artists get to 20 000 streams
42:45 - How do artists decide how to develop their careers
45:43 - A&R is a new concept in Nigeria. Payola
50:40 - the vibrant music scene in Nigeria
54:00 - The Listening Sessions Podcast
55:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"When I first hear a song, it doesn't matter if it was released today, one year ago or 10 years ago. It's new to me, the moment I first hear it, and that's the same for your fans."
Our guest on today’s episode is Mike Warner, founder of Work Hard Playlist Hard – The DIY playlist guide for Artists and Curators. Mike is also the Head of Editorial Marketing Partnerships for North America at Believe, the global music distributor. As the go-to authority at the forefront of the digital music world, for all things streaming, we get into it with Mike. Find out how he got started as a DJ in Australia and then eventually made his way to California. How unemployment can lead to some great ideas, opportunities and even a book. Let's find out about the path that led to Mike eventually ending up at Believe USA for his day job, yes he loves a day job. Throughout this episode, Marc brings a bucket of questions to the table. Mike gets more specific about some excellent strategies, timelines and how to approach building a team. He also explains a few unique ways artists can get noticed by the many Digital Service Providers (DSP) out there.
The biggest lessons offered up:
Don’t give up and don’t ignore any of the streaming services. Artists should always be talking about their work no matter when the music was released. A song is “new” the moment people hear it, even if it is 1 or 10 years old.Mike spoke to us from California, USA.
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Believe
Work Hard Playlist Hard – The DIY playlist guide for Artists and Curators
Chartmetric
00:10 - Byta.com
02:20 - I grew up in Australia
03:39 - All I wanted to be was a DJ
06:10 - I moved to the USA and could not work so researched streaming services
08:40 -Pay a fee & get on a streaming platform: DistroKidt, CD Baby, TuneCore
09:00 - Other platforms provide services on top of that- The Orchard Ingrooves and Believe
11:55 - The band Date Night
13:00 - Writing the book: Work Hard Playlist Hard
20:18 - Fill in the forms and pitch your music to the DSPs
27:52 - What is an editorial playlist
29:07 - Spotify only allow you to pitch one track at a time
30:18 - Amazon Music: Pitch your music everywhere
32:00 - Pandora, only in the US, but a lot of listeners and great artist support
36:15 - Tidal for artists, “Rising Artists”
40:23 - Make a plan, talk up your music
43:31 - 8 Weeks before release, stick to a schedule
47:05 - Don't be disheartened, people take longer to discover new music today
49:30 - Its new the first time you hear it
51:56 - Finding your team- ask lots of questions.
56:00 - How I got on the Starbucks playlist
59:00 - Reach out on LinkedIn
59:30 - Creating your own playlists and exchanging music with other curators
1:03:20 - Working with labels and distributors
1:04:00 - The New Spotify user interface, Spotify canvas
1:10:00 - What are publishers looking for?
1:12:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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“I didn't know anything about the music industry. I didn't know that there were publicists trying to push stuff. I was clueless. So getting emails at the start was really cool, especially when it was from artists that I recognized.”
Our guest on today’s episode is Jason Grishkoff the founder of SubmitHub. With just a hop, skip and a jump, Jason moved from the world of high finance to working at tech giant Google. Then a side hustle and hobby – the Indie Shuffle Blog (it’s music discovery powered by real people.), led to founding SubmitHub. The goal was to efficiently and transparently connect artists with curators, the “right” people, in order to get music heard more efficiently.
One of the key stages of getting your music heard and promoted outside of your own network is accessing the world’s music curators, but who are they? How can artists and creators access these curators and influencers themselves? This is what SubmitHub is an expert in. The platform was built with musicians and curators in mind. You upload your music, then use pay-for credits to submit it to trusted and user-scored curators (there is a free song-submission feature as well). They listen and then respond directly from within the SubmitHub platform.
Byta’s Marc Brown has always tried to impart as much wisdom as possible to anyone wanting to operate within the music ecosystem. DIY is your best first step, finding out how everything works, by trying and often failing for the first time. There are no shortcuts. This was a great conversation between two people trying to do similar things in different ways.
Jason spoke to us from Cape Town, South Africa
Show Notes:
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
SubmitHub
Indie Shuffle
00:10 - Byta.com
03:15 - NAPSTER
03:57 - 2007 music
07:54 - Indie Shuffle
09:00 - MP3 Blogs
09:40 - Web Sheriff
13:18 - The advantage of a publicist
17:36 - SubmitHub explained
21:23 - Solving the problem of email inconsistency
25:33 - Hype Machine
27:38 - Knowing who you are and what you want as an artist
33:30 - How to approach advertising your music
39:00 - Who should I send my music to?
43:03 - How to take advantage of playlists
48:32 - The difference between followers and listeners
55:46 - Playlist pitfalls
58:35 - Pay for playlisting/fake playlists
1:01:00 - What else is an artist to do?
1:03:00 - TikTok
1:06:00 - Take Spotify out for drinks, if you can find them
1:08:00 - Get as much traction in your first 28 days as possible
1:12:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"A fan a day" is basically anything that you’re doing to grow. Everything that you do should be cognisant of building an audience...
This episode features a panel discussion moderated by Marc Brown, Founder & CEO, Byta / byta.com
Our guests are: Mira Silvers (Head of Music, FORT Agency), Nikisha Bailey (GM, Nvak Collective Executive Board, The Recording Academy Global Co-Chair, Diversity & Inclusion, Women In Music) & Phil Loutsis (VP Community, AWAL)
Live music, festivals, and conferences. All of a sudden people were back in the same rooms listening to and talking about music again. 2022 was the year music finally came back from COVID. Some of the same old challenges that have always been there did not go away. This episode comes up with a few ideas to move a music career forward.
Here is a little more information on our panelists:
Mira Silvers
Originally from Atlanta, Mira Silvers is a young music executive & polymath, who serves as the General Manager/Co-Founder of VICEVERSA, an emerging social-based record label and artist incubation platform. Additionally, she is an artist manager and the Head of Music at FORT, an independent female-led and Brown-owned agency focusing on a highly curated roster of artists for live development.
Phil Loutsis
Phil focuses his energies on helping indie artists build their careers. Part of his role at AWAL includes curating content to help creators and managers make the best use of their resources. A big part of building and sustaining those music careers – harnessing community with artists, creators and their teams. He enables artists and their teams to better tell their stories.
Nikisha Bailey
Forbes “Next 1000 list 2021” honoree, Nikisha Bailey is a community-driven entrepreneur, entertainment executive, and philanthropist with a lifelong commitment to music. Professionally, she is the General Manager for the Nvak Collective – a next-generation record label & artist advocacy collective that embraces web3 to drive change for creators and intellectual property. She also serves as Vice President for The Recording Academy’s New York Chapter and is an Ambassador for the Academy’s Black Music Collective (BMC).
Even if you stumble on this podcast deep into 2023, or further down the road, the ideas, strategies and inspired conversation that take place in this episode are well worth a listen, are still relevant. Sustaining a career in music has never been easy but the landscape seems to be changing at an increased pace... or is it. Some things remain the same- like hard work and treating your music and yourself like a business, other things- streaming, TikTok offer up new opportunities and challenges.
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
00:10 - Byta.com
02:49 - FORT Agency, MMF Canada, VICEVERSA Records
03:51 - AWAL
04:32 - Nvak Collective, The Recording Academy, Women In Music
14:13 - Chartmetric
19:57 - Girl In Red
25:53 - 1000 Super Fans
30:49 - Byta
33:00 - Muni Long
33:31 - Jazmine Sullivan, Denzel Curry
40:15 - Artist as CEO
51:57 - SubmitHub
55:21 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
Bonus Material:
#MethodToMyMusic weekly interviews
Digital Dialogue Guest Blogs
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"DO IT TOGETHER- You learn by doing, you navigate the systems and the complicated processes, by jumping right into it with curiosity and humility, learn as you go, and then share what you're learning."
Our guest on today’s episode is Kevin Erickson, Director of The Future of Music Coalition (FMC). Kevin has contributed opinion pieces to outlets as disparate as The Nation and Pitchfork, volunteers with Positive Force DC, and remains active as a musician and record producer, operating Swim-Two-Birds recording studio in DC, alongside husband Hugh McElroy. Before joining FMC’s team in 2012, he directed the All Ages Movement Project, a national non-profit network of all-ages music venues and youth music programs. The Future of Music Coalition is a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization supporting a musical ecosystem where artists flourish and are compensated fairly and transparently for their work.
The FMC’s work is rooted in the real-world experiences and ambitions of working musicians, whose perspectives are often overlooked in policy debates. The FMC works with musicians, composers and industry stakeholders to identify solutions to shared challenges. They promote strategies, policies, technologies and educational initiatives that always put artists first while recognizing the role music fans play in shaping the future.
This episode does not just talk policy and lobbying, but real work tips and tricks on helping musicians connect, develop community and more than anything else pay attention to what the world at large and larger corporations are imposing on creative musicians.
Kevin spoke to us from Washington, DC
Show Notes
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
Future Of Music Coalition, Staff
All Ages Movement Project
Positive Force DC
00:10 - Byta.com
12:00 - Universal Music Group
13:21 - Clear Channel, iHeart Radio
17:00 - Ticketmaster, Live Nation
24:00 - Puppets, more here
26:00 - Music Modernization Act
30:00 - Byta.com
35:00 - Healthcare for Musicians USA
36:00 - Affordable Care Act
38:00 - Terrestrial Radio Royalties
40:00 - House Judiciary Committee
43:30 - Huw Stephens
50:00 - DIY, DITO
55:00 - Future of Music Coalition YouTube
56:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"Radio will never die…"
"You have to define yourself and create your own brand. I normally don’t like that ethos that you have to create a brand, but you can definitely do it in a way that stays true to yourself."
Our guest on today’s episode is Saidah Blount, Executive Producer at SONOS Radio, she is also their Primary Impact Storyteller. What does that job title mean exactly? She lets us know. Storytelling is at the heart of what Byta believes is one of the most important elements of promoting one’s self: always control your narrative. So Marc and Saidah get into it. Saidah followed a very unique path from the midwest to New York, one that included music journalism, stopping off at NPR for a few years and eventually landing at SONOS. Her north star was always music and trying to figure out how she could somehow incorporate that into her work life. She realized early on that working in the music industry proper was not for her, so she had to figure out another way, to do it on her own terms. She is a big fan of radio, having grown up in Kansas City one of the first big radio markets in the USA, plus both her parents were big music fans. Marc has a long history in Radio as well, so they discuss the differences between curated playlists (by real people VS AI), and old-school radio, and the future of “radio”. How can musicians make contact with the people at SONOS to have their music heard and played? Spoiler alert- persistence seems to be the answer. It is a great conversation that goes down some surprising and very insightful paths and Shazam.
Saidah spoke to us from Brooklyn, New York
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
00:10 - Byta.com
01:58 - Sonos Radio
05:14 - Kansas City Radio
08:22 - NYC 2000s
11:15 - Interview Magazine
14:05 - National Public Radio
16:06 - radio.SONOS.com
22:40 - Shazam, auto Shazam
25:25 - Byta.com
26:00 - Imaginary Sound Track
28:10 - Black is Black, DJ Lindsey Caldwell
29:00 - Jamaican & country music
30:00 - Women in Sound, Women in Sound ‘zine
32:00 - Bob Boilen
34:00 - Bandcamp
42:00 - Huw Stephens
45:00 - DEI initiatives
50:00 Thom of Radiohead
51:00 - Erykah Badu
52:00 - Dolly Parton
53:00 - Tems
57:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"The number one thing to never, ever do, would be to set a release date before your music is done."
Our guest on today’s episode is Kevin Breuner, Senior VP of Engagement and Education at CD Baby. Kevin’s job at CD Baby is all about making sure musicians are as prepared as possible when planning to release their music into the world. Marc and Kevin talk about how Kevin went from being a Grammy-nominated musician to working with CD Baby. Along the way, Kevin also offers up all kinds of great advice on being ready when you release your next album or single.
Previously VP of Marketing at CD Baby, Kevin’s new role reinforces what CD Baby is all about: making sure musicians are as prepared as possible when planning to release their music into the world. At CD Baby, Kevin created the DIY Musician brand, which has become the cornerstone of CD Baby’s mission statement.
Kevin came to us from Atlanta, Georgia
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
00:10 - Byta.com
02:14 - Music Biz
02:16 - CD Baby
02:55 - CD Baby podcasts, blog, conferences
04:03 - Smalltown Poets
04:11 - Belmont University
04:20 - Producer John Hampton
06:46 - The 90s Christian music scene
08:00 - GRAMMY nominated, Dove awards
11:15 - iTunes(Apple Music)
11:40 - MP3 players
12:15 - DIY podcast
14:30 - Streaming changed everything
26:555 - Grassroots marketing
28:30 - KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid
29:20 - Set a release date before your music is done
36:45 - CD Baby release plan generator
42:22 - Discover Weekly
52:36 - People like seeing videos
57:00 - You want to own the relationship
1:04:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"The better the song, the more likely it is to get synced and the more people will listen to it."
This episode’s guest is Miller Williams, Senior VP Creative at Kobalt Music Publishing. Miller’s role at Kobalt covers A&R, songwriter services, and catalogue acquisitions. He also works with their international agents and sub-publishers to exploit their songs and help their writers with co-write opportunities. Signings include Becky Hill, Milow, Jef Martens, Houston Comma publishing, Carla Monroe, AJ Tracy, Martin Sjolie, and Alex Clare. Williams has also held similar A&R and/or creative positions at Sony ATV UK, BMG Records UK, PWL Records UK, and Terrace Music (Nashville). In this episode, Miller talks about going from zero to hero, getting synchs and how things work when you are writing and pitching songs to K-Pop and J-Pop artists. They also get into how things are working in Africa these days and of course how Miller made it into the music ecosystem to start with.
Kobalt is one of the most successful independent companies for music publishing, label services and rights management. In his role as Senior Vice President of Creative there, Miller works across A&R, collaborations and music marketing.
"Yeah! Usually what I find is that if you scratch beneath the surface, the artists who have become successful have done a ton of work behind the scenes that no one has known about. I don’t think there’s any shortcut to success. Lil Nas X did become famous quite quickly through TikTok, but he’s proven that he can write hit after hit which is another important thing - longevity. That’s a real skill to be able to keep going and reinvent yourself."
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
00:10 - Byta.com
02:06 - Kobalt
6:15 - Belmont College
6:20 - PWL
6:22 - Global Talent Publishing
8:45 - BIMM & ICMP
10:18 - Berklee Music
12:12 - Orbital
16:55 - MP3s and downloads
23:00 - NTFs
27:35 - Japan
30:27 - Katie Gregson
36:13 - Vaccines
38:40 - Justin Bieber finds Omah Lay
41:44 - Ultra Records
44:10 - Adapter
45:42 - Ive released “Love Dive”
48:34 - emPawa Africa
49:09 - Chioma Onuchukwu.
51:24 - WizKiz, BurnaBoy, Mr Eazi, Tems
52:37 - SAMRO
53:00 - Sheer Music
53:42 - SOCAN
54:33 - Sentric Music
55:48 - Artist Journey
58:24 - PRS (Performing Right Society),
MCPS (collects and distributes mechanical royalties to songwriters, composers and publishers)
1:01:43 - Corinne Bailey Rae, Like a Star, “Put Your Records On”
1:05:57 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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" … I do not often hear “I love South African music” or “I love Nigerian music”, it’s more of a genre thing. "
This episode’s guest is Chioma Onuchukwu, Head of TuneCore, West & East Africa. Chioma is perfectly positioned to provide insights and opinions on the African music ecosystem. Before joining TuneCore, Chioma worked as the Marketing Manager at uduX Music, a Nigerian music streaming platform, where she worked with artists like Davido, Yemi Alade, Patoranking, Kizz Daniel and more. Starting in August of 2021 she also sits on the Women in Music Nigeria board as the chapter’s Co-Chair. Based in Nigeria, Chioma oversees West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. She also looks after East Africa: Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and more. Chioma is dedicated to understanding and supporting the needs of local artists, which involves education and securing partnerships beneficial to their success and the growth of TuneCore in her markets.
"I tend to see a lot of people saying that they love Afrobeats or they love one specific artist but a lot of times they won’t know where this artist is from, whether it’s from South Africa, Nigeria, or anywhere else."
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
00:10 - Byta.com
01:48 - Chioma Onuchukwu
02:07 - TuneCore
02:41 - Master's degree
04:14 - African Music Market
05:33 - South Africa
09:14 - African popular music, The music industry in Africa today
09:30 - Grammys
10:00 - African streaming service Boomplay
11:31 - Afrobeats, Best African music
13:39 - Amapiano
14:43 - James Brown
15:49 - Highlife: Prince Nico Mbarga: Sweet Mother, an example of Afrobeats: WizKid - Don't Dull
17:44 - Ghana music, Nigerian music
20:00 - #HowWeListen
21:00 - Music Business Academy by Godwin Tom, Godwin Tom & Sony
22:00 - Juls
25:00 - Women In Music, Women In Music, Nigeria
30:54 - African sub-genres
33:00 - African music conferences
34:00 - The 4 P’s of marketing
40:00 - Ice T, Power record
44:00 - Grants
45:40 - Afrochella
46:00 - Lagos music festival
48:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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"As a manager, you are involved in every aspect of an artist's career so it is an intimate relationship."
This episode's guest is Michelle Cable, founder of Panache Booking and Panache Management. Michelle Cable founded Panache in 1998. Live music is quickly returning as artists scramble to get back out on the road. In a pre-COVID world, touring was becoming key to monetising a music career. After putting everything on hold for 24 months, “live” has never been more important. What does the future hold? Panache has been in the touring industry for over two decades and has always adapted alongside the live music industry as it has evolved. Michelle has had an incredible journey from 14-year-old Fanzine founder & publisher in Eureka, California, to a key player in touring and management. Panache prides itself in its ability to stay independent, resolute, and specifically cater to each of their Artist’s individual needs while helping them have sustainable careers while still maintaining its indie ethos. As both a booking agency and a management company, Panache led by Michelle have a unique perspective on helping to guide musicians’ careers, now more than ever.
“I’ve always evolved when I needed to and that has worked for me so far. With booking, it was more straightforward and short term but with management, it’s more of a longer-term process over many years.”
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
2:12 - Panache Booking
2:12 - Panache Artist Management
3:18 - Eureka, California
5:34 - Humboldt State University
5:40 - The White Stripes
7:17 - The Flaming Lips
7:20 - Scott Booker
7:35 - Raining Sound
7:45 - The Hives
10:10 - Panache Magazine #26
12:00 - Humbolt Country weed
12:10 - Twin Peaks
13:59 - Arcata
14:53 - Denny's
15:00 - Bummer Fest
17:50 - Shellshag
22:04 - AEG and Live Nation
23:12 - Ty Segall
23:30 - Mac DeMarco
26:50 - Black Flag Tour Callendar
30:42 - Peaches
32:34 - The 48 Laws of Power
36:51 - SheSaid.So
38:00 - Music Industry
41:00 - Jenny Kaufman
42:50 - Talent buyer
1:06:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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This episode's guest is Sarah Hamilton, Regional Manager for Australia & New Zealand at Ditto Music.
In the digital age do bands no longer have to break out of their small town, then leap to the big city to conquer their country in order to go international? What does community mean in the music streaming era? It is easier to get on an international playlist but is anyone listening? Marc speaks with Sarah Hamilton, Regional Manager for Australia & New Zealand at Ditto Music. Marc and Sarah talk about the best steps that artists can take to self realize their goals, “Stay Independent”. Sometimes it can be hard to promote yourself, but no one else will. Sarah explains how she pitches Australian music to the world. Sarah also talks about the charity she co-founded called One of One. A website that highlights women and non-binary people in the music industry. Sarah has been working in digital distribution in Australia since 2008, with a short stint in New York City. She loves working with independent artists and seeing them gain access to the same opportunities as artists signed to major labels.
“I do start by asking artists questions to gauge what they’d be like to work with and how well they know the market. It’s a bit of a red flag when I ask someone what kind of artists they like or might be similar to, and they say that they don’t listen to music or are just concentrating on themselves.”
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
2:08 - Gig Life Pro
3:45 - Kulin Nations
4:51- Ditto Music in New Zealand and Australia
5:20 - One of One
5:58 - Queensland
7:44 - Netflix
10:37 - Ditto, DistroKid, CD Baby, Ditto Plus
14:06 - Joanna Cameron, The Power 50, One of One events
16:52 - Huw Stephens
25:23 - Canadian bands
35:37 - AViVA, My Chemical Romance,
36:30 - YouTube, Mr Suicide Sheep
37:00 - AViVA Book
40:16 - Qsic, Soundtrack Your Brand
41:52 - Junior Foster, Napster
44:59 - Timeline
45:59 - Ditto Philippines
47:50 - Filipino R&B
48:00 - MUNGMUNG
49:34 - Solomon Islands/Papua New Guinea, Record label
50:00 - Afrobeat in Australia
50:49 - Ghana
51:49 - Wallace
57:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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Our next guest is Corbyn Asbury, Label Relations Manager at YouTube.
YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, but how do emerging artists best maximise their promo power there? How does one secure maximum discoverability?
Marc speaks with Corbyn Asbury, Label Relations Manager at YouTube, If you are not quite sure what YouTube has to offer to the music community, Corbyn has you covered. He explains some of the tools that YouTube are continually working on in order to specifically help musicians? He also worked at Apple and Universal Music. Corbyn joined YouTube (owned by Google) at the start of 2018 to help with the launch of YouTube Music. Since then, he has worked on large scale campaigns with superstar artists, including Little Mix, The 1975, Dua Lipa, and Mabel. Corbyn also led YouTube’s emerging artist program, Artist On The Rise, which is all about breaking new artists and amplifying music’s most compelling up-and-comers. Corbyn is your indie on the inside. Marc and Corbyn discuss tips and tricks when using YouTube to launch new music. Strategies and the best practices that can help bring more attention to both singles and full albums on the platform also gets discussed.
"YouTube.com is pretty much all algorithmic, but YouTube music is a playlist system so it takes you out of the echo chamber that you might get into on youtube.com and give you more of a genre or theme-specific playlist experience. It’s primarily audio with a bit of video, but 80% of the consumption that happens is audio first and background listening."
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
2:07 - Google
3:14 - Today At Apple Program
5:50 - Label Relations Manager
6:51 - Liverpool Sound City
7:00 - YouTube History
9:36 - YouTube’s Official Artist Channel.
10:00 - YouTube Premieres
12:48 - YouTube Music
15:33 - Gen Z
17:59 - YouTube 1st Video
22:58 - Youtube Shorts
27:27 - Foundry Fund
28:00 - MMF (Music Managers Forum)
30:15 - Metadata / Descriptions
30:26 - Edit the Metadata
31:44 - Youtube.com/trending
33:05 - Proper File Tags
35:10 - SEO (search engine optimisation)
36:43 - YouTube studio app
41:24 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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Our next guest is Head of Music for The Great Escape Festival, Adam Ryan.
What goes into curating, booking and presenting Europe’s largest festival and conference dedicated to the discovery of new music? Marc’s guest, Adam Ryan, has spent the better part of his adult life tirelessly discovering, promoting and presenting new music locally, nationally and internationally. He is now the Head of Music at The Great Escape Festival, taking place annually in Brighton, UK. How different is it curating a renowned three-day festival versus booking a venue? What can today’s artists learn about building strong live promoter relationships? Can artists book themselves onto festivals before having a team? How important is it to “be nice” to your promoter and your sound person? COVID decimated the live music community around the globe. Has any good come from an entire industry needing to pivot and re-evaluate what it means to present live music? What does the future hold for the industry? Marc asks all of these questions, whilst finding out how we all bounce back (if we have not already).
"I always say, to be export ready, you need to have the start of a team, it could be a manager, it could be your mum! It could be anybody, just somebody who comes with you, so when you’re performing, you only have to focus on that, and somebody else is doing your networking."
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
1:00 - The Great Escape
1:49 - Farringdon
4:19 - Radio One
4:29 - The Great Escape Conference
5:34 - Towcester (pronounced toaster)
5:40 - Fred Perry
5:45 - Barfly
9:03 - Creation
9:34 - KOKO
10:47 - Mama and Comp., Jon Mack, Reading & Leeds, Martin Elbourne, Glastonbury,
13:21 - Independent Promoters
14:55 - Partners, Showcases
16:49 - The First Fifty
23:55 - French export office, Sounds Australia, CIMA(Canada), Estonia,
24:30 - Mac Demarco
27:13 - Korea
29:03 - Canadian Music Associations
30:05 - USA
30:37 - Holland Music Festival
32:44 - Export ready
34:56 - The Great Escape online events
36:00 - Cancelled events
40:44 - Huw Stephens
41:37 - #HowWeListen, music discovery
42:04 - Coldplay
46:16 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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Our next guest is Bonsound Co-founder and Managing director Gourmet Délice.
Understanding and planning for multiple angles in an artist’s career can be challenging. Today, full “services” for artists can mean many things. Twenty years ago one record label looked around and realised they might have to do more than just release recordings if their artists were to see any success. Marc is joined on this episode by Bonsound Co-founder and Managing director Gourmet Délice. Bonsound is a music company offering multiple types of services to artists. Established in a very unique marketplace: Quebec, Canada.
Bonsound is an organisation that works at the service of its artists and does not own their intellectual property. The company offers a full range of professional and personalised services to contribute to the sustainable development of the careers of its artists.
They are a record label, music publisher, booking agency, concert producer, artist management and PR team. They also run two sub-labels: Make It Rain and Blow the Fuse records.
“(Bounsound) came out of a necessity for me and my other 2 business partners, and also the needs of musicians in Montreal. It has snowballed into a 30-employee company doing all of these services in the music industry. It created a kind of movement. We looked around and we saw that there were no services that understood the philosophy of the underground bands we were working with and also offered services at a reasonable price.”
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation
2:15 - Unison Fund
7:23 - Gourmet
9:19 - Montreal
10:53 - The Hives / Buzzcocks
12:40 - Dare To Care Records
19:31 - Malajube
19:35 - City Slang
19:40 - DJ Champion
22:07 - Pop Montreal
22:07 - Third Side Music
22:15 - Montreal -40
23:48 - SXSW
44:50 - Canada Council
44:55 - FACTOR
44:60 - CALQ
1:00:00 - Here To There
1:04:00 - Byta.com
Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu
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