|
|
|
|
MUSIC MARKETING TIPS, MUST-KNOW SKILLS & ESSENTIAL NEWS
Need more Knowledge? Music Ally's Learning Hub will teach you all the skills you need!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi <<First Name>>, and welcome to The Knowledge – Music Ally's weekly sidle up to the modern music industry. This is the newsletter that takes comfort from knowing that David Bowie and Iman Abdulmajid made Bono, Eno, and Ono pose for a photo together. Below are highlights of the news, analysis and learning that make up our industry-standard subscriber services.
Please consider forwarding this email and signup link to anyone who'd like this newsletter to wobble unsteadily into their inbox each Friday. (And hit reply if the dancers in this video of the 1979 World Disco finals accurately depicts how you leave work on a Friday evening.)
Knowledge is power!
This week's Knowledge – in-depth and at-a-glance:
📬 BULLETIN NEWS: Two positive TikTok studies... (and a third that's less so)
💥 MARKETING: Indie-Visible: Indie rock marketing on streaming platforms and IRL
👩🎓 LEARNING HUB: Marketing On A Budget: strategies, tools & inspirational examples
📖 EXCLUSIVE BOOK EXTRACT: The Label Machine – Synchronisation
🤔 A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA... Our favourite unusual stuff found online this week
Note: Ⓜ️ = link to Music Ally subscriber content
|
|
|
🎧 TL; DR? Listen to Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow give brief, deep analysis of important music business stuff in the Music Ally Focus Podcast.
🛀 It's short: episodes take as long as brushing your teeth & taking a shower ...the perfect podcast for introducing music biz analysis into your morning ablutions!
Listen and subscribe here: Spotify / Apple / Anchor
|
|
|
📬 BULLETIN NEWS: Two positive TikTok studies... (and a third that's less so)
This week, TikTok published two new studies (which it commissioned) that trumpeted its undeniably huge impact on music and culture – on the same day that the Wall Street Journal published a sometimes unflattering investigation into TikTok's famed algorithm. Here are the big takeaways:
- An MRC Data survey found that 75% of respondents discover new artists through TikTok, and 63% say they found new previously-unheard music. 67% said they are more likely stream these songs on streaming platforms and 67% want videos from brands featuring popular songs on TikTok.
- A study by research firm Flamingo also has a brand focus: "TikTokers like brands better when they create or participate in a trend on TikTok".
- (Brands' use of music in video apps is a tricky topic: Sony Music is currently suing fitness brand Gymshark for exactly this.)
- The Wall Street Journal's study is truly fascinating. Its journalists created dozens of bot accounts, each with certain interests, to explore TikTok's uncanny ability to know which videos you'll linger on without you telling it.
- Findings are sometimes uncomfortable: one bot account was sent down a rabbit hole where 93% of the videos served were related to depression.
- It's not all bad, but as the WSJ video concludes: "While TikTok can draw out what makes you laugh, it can also make you wallow in your darkest thoughts..."
👉 Music Ally archive: TikTok
|
|
💥 MARKETING: Indie-Visible: Indie rock marketing on streaming platforms and IRL
Marketing indie rock bands on streaming platforms can be tricky for a number of reasons, but it's partly because the nature of indie music means balancing those efforts between the streaming world and IRL. In Sandbox 269 Ⓜ️, we spoke to the people in the music business who figured it out.
Promoting indie on streaming platforms is a bit of a puzzle:
- Indie music has a traditionally album-based release cycle – counter to streaming's need for endless singles;
- Indie's aesthetic, ethos and fandom requires patience and context – harder to achieve on streaming platforms
- Indie fans demand special physical products, and personal appearances.
- However, some lateral thinking beyond streaming can work wonders:
- Remixes can extend an indie song’s life or introduce them to new audiences
- TikTok works well for indie bands thanks to its focus on soundtracking the moment
- Connecting with physical retail shops is vital – even if the actual sale happens online
We took a detailed look into perfecting the best balance, and also discovered which playlists are most helpful, and how you stretch indie rock artists’ appeal to other genres.
👉 Read all of this expert insight in Sandbox 269 Ⓜ️ – our essential marketing report.
|
|
|
Learn with us: For over a decade, Music Ally has upskilled people in all levels of the music industry: from major label teams, to Indies, managers, and DIY artists. Our Learning Hub is designed so that everyone – from students to CEOs – can get the edge they need. Always up-to-date with the newest digital marketing knowledge and future-facing strategies: Music Ally trains the best to be the best.
|
|
|
👩🎓 LEARNING HUB: Marketing On A Budget: strategies, tools & inspirational examples
These days, artist growth often relies on cross-platform, and extra-creative marketing decisions. But this can be expensive, and in real life, budgets are often limited. Our Marketing on a Budget module equips you with the tactics and skills to implement simple – yet super-effective – marketing activations. In other words: you'll be able to build pro marketing campaigns on a DIY budget.
Some simple ways to maximise reach without breaking the bank:
- For campaigns with a smaller budget, a good rule is that you should spend around 40% on content creation and then 30% on advertising.
- Tools like Beatchain are good for independent artists to distribute, promote, market, and create a website – all within one platform
- It might seem old hat, but an artist's email list is hyper-valuable as it is a direct communication channel. Try "social unlock" campaigns – where fans follow you on Spotify or sign up by email in exchange for exclusive content.
The Knowledge subscribers get an appropriately hefty 50% DISCOUNT on our Marketing On A Budget module. We'll walk you through using the best affordable but powerful tools, and show you strategies like Direct-to-Fan, Content Creation, Digital Advertising and Fan Engagement – with great real-life campaign examples to study.
|
|
|
🆓 GET COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS TO MUSIC ALLY: sponsored subscriptions – giving full access to our news, reporting and analysis – are available to people who work for independent labels, artist management, or music publishing companies. To find out if you qualify, please contact rocio@musically.com.
|
|
|
📖 EXCLUSIVE BOOK EXTRACT: The Label Machine – Synchronisation
Here's an exclusive extract from Nick Sadler's new book, The Label Machine: How to start, run and grow your own independent music label, released this week. It’s a comprehensive and practical step-by-step guide for setting up and running an independent music label – Music Ally readers can use the coupon code "MusicAlly10" to get a 10% discount.
In the chapter on Sync, Nick lays out the basics and helps you decide if this is an appropriate income stream for you to invest time into:
- Sync is a tempting proposition: “Often artists believe this is the holy grail of money in the music industry (especially when they hear of a relatively unknown artist getting a $20,000 sync deal for placement in a TV advert).”
- But he warns about the realities of sync: “unless you dedicate your career to being a sync producing musician, don't count on this for an income stream. It's more a cherry on the top when it comes along.”
- Sync agents are almost essential (and there’s lots of them): “Almost all sync deals I have done via this set-up came from non-exclusive agents that reached out to me, and they typically took 10-15% of the total fee for arranging the sync license.”
- He also uses his own work as examples of the wide range of fees available: “My first sync was one of my own productions: 'Break It ft. Afrika Bambaataa' was featured in a FIFA Street 4 game, and I got US$4,000 all-in. We had a Zomboy track synced for the 'Hansel and Gretel' feature film trailer for US$38,000.”
👉 Read the full chapter on Sync here and order your copy here.
|
|
|
🤔 A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA...
And finally… our daily Bulletin newsletter is loved by subscribers for its instant industry analysis - but secretly, the part they like most is the ‘A Little Something Extra’ section at the bottom of the email. Here's a few of the best recent links and a couple of Knowledge extras:
|
|
|
Music Ally is a knowledge company for the global music business. See our recently launched Learning Hub which contains over 30 videos of up to date and fully certified content. We also offer in-house learning and development as well as marketing strategy and implementation for labels, managers, artists and publishers. Talk to Anthony to find out more or set up a call.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
