Music Rookie

This week we're talking with David Macias, President and Founder of Nashville-based Thirty Tigers. We'll discuss the origins of the label, how their business model has changed over the years, how they approach A&R as well as artist development, and discuss independent release plans (label or not) ... and David will spill the tea on the current uproar over the streaming economy.

Skip to ~22 minutes if you're only here for the Spotify/streaming talk.

To read more of David's thoughts on Spotify and the streaming economy in general, check out this piece in Rolling Stone, as well as David's full written notes here.

This week on Music Rookie is an interview  with Daniel Kohn who is the editor at Spin Magazine.

 In this conversation from 2021, you’ll hear us talk about Daniel’s journey as a music journalist, what he looks for in a story, and his vision for Spin, now that it is under new ownership. 

A conversation with Justin Black, a Richmond, VA-based independent musician who runs his own label, Crystal Pistol Records, and also works regularly with another Virginia-based label, WarHen Records. 

Justin’s primary vessel for musical output is under the moniker Saw Black, which I recommend you check out wherever you consume music. 

Our conversation is based around the premise of independent labels — and answering common questions like...should you start your own label? Should you cut a deal with a small indie? What might that deal look like versus a traditional deal or a "bigger" label deal? We’ll also demystify a lot of the day-to-day of being an independent musician and the music industry at-large.

A conversation with J. Edward Keyes who is the Editorial Director for Bandcamp. We discuss the benefits of using Bandcamp as a direct to consumer platform for musicians. With their editorial arm, BandCamp, Daily, and their plethora of artists tools, the independent platform gives their users unique ways to connect with fans and allows them to actually make money form their art. We highlight allof the special features that users sometimes overlook.

A conversation with Joe Swank, a freelance radio promoter who previously worked in the radio space at Yep Roc Records and Bloodshot Records.

Joe was also a touring musician in the '90s, hosts his own radio show, and co-founded the Alt-country Specialty Radio Chart — so he's got a LOT of wisdom to share not only on the radio side, but on building a music industry career in general.

As we've heard on other episodes; be ready to stay in it for the long haul, don't bank on overnight success, and constantly (C O N S T A N T L Y) work on developing your network.

Also, be nice to people.

A conversation with Joseph Lynch to get the inside scoop from him about Billboard's pivot during the pandemic to covering more industry news, music technology, and the types of stories he's looking for when covering smaller artists. 

We also talk about misconceptions about the industry, the myth of the overnight success, and why musicians should just suck it up and get on TikTok.

This week we're talking with Emma Swift, a Nashville-by-way-of-Australia singer-songwriter who garnered some serious attention last year with her release of Blonde On The Tracks.

We were excited to talk to Emma as a follow-up to our recent newsletter piece highlighting an atypical release strategy -- one that does NOT involve releasing songs to streaming platforms on the official release date. Emma breaks down her impetus for doing a "physical or download-only" release, how the plan was formed, and touches on all of the moving parts of her release cycle. She'll also provide some advice to developing artists on how to approach your next release.

As promised in the outro of the podcast, here's info on Emma's team that worked this release:

• UK publicist: Rachel Silver - https://silverpr.co.uk/about/
• US publicist: Ken Weinstein - https://www.bighassle.com
• US radio promo: Brad Paul - http://www.bradpaulmedia.com
• Distribution: ThinkIndie in the US; MGM Planet in Australia. 
• Emilee Warner helped manage my campaign for four months. She was particularly good at Nashville related hookups: advertising on Lightning100, a mural at Grimey's, booking Blackbird for a live stream.

A conversation with the music editor for LA Weekly. Brett Callwood has worked for a slew of alt-weeklies, including Denver’s Westword, Detroit’s The Metro Times, SF Weekly and you’ll soon see his byline in the relaunch of the Village Voice.

Brett walks us through his process for determining coverage each week at LA Weekly,  plus he gives us his insights on the Los Angeles music scene, if genres even matter anymore, and his thoughts on the future of music journalism in general.

A conversation with Alyssa DeHayes, who is a publicist and media relations specialist for record labels, festivals and independent artists at Riot Act Media. She loves demystifying PR and marketing strategies in one-on-one consulting sessions for artists and labels who aren’t quite ready for a full publicity campaign. She spends her lunch hour twice a week teaching music publicity and promotion at The University of Georgia’s Music Business Program, and volunteers for Girls Rock Athens.

We'll discuss the value of PR for artists in 2021, managing growth over the course of your career, managing expectations, and setting realistic goals. We’ll also talk about records release plans in general from the perspective of Alyssa's label.

Pertinent links to Alyssa’s happenings: 

• Publicist at Riot Act Media
• Founder of Arrowhawk Records
• Project Manager at Asthmatic Kitty (Sufjan Stevens)

ALBUM RELIEF

Album Relief is a four week course to teach artists how to approach handling their own publicity for albums, singles, and tours. A full-on campaign isn’t always the right move for every artist, at every stage, and this DIY course provides an alternative.