The David Andrew Wiebe Show

Is social media helping you grow your fan base? What can you expect in terms of return on investment (ROI)?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share how and why my attitude around social media has shifted, and what I think is the key to digital marketing success.

Podcast Highlights:

00:18 – The king of internet music marketing

00:43 – Shifting away from social media

01:24 – The addictive nature of social media

03:21 – How my thinking shifted

08:11 – Lessons from independent music campaigns

12:45 – “Old fart marketing”

14:46 – Automating your social media marketing

16:31 – 80/20 your marketing

17:53 – The importance of building your website on WordPress

19:30 – Where do you put your focus?

Transcription:

David Andrew Wiebe is the king of internet music marketing and, most importantly, social networking platforms.

That's a direct quote from Scott Kirby of Music Revolt, who shared that with me about four years ago in 2016. It was around that time that I came out with physical copies of my first best-selling book, The New Music Industry: Adapting, Growing and Thriving in the Information Age.

And it's true, back then I had a much stronger focus on social media. Some of you might be wondering, what happened? And maybe I'm just thinking too much here, and you couldn't care less. Either way, social media is deserving of some space on the podcast, at least one episode, right? But I actually am planning a more in-depth review of social media in 2020 later.

So I'll be getting into that in another episode. In this episode, we'll take a fairly surface-level look at social media and what it has meant to me, and how things have changed for me in the last few years. Now, social media is sexy.

People love it and it's addictive. And we know it's addictive because it's been engineered that way. Just like smartphones have been engineered to be addictive, so has social media.

And the two together are a deadly combination. Everywhere you go, it seems like people have their heads in their phones and aren't present to what's going on in the world. They look at the newsreels and the headlines and think that's actually what's going on in the world when they haven't confirmed any of it for themselves.

Now, that might be an entirely different topic, but I still feel like it's pretty relevant. It's pretty important to consider what it is that we're consuming and how we think about it. Because there are so many things that we just don't think about critically anymore.

The smartphones and the social media and our text messages and so many other things have us so distracted that basically we barely think about anything critically anymore. So that is a factor. Just the fact that I know it's addicting and I don't want to spend that much time on a platform as a creator like you are, I'm sure.

Whatever it is you're creating, you might be creating your first book, you might be creating music, you might be creating some kind of info product, or maybe even an app. I know that this podcast's listenership represents a broad base of people. There are all kinds of people that listen in.

And when I hear about the kind of quality of people that listen in, I couldn't be more thrilled. It's just so amazing to me that people who've been in the business and industry for so long and are well regarded listen to this podcast. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for listening in.

I am hugely appreciative of that fact. So I'm going to be going down a million rabbit trails here, just as I have. But getting back to the topic of social media, what has changed? You know, in life, I've discovered that there are some things that you simply can't unsee, such as the time when I read Tim Ferriss's book, The Four-Hour Workweek.

And I know that this was a transformational work for many entrepreneurs out there and probably for most of you listening. And if you haven't read it yet, I would suggest getting a copy. And I don't want to blow it out of proportion, but it might be one of the most inspirational and entertaining books on the idea of lifestyle design.

And lifestyle design is what I've been fascinated by and interested in the last few years, to the point where I am now a digital nomad. And I think I shared that before. However, I'm not the kind of digital nomad that is going to go and sit on a beach and make a video saying, Why the hell haven't you quit your job? That's just not my personality, and it's not how I do things.

The point is that I've achieved a degree of freedom, and it was my goal to do this. In 2016, I started working completely from home. And in 2019, I managed to extend that into becoming location-independent.

So that was a goal of mine. And my next goal is basically to build a six-figure business. And I'm certainly not going to say I'm well on my way, but looking at all of my various income sources, earning high four figures monthly has no longer proven a challenge to me.

So when people say, "Look at me, I am making $3,000 a month from selling stuff on Amazon." I couldn't care anymore. I'm more interested in how I leverage myself such that I can make six figures without like stressing out and having it take up my time.

So I mean, that's where my focus is now. So what changed for me with reading Tim Ferriss' book was that I no longer felt the necessity to be like right on top of my email. And as we know, email is a convenient organization system for other people's priorities.

So other people have plans for you. The thing is, other people's plans aren't that grand. They don't have many big ideas for you.

I'm sorry to say, I would love to say that there are so many people out there that are willing to invest and want to be a part of your team and want to help you out when you're struggling and when things are down, when it seems like you're not keeping up and, you know, you're giving your blood, sweat and tears to your business and you're still not keeping up with all these projects. There are so few people who will come by your side and say,  "Can I help? Can I help?" I would have loved to have heard those words last year. I'm telling you, I would have loved to have heard somebody say, "Can I help?" Because that would have made all the difference.

Just one person, just one person. It would have made all the difference. And this is the whole thing about social media that is encouraging a fairly individualistic society, but it didn't need a whole lot of help.

When you think about it, we were pretty individualistic before social media. And social media has only grown and expanded that trend, which is really one of the unfortunate things. So when I began to look at my email as a convenient organization system for other people's agendas for my life, I could no longer focus on it.

That just became a second, third, fourth priority. It was no longer the main priority in my life to keep my inbox to zero. And at this point now, I just try to unsubscribe from everything I possibly can so that my inbox is not cluttered and I can see any messages that are coming from clients, from my mastermind group, from my inner circle of friends that I care about.

Aside from that, I mean, really, do I have to? I'm going to try to communicate the best I can. And if you send me questions and you're on my email list, or if you're a podcast listener, or if you're a regular reader of the blog, absolutely send me emails, and I will respond to them. You can just go to the website and contact support if you don't already have my email, and they will get in touch with me because they are empowered to handle those types of requests.

And they're just going to send them over to me once they identify that they can't really answer the question. So you are more than welcome to just pass along your messages. And I'm really happy to see them.

And write a note of encouragement or comment or feedback, or anything that you find worthy. Wow, it's amazing how much I can though.

So hopefully I'm not boring you to death or anything like that. So some of the things that I've done over the last few years, I've done a couple of independent musician campaigns, not a ton, but there was a crowdfunding campaign, there was a radio campaign, there was a Facebook campaign, and a few things like that. And I worked on that with either a partner of mine or other team members, or a combination thereof.

So if you hear me saying we, it's not just me, right? There are other people involved in making this happen. What we find the first thing we check isn't an artist's social media following. Now, that might sound weird, or it might sound compelling depending on your experience with social media.

But my experience with social media has inevitably been that a large following can be leveraged, but usually, you still end up relying on advertising. So you have to spend some money to get results out of your following. As well, I still don't think social media is a marketing engine.

Now, advertising is amazing and you can get some great results, but you still have to nail your ad. If you don't nail your ad copy and images and everything that goes with it, it's just not going to be effective. And we marketers, I swear to you, waste a lot of money on ads that don't work until we find something that converts and works well.

So I don't know how a lot of these other providers of information for musicians in the music industry purport to be able to teach musicians how to create effective ads. I mean, I guess maybe they give you templates or something. I don't know, but I'm sorry to say, it's just not going to work that well without a ton of testing.

And you may be a skilled musician, and you may even have a broad base of internet marketing knowledge, but unless you go deep into how an ad works and how it can get you results, it's just not going to go anywhere....

Are you having trouble trying to navigate digital marketing? Does it seem like everywhere you turn people are teaching tactics rather than strategy?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I expand on a strategy I call spiderweb marketing I briefly touched on in one of my books.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – Effective digital marketing

01:07 – Benefits of spiderweb marketing

01:52 – What is spiderweb marketing?

02:29 – Getting your website/home base set up

03:14 – Building your email list

04:15 – Creating content/content marketing

05:22 – Set the trap on social media

06:29 – Distribute your music

07:52 – Get out there and share/network/collaborate

08:52 – Final thoughts

09:42 – Interview with yours truly

Transcription:

I think you’re going to love today’s episode, because essentially, it’s a mini course about effective digital marketing.

I’ve shared about the idea of spiderweb marketing in the past, and even talked about it in my book, The Essential Guide to Creative Entrepreneurship.

But as I’ve been finding out recently, it’s something that has been resonating with readers and listeners like you.

And, I couldn’t be more thrilled, because if you understand this one thing, you will generate better long-term results in your music career.

You may have heard of the concept before, and it’s essentially the same as “Octopus Marketing”, but here’s an overview of what to expect and how to implement it in your music career.

Benefits of Spiderweb Marketing

Before we get into the specifics, I’d like to share with you why you might want to take the spiderweb marketing approach:

It’s a strategy – not just a tactic. Much of what’s being taught out there in the music business right now is tactics, not a strategy. Spiderweb marketing, on the other hand, is a legitimate strategy.

You can benefit from it long-term. Social networks change rapidly, and so do other platforms, apps and websites you don’t own. With spiderweb marketing, you can rest easy at night knowing that you get to keep your content and followers.

You can protect yourself against risk. Nobody likes losing precious followers. If you take advantage of spiderweb marketing, you’ll never have this problem.

There are other benefits, but this is a good starting point.

Okay, so What is Spiderweb Marketing?

When a spider erects a web, it usually rests at the center. The web extends out in every direction and is set as a trap for its prey.

Now, we don’t need to – and probably shouldn’t be – thinking of our audience as our prey. But otherwise the metaphor works out quite nicely.

Think of the spider, at the center, as your home base. Think of the web as the groundwork you lay to capture the attention of people and turn them into engaged followers, subscribers and customers.

So, let’s get into the practical side of things. Here’s what you need to do to get your spiderweb set up.

#1 – It All Starts with Your Website

You need a website. This should be a dot com domain name. And, you should have a hosting plan.

We recommend the ultra-fast Cloudways (affiliate link), but there are other great hosts out there. We used to promote Bluehost, but no more. Once they got bought out by a bigger company, they started sucking. Hard.

I would also suggest setting up your website on WordPress and purchasing a premium theme such as the Divi Theme (affiliate link), created by Elegant Themes.

I personally have a lifetime membership to their site and use the Divi Theme for most website projects these days. It makes it super easy to customize your website.

Yes, some of this is technical, even uncomfortable. But it’s worth the effort. And, you will begin to understand the importance of it as you explore next steps.

#2 – Begin Building Your Email List Immediately

If you aren’t already using an Email Service Provider (ESP), sign up with Mailchimp immediately.

Again, there are other great alternatives out there, but since Mailchimp is free to start, and they’re constantly adding new marketing features, it’s easy to recommend. I still use Mailchimp myself.

Key point: This and the last step are truly the crux of the spiderweb strategy. You’ve got to set up your home base, and on your home base, you must have email signup forms.

You must encourage your audience to get on your list one way or another. The standard marketing term for this is an “opt-in bribe” or “lead magnet.” Not sure I’m crazy about either of those terms.

But the idea is to give something to your visitors to build your list. It could be a free video, song, T-shirt, or anything your audience might find valuable.

My favorite tool for building an email list is Leadpages (affiliate). It costs something, but if you have traffic coming to your website, it makes it super easy for you to begin building your list.

#3 – Create Content for Your Website

Publish something new at least once per week. This can help you grow your email list, which is critical.

I believe your email and social media strategies are going to suck if you don’t have content. Content gives you an excuse to reach out to your audience regularly. It engages your fans and even attracts new ones.

It’s time to embracing being a publisher and being a publisher requires a long-term commitment.

If you’re going to blog, don’t just publish one blog post. Publish 500.

If you’re going to podcast, don’t just make one episode. Make 200.

If you’re going to make videos, don’t just make one video. You get the idea.

There’s no ceiling on how high you should or could go.

The point is that you must build up your catalog of content. Experiment and test often. Once you’ve built up your archives, you’ll have a much better idea of what works and what doesn’t.

Then, you can adapt your strategy to suit what your fans are genuinely interested in.

Most people just give up after a few posts. Don’t let that be you. You can do this, and the result is worth the effort, even if your hard work is met with crickets in the first two to three years.

#4 – Extend Your Reach into Social Media

With your home base established, you’re ready to “set the trap” on social media.

Can you see how most people have it backwards? They start with social media and then attempt to send people elsewhere (and, usually not their home base).

Is there truly any value in sending a stranger on Instagram over to Spotify to follow you? Will they even follow through on what you ask them to do? How can you be sure?

But what if you sent them from social media to your website to download your latest track in exchange for their email address? I think the return on investment (ROI) is self-explanatory. Overall, you’re going to get a much better result.

What’s great is that you can control what your users see first on your website and that’s a huge advantage. You can’t do that on your Facebook page.

I get it, this is a counterintuitive strategy. But it’s how I’ve continually built up my traffic and email list over time, as seen in an image you’ll be able to view in the show notes:

It takes time and effort, but it works. If you’re consistent, and you keep with it, the effort pays off. Honestly, the ROI is ridiculous if you have all the right pieces in place.

#5 – Distribute Your Singles, EPs & Albums

If you haven’t already gotten your music out to popular streaming sites and online platforms using a service like Ditto Music (affiliate), then do so now.

These services will automatically get your music out to all the biggies, whether it’s Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, Pandora, YouTube, TikTok, Deezer, Shazam, TIDAL, Napster, iHeartRADIO or otherwise.

This is where the users are, so you might as well get your music to them.

But don’t forget – the biggest money is still going to come from offers you make on your own website. You can sell individual merch items, bundles and even performance packages.

You aren’t limited to selling 99 cent songs or $15 T-shirts. You can make offers that go from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars!

Making $3,000 in one go, for example, is much easier if you have a $3,000 performance package that someone buys once, versus a 99-cent song you try to sell 3,000 times.

I wouldn’t get too carried away with getting your music into playlists, but you can certainly take advantage of services like SubmitHub. Throw some spare change at it and see what happens.

I’d say content is more important than playlists, but I will never deter anyone from putting a solid 15 to 30 minutes per day into playlisting.

#6 – Get Out There & Share

Don’t stop now! Now that you’ve laid all the groundwork, you’re ready to get yourself and your music out there. And, again, this is critical to building your music career.

Network, play gigs, go to conferences… do whatever it is you do to connect with people.

And, put your website address everywhere, on your business cards, on your posters, on your banners, on your merch.

Get people to go to your website and sign up for your email list. Better yet, ask people on the spot. Even better, give them something for free so they are 100% compelled to join your email list.

Now that you’ve got your home base, you can share it with the world.

And, the cumulative effect of “setting the trap” everywhere you go, with the intention of sending people to your home base, is that you will have built an audience that you can monetize and create a sustainable career on the back of.

And, you will have done it in a way that honors the customer, not in a way that leaves them feeling like a number in a system.

Final Thoughts

I sometimes take it for granted that musicians know this stuff, but I know that’s not the case. So, it’s always good to cover it.

Plus, I’m constantly testing and refreshing the strategy, but I can honestly say it hasn’t changed a whole lot in the l

Are you listening to the voice within? Are you doing what you’re meant to do as an artist?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I chat with my friend João Filipe. We touch on a variety of topics, including what João got out of the podcast, strategy vs. tactics, the current state of music entrepreneurship and more.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – Who is João Filipe?

02:16 – How did you end up in video?

05:41 – Knocking on the door of a record label

11:14 – What did you get out of the podcast?

17:28 – Strategy vs. tactics

18:59 – The music + entrepreneur connection

20:54 – Revenue streams for artists

21:42 – The value of coaching

26:17 – When the student is ready, the teacher appears

28:19 – Being grateful for teachers

28:51 – What is going on with the music industry?

34:48 – Being easy to work with

35:44 – One of David’s most streamed tracks

37:49 – Episode wrap up

Transcription:

David Andrew Wiebe: Today, I’m chatting with videographer, and musician, and a dear friend of mine, João Filipe. How are you today, João?

João Filipe: I'm doing fine, man.

DA: Thanks for joining me.

João: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Finally, man. After two years I was every day thinking when is it going to happen?

DA: I bet you were, yeah. Like you say it's been a while since we last talked and this conversation is really long overdue. But as they say, better late than never, right?

This isn't the only open loop I've created with the podcast rest assured. I've started talking about growth hacking and other things that I haven't even started to put the bow on yet, but this is one of those things that needed to happen.

So, just to get this out of the way, why don't you share with the listeners what you're working on these days?

João: Well, it's really good that you're asking me “these days” because damn it would be really long story.

So, right now, I'm a creative producer in the fields of video, music and events. So, basically, what I'm doing right now, I work as a freelancer in Europe.

I'm a videographer in the music industry. I either work with artists, labels, tours. I also do a lot of production things in Portugal. Not as a one videographer, but I assemble teams and I direct teams accordingly to the projects to answer video needs from festivals to anything related video.

DA: I know that wasn't your original focus. So, how did you end up in video?

João: Well, when I was a teenager, I grew up with computers, so I had this time in my life that I was just experiencing as much as possible from the internet and from software. So, when I was 15 years old, I already messed around with Photoshop, Sony Vegas, Cinema 4D, all kinds of creative software.

So, I had that spirit already in me. But then, I got into video more seriously when I started my music project. I put it out. I put EP out, social media, website. Like everything.

And, after the release, I realized that I wanted to keep up with content. I realized that video was like the best thing that I could do to keep up with content.

So, I started to document what I was doing in a vlog for months. What I was doing to promote my project and what I was doing around the projects.

Really quickly, people started to ask me for a video. And that's when kind of a light turned on in my brain and I realized that I was doing something interesting that people wanted from me. That was the first thing that never happened.

And then the most important thing is that I could use video to bring value to the others in the way that I video in a way to put myself in touch with the people I wanted in the industry I wanted with artists and labels that I wanted. Video was the way, basically.

So, I was offering the first year as a videographer I was just up doing all this free work all around Europe with several different people/projects, like completely different stuff.

But I was just planting seeds, basically. And I was making sure that every work I did, no matter it was free or not, I was just putting all of myself into that.

And I was just, you know, doing the very, very best and a little bit beyond that to every project.

Eventually, it grew. People came to me again. It was just a rollercoaster of getting better and doing more and more and more as well as it gets.

DA: I remember being very tech focused as a kid as well. I built my first website when I was 14 and then evolved pretty quickly from there into graphics and other types of content in other fields.

So, I like your story. I love that you chose video as the medium. I honestly think that probably is still one of the best ways for musicians to go these days. If you're great at writing, blogging is good. If you're great at speaking and communicating via audio, then podcasting might be an opportunity too.

But yeah, there's something to video. And we know all know that. Video is just huge right now on virtually any platform.

João: Definitely.

DA: So, I like that. And you had an early vlog too that went right into the record label. You just knocked on them and, “Here's my CD” right?

João: That's crazy.

DA: Talk about that.

João: That's one of the many crazy stories but it seems like a really cliché story and it kind of is.

So, basically, I had this music project, it was progressive rock, which is not very mainstream. There was this label called Kscope that I was always a fan of. I love the artists and they had all my favorite artists at the time.

For me, it was always like the dream label, the label that one day if I sign myself to that it will be like a dream.

So, what happened was I was in London attending a masterclass at Warner Music. I had a couple days off, and I decided to… I was recording everything I was doing in London through video. I decided to check Ksope. So, I went to their website and I realized they had the address there.

So yeah, all right. So let's go there, right. What's the worst thing that can happen? I went there. I literally knocked on the door. Well actually I rang the bell, not knocked on the door. I talked with the guy that first came downstairs and when you see the vlog it will seem like I was just there to promote my EP but what really happened it was really not about that.

I was listening to a lot of podcasts with Gary Vee in particular and I had this thing on my mind of free work. Offer something to the people that you want to get involved with. That's exactly what I did. I went there with a focus of making it clear that first, I love the label. I know all about the label, the artists, the podcast, the newsletter. I know the label.

And second, I want to get myself involved with it. So, I want to give you something for free. I will not ask for money. I just want to do something that is valuable for you. I will not distrub. While I did this, I recorded it in video and that's the funny part.

So, it's online. It's on YouTube. And then I posted the video. It was like, probably the really important video I took like two months with. It was crazy. It was when I was starting with video, but they watched the video, they liked it. And eventually it made me connect with a very important person there, which is now my friend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7kJ7fgfTlE

And one year later, they got in touch with me out of nowhere. Basically, it was 10 years anniversary of the label at Union Chapel with Anathema, Godsticks, iamthemorning, and… I'm so sorry, I'm not remembering all the artists but…

They wanted me to make like a behind the scenes of the anniversary. It was crazy, man. Like one year later, I had no contact with them and they called me out of the blue to do this and they wanted me to make a vlog out of it.

So, it was just a dream come true completely. I was giving my face for the label I love and I'm finally doing a work video for them. It was crazy man.

DA: And you’ve basically been working with them ever since, right?

João: Yeah. So, I made that free video for them as I promised. It's called Behind 10 years of Kscope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MphSUw7mAA

What I wanted and what I was expecting, I just wanted them to see me working. And to see that, you know, I know I can work good and I can really bring value to you. So, I managed to show them that.

Since then, like I've been… Yeah, it's quite crazy. I do different kinds of projects with them. I go to London regularly. It's mostly like I have some crazy idea that I'd like to do with some of the artists in Kscope and eventually I send a message to them and they trust me and they support the work, which is like a dream come true. It's amazing. Yeah, I'm really happy with that.

DA: It just goes to show too like, there's huge opportunity in video right now. I have a friend who got into it. He was making a pretty good living at it for a while. I think he's changed his focus again. I have friends that, you know, shift focuses every few months. But that's the world we live in right now anyway.

João: Who doesn't?

DA: Exactly. I've changed my focus many times.

So, I mean you are one of the early supporters of the podcast, which I loved. And to this day, your testimonial is one of the main ones featured on the website.

So, I would love for you to talk about what sort of results you got from applying the ideas I've been sharing on the show.

João: I can't remember exactly what was the… I remember this comment. I remember having this time in my life that I felt I need to write a huge comment to him, because I was getting a lot of value. I don't remember the exact like, intense like this thing. But I know that I was hearing a lot to the podcast. I started to listen to your podcast when I was promoting my music project.

In that time, I was just searching for all kinds of content. Everyone who's talking about how do you get into the industry. I was just, you know,...

Do you wish there was a comprehensive online database of artists, venues, events and festivals? Are you looking for a forward-looking, technologically driven platform to help you grow your career as an artist?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, Vasja Veber of Viberate shares what the platform is all about, how it was developed and what they plan to achieve with it.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – What is Viberate?

05:17 – What’s new with Viberate?

06:55 – How can an independent artist take advantage of the platform?

10:44 – Is blockchain the answer to the music industry?

14:39 – The music industry – an endless field of business opportunities?

18:22 – Copywriting and creative processes

19:44 – What are the greatest challenges you’ve overcome?

25:22 – What are the greatest victories you’ve experienced?

28:23 – Are there any books that have helped you on your journey?

29:59 – Is there anything else I should have asked?

Transcription:

David Andrew Wiebe: Today I'm chatting with co-founder and business development director at Viberate, Vasja Veber. How are you today Vasja?

Vasja Veber: Good. How are you?

D.A.: I'm great. Thanks so much for joining me.

Vasja: Awesome.

D.A.: I think we're going to have a good conversation today about the IMDb for the music industry. You know, it seems like people are only just beginning to understand the value of data in the industry. It's a foregone conclusion in some of the other sectors out there, but I think its value isn’t properly understood in music. So, tell us about Viberate and why it was created.

Vasja: So, it was first created as a band project because our background is in music management. So, myself and my other co founder, we've been managing a world-famous techno DJ, UMEK, for years.

It’s when it was still in the times of Myspace and Google+ so it was quite a long time ago. We were advertising a lot. We're investing a lot of money into his presence.

Back then, Facebook was still a very effective place to be and to invest money in. But we couldn't figure out how those investments are actually reflecting in the DJ’s career.

Was he more popular because we invested money into advertising? That's why we started a simple social media managing website. It was called topdjs.com back then.

We were measuring just simple social media metrics – how many followers a certain DJ is getting in a day, or a week, or a month. We did this for a thousand DJs that we entered manually into the data.

So, we're measuring Facebook, Twitter. Like I said, back then it was still MySpace and Google+ and Instagram. And, it just took off. So, we opened up the database.

In a matter of over a year, we got 30,000 user-generated profiles. So, people were adding new DJs into the database because they wanted to see how they're performing in terms of popularity. And then, we saw an opportunity. We followed the market and we raised some money.

At the beginning, our angel round was $1 million. We went away from just measuring popularity of DJs. We said, “Okay. Let's go to all genres.” That's why we created Viberate. The name is actually derived from rating the vibe. That's why the extra “e” in the middle.

Yeah. And the years go by, we again raised some more money. Today, Viberate employs 65 people full time. And our office is in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Plus, around 60 more all across the world.

Those are mostly contributors around the world, because the database is crowdsourcing curated. And today we have nearly half a million profiles of musicians, about 160,000 venues, and we have around half a million events at any given moment in the database.

So, the easiest way to describe it is we're doing what IMDb is doing for the music industry. So like IMDb is for the movies and Viberate is for the music industry. We're creating profiles and collecting profiles of musicians.

Right now, when I say we have half a million musicians in the database, some will say, “Yeah, but I know services that have more than that.” That's true but we have unique artists.

Our rule is one artist, one profile. That's why we rely on crowdsourcing and curating because we have by far the cleanest data set in the world. Other services usually scrape all the data sources they could get a hand on.

If you look, let's say for Tiësto who is a world-famous DJ, you will get like five, six, even 15 profiles for the same DJ because everything is done with machines.

And, that's why we said, “Okay. We need human touch.” We curate everything. It takes a lot of effort. It costs a lot of money, but at the end, it makes the service relevant and cool.

D.A.: Yeah, I love that explanation. So, is it fair to say that you're building it into a fairly comprehensive database in time?

Vasja: Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly. That's our first focus is that we want to be as relevant as possible.

D.A.: So, is there anything new with Viberate that we should know about? Any new features or something that's changed?

Vasja: Well, we just launched our map view for venues. Let's say you travel to London for business and you take an additional weekend to go check the scene there, you can just open the map of London and venues are going to pop up, plus events that are taking place in London that we can do there.

And you can just browse through the map. You can click through the venue. You can check what's going on there. You can even buy tickets. It's a really cool feature.

Plus, we just recently launched a festival app platform. Right now, we have around 4,000 festival profiles in the database. Festivals can claim their profiles. And then, they can create their own mobile app without any coding knowledge. They just need a few clicks, and we do the rest. They can offer iOS and Android app to their festival goers. It's a really cool feature. It's a subscription-based service. So, there's no starting cost for festivals.

People love it. We did a pilot launch with five festivals, and 80% of all festival goers downloaded the app and were using it like crazy. All of a sudden it becomes the festival's main communication channel with their clients. It’s a really cool feature.

D.A.: Yeah, sounds like there's a lot of practical ways to use it. Whether you're a fan or a venue owner or event organizer or what have you. I'm sure something that my listeners are going to be curious to know is how does an independent artist take advantage of the platform?

Vasja: So independent artists are actually our main target group here, aside from promoters, because they probably already have their profile on Viberate, but they don't know it yet. They can go to the server. They can search their name. I'm pretty sure that 90% of them are going to find their profile already in the database. And then they can claim it. Once they claim it, they take complete control over it, and they can use it instead of their website because it contains all the information that actually would be necessary on their official website.

We collect gig dates that we get from tapping into APIs of ticket providers. We highlight the hottest content that they put on their official channels. We have a recommendation engine so we will let people know who are similar artists.

And then, we analyze how artists are following each other on social media. So, if you go to, let's say Metallica’s profile, you'll be surprised to see that they're following Lady Gaga on Instagram. And this is the feature that only we have.

It's an interesting thing to see how bands and musicians are following each other. It's a huge recognition if you're a small garage band, and you just all of a sudden get followed by huge superstar. That means something. And people usually brag about it.

It's a huge recognition if you're a small garage band, and you just all of a sudden get followed by huge superstar.Share on X

But yeah, independent artists can use their profiles instead of their official websites. They can send the link to their profile to promoters and say, “Hey, this is me. This is my stuff here. Check me out. Why don't you book me?”

One of our co-founders, the DJ I manage. He's really a high-profile techno DJ. We deleted his official website. And now, if you type in UMEK.si, which is his name, it's going to redirect you directly to his profile.

Right now, that’s the biggest advantage. You can have your website, it's already done. So, you don't have to do it yourself. You just have to register a domain and redirect it to your Viberate profile and you're done.

And you don’t have to update it. You just keep doing what you're doing. Keep uploading stuff to your YouTube channel. Keep updating your Twitter or your Instagram. We're going to filter out the hottest content. So, the content that your fans are most engaged with is going to pop up on your Vibrate profile.

D.A.: Maybe I'm reading into this a little bit but certainly seems reminiscent of Myspace, right? Like one thing I remember talking to venue owners and event organizers, they liked that artists were able to kind of have everything on one page, which made it easy for them to decide whether or not to book this artist.

Yeah, this kind of seems a little bit like a throwback to that. Except much cleaner and nicer.

Vasja: Yeah, Myspace had a horrible user experience.

D.A.: It really did, yeah. But it had its advantages in terms of like growing your fan base and so forth, right, which is why artists kind of tended towards it.

So, I think, you know, it's high time that we should have some kind of platform that replaces it because Facebook is a powerful marketing platform, but it's just not doing the job that Myspace used to do for artists.

Vasja: Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

D.A.: So, before we got into recording today's conversation, we talked a little bit about blockchain technology. As you mentioned,...

Each year, we publish loads of content on Music Entrepreneur HQ and we like to reflect on what resonated with our readers, listeners and viewers most.

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, we get into the top 10 most viewed posts of 2019.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – Top 10 Music Entrepreneur HQ posts of 2019

01:11 – 5 Ways to Sign More Powerfully

01:40 – 7 Ways Music Benefits to Your Health

02:32 – 4 Challenges Music Entrepreneurs Face & How to Overcome Them

03:12 – The Effects of Listening to Music at Work: Pros and Cons

03:58 – How to Create Your Music Career Strategy for 2019

04:44 – Passive Income Streams for Musicians and Music Instructors

05:28 – What Your Song Titles & Email Subject Lines Have in Common

06:11 – How to Succeed as a Songwriter – with Award-Winning Songwriter & Producer Troy Kokol

06:48 – 7 Essential Tactics for Better Live Stage Performance

07:34 – How to Choose Great Recording, Mixing & Mastering Engineers for Your Album

08:14 – Thanks to contributors

08:40 – Thanks to listeners

Transcription:

It’s time for us to look back on the top 10 Music Entrepreneur HQ posts of 2019.

If you’re primarily a podcast listener, then you might not be familiar with the website, located at davidandrewwiebe.com but it has fast turned into a massive online resource for musicians just like you. If you don’t believe me, just go to the website and click on the Blog button in the menu and you’ll see all the content we’ve published.

Music Entrepreneur HQ is a massive online resource for musicians.Share on X

And, in 2019, since we were still accepting guest posts, many of the posts I’m about to share with you were written and contributed by others.

So, let’s review the most viewed and listened to pieces of the past year.

1 – 5 Ways to Sing More Powerfully

At the number one position, we have 5 Ways to Sing More Powerfully.

This guest post was contributed by my friend Matt Ramsey, who I got to meet while I was in Austin last August. I’ll have to have him on the podcast as well.

In this detailed guide, Ramsey shares how we can all add some power to our voices for those times when a song needs that extra push.

I think he offers some great tips here, and this is an evergreen piece that’s going to help singers for years to come.

2 – 7 Ways Music Benefits Your Health

At number two, we have 7 Ways Music Benefits Your Health.

At Music Entrepreneur HQ, we don’t often cover topics related to how music can benefit one’s health. With a huge growth in guest posters, however, we saw all kinds of people contribute content on a myriad of topics throughout the year.

And, as writer Alexandra Reay (it might be pronounced Re-ay, I’m not too sure) shares in this post, music can help you improve your communication skills, improve your emotional life, strengthen your heart, help you sleep better, reduce anxiety and depression, decrease pain and boost the immune system.

If you’d like to learn more, you’re going to have to check out the post for yourself. All the posts in this episode are linked up in the show notes at davidandrewwiebe.com/179 along with a full transcription of the episode.

3 – 4 Challenges Music Entrepreneurs Face & How to Overcome Them

In third place, we have 4 Challenges Music Entrepreneurs Face & How to Overcome Them, a topic I feel is both relevant and worth delving into.

I think guest contributor Rana Tarakji (I’m so sorry if I’m pronouncing that wrong) did a great job of covering the key struggles music entrepreneurs often face – having to wear many hats, lack of energy or motivation and competition. If you have mental blocks in any of these areas, this post is for you.

For better or for worse, I’ve often been hands on with guest posts, and in this instance, I did a little bit of work to tighten up and peak interest with the headings. It looks like it may have paid off.

4 – The Effects of Listening to Music at Work: Pros and Cons

Number four, The Effects of Listening to Music at Work: Pros and Cons.

Again, this is a topic I would not have thought to cover in any capacity. I guess that’s why we had guest posters. They brought some fresh ideas to the table and covered what they felt were relevant topics.

In this post, contributor Natalia Anderson seeks to offer some constructive thoughts on whether one should or shouldn’t be listening to music at work, and the type of music you should be listening to if you choose to listen while working.

If you’ve ever wondered whether I listen to music at work, the answer is “often.” And, if you’d like to know what I’m listening to, you can look up a playlist on Spotify called Addicted by David Andrew Wiebe. You’ll find the link to this playlist in the show notes as well.

5 – 136 – How to Create Your Music Career Strategy for 2019

At number five, episode 136 of the podcast, How to Create Your Music Career Strategy for 2019.

Should I feel funny about the fact that I just barely made it into the top five with one of my own content pieces? I’m just kidding – I think it’s great that so many others had the opportunity to contribute something to the Music Entrepreneur HQ site.

As tactics become increasingly popular and strategy falls by the wayside in the music industry, I think posts like this are only going to increase in importance.

While this post should not be considered comprehensive by any means, I talked about strategy from a high level, how to fit tactics around your strategy and some steps to determine what tactics you can use to reach your goals.

6 – 127 – Passive Income Streams for Musicians and Music Instructors – with Brent Vaartstra of Passive Income Musician

At number six, we have the second part of my two-part interview with Brent Vaartstra of Learn Jazz Standards and Passive Income Musician. That’s episode 127 of the podcast, titled Passive Income Streams for Musicians and Music Instructors.

It makes sense that people would be interested in passive income streams. This is a sexy sounding term, but as Brent suggests, everything takes work. The only way to develop your passive income streams is by putting in a concerted effort upfront. And, ongoing upkeep might be part of the equation too.

But if there’s anyone that understands this topic well, it’s Brent, and if you’re interested in finding out how you can tap into the power of passive income, have a listen to this episode.

7 – What Your Song Titles & Email Subject Lines Have in Common

At seventh place, there’s What Your Song Titles & Email Subject Lines Have in Common.

This idea via guest poster Kayleigh Alexandra had to be workshopped a bit before it made any sense. I think I’m starting to see a bit of a pattern here in the sense that, most of the top guest posts were first written by a contributor and then developed into a cohesive whole by an editor, which in this case was me.

So, what do song titles and email subject lines have in common? I think a better question might be – what lessons can we take from each to improve the other? This question should lead to some powerful insights.

At core, I feel this is a good topic. The writing around the idea, however, has space to be something more than it is. Anyone care to tackle it?

8 – 142 – How to Succeed as a Songwriter – with Award-Winning Singer-Songwriter & Producer Troy Kokol

At number eight, we have episode 142 of the podcast, How to Succeed as a Songwriter – with Award-Winning Singer-Songwriter & Producer Troy Kokol.

I’ve now been podcasting for over 10 years. So, for me, this episode felt like a bit of a blast from the past, because I interviewed a lot of local artists for my original podcast.

I think this conversation with Troy was awesome and his story is incredibly inspiring. It’s a great reminder that when we’re looking for opportunity, we must be ready for it. We should be putting our head down to do the work instead of constantly trying to make something happen and wondering where the next gig is going to come from.

When we're looking for opportunity, we must be ready for it.Share on X

9 – 7 Essential Tactics for Better Live Stage Performance

At ninth place, there’s 7 Essential Tactics for Better Live Stage Performance as written by guest poster Scott Matthews.

This is a topic I’ve personally covered in detail in my own writing, and I’m relatively complete with what I’ve had to share about it. There’s nothing I wish to add right now. So, it’s providence that someone else decided they wanted to cover the topic.

Now, I do feel Scott’s tips are relatively commonsense, but as they say, there’s nothing common about commonsense. As music entrepreneurs, it’s best that we don’t make any assumptions about what strangers do or do not know.

There's nothing common about commonsense.Share on X

Plus, his post has the term “essential” in the title, suggesting that no extras were covered. If you’re just getting started as a performer, then you’re certainly going to get something out of this post.

10 – How to Choose Great Recording, Mixing & Mastering Engineers for Your Album

At 10th place, we have How to Choose Great Recording, Mixing & Mastering Engineers for Your Album by Nick Rubright (it might be pronounced Roob-right, I’m not sure).

For better or for worse, a lot of musicians have had bad experiences with engineers. Some have been over-charged. Others have had trouble achieving their sonic vision.

These days, I mostly work with friends and contacts from my extended network and that has been a trouble-free experience, but in the past, I’ve had some less than ideal experiences as well, which is one of the reasons one of my solo albums still hasn’t been released.

Anyway, if finding an engineer is a bit of a mystery to you, I have no doubt you’ll find this post valuable.

Thank You to All Contributors

In closing, most of this content simply wouldn’t be possible without the help I h

What books did you read in 2019? What resources did you find most valuable?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share the three books that made the biggest difference for me in 2019.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – My recent reading habits

01:17 – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

03:17 – Your Best Year Ever

05:05 – You Were Born Rich

07:13 – What books did you read in 2019?

Transcription:

You can find my past recommendations here:

5 Impacting Books I Read in 2014

5 Impacting Books I Read in 2015

6 Impacting Books I Read in 2016

4 Impacting Books I Read in 2017

1 Impacting Book I Read in 2018

Some years, I’ve made a point of reading 52 books – one book for each week in the year.

Other years, I’ve limited my input to just what I wanted or needed in that moment.

I’m starting to get back into this habit, because of the many ways I’ve consumed content, I still feel one of the best ways to learn something is to read.

Though I certainly didn’t read 52 books last year, I dug into a few that I found valuable. So, in this episode, I will be sharing the most impacting books I read in 2019.

There won’t be any sponsor breaks or extra call to actions in this episode, as that would simply be too much. Let’s keep the focus on the three books I talk about here.

So, with that, here are the three impacting books.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

When I think of books that made a difference for me in 2019, this is the one that immediately comes to mind.

I also talked about it on The Gyst Life podcast. If you’re interested in hearing a candid interview with yours truly, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/gyst to hear it. That’s g-y-s-t.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck prompts us to challenge what we think we know about self-improvement and the difference it can make for our lives.

Author Mark Manson is quick to suggest that the recent personal development wave hasn’t been shown to improve our lives. If anything, it can have us looking up at the pinnacle, wondering when we’re going to reach it. But we would all do well to accept that we are basically unremarkable and average.

We would all do well to accept that we are basically unremarkable and average.Share on X

In the perfectly polished and manicured world of the online and social media, we end up playing a dangerous game of comparison, hoping our lives will one day look like the 10%. And, let’s be honest – most of us are secretly hoping that one day will be today.

So, what does Manson suggest we do instead? He suggests we nurture our curiosity.

Being curious helps us sidestep arrogance. It helps us remain open to the world around us and it safeguards against being a know-it-all in a world where you can’t know it all.

Being curious helps us sidestep arrogance. It helps us remain open to the world around us and it safeguards against being a know-it-all.Share on X

Who knows, if we stopped pretending to know it all, we might even learn something!

The paradox that some readers may not have picked up on is the fact that this book isn’t anti-personal development at all. If anything, it’s just asking us to stay humble and remain open to possibilities, for the sake of our own growth.

The thesis is that growth isn’t unimportant. But trying to become like the 10% might be. It might be more damaging to our psyche than we even realize. So, we may want to change the way we think about growth.

If this book got your attention, go to davidandrewwiebe.com/subtleart to learn more about it.

Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt

Have you ever thought to yourself, “You know, I’m doing pretty good, but I wish I was doing better”?

Or maybe, “I just had an awesome year, but I wonder what it would look like if I had an over-the-top, blow it out of the water, pinnacle of the mountain kind of year”?

I just had an awesome year, but I wonder what it would look like if I had an over-the-top, blow it out of the water, pinnacle of the mountain kind of year!?Share on X

If you can apply everything suggested in Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt, then you should be able to set yourself up for that possibility.

Hyatt’s book has us evaluate various aspects of our lives to determine how we would rank ourselves in each area and what we could be doing to achieve greatness in each.

Failing to plan is planning to fail, and Hyatt’s book gives you an insane number of frameworks you can use to ensure you set achievable goals and reach them.

I would suggest applying one framework at a time, however, or getting a handle on this material might prove an uphill battle.

There are other profound insights, such as the idea that regret is pointing to opportunity.

People generally have negative feelings when it comes to regret, and actively deny having them. I have a song about regrets, and at shows, before playing it, I would often ask the audience to raise their hand if they had any regrets in their lives. Most people were much too scared to put up their hand.

So, I think we would all do well to reframe our regrets and understand that they are valuable. They are simply pointing to areas of life where breakthrough is possible.

We would all do well to reframe our regrets and understand that they are valuable. They are simply pointing to areas of life where breakthrough is possible.Share on X

Will you have your best year ever simply by picking up and reading this book? Mileage will vary, as that largely depends on how well you understand the material and how well you apply it to your life.

As with any other book, however, if you have two to three valuable takeaways, you’ve more than gotten your money’s worth.

I intend to revisit this book to see what more I can apply to my life and business.

If you’re interested in reading this book, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/bestyear to learn more.

You Were Born Rich: Now You Can Discover and Develop Those Riches by Bob Proctor

You remember when The Secret was popular, right? It was written by Rhonda Byrne and it talked about the law of attraction. It came out in 2006 and there was also a movie.

Anyway, I thought it was a good book and have read it no less than three times.

Bob Proctor’s You Were Born Rich was originally published in 1984, but the book is very much in the law of attraction vein and may have even been updated to reflect Proctor’s appearance in The Secret movie.

This book has high ratings across the board, and some people have even published extensive study notes on it.

I need to be honest when I share that I felt most of what was in the book couldn’t be applied in any practical way. Don’t get me wrong – I think this book serves a slightly different purpose.

For anyone who’s still relatively new to personal development, reading this book may help you shift your mindset from where it is to where it needs to be to get your finances on track.

Shift your mindset from where it is to where it needs to be to get your finances on track.Share on X

But you may still be asking yourself why this book is on my recommended list for the year.

It’s because of the simple financial model that Proctor laid out in the book.

He suggests:

Paying yourself first and saving 10% of your income.

Putting 20% of your income into a debt clearance account.

Getting life insurance.

By the way, this isn’t exactly how it was presented in the book. I had to keep distilling it until came out looking as simple.

This was helpful to me, because I’ve been able to layer it into my existing money management methods.

I had never thought to create a debt clearance account, nor had I heard anyone else talk about it before. I now do this very thing.

I also got life insurance. This goes much deeper than I had originally thought. In Canada, with a life insurance policy, you can leverage something called the Infinite Banking Concept.

I’m not a practitioner, so I’m not going to try to explain it, but I’ll be sure to include a video in the show notes of this podcast episode, which you will be able to find at davidandrewwiebe.com/178.

And, if you’d like to check out You Were Born Rich for yourself, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/bornrich.

Final Thoughts

So, what books did you read last year? What did you find valuable? What will you be reading this year? I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to send a message to [email protected].

In 2020, I’m looking forward to reading books by the likes of Cal Newport, Derek Sivers, Seth Godin and more.

Of course, if all goes well, I will be publishing several of my own books this year and letting you know as they become available.

I’m David Andrew Wiebe and I will see you on the stages of the world.

Did you set any goals for 2019? How about resolutions? How did things turn out?

In this episode of the podcast, I reflect on my three words from 2019.

Instead of setting new year resolutions, I’m in the habit of picking three words to set the intention for the year. Tune in to find out why and how I do this, as well as how things turned out.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – Your process for evaluating your year

01:01 – What I do instead of setting a new year resolution

01:09 – Past reflections

01:24 – My three words for 2019

01:33 – Confidence

02:27 – Breakthrough

03:26 – Fulfillment (delivery?)

04:46 – Record Label in a Box

05:31 – My three words for 2020

05:37 – Completion

07:38 – Curation

08:22 – Synthesize

09:43 – Share your three words

10:07 – What’s new at the HQ?

11:02 – Your solution

Transcription:

As I continue to share my thoughts and reflections on 2019, one thing has become abundantly clear.

Some of you have your own process for reviewing, assessing and evaluating the past 365 days.

If you’ve got a process that’s worked for you, don’t hold out on us – we’d love to hear about it. Share it with the community on the website.

The show notes and full transcription for this episode can be found at davidandrewwiebe.com/177.

Each year, instead of setting a New Year Resolution, I choose three theme words for the year.

This is based on a process author Chris Brogan uses.

Past Reflections

I’ve been doing these reflections since 2015. If you’d like to get caught up with my past shares and theme words, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/177 and find the links in the show notes.

2015 – Profit, Outreach, Expansion (planted some important seeds)

2016 – Flow, Create, Helpfulness (an unfocused year)

2017 – Adventure, Collaboration, Health (a challenging but awesome year)

2018 – War, Initiative, Connection (a year that started weak and ended strong)

My 3 Words For 2019

So, it’s time for me to look back on my three words for 2019, which were Confidence, Breakthrough and Fulfillment.

Confidence

I chose confidence as a theme word because much of the time I didn’t feel confident.

So, I felt that if I could be more confident, it would make a difference in every area of my life.

For many reasons I’ve already shared, 2019 was kind of a tough year. Yet, I could not have done what I did if I didn’t have a strong sense of direction and what was next for me.

I couldn’t have launched two books.

I couldn’t have started a community project.

I couldn’t have earned my location independence to become a digital nomad.

I probably couldn’t have found the strength to keep going if I didn’t believe that everything was going to work out for me somehow.

I think it’s fair to say challenging times call for confidence and although I feel like I set myself up for an interesting year, 2019 doubtless offered plenty of opportunities for me to rise to the occasion.

So, confidence is certainly reflected in my experience.

Breakthrough

Not content to kick back and sit on my laurels, I wanted to stand for breakthrough, for myself and for those I care about.

I personally experienced breakthrough in a few areas:

I joined a mastermind group.

I proactively handpicked and invited specific guests to be on the podcast.

I gave away dozens of copies of The Essential Guide to Creative Entrepreneurship to people who might be able to help me spread the word.

I asked for opportunities to guest post on notable industry blogs.

I asked to be on specific podcasts.

I achieved location independence.

And more.

I didn’t land every opportunity I wanted but I made more asks in 2019 than I have in a long time. That led to numerous breakthroughs.

I have no doubt I caused breakthroughs for others in 2019, especially those closest to me.

I won’t be sharing the exact details, because I prefer to keep aspects of my life private, and so do some of my closest friends, but it’s fair to say the seeds I planted in 2018 have been growing rapidly.

Fulfillment

I can see now that I used this word somewhat interchangeably with the word “delivery.”

Deliver I did – but not on everything I promised.

Some of my wins in this area include:

Self-publishing two books.

Completing the Self-Expression and Leadership Program, as well as two personal development seminars and one course.

Releasing two solo EPs.

I think what happened is that I fulfilled on the things that were in front of me, but I didn’t necessarily fulfill on past promises.

I tend to begin every year with a grand vision of what I’d like to accomplish and somehow get wrapped up in a whole mess of other things I hadn’t expected or planned on.

Recognizing this tendency will only help me make more calculated decisions moving forward.

In the last few years, I’ve acted like a superhero, and I’ve discovered myself as anything but. Unless I’ve got the infrastructure to handle it, I would prefer not to take on work that keeps me up late into the night and instead be focused on one or two things.

So, fulfillment is a mixed bag, it seems. It wasn’t good or bad. What happened, happened.

But I know I didn’t deliver on everything I said I would, and I know I won’t be able to unless I remain focused and build the infrastructure necessary to make it happen.

I’ll be right back after this brief message to share about my three words for 2020.

Record Label in a Box

Still don’t have your independent record label set up?

What’s up with that?

Well, it’s not your fault. Most likely, no one told you about Ditto Music’s Record Label in a Box.

Record Label in a Box makes it easy for you to establish your label superfast. Besides, Ditto Music offers amazing support at every step of the process.

Record Label in a Box comes with a ton of features you’ll find helpful at any level. Just choose from one of their three convenient bundles and off you go.

If you’d like to learn more, go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Label.

Music Entrepreneur HQ is an affiliate of Ditto Music, and if you purchase anything through our link, we will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

My 3 Words for 2020

And, I’m back to share my three words for 2020.

Completion

I’ve learned my lesson. Trying to complete everything is futile.

Hiring and automating only makes sense if I’ve got the resources and motivation to do it.

Assuming my team and my creative capacity remain the same this year, it won’t make any sense to take on more work.

So, 2020 will be about focusing and completing the few things that matter.

And, it might mean letting go of certain collaborative relationships. I’m always reluctant to do this because I’ve often seen myself as a superhero, but I know those tendencies aren’t serving me anymore.

I’m more excited to work on videos, music, books and courses than on empty content work and to that end, I’m channeling that 2009 energy I’ve talked about before.

When I don’t like what I’m working on, I hesitate. I delay. I procrastinate. And, that serves no one, including me.

Completion can come in other forms, too. This year, I will have the opportunity to travel to destinations I’ve never been to, try foods I’ve never tried, meet people I’ve never met and more.

I hope to complete aspects of my existing relationships as well. That might mean having conversations about things that didn’t go well. It might mean relinquishing control where I used to exert it.

The more conscious I become in life, the more present I am to the fact that none of us are truly in touch with what the other is thinking or feeling, and that makes communication a real challenge. The only solution, ironically, is clear and thorough communication.

I’ve been misunderstood more times than I can count, even in the last week or so. We all tend to lean on what’s familiar instead of taking a closer look at what is. When we don’t do this, we miss the transformations that are occurring before our very eyes.

We all tend to lean on what’s familiar instead of taking a closer look at what is. When we don’t do this, we miss the transformations that are occurring before our very eyes.Share on X

Guaranteed, the David Andrew Wiebe that’s before you now is very different from the David Andrew Wiebe that was before you when this podcast originally started.

Completion won’t all be easy or fun. But it will be worthwhile. Clearing my slate and choosing my focus will prove incredibly rewarding, as it already has.

Curation

Over the years, the number one thing I’ve focused on in business is content. I’ve flip flopped on this issue before, but ultimately, I don’t regret any of it.

2020, however, seems like the wrong time to stay on the content treadmill and the right time to be curating what I’ve already worked hard to create.

This plan is already in motion, as I turn blog posts into resource guides and infographics, podcast episodes into videos, books into various forms of microcontent and more.

I don’t think there’s a need to reinvent the wheel in 2020. There is so much great content we can all share and repurpose without having to start from scratch.

Curation may show up in other unexpected ways throughout the year and I’m excited to see what happens.

Synthesize

“Synthesize” certainly goes hand in hand with curation.

And, it’s something I’ve been doing on autopilot for a long time.

Since the early days of the podcast, I’ve drawn influence from personal development, spirituality, internet marketing, entrepreneurship and more.

I think this is what some of you appreciate about me and what some of you don’t entirely get about me.

Just look at this episode of the podcast. On the surface, it doesn’t seem to have much to do with music. Go a little deeper, and like someone who goes to a comedy show and gets a joke on the way home,...

What happened in 2019? What breakthroughs did you have? Did you have any breakdowns?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I use Michael Hyatt’s framework for closing the chapter on another year. I share all the major wins and losses I experienced last year.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – The importance of closing the chapter on the year passed

01:11 – Past reflection

01:28 – The seven-question framework

01:45 – If 2019 was a movie, what genre would it be?

03:13 – Recurring themes throughout 2019

03:37 – Accomplishments in 2019

04:34 – Unacknowledged in 2019

05:07 – Sponsor message

06:43 – Disappointments in 2019

08:11 – Missing from 2019

08:48 – Life lessons in 2019

09:56 – Start Your Year the Right Way

Transcription:

Author and speaker Michael Hyatt often shares about the importance of closing the chapter on the year just passed.

We can easily drag our mental and emotional baggage into another year if we don’t process everything that occurred. This can leave us feeling incomplete.

We often assume the future will be just like the past, when the two have nothing to do with each other. Every day, we make choices, and these choices determine our outcomes.

We often assume the future will be just like the past, when the two have nothing to do with each other.Share on X

But if we make the same choices, we made in the past expecting different results, of course we’re just going to end up living the same year all over again.

So, in this episode of the podcast, I’m going to follow the framework Michael Hyatt outlined on his blog to closing the chapter on another year.

Past Reflections

I’ve been sharing these yearly reflections since 2014. If you’d like to catch up on these, you’ll find the links to each of the posts in the show notes at davidandrewwiebe.com/176 where you will also find a full transcription for this episode.

Closing the Chapter on 2014

Closing the Chapter on 2015

Closing the Chapter on 2016

Closing the Chapter on 2017

Closing the Chapter on 2018

The 7 Questions

What follows is my answers to the seven questions Hyatt suggests we answer.

If you’d like to follow along or take some time to answer these questions yourself, get your notebook and pen out and start writing.

Here are my answers to the seven questions:

1. If the last year were a movie in your life, what would the genre be?

As I shared in a blog post titled Restoring Integrity, 2019 was a bit of a bumpy year. While I was taking an intensive personal development program between January and May, I got sick twice and my car broke down multiple times. Shortly after, I endured breakup, and though I haven’t said much about it, it was the most challenging one I’ve ever gone through. Then, my roommate shared that she would be moving back to Vancouver in July. I had already been thinking about traveling the world at that point, which meant that I would be moving too. Shortly after, because of everything I’d been going through, I fell severely ill. My work continued to pile up during the summer, when I had planned to take it a little easier. I still took a weeklong vacation in St. Catharines, ON and later in Vancouver, BC and Austin, TX. But before I left Calgary, AB to move to Abbotsford, BC, we had to put our family dog, Kenji to rest. This was tough, though I honestly feel like it was a gift that I got to see him one last time before leaving. Still, the move wasn’t a walk in the park either. First, I simply couldn’t dedicate enough time to selling unneeded household items, though I guess in the end it worked out. Second, my car broke down in Hope, BC on the way to Abbotsford, and I ended up having to replace it. It’s not exactly easy looking back but these are exactly the things I know I need to air, because not doing so would mean holding onto the baggage that comes with these events and experiences.

2. What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring?

Breakdowns and breakthroughs. Even though 2019 wasn’t a bed of roses, I would not have earned my location independence if not for the training I received and what I began to see about how I do life. After everything I’ve gone through, I now believe there are the seeds of breakthrough in every breakdown. Life doesn’t need to stagnate. It can change rapidly, and we can cause that.

3. What did you accomplish this year that you are most proud of?

Launching The Essential Guide to Creative Entrepreneurship book, which became an Amazon bestseller.

Launching the Your Music Matters community project.

Launching the Start Your Year the Right Way

Getting set up in a mastermind group.

Completing the Self-Expression and Leadership Program.

Participating in the Life Box project supporting children in Thailand.

Assisting with another season of The Indie YYC

Releasing the No Escape EP.

Attending the DIY Musician Conference in August.

Releasing the Nowhere Even Near EP.

Becoming a digital nomad and moving to Abbotsford, BC, Canada.

Attending a mastermind retreat in Colorado in December.

Recording and publishing 47 podcast episodes and interviewing Matt Starr, John Oszajca, Ariel Hyatt and Fabrice Sergent.

Publishing 23 blog posts on Music Entrepreneur HQ.

4. What do you feel you should have been acknowledged for but weren’t?

I get the occasional email and message from someone who’s read my books or someone who’s been impacted by my content. This is the fuel that keeps me going. But I would love to see more engagement on everything I do – comments from people who love what I’m doing, hate what I’m doing or otherwise. If not that, then I don’t feel like I’m making a difference, and I’m doing “just fine.” There’s no point in me hanging around in “just fine” territory. I don’t want to be doing “just fine”, I want to cause breakthrough for others.

I’ll be back to answer the final three questions after this quick message.

Record Label in a Box

Interested in setting up your own independent record label?

Based on all the questions I’ve gotten about this I have no doubt there are many of you that would like to get up and running – maybe even today.

The answer is simple.

It’s called Record Label in a Box.

I would love to say that I came up with the idea, but no, it was developed by the amazing folks over at Ditto Music. And, in case you haven’t heard of them, they’re also a digital music distributor.

So, Record Label in a Box comes in three packages depending on your needs – Basic, Premium and Professional.

I’ve talked about the Basic level before.

At the Professional level, you get label certification, unlimited distribution for up to five artists, record label contract wizard, opportunities database, label journal, one to one career building session, your own personalized ISRC codes, sole proprietor setup, online events calendar, label management suite, experts academy forum and chart breaker package.

Of course, if you don’t need all that yet, you can get set up more cheaply and simply with the Basic or Premium package.

Are you ready to get started and make your dreams of label ownership a reality in 2020?

Then get your Record Label in a Box at davidandrewwiebe.com/Label.

Full disclosure – Music Entrepreneur HQ is an affiliate of Ditto Music, and if you purchase anything through our link, we will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Thanks for your support.

5. What disappointments did you experience this past year?

Enduring breakup was a massive disappointment. I just wanted her to take responsibility for the way she pursued me and the mixed messages I kept getting from her. Ultimately, it’s not something I can demand of her and I wouldn’t know how to ask for it either. I have a choice to be complete with this if I want, and by airing it here, I’m choosing to be complete with it.

The way the move went was incredibly disappointing. I feel shocked and traumatized, and I even find myself avoiding reflecting on it. I won’t lie though. Part of it is that I find my new life as a nomad fun, exciting and peaceful. So, I’m more engaged in the now than in the past. Still, the move needs to be processed.

Not being able to live up to the expectations of others in 2019 was hugely disappointing for me and I still carry those feelings. Between fall 2014 and summer 2016 I was saying “yes” to every opportunity that came my way and somehow managed to fulfill on all those commitments. This was no longer working for me in 2019. I had to let people down. It took a while, but I finally saw something about myself, that I tend to engage in what I want and ignore what I don’t. I’ve been that way since kindergarten. This has not gotten better with time, and in fact, even at this moment I’m choosing to focus on what I want to do versus other projects that are hanging in the balance. Moving forward, I want to build a team around me so I can shine in my strengths instead of looking dumb and inept in my weaknesses.

6. What was missing from last year as you look back?

I’ve already hinted at this, but to be up to something at the scale that I’m up to, I simply can’t do it alone. I have a team of three as of this writing, but they are siloed in their individual tasks. They ease my burden for sure, but they aren’t necessarily involved in making my life easier. I realize this is a weakness of mine and I can’t fault anyone else for it. Now that I’ve gotten to see how I do life and how I tend to take everything on without asking for help, it’s time to discover a new way of being – being someone who enrolls others in what they’re up to and trusts them to assist in building the vision.

7. What were the major life-lessons you learned this past year?

Before you can recognize opportunity, you can’t act on it as such. Thanks to the personal development program I was taking,...

How much time do you spend in deep thought and reflection? How do you achieve clarity on your next steps in your music career?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, as promised, I share what I did on Think Week and what I discovered for myself.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – Think Week

01:11 – Resting

01:39 – Analyzing top performing content on Music Entrepreneur HQ

02:41 – Cleaning the slate

03:41 – Taking in inspiring content

06:17 – Record Label in a Box

07:53 – Spending time with friends

08:30 – Discoveries from my studies

10:40 – What’s new at Music Entrepreneur HQ?

12:37 – Start Your Year the Right Way

Transcription:

In episode 171 of the podcast, I mentioned that I would be going on Think Week from December 25 to January 1.

If you’re looking for a bit of context on what Think Week is, it’s worth going back to that episode to have a listen.

It’s also important to note that you can go on Think Week whenever you want – it doesn’t have to be at the end or the beginning of the year.

For me, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and I’m glad I got the chance to action it.

I like to take advantage of the New Year energy while it’s here – I often feel more inspired to think, strategize and plan for the year ahead.

So, in this episode of the podcast, I want to share what I did and what I discovered on my Think Week.

#1: I Rested

Not only was I feeling sleepy heading into Think Week, I was also at the early stages of getting sick.

I was looking forward to just absorbing a ton of information and reflecting, but before I could dive in, I had to spend some time in rest.

Ultimately, I’m glad I did.

Although I basically make my own schedule these days, I rarely take breaks unless I’m sick.

When I think about the impact I’m going to make in this world, I can’t just sit back and relax.

So, spending some time in rest was necessary and valuable.

#2: I Analyzed

I mentioned in episode 171 that I would be analyzing the top performing content on Music Entrepreneur HQ, which is exactly what I did.

This was helpful, because I got to see what you – my readers, listeners and viewers – are most engaged in.

As I was analyzing this content, however, I also realized that I could just as easily look up trending content across the web, choose the topics that are getting the most hits, and put my own spin on them.

But I don’t think the time spent analyzing my traffic was in vein – it will inform my content strategy in 2020 and beyond.

That lead to another important discovery, when I started to see that, until now, I have been focusing primarily on on-site marketing.

Sure, I wrote guest posts, got my banner ads up on other sites and paid for some Google and Facebook ads, but overall, I haven’t put that much time, effort or resources into off-site marketing, which will be a greater focus this year.

There are so many big sites and influencers out there – if they speak to my audience, and they’re willing to collaborate with me, why not strike up partnerships?

#3: I Worked

First, I had a little bit of work to finish up before I could engage fully in Think Week.

I find it’s better to clean your slate than to leave things hanging in the balance before moving onto the next thing.

It’s better to clean your slate than to leave things hanging in the balance before moving onto the next thing.Share on X

In my case, if I didn’t work during Think Week, it would have meant ignoring projects for an entire week, leaving others wondering what was going on.

So, I finished up whatever work I needed to and moved on.

Second, I put a bit of work into my personal website at DavidAndrewWiebe.com.

This site simply doesn’t get updated as much as I would like, and I wanted to start sharing more than just my music on the site, so I started building it out.

There are still many things I’d like to do with the website, but I’m off to a running start.

While on Think Week, I specifically built out the About page on the website, which you can find at DavidAndrewWiebe.com/About.

I also published a couple of blog posts.

Although it has taken me a long time to get around to this, it feels good to be able to focus on some of the things that have been on the backburner.

#4: I Studied

I wanted to make sure I took in some inspiring content during Think Week, as I knew this would form the foundation for the energy I would carry into the New Year.

To that end, here are a few things I delved into:

I watched several Joe Pulizzi presentations on YouTube. I was reminded that the successful content marketers he talks about in his case studies started out by focusing on one content channel before branching out into others. That was the catalyst for me deciding to focus on the podcast this year – something I shared about in episode 174 of the podcast.

I listened to a bunch of entrepreneur interviews on Entrepreneurs on Fire. Several ideas came to mind as I was listening to the likes of Joe Pulizzi, James Schramko, Chris Brogan, Ezra Firestone, Cameron Herold, Glen Allsopp, Neil Patel and the like. By the way, if you hadn’t noticed, these are some of my favorite entrepreneurs to follow. Because of what I took in, I started thinking about having someone on Fiverr turn my blog posts into videos. I also started thinking about utilizing Gumroad more heavily to build my business. I’m sure I will talk more about this in future episodes.

I also listened to podcast episodes with people like Pat Flynn, Tim Ferriss and Derek Sivers, which sparked additional ideas around who to interview for the podcast, how to monetize it, how to make it more engaging and so on. I also spent some time combing through Derek Sivers’ website at sivers.org.

I spent some time reading Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose’s Killing Marketing This probably sparked some other ideas, but I’m not present to anything right now. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but so far it seems like the book is geared towards major companies who don’t have a clear understanding of content marketing yet. I’m not anticipating any major breakthroughs while reading this book, unlike one of my favorite books by Pulizzi, Content Inc.

I also read articles about monetization streams for podcasters, which helped me home in how I’m going to be monetizing The New Music Industry Podcast moving forward.

Finally, I spent some time reading about a German notetaking method, as I noted I would in episode 171 of the podcast. To my surprise, I had already invented a notetaking method of my own using Penzu, which is a searchable private online diary and journaling tool – and it’s been working well so far, so I decided there was no need to adapt.

This should not be considered a comprehensive list of the content I studied or the ideas generated during Think Week, but it is a good overview.

I’ll be back after this quick message to share more about what I did during Think Week.

Record Label in a Box

I’ve gotten emails from a few people who are eager to set up their own independent label.

It can be hard to know exactly how to get set up, especially if you’ve never established a business before.

That’s why I always recommend Ditto Music’s Record Label in a Box to my friends, because it helps them get set up fast.

This unique product is available in three distinct packages.

But even at the Basic level, you get label certification, your own personalized ISRC codes, 12 months of unlimited distribution and sole proprietor setup.

If you already know which artists you’re going to be working with and have a ton of music to release, you’ll find this offer incredibly valuable.

After all, releasing one track or album at a time can be an expensive proposition if you don’t have unlimited distribution.

You’ll also be happy to know I’ve personally talked to the good folks at Ditto Music, and I was assured if you have any questions along the way, they can offer you the support you need.

So, if you’re ready to get set up with your own Record Label in a Box, go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Label to get yours.

Obviously, there are more steps you’ll need to take after you’ve established your label, but when you think about it, getting set up is the most important part.

Once you’ve got a solid foundation, a lot of the details tend to take care of themselves.

So, go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Label if you’re ready to obtain your Record Label in a Box.

Full disclosure – Music Entrepreneur HQ is an affiliate of Ditto Music, and if you purchase anything through our link, we will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Thank you for your support.

#5: I Visited

I attended a local friend’s Christmas family gathering on the 24th and another friend’s family gathering in Vancouver on the 26th.

I was also invited to spend some time with my friends on New Year’s Eve in Vancouver, so I drove over and enjoyed some grilled foods with friends while ringing in 2020.

Since then, I’ve had to spend some time catching up on sleep.

I didn’t get to sleep until close to 4 AM after New Year’s Eve, and that threw me off for a few days.

I’m starting to get on a better sleep schedule now though.

In any case, I thought it would be worth mentioning that I didn’t spend my holidays entirely alone, in case you were wondering.

#6: I Discovered

My most significant discovery in my reflection was that most of us tend to do business from a context of “something’s wrong.”

I know it sounds abstract, but this is more than just an idea – there is a way to apply it practically to your business, and if you do, I know it will make a difference for you.

What’s important to recognize is that when we’re not making the money or impact, we want to be making, and we go looking for feedback, inevitably we end up coming from a space of “something’s wrong.”

So,...

Are you ready for 2020? How are you planning to make it your best year ever?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share what’s to come for Music Entrepreneur HQ in 2020.

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – What to expect from Music Entrepreneur HQ in 2020

00:49 – We’ve closed the doors on guest posting and advertising

01:11 – Let us know what you’d like us to cover on the podcast

01:52 – Growing the podcast

03:17 – Sponsor message

04:18 – What’s to come in the next month or so

05:00 – Start Your Year the Right Way

Transcription:

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.

I’m looking forward to a productive year and I hope you are too.

Today, I just wanted to let you know what to expect from Music Entrepreneur HQ in 2020.

It’s fair to say we’re going through some changes and I wanted to get into some of the details.

Guest Posting & Advertising Opportunities

Towards the end of 2019, we closed the doors on guest posting and advertising.

We’ve benefited a great deal from this initiative, but we want to take full control of our brand voice and focus on what matters, and to do that, we need to simplify.

If you’d like the full scoop, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Closed to read all about it.

Listener Feedback

In 2020, we want to do a better job of listening to you and developing the type of content that serves you most.

To that extent, you can direct your questions, comments and feedback to [email protected].

We’re going to be using this email specifically for the podcast and we will be reading your messages on the show.

And, just so we’re clear, this inbox isn’t for personal messages, guest posting or advertising requests – we’d like to keep things streamlined.

We always love to see your comments in the show notes as well, so feel free to leave a comment on any episode.

The show notes for this episode can be found at davidandrewwiebe.com/174.

The Podcast is Our Focus for 2020

We’re going to be focusing primarily on building our podcast audience this year.

In December, our audience grew to its peak at over 2,500 downloads.

By the end of this year, we’d like to 4x the download numbers to 10,000 downloads.

To that extent, your support is always appreciated, and if you’re listening to this now, we consider you a supporter.

You may have noticed that at the end of every episode I ask you to leave a five-star review and comment.

This is because ratings and reviews get the podcast in front of more people.

If you leave a comment and rating, preferably on iTunes, we’re more than happy to give you a shoutout on the show.

And, there are a couple of other reasons I wanted to make the podcast our main communication channel.

The first is that, over time, we’ve created a huge catalog of content on Music Entrepreneur HQ, from blog posts and long-form guides to eBooks and videos.

Looking back, I can see that I barely even touched on the extensive resource the website has become – I’m sure I will cover this in more detail in a future episode.

The only way you’d know this is if you’ve been to the website or if you actively follow our social media updates.

So, if we have something to share, we wanted to make sure that you would be among the first to know.

The other reason is that our podcast numbers are up, while our organic traffic is down.

This is mostly for me to know and for you to find out, but as far as our strategy is concerned, it makes sense for us to streamline our efforts.

So, that’s what we’re up to at Music Entrepreneur HQ.

I’ll be right back after this message to close out this episode.

Record Label

I’ve gotten several questions regarding setting up an independent label.

As we all know, the business of getting a label set up can be confusing and even overwhelming.

My top tip for anyone looking to getting started is to utilize Ditto Music’s Record Label in a Box.

Ditto Music offers three packages, but even at the Basic level, you get label certification, your own personalized ISRC codes, 12 months of unlimited distribution and sole proprietor setup.

I’ve personally talked to the good folks at Ditto Music, and if you have any questions along the way, I’m confident they can help you in any way you need.

If you’re ready to get started, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Label to get your Record Label in a Box.

We’re a big fan of anything that allows you to get up and running fast, and we feel this is one of the most affordable and convenient solutions available.

Go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Label for your Record Label in a Box.

Full disclaimer – we are an affiliate of Ditto Music, and if you purchase through our link, we will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Thanks for your support.

Forthcoming Episodes

And, I’m back to talk about what’s to come in the next month or so.

Every year, we publish a series of New Year Content, mostly to leave you inspired and share ideas and resources we’ve found helpful.

My hope is that you don’t find these episodes overly indulgent, at least from the perspective that I’m going to be sharing many of my own discoveries from 2019.

As with any content we create, we don’t want you to walk away from it without some actionable takeaways.

All that to say, we’ll be getting into all the favorite topics in the coming months, whether it’s streaming, social media, affiliate marketing, email marketing or otherwise.

As always, we’ll be getting into some great conversations too.

So, don’t tune out.

Take what you can from the episodes that follow and let us know your thoughts, okay?

Start Your Year the Right Way

So, as we come to the close of another episode, I wanted to let you know about my fourth book, Start Your Year the Right Way.

This workbook is designed to help you unload your baggage from the past year, get clear on your goals and action your plans.

This book isn’t just for the New Year, because a new year starts when you decide it does.

You can reset your preset whenever you want and move forward in your music career with confidence and momentum.

So, if you’re ready to get yourself back on track, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Year to learn more about this book.

This is David Andrew Wiebe, and I look forward to seeing you on the stages of the world.