Episode 45

Greetings and thanks for swinging by this week’s podcast!

Did you know that there are 1.8 BILLION visitors to YouTube every month!

Wow!

If you’re on the fence about starting a YouTube channel for your music then I hope you get a chance to listen to this week’s podcast.

YouTube has fast become one of the highest rated sites that get searched on the internet. Artists from around the globe have set up shop on YouTube and use it as the primary source for distributing their original content.

Maintaining a YouTube channel can greatly increase your profile as an artist and help you accomplish more like finding new fans through tagging, booking new shows, distributing your music and help tell your story.

All of these things are becoming essential if you’re an artist that’s serious about your music and career.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). How YouTube’s native traffic (1.8 Billion a Month) is a no-brainer when it comes to considering starting your own channel. The volume alone can’t be found anywhere else for video.

2). Why creating content not just about your music, but your interests, influences or updates using YouTube’s open/long form platform is important to nurture your audience in more ways than one.

3). How uploading videos over time creates a portfolio of your work that can be found and searched on for as long as you leave them up to marinate. In essence, leaving a “Net of Work” to snag possible future fans.

4). How tagging your videos and video titles with relatable and “search heavy” terms or phrases will help your videos get discovered much easier.

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Thanks again for checking out this episode. As you can see considering a YouTube channel for your music can be a great move. However, it does take a lot of work, patience and time to build up a solid audience.

Regardless, posting your music and content to your own channel has many benefits and if done consistently it can help build your profile up as a legitimate artist over time.

Til Next Episode, Peace and Love!

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 44

Hello and thanks for swinging by this podcast!

For this week’s episode I’m diving into some basic fundamentals on how to make live streaming video work for you, the artist!

Live video is on track to be the most efficient way to connect with your fans but if used incorrectly it can also turn off attention as well.

We don’t want that!:)

There are many things we can do as artists to maximize our opportunity to engage and entertain when streaming live video whether it be a concert, intimate live session or just an update to your fans.

Following a few simple guidelines when firing up your phone can help make the difference of someone swiping by or staying put.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). How being prepared before you go live as to what you want to say, play or portray will make you look more professional and presentable to your fans.

2). Why being “to the point”, engaging and entertaining when you are live can help keep your viewer’s attention longer (you don’t have much time!) and make them feel interested in what you have to say or play.

3).How important it is to have a steady camera shot or angle when you go live or to keep your camera steady if you are holding it. Viewers will be turned off to shakey, uneasy video.

4). The importance of engaging or responding to fans while you’re filming when someone comments live. Making your fans feel appreciated by giving them shout outs or commenting back to them will go a long way when it comes time to do your next video.

5). Why being consistent and trying new things is important in improving and getting better with live video. It takes time and you may not start off great. But sticking with it will give you an advantage over others that start later.

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Thanks again for taking the time out to listen to this week’s podcast.

Live video has changed the game for just about everything, especially bands and musicians. This powerful medium has given us the opportunity to connect with people in ways that generations before us could never have dreamed.

Hopefully, you find these basic tips useful and helpful to you and your music growth.

Til the next episode!

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 43

Greetings and thank you for swinging by this podcast!

“Brands” are becoming all the rage these days but why? What makes a brand and why is it so important?

In today’s social media marketing landscape it’s become very easy for anyone to promote and market themselves. Bands and artists are no different.

But what is the difference between a brand and a band?

“Branding” oneself or changing the way you think about how you market yourself and your music can make a big difference when it comes to attracting new fans and nurturing current ones.

But it isn’t easy and takes time. However, putting in the effort to grow a brand instead of just promoting your music can have big payoffs later.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). Why approaching your social media promotion and online presence as a”brand” instead of a band is much easier then ever before and why this is important.

2).How most bands make the mistake of being more salesmen and pitchmen online instead of nurturing an audience through branding tactics and why this makes most people tune out quickly.

3). A few examples of how to start your branding efforts online that will help you cut through the noise on social media and have your posts be seen and read.

4).The most important aspect of building a brand and why most bands fall short and miss the opportunity to grow in the minds of their fans.

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Thanks again for checking out this episode.

Branding is becoming and will become more prevalent in the near future for any entity looking to promote itself. This includes bands and artists.

I hope you see the difference after listening to this podcast and that it helps you think differently about how promoting in a “branded” kind of way can help spread your music farther and faster.

Til the next episode!

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 42

Hello friends and thanks for checking out this week’s podcast episode!

This week I wanted to run through the basics of what every musician should know when coming up with ways to market your music.

The Basics!

We are now capable of implementing and controlling all aspects of our music including the marketing. This is very powerful because you are in control!

I know not all musicians are into marketing and promotion and I understand it’s not a “popular” subject. But in this day and age, you have to have some knowledge about what it takes to get your music heard or you will easily fall behind.

You don’t have to be a marketing expert, you just have to know the basics and that’s what we’re here to talk about today.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). Why it’s important for artists and musicians to learn how to effectively promote themselves even when it may not come naturally.

2). How setting goals before you start will help you measure your progress and keep you informed about what works the best with your efforts. Being able to measure is everything!

3). Why budgeting for marketing is key and the importance of allocating funds to get marketing media/materials created. Without a budget you won’t be able to reach the ideal size audience.

4). Why taking time to define who your ideal target audience is can make all the difference and save you money when it’s time to start promoting.

5). The importance of staying consistent and being patient with your marketing efforts. It takes time and staying the course can pay off down the road.

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Thanks again for listening to this week’s podcast!

Marketing and promotion is essential to finding new fans and exposing your music. With just a little bit of knowledge on what it takes to be effective, you can achieve a lot more than you would expect.

Plus you’ll be making sure that the money spent is going to the right cause and not being wasted.

I hope you found this week’s podcast valuable and helpful to your marketing situation. We all have to promote ourselves at some point and having a plan is key and will be your best chances of smart spending and effective results.

Til next time, peace n love!

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 41

Greetings and thanks for joining me on this podcast!

This week I wanted to ask a question that I think most musicians struggle with. Should we be recording our own music?

Traditionally, our music gets recorded in a professional recording studio with skilled engineers who know the ins and outs of recording. However, with the technology we have today, recording equipment has become more available to us as musicians.

This gives us the opportunity to record our own music. But should we?

There is no question that there are benefits to learning how to record yourself as well as benefits going to a reputable studio. Hopefully I can address some of these issues in this episode especially if you’re on the fence about investing in some recording equipment of your own.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). How and why we now have the capabilities as musicians to record our own music without needing to enter a recording studio.

2). The benefits of learning how to record yourself and how that can make you a more well-rounded musician and capable of being more autonomous.

3). Some of the drawbacks of trying to record your own music and making it sound “professional”.

4). The reason I’ve decided to record my own album in my creative project and my mindset and expectations about the quality and final product.

5). How you can easily get started if and when you do decide to start recording your own music.

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Making the choice to record your own music rather than go to a studio can be an intimidating step. As mentioned, there are pros and cons for both scenarios.

Regardless, as musicians, we should always try to be aware of the recording process. It’s an integral part of being a musician and the more you can know about what goes into it, the better off you’ll be.

Til next time,

Peace N Love

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 40

Greetings friends and thanks again for checking out this podcast!

For this episode I wanted to dive into the importance of knowing your analytics and why this is important to artists.

What are analytics you say?

Analytics consist of multiple data elements that informs you about the traffic you receive through your website and social media channels.

But it doesn’t stop there!

Analytics give you a clear view of just how vast your social media audiences are or how much you thought they were. It’s important to know just how much you audience is growing online or possibly isn’t.

Why? Because you could be spending more time and money in areas where you have the best chances of reaching a highly engaged audience.

Having a following is much more than “Likes” and follows. Knowing who your audience is, where they are and how often they are paying attention to you is very important especially if you are serious about building up a career in music.

Wanna tour? How about knowing where your fans are or where your music and videos are being played the most. This will give you insight into knowing where to focus your efforts.

Without it, you could be wasting a lot of time and money.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). Exactly what the different kinds of analytics are and why they are valuable for you to understand as an artist.

2). How analytics from Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud etc. can help you determine where your music and videos are being played the most and why that’s invaluable.

3). The different types of analytical data elements (location, time, platform, new or repeat visitors etc) that is available to you you for free.

4). How knowing the numbers of your website and social media traffic can help you save money when it comes to running ads to promote your music and videos.

5). Why understanding analytics makes you a better business minded musician especially if you are serious about playing music as a career.

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Thanks again for checking out this episode. I hope you find the information on analytics here super helpful to you as you navigate the pathways of a flourishing music career.

The important thing to remember is that the more you can learn on your own about how analytics help you, the better off you’ll be as an independent artist.

Everything you need to know to have a clear view of your fan base and traffic is freely available for you to consume. Take some time to learn the basics.

I guarantee you’ll feel better about your music and won’t regret it.

Peace N Love!

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 39

Hello and thanks for visiting this episode!

For this podcast, I am taking a look at the biggest challenge facing artists today. Is it possible to even sell music anymore and if not, how can artists make money off of their music?

With streaming services dominating the music market these days and CD, vinyl and even downloads all trailing far behind it seems like the days of actually being able to sell music are coming to a close.

Just for clarity’s sake, I am defining “selling music” by means of selling a physical product (CD or Vinyl record) with your music on it.

This is probably the biggest challenge we have as artists as what was once the primary revenue stream for an industry (whether YOU made money or not) is now dispersing quickly.

How can musicians and artists survive in an industry where sales of actual physical music items are dwindling?

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). The RIAA 2018 Annual Report findings on what generated the highest revenue in music sales that year.

2). How the old system of creating physical items (CD’s, records, cassettes etc) with your music on them and distributing them to “record stores” is no longer a viable path to profitability for artists.

3). How the generation you grew up in (boomers, Xer’s millennials etc) most likely affects your attitude towards the changes in the industry. (Not in all cases though)

4). Other avenues available to artists to make dependable and profitable income in support of your music.

5). The most important thing you must have in place before you can consider paths to generating revenue in any aspect.

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Thanks for listening to this podcast. This truly is an interesting time for musicians and the challenges we face are unique unto this generation.

I truly believe there are many ways to profitability for musicians even without physical music sales. The industry is evolving and the responsibilities of artists are changing.

And that’s Ok. Nothing stays the same and adapting this mindset will only help in the long run.

Til the next episode.

Peace N love!

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 38

Hello friends and thanks for swinging by this week’s podcast!

As artists, it can sometimes be a challenge to get motivated. Nowadays there are a million different things we’re in charge of on top of writing and playing music.

Making flyers, posting on social media, booking more gigs, dealing with personalities, scheduling rehearsals, updating the website etc. The list goes on and on.

It can be overwhelming!

It’s easy to start letting your responsibilities fall by the wayside. You can easily start to feel unmotivated and feel like you’re falling behind in the things you want to achieve.

Life can get busy, especially if you have other things going like work, family and or relationships going on.

So for this week’s episode, I wanted to throw out a few tips you can try to help keep you motivated, inspired and on track. We all need a little boost every now and then so hopefully you find these tips helpful.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). Why it can easily get overwhelming being a musician in the modern age and all of the things that we have to keep track of and achieve in addition to writing and playing music.

2). How looking back on your past accomplishments in music can help reinvigorate your drive and help you appreciate the journey you’ve already accomplished. This is powerful.

3). Why it’s important to surround yourself and spend time with people who inspire you and support your goals. Absorbing someone else working hard sometimes helps inspire your drive to accomplish more.

4). How writing small goals down and keeping track of the tasks that you need to do to reach these goals can help motivate you on a small win basis which easily turns into big wins.

5). How consuming media (video, audio) from the internet like YouTube of your favorite music or artists is always a good move to help reignite your passion to get your career back on track.

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Thanks again for checking out this week’s podcast. I hope you found some of the things mentioned here useful for you.

I personally use all of these tips from time to time and most of the time they help me. Although of course like with everything you should use what works best for you.

Ultimately you are the one that will keep yourself in check about what it is you’d like to accomplish. Finding out what things help motivate you is important because there are times when we all feel drained and ready to quit.

But don’t give up!

There are always things we can do to reignite the fire within that gets our creative juices flowing and motivates us to handle our own business.

You got this!

As always, Peace n Love.

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 37

Greetings and welcome to this week’s podcast!

The very nature of what we do as artists (writing and performing) naturally puts us in the spotlight. Actually we put ourselves in this spotlight and rightfully so we want the world to know who we are and hear our music!

Social media has become the number one way that people can find out about you and hear your music 24/hrs a day.

But not everyone is going to dig what you’re doing.

And that is OK!

Social media has also has spawned a culture of hate and negativity occasionally when people feel like they have to voice an unfavorable opinion about you.

Negative comments and hate can happen to any artist. What is the best way to handle this public facing negativity about your art?

Delete them? Respond negatively back? Close your social media?

Not necessarily. Far from those things actually!

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). Why the very nature of what we do as musicians can easily open us up to criticism online and how understanding this can make it easier to deal with.

2). The importance of avoiding a “Comment War” on your social media channels and why it can hurt your overall fans perception of you.

3). The best ways to “diffuse” negativity on your social channels and how to handle negativity gracefully so that it doesn’t escalate out of control.

4). The best way to handle over the top, worst case scenario commenting that is only aimed at intentionally trying to hurt or insult you.

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Thank you for checking out this podcast. Negativity online can affect any artist no matter what genre or style of music you play.

Not everyone is going to like what you want to put out into the world and many people feel like the internet gives them a sounding board to let their voice be heard.

But after listening to this podcast hopefully you will agree that there are great ways to handle this kind of behavior in a way that maintains your image as an artist and diffuses any kind of confrontation that could negatively affect your fans perception of you.

We all want to be able to get along, even when people feel like they need to be negative towards you. We can’t stop people from making negative comments but we can definitely learn how to handle them when they do.

Thanks for tuning in!

Peace N Love

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

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Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.

Episode 36

Greetings and thanks for swinging by the podcast today!

We all start somewhere when we begin our musical journeys. We take our influences and the artists that inspire us and apply them to our own work and our attitudes about music.

But as we progress, we learn new things along the way all of which serve valuable to us and allow us to grow even further as artists.

This week I wanted to dedicate an episode to discuss a few things that I wish I had known as a musician when I first started out.

Perhaps you may feel the same way about some of these things as they really apply universally to all musicians no matter where you’re from or how you started.

In This Podcast You Will Learn:

1). How all forms of music have something to offer you as an artist and why taking in different styles of music can benefit your growth especially early on.

2). Why networking and building up great relationships in music is just as important as playing music itself.

3). How important it is to learn not just your main instrument or skill but how much more valuable you are to yourself and others by picking up a side instrument as well.

4). Why it’s important not to limit yourself on how long it should take you to accomplish your goals based on your age. If you are truly in love with music then it will be with you for life. Set goals, but don’t let them determine success or failure within a certain time frame.

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Thanks again for checking out this podcast. Getting the chance to look back and evaluate the things we learn along our journeys as artists is always a great idea.

Seeing how far you’ve come and what you’ve learned will only help you envision where you’re going next and how you will handle it all.

I hope you feel the same way about your progress. Don’t be afraid to look back on everything you’ve learned as a musician no matter how long you’ve been playing.

Years, months, days… Something can always be learned:)

Til the next episode.

Peace N Love,

Mike

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Questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear them!

Swing by and drop me a line at:

www.facebook.com/songwritersplanner

www.instagram.com/songwriters_planner

Get organized, accomplish your goals and stay inspired. Order your planner today.