Being a band isn't cheap. Recording, gear, marketing, touring - it can all take an enormous amount of money!

Luckily (and hopefully) there might be some funding options available to you right now that you aren't aware of!

In this episode we discuss getting and applying for grants and funding to further your careers as professional musicians.

Want The 5 Step Release Guide For Releasing Your Next Song? Click Here!

Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Quickbooks Accounting Software (What we use to run our books and process credit card payments)

SquareSpace Websites

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

When you're in a band you end up spending an incredible amount of time with your bandmates - often in an incredibly close proximity too. And, if your band is experiencing even modest success, the same can be said for your fans - they become a part of everyday life!

And like a frog in a pot of water, you might not notice that the situation is getting out of control until it's too late.

So with that in mind, we decided to make an episode on how to handle such a close proximity, and how to communicate and set expectations amongst not only your bandmates and team, as well as your fans.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider becoming a member of our Patreon membership! 

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Stuff We Mention:

The Self-Recording Band Podcast (Malcoms other podcast)

Joel Wanaseks episode

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Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Quickbooks Accounting Software (What we use to run our books and process credit card payments)

SquareSpace Websites

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Joel Wanasek is a music mixer and producer who has worked with bands such as Machine Head, Bless The Fall, Monuments, and more. He is also an incredibly successful entrepreneur, most notably with his heavy music mixing platform, URM (Unstoppable Recording Machine).

In short, Joel is one of those people who will work harder than anyone, and absolutely crushes whatever he sets his mind to. And sometimes, some of the things his sights on are incredibly entertaining to observe!

One of the examples that we are specifically discussing in this episode is the creation of an entirely fictional band that Joel pretended to produce - and boy, he not disappoint.

He released music, promo assets, and did a full Spotify campaign, all while pretending that this band actually existed - and it worked!

In less than two months, this fictional band went from 0 streams, all the way to 80k.

In this episode of Your Band Sucks (At Business) we discuss exactly how Joel went about marketing this band, and we didn't stop there!

This is the 50th episode of Your Band Sucks (At Business) and Joel was the perfect guest to have on for this milestone episode. It's the longest episode we've done to date, and Joel brought his considerable knowledge to the table and he didn't hold back.

Getting to pick the brain of someone like Joel for nearly two hours is not something that happens everyday and we can't thank Joel enough for taking the time to lend us his experience, without holding back in the slightest.

We hope you enjoy the episode as much as we did!

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Releasing New Music Soon? Get The 5-Step Release Guide Here!

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Stuff We Mention In This Episode

URM (Joel's Mixing Educational Platform)

Drumforge (Joel's drum software company)

Brian Hood / 6FHS

Joel Wanasek's Instagram

Artist Growth Agency (The Spotify Promotion Platform That Joel Recommended) - Use discount code 'YOURBANDSUCKS" for 5% off! (Affiliate Link) ***Please note that YBS has not vetted or used this service. Joel's recommendation is the only knowledge we have with this service and we encourage you to do your own research to if this service is reputable and right for you.***

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Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Q

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Tracking down the contact info for playlist curators, blog writers, and other promotion avenues can be hard and time consuming work: but there is a service out there that aims to help you with that!

Enter: SubmitHub.com - a website that connects you to the above described providers in an effort to get your music where you want it.

But the big questions remain: does it work? Is it worth the expense? Is it a scam?

Well I feel we can say pretty certainly that it is not a scam, and we've got some great information for you on the other questions as well!

In this episode we draw from the experience of Marcus Manhas as he used the service to promote his own music project, to some pretty fantastic results.

This is a case study of Marcus's experience with the platform, and it should be noted that this by no means guarantees the same results for yourself.

Also - this is not a paid, or even asked for, promotion for SubmitHub. It's just something we wanted to do since we thought it would help our audience! (Side note, none of our guests have ever paid to be on our show! Just straight up good folks coming on and teaching what they know)!

If you enjoy this episode, please share it with your friends and tag us on instagram!

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Want the 5 Step Music Release Guide? Click Here!

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Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Quickbooks Accounting Software (What we use to run our books and process credit card payments)

SquareSpace Websites

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Our guest today is an extremely exciting one for us. Stint (Ajay Bhattacharyya) is a Canadian producer & songwriter currently residing in California. His incredible list of work includes legendary artists such as  Gallant, MØ, Carly Rae Jepsen, Demi Lovato, NAO and Zara Larsson.

Stint has followed a remarkable path to get to where he is today, and it was absolutely fascinating hearing about all the twists and turns that got him there along the way.

If there is one thing to take away from this episode, it's that its so important to keep iterating and adapting until you find something that feels truly 'right', and that it can be a very different path than you'd expect to take to get there.

This was one of our favourite episodes to date and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

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Want the 5 Step Release Guide for your next single? Click Here!

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Stuff We Mention In This Episode:

Stints Website

Jean Dawson

Ross Robinson

Machine Gun Kelly

Data Romance (Stints old band)
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Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Quickbooks Accounting Software (What we use to run our books and process credit card payments)

SquareSpace Websites

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Has our podcast been helpful for you? Then you will love our 5 Steps To A Successful Single Release Guide E-Book! Get it HERE!

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Stuff We Mention In This Episode:

Machine Gun Kelly

Nickleback

Arianna Grande

Flavio The Drum Tech

Erik Ratz

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Join Our Patreon Membership!

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Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Quickbooks Accounting Software (What we use to run our books and process credit card payments)

SquareSpace Websites (Build Yourself A Website)

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Adrian Sousa is the founder of the popular Youtube Channel, Rabona TV. Aside from being an old friend of Marcus and I's, Adrian is also a wildly successful 'YouTuber'!

We are thrilled to have Adrian on to chat about what it actually takes to grow a successful YouTube channel from the ground up - from literally zero followers, all the way to 191K Followers!

While Adrians channel is about Football (or Soccer, depending on who you ask), there is a ton to be learnt here from our audience of musicians and bands. As you probably know by now, we are huge advocates of bands building their own long term dedicated audience of true fans via content marketing of some sort. Youtube is one of those options that bands can leverage to build a connection with potential fans!

This was a hugely inspiring conversation with a very kind and giving soul. We hope you enjoy it - and please do go check out Adrians channel, Rabona TV!

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Do you want the 5 Step Single Release Guide? Click Here!

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If you enjoy and appreciate the content we make please support us by becoming one of our Patreon Members and enjoy some awesome perks as well!

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Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Quickbooks Accounting Software (What we use to run our books and process credit card payments)

SquareSpace Websites

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Radio has long been a holy grail of achievement for bands around the world. And for good reason! Getting your music played alongside your favourite artists, being introduced by amazing DJ's, it all really DOES feel fantastic when it happens to you!

In more recent years, a focus has shifted from focusing on radio towards Spotify playlists - but there is something lost in that trade that is surely worth considering

Jon Williams is the founder and host of What Was That Radio, a world class music enthusiast, and all around one of the most passionate humans I've come into contact with in my life in the music industry.

We've been dying to get Jon on the air since he started What Was That Radio, an online internet station that is focused on delivering new music to listeners around the world, to learn more about his new station and what our listeners, and bands around the world, should know about the online radio industry.

And hint: It's something that I'm blown away I haven't focused on earlier!

There is a WORLD of opportunity out there for bands that are willing to put in the work.

Why?

Well there are many reasons, but the one that I want to focus on is "trust". And trust, is something more than valuable than nearly anything else when trying to position your band as a legitimate contender in your genre - and it is also something that Spotify, and other streaming apps, does NOT give you!

Why does radio give more trust to listeners than streaming apps like Spotify? Well the big one is that radio has DJ's, and listeners develop very real relationships with their DJ's. So if a DJ recommends your music to their audience - you can bet your bottom dollar that their audience is going to take that suggestion serious.

We talk about this, and plenty more, on this episode of Your Band Sucks (At Business) with the one and only Jon Williams!

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Do you want the FREE 5 Step Single Release Guide? Click Here!

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Stuff We Mention In This Episode:

What Was That Radio (Consider subscribing as a paid member! It really is fantastic!)

Band of Rascals

Fintan (Marcus performs drums live with Fintan!)

The Zone @ 91.3 (Great Modern Rock Radio Station that gave us our start in Canadian Radio!)

Deep Sea Gypsies (Victoria Blues Rock Band)

Spiritbox

BBC Pirate Radio

radio.co (online radio station platform)

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Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Jesse Cannon is a name that you should already know if you're active in the modern music scene. But on the off chance that you don't know him: He is the author of 'Get More Fans' & 'Processing Creativity', he is a podcast host and producer for shows like 'Off The Record' and 'The New Abnormal', as well running the Youtube channel 'Musformation'.

He is also a established musician producer, mixer, and mixer in addition to all of this!

In short, Jesse Cannon is a complete force of nature who's forgotten more about the music industry than you'll learn in a lifetime. Which makes him the perfect guest for us to have on the Your Band Sucks (At Business) podcast to chat about the modern approach to releasing music on Spotify and Youtube.

You'll learn things like:

• How to differentiate between  different platforms releasing algorithms
• How to take advantage of Spotify rewards certain practices of release
• Spotify curated playlist tips and tricks
• Why the 'follow' button should be your primary focus when releasing music on Spotify
• How to extend the life of your single
• and much, much more!

Listen to the episode now and level up your release strategy!

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Want the 5 Steps To A Successful Music Release PDF E Book? Click Here!

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Enjoy our content and want to support us? Become a patron member and get some awesome perks!

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Stuff We Mention In This Episode:

Jesse Cannon's Website, books, courses, etc

Musformation (Jesse's Youtube Channel on building an audience as a band)

Spiritbox

Dillinger Escape Plan

Eyal Levi / URM Academy

Thinking Fast and Slow (book Jesse Mentioned)

Ben Howard

Matt Corby

The New Abnormal Podcast (Jesse Is the Producer)

Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!

Any day that we get an email from legendary entertainment lawyer Kurt Dahl is a good day in our books. Especially when he's got a great topic that he wants to chat about on the podcast!

If you aren't already familiar with Kurt, he's an entertainment lawyer at the top of his field, manager for mixer Brian Moncarz, and the drummer for established rock band, One Bad Son. In short, he's a force of nature in this industry thats worth paying attention to.

So, to the topic of this episode: Should you buy social media followers?

Well listen to the episode to find out what we think, and why!

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Get The 5 Step Music Release Guide!

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Stuff We Mention In This Episode:

Brian Moncarz

Kurt Dahl's Lawyer Drummer Website

Bo's Bar - Great Red Deer Venue

Sound & Vision Management (Kurts Management Company)

One Bad Son (Kurt Dahls band)

Stuff We Use / Affiliate Links:

Distrokid (our recommended music distribution service)

Close.IO (Malcoms recommended CRM)

Transistor.FM (A great podcast hosting platform)

BackBlaze File Backup Services (Malcoms recommend data backup service)

Printful - Print-To-Order Merchandise Service

Canva (what we use for graphic design)

Quickbooks Accounting Software (What we use to run our books and process credit card payments)

SquareSpace Websites

 

Malcom started a DIY Recording Youtube Channel and you should go subscribe and check out the videos! You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@malcomowenflood

And Marcus is killing it on the road with multiple bands! Keep up to date with him via his website, here: https://www.marcusmanhas.com

As always, we love hearing from our listeners! Hit us up on our instagrams!