Streaming: Tools for Musicians to Succeed

#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation Podcast

"When I first hear a song, it doesn't matter if it was released today, one year ago or 10 years ago. It's new to me, the moment I first hear it, and that's the same for your fans."

Our guest on today’s episode is Mike Warner, founder of Work Hard Playlist Hard – The DIY playlist guide for Artists and Curators. Mike is also the Head of Editorial Marketing Partnerships for North America at Believe, the global music distributor. As the go-to authority at the forefront of the digital music world, for all things streaming, we get into it with Mike. Find out how he got started as a DJ in Australia and then eventually made his way to California. How unemployment can lead to some great ideas, opportunities and even a book. Let's find out about the path that led to Mike eventually ending up at Believe USA for his day job, yes he loves a day job. Throughout this episode, Marc brings a bucket of questions to the table. Mike gets more specific about some excellent strategies, timelines and how to approach building a team. He also explains a few unique ways artists can get noticed by the many Digital Service Providers (DSP) out there.

The biggest lessons offered up:

• Don’t give up and don’t ignore any of the streaming services.
• Artists should always be talking about their work no matter when the music was released.
• A song is “new” the moment people hear it, even if it is 1 or 10 years old.

Mike spoke to us from California, USA.

Show Notes:

#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation

Believe

Work Hard Playlist Hard – The DIY playlist guide for Artists and Curators

Chartmetric

00:10 - Byta.com

02:20 - I grew up in Australia

03:39 - All I wanted to be was a DJ

06:10 - I moved to the USA and could not work so researched streaming services

08:40 -Pay a fee & get on a streaming platform: DistroKidt, CD Baby, TuneCore

09:00 - Other platforms provide services on top of that- The Orchard Ingrooves and Believe

11:55 - The band Date Night

13:00 - Writing the book: Work Hard Playlist Hard

20:18 - Fill in the forms and pitch your music to the DSPs

27:52 - What is an editorial playlist

29:07 - Spotify only allow you to pitch one track at a time

30:18 - Amazon Music: Pitch your music everywhere

32:00 - Pandora, only in the US, but a lot of listeners and great artist support

36:15 - Tidal for artists, “Rising Artists”

40:23 - Make a plan, talk up your music

43:31 - 8 Weeks before release, stick to a schedule

47:05 - Don't be disheartened, people take longer to discover new music today

49:30 - Its new the first time you hear it

51:56 - Finding your team- ask lots of questions.

56:00 - How I got on the Starbucks playlist

59:00 - Reach out on LinkedIn

59:30 - Creating your own playlists and exchanging music with other curators

1:03:20 - Working with labels and distributors

1:04:00 - The New Spotify user interface, Spotify canvas

1:10:00 - What are publishers looking for?

1:12:00 - Byta.com

Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu

Episode Credits:

Artwork by Jen Pmphrey

Hosted by Marc Brown

Series coordinated by Jamie Ford

Produced and edited by Colin MacKenzie

Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu