Is New Music Dying? Exploring Media Fragmentation, Nostalgia & the Rise of Micro-Culture
Hey, quick announcement before I get into today’s topic… Next week, I’m going to be promoting my Spotify growth membership. I’m telling you this for three reasons: Reason 1: I’ll be offering some cool stuff in the membership that I’m genuinely excited about, including brand new course materials and bonus trainings on topics like growing […]
From Email Strategy to Urgency Tactics: My Results and Takeaways from a Spotify Membership Push
Well, you asked for it. Last week, I surveyed this list to see if you guys would be interested in hearing about the results from my week of membership promotion. I got enough variations of “sure, I guess,” that I’m going to go ahead and share. (Although as I write this, I’m realizing that the […]
Beyond Subscriber Counts: Building a YouTube Audience That Really Engages
I launched my YouTube channel in October of 2023. Technically, I guess the channel had existed for about a year before that. But I’d only used it as a place to host a few random videos, and nobody really knew it existed. In October, 2023, there were two people subscribed to my account – and […]
How Hackers Hijacked My Client’s Meta Ads – And How You Can Protect Your Business
I debated sharing this story. It makes the main service I offer (Meta ad management) seem riskier than I’d like. But I highly value transparency, and I’d rather err toward oversharing than its opposite. While I realize that I don’t have to tell you everything that happens behind the scenes at Two Story (like the […]
Hypeddit Review: My Results After Spending $200
Here’s the premise: With Hypeddit’s ad campaign feature, you can grow your Spotify songs in five minutes using AI-powered music ads. That’s the title of Hypeddit’s video introducing the feature. Sounds intriguing, right? I mean, five minutes is literally less time than it takes me to peel and cut a medium-sized avocado. And every time […]
The Updated Meta Ads Course is Back: Here’s Why You Might Want It
Hey, friends. I’m writing this email from a Starbucks in Littleton, Colorado at 5:11 pm on Monday evening. I’m at this Starbucks because I needed a place to camp out after giving Alli a ride to an appointment. Aside from Panera, Starbucks is the only coffee shop going past 5 pm. For many reasons (but […]
Creating a Consistent Music Marketing Plan: The Key Tactics for Streaming Growth
There are four direct ways to market your music for streaming growth. Those are: Now, two caveats are necessary here. First, streaming growth is not some be-all, end-all thing. It’s only one thing among many things. Specifically, it is a thing which shows that people other than your mom listen to your music, but that’s […]
The Joy of Making Music: Why You Should Keep Creating, Even Without a Career
When I was a kid, I thought I wanted to be some version of a rockstar. I say “some version” because I didn’t actually want to be a rockstar; even as a kid, I was always more inclined toward soft-indie pop or folk music. I’m about as rebellious as an unsalted oyster cracker. But I […]
How to Avoid Playlist Curators and Build Your Own Audience: A Musician’s Guide to Self-Curation
Here is what it’s like to send your music to a curator: You: “Hello, Playlist Mister Manager ma’am, I love the work you’ve done in crafting your playlist, ‘New Funk Pop 2024.’ The care you’ve put into it shines through in every song, but nowhere is your craft more evident than in your placement of […]
From Planning to Promotion: How I’m Releasing 3 Singles to Hit 1M Streams by 2025
I’m releasing three songs over the next three months. Normally, I don’t use this newsletter as a place to promote my own music. And don’t worry – despite that self-focused headline, the principle won’t change. But I do want to use these songs as an opportunity to walk you through my own thought process for […]
