Online Course: Music Business 101 is my first ever online course and is now up on the BlackbirdPunk Academy site! For the longest time, I always did my webinars and courses live. However, since I love e-learning myself, I pushed myself to create an online course. Many of the advantages that I love about e-learning have inspired me to create my course. Here’s the thing, if you go to a live course about YouTube for example, then you’ll look at your laptop anyway the whole time. I don’t get the point of why you can’t do that online. What is more, when you do an online course that is on demand it ..read more

Visual hacks for music streaming are essential to get your profile into shape. Whether you look at the header image or the album cover art, getting a first punch can decide if someone will listen to your music. Here’s the thing, Spotify and all the other music streaming services like Apple Music or Anghami constantly roll out new features. What is more, if you want to streamline your visuals across social media as well it can get hectic fast. To help you out, here are 3 visual hacks for music streaming. 3 Visual Hacks For Music Streaming #1: Make a coherent list or map of all platforms on the ..read more

New year – new me! That’s something we all probably plan. However, I won’t tell you about good New Year’s resolutions. Getting the good old to-do list out and getting down to business is much more effective. Here are 5 top tips to kick off the New Year without further ado! Make a plan on your to-do list to kick off the New Year First things first, organise yourself. No matter if you’re a bit old-school and love to work with a real pen and paper or if you enjoy using the like of Miro. It’s time to plan your next moves. Go through all the things that are planned already, like work engagements, f ..read more

Artist Pick Playlist On Spotify is one of my number one recommendations for any musician consulting with me. In my experience, it’s one of the most neglected yet essential corners on Spotify. I hear you, it’s so much more thrilling to put out wild Spotify Canvas for your new single or to roll out a Music and Talk special. However, having an Artist Pick Playlist On Spotify can be one of those simple things to help you connect with your fanbase. What is more, it can showcase where you are coming from in musical terms. Storytelling is not just about sexy social media posts, it’s also about contex ..read more

If you want to further your career, it could be a good idea to collaborate with other musicians. For one, you can get more attention from journalists. What is more, the fans of the collaborating artist might start being your fans as well. However, many musicians have a negative attitude when it comes to collaborating with fellow musicians. I do not understand this sentiment too much but my guess is that many musicians find it scary because they’ve never tried it. The old notion that the music industry is a hardcore competitive place also lingers on. Many might also worry that if they collabora ..read more

Good tools for independent musicians can make or break your workflow. For once, having the right tools in your arsenal can save you lots of money. Having the right resources can boost your career and help you work professionally. It’s also important to show your competence if you want to work with industry professionals like booking agents and publicists. However, I see many clients that try out any new tool under the sun and end up having their information on 20 different platforms. Make it concise and only add a new tool if you are really going to use it. Now, search for tools that are multi ..read more

Staying motivated as a musician is a hot topic. People will sometimes say that you’ll never work a day if you love what you do. Those people probably aren’t musicians though. The truth is, even if you absolutely love music and being a musician, life isn’t always easy. Of course, when you are on tour and feeling yourself on stage the To-Do-List at home feels like a world away. However, if you want to succeed in the music industry, the workload is not easy. Staying motivated as a musician in order to get it all done is a job within itself. I come across this problem all the time in my work. Last ..read more

Storytelling and branding are two keywords in any digital strategy. However many similarities you might suspect, they are actually two different standalone concepts. Yes, they are linked but you can’t use these words interchangeably. It is essential to get these terminologies right. For once, it can help you communicate much more efficiently. What is more, it enables you to track the success of your project. Knowing precisely what metrics and concepts you are tracking or supervising is vital to getting the results you want. So without further ado let’s jump right into the difference between st ..read more

Many musicians wish to know more about the mechanics of Spotify. How do some songs end up on all the playlists and some not at all? One crucial metric within Spotify is the listener-to-follower ratio. That means, how many listeners does an artist have and how many of those are also followers? The higher the follower count the better for the Spotify algorithm. For once, it shows clearly that there is a fan following for the artists. This is an important measurement since it implies also a great following on social media and hence nice buzzing for a new release. Something that Spotify is after b ..read more

Content clusters are a significant part of any digital strategy. If I talk to someone about how they fill their social media channels and the website I often hear ‘I just post any news and share when I have a new single out’. Indeed, ‘news’ might be part of your future content clusters but shouldn’t make out most of your posts. One problem most people have with social media channels and their websites is how to fill them with content. That’s where content clusters will come into effect. They give you the structure to post regularly as well as keep your audience interested. Originally, the conc ..read more