Streaming: Tools for Musicians to Succeed

"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