Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Saturday edition • 3 min read

How Two Bands Blew Up From Their Practice Room

South Arcade and Haku. (ハク.) blew up the internet with a tactic so advanced, so diabolical, you need a PhD in psychology just to figure it out. You might want to sit down for this one.

They filmed themselves rehearsing.

We'll give you a moment.

How They Did It

They didn't have to grovel for a record deal, and they certainly didn't have to spend their rent money on some consultant who went to Berklee. There's really no strategy to it, and that's what makes it genius. South Arcade goofing off mid-practice or Haku's lead singer spitting bars is way more relatable than anything UMG's marketing team can muster up.

How You Can Too

Got a phone? Great, you're already halfway there. Post a clip where someone messes up. Post another where the room sounds like a basement because it IS a basement. Authenticity is the real currency, and good luck trying to buy it.

[Full story at Hypebot]

BandPitch: Get In Front Of Bookers

What's Up

A song, you can upload to the entire world in under four minutes. But getting a festival booker to open your email? That's a different ball game entirely. Who knows? Could be months. Could be years. Or it could be never. The people behind BandPitch are tired of watching that story play out.

So What

They said it best, "Artists are no longer lacking exposure—they're lacking access." Can't argue with that. Building an audience is only the first step. You still need to get attention from bookers. Lucky thing, BandPitch treats access like it's part of the job and not some invisible side quest.

Now What

If you're tired of sending out cold emails and getting no response, not even a rejection, check out BandPitch. It's free and paid tiers give you access to direct pitching. And worst-case scenario? Oh, wait, you're already in it.

[Full story at Hypebot]

6 Billion Reasons Why You Should Take TikTok Seriously

What's Up

Guess what just clocked 6 billion track saves in a single year? Go on, guess. That's right, TikTok's "Add to Music App" feature. TikTok probably thinks blurting out numbers like this will have us going, "Uh, big number." Well… it worked.

So What

Yeah, yeah. TikTok drives views, not real listeners. You've heard it. We've heard it. Everyone's heard it. But dude, 6 billion saved converting directly into streams is definitely not nothing. Sienna Spiro put out "Die On This Hill"; no one knew who she was, then TikTok happened.

Now What

Your music needs to be on every DSP TikTok's Add to Music connects to. If it's not, you're literally leaving saves on the table, and that's just sad.

[Full story at Music Ally]