Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Wednesday edition • 3 min read

Discovery Mode Gets a Report Card

What's Up

Thank you, Spotify, for releasing a tool that proves your payola… umm�� Discovery Mode works.

Campaign Lift estimates the extra streams you get from your campaign by comparing what actually happened against what Spotify guesses would've happened if you didn't pay the toll. Groundbreaking stuff.

So What

Talk about grading your own homework. You can't even check whatever Spotify's "predicted baseline" is. Nobody can, except Spotify. To make things worse, you need at least 500 streams from Discovery Mode just to find out if it's working.

Now What

You know the drill. Check your own numbers before and after the campaign and see if it's worth the lower royalties. Don't take Spotify's word for it.

[Full story at DMN]

Don't Stop Believin' in Those 2k Subs

What's Up

You're not gonna abandon that channel with 2k subs, are you?

Metricool says don't. Their new study of about 800,000 videos found 2k to 10k subscribers to be the sweet spot for growth right now.

So What

Pop quiz: What's the best way to get discovered on YouTube? Take a guess. It's Shorts, and it's not even close. More than 61% of organic views came straight from them.

Shorts are shaping up to be more than a side project. They're where you get attention, and YouTube's Related Video is how you send viewers straight to your long-form stuff.

Now What

Two to four videos a week is your frequency. Nobody's saying write four songs a week. Post the stuff around the music, like trailers, lyric videos, whatever's cheap to make. And oh, YouTube just dropped custom thumbnails for Shorts, so be sure to check that out.

[Full story at Music Ally]

How a 42-Year-Old Punk Band Sold Out in 48 Hours

What's Up

You might think your old band's music is trash. Tony van Veen thought so too, until some guy in Berlin offered to reissue it. And his band was old. We're talking "Where's the beef?" old.

Kremlin Korps broke up in 1984, and they had nothing, including no fans and certainly no website. But somehow, he managed to sell out his band's vinyl in two days.

So What

First, he made sure the vinyl and digital release dropped the same day. Then he linked his distributor to Spotify for Artists and featured the vinyl as his artist's pick with the message: "Get our EP on vinyl while they last!"

Tony finished off by making one social media post telling everyone the story behind the record. And that's the whole campaign.

Now What

If there's one thing you take from this, it's that stories sell, but where you put them counts. Lead with the story on socials. Once they click through, don't be shy about asking for the sale.

[Full story at Hypebot]