Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Friday edition - 2 min read

Creators Can Talk Back Now

What’s Up

YouTube is gonna make this whole parasocial thing worse for creators, aren’t they? Creators can now leave 30-second voice clips under every comment (even their haters). It's live on mobile (iOS and Android) and works on regular videos, Shorts, and livestream comments.

So What

What sounds cooler? Rick Beato liking a comment? Or him sending a voice reply. Exactly. Remember, YouTube's algorithm loves engagement, so more replies = more visibility.

Now What

Open your YouTube app, find comments worth responding to, and test it. Keep clips under 15 seconds (TikTok fried attention spans, remember). Don't overthink it. It doesn’t need to sound like a radio ad.

Side note: This is a cool feature, hope the AI deepfakes don’t ruin it.

[Read more on DMN]

There’s a Better Way to Share Music

What’s Up

Gatefolded: the love child of Linktree, private Dropbox, and SoundCloud, built by an ex-DistroKid employee. You get a public fan page and private sharing for sending tracks to labels, playlists, or collaborators.

So What

(Hand on shoulder) Sharing a Dropbox link is fine and all, but it doesn’t make you look like a serious musician. Gatefolded is perfect here. Nothing looks more serious than having all your links in a single, professional dashboard. Just like they said, it’s built for how artists actually work.

Now What

For $49/year, it’s worth a look. Best for artists who are sending unreleased work with collaborators or labels. But if all you need is a simple landing page, stick with free options.

[Read more on Music Ally]

Bandcamp Added This for a Reason

What’s Up

This week, Bandcamp added publishing fields to the dashboard. You can now input songwriter names, publisher info, and ISWC codes. Boring news, you say? Huh. Well, you’re gonna want to hear this one.

So What

Yes, it’s technical. And no, you can’t skip this one. Without the songwriter names, publisher info, and ISWC codes, publishing royalties usually just end up in the "Black Box," and you don’t want it there. That’s where your money sits until it disappears or gets paid out to top-tier artists by market share. You see the problem here?

Now What

Unless you want Taylor Swift to collect your royalties, log in. Bulk edit the tracks you already uploaded. Don’t know what an ISWC code is? Don’t ask us, check out Bandcamp’s Essential Guide to Publishing Rights and Royalties.

[Full story at Hypebot]