A podcast for music artists, record labels, start-ups, and industry professionals. Hosted by Andrew Apanov, the founder of the Dotted Music marketing agency and WeSpin.co musicians community. On each episode, the world's smartest representatives of the music business share tactics and strategies you can use to grow your own music brand. Subscribe at http://musicgrowthtalks.com and access the Secret Music Growth Talks Feed at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

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Music Growth Talks

Leser 1, hailing from Adelaide, Australia, is a talented and experience music producer with a knack for creating energetic and emotive sounds. Growing up in the late 80s/90s, his style of music reflects his influences across a variety of genre's.  From soul and funk to rock and metal, his productions are diverse and well-rounded.  ‘Rip This In Pieces’ is a true big beat master piece.  With its intense distorted synths and classic break beat percussion, it’s a killer electronic track that will be sure to rattle and entice your eardrums.

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Leser 1 -  Rip This In Pieces

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr07 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Christopher Knab, the co-author of the "Music Is Your Business" book (now released in its fourth edition), has been in the music industry for over 30 years – and knows what it takes to succeed in music. Over the years he's been sharing all his knowledge with artists, and developed an easy to understand and follow system called the FourFront Marketing Plan. In this We Spin Recipes podcast episode Chris explains it in details.

Listen to the show to learn what skills you need to develop for turning your music career into a profitable business (and not losing everything), how one of the Warner Bros Records' Presidents started out, and much much more.

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

WSR07: The Four Fronts Of The Music Business - Chris Knab

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr13 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Oscar Höglund is the CEO of Epidemic Sound, a sync licensing company with a special concept. In this We Spin Recipes interview, Oscar talks about what separates Epidemic Sound from other sync licensing companies, how the industry works, and what you can do to improve your chances of getting your songs licensed.

This We Spin Recipes episode was conducted by the Dotted Music editor Oscar Hjelmstedt at The Music Conference in Malmö, Sweden.

Some of the topics covered in the conversation:

• Reasons behind creating Epidemic Sound
• How the the sync licensing process works
• Epidemic Sound’s concept and how the company works
• The most important lesson that Oscar learnt from working with television
• How Epidemic Sound curates the music and pays the artists
• How the budget for the song requests is decided
• Oscar’s biggest challenge as a CEO
• What an artist can do to be more attractive for sync licensing companies
• Why the company’s called “Epidemic Sound”

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT13: Sync Licensing Insights From Epidemic Sound – Oscar Höglund

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr23 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Peter Schwinge is the General Manager of the New Music Seminar, an annual music industry conference held in New York City. In this WeSpin Recipes podcast episode, the first in 2015, Peter talked on the exciting history of the event, how it influenced the launch of SXSW, and what's to come at this year's NMS.

Peter also covered the Artist on the Verge (AOV) Project, an annual curated list of the Top 100 national and international artists on the rise. It's a part of New Music Nights, the festival portion of the NMS, which has been exposing upcoming artists to music executives since its origins in 1980 (hosting artists like Dave Matthews Band, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis and Run DMC before they were icons). Listen to the episode to learn some useful networking tips, as well.

Some of the topics covered in the podcast episode:

• The history of New Music Seminar.
• Bigger than NYC: how NMS attracts industry professionals from all around the world.
• Do we need a new music industry conference? And what it means to run one.
• How artists are picked for Artist on the Verge.
• "The new era of the music business is going back to the personal engagement, and using the technology in a proper manner."
• What will be new at NMS this year.

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT23: What's To Come At New Music Seminar 2015 – Peter Schwinge

Learn more about WeSpin records at http://records.wespin.co

Follow Ray-Kay at https://soundcloud.com/ray-kay

Ray-Kay - Midnight Express

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr33 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Chris Thompson is a co-founder of http://splashflood.com, a music mobile app to be released in late Spring. SplashFlood is aimed to serve both musicians, who want to spread their music beyond existing audiences, and listeners, eager to discover songs from new independent musicians.

In this WeSpin Recipes podcast episode, Chris talked on what musicians can learn from startups, how SplashFlood is different from anything available on the market, what the “Influence Builder” is – and how it will allow artists to raise to the top inside the app solely thanks to their talent and motivation.

Some of the topics covered in the episode:

• Why talented musicians deserve to be heard.
• Combining music and entrepreneurship.
• Looking at everything from a critical standpoint.
• How is SplashFlood different from Soundcloud, YouTube, Reverbnation and the likes?
• The “Influence Builder”.
• What’s in it for a listener?
• A game-like experience inside the app.
• Why you won’t be able to buy listens for money.

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT33: Making A Splash In The Flood Of Music – Chris Thompson (SplashFlood)

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr50 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Ilpo Kärkkäinen, a.k.a. Resound, is a drum & bass producer, blogger, music production instructor, and the author of a new WeSpin course called “Smart Productivity for Musicians – Accomplish More as an Artist and Live a More Meaningful Life”.

In this anniversary WeSpin Recipes episode, Ilpo reveals the course he worked on for around 18 months, and talks about the topic of one of the Smart Productivity’s chapters – why musicians procrastinate. Ilpo goes over the six most common reasons behind procrastination, and solutions for overcoming them.

Listen to the show to learn why not all time you spend being “unproductive” is procrastination, how to understand when you do procrastinate, and then to overcome it.

Learn more and sign up to the course on WeSpin at http://www.resoundsound.com/smart-productivity/

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

Sign up to the course

MGT50: 6 Reasons Artists Procrastinate (And How To Overcome Them) – Resound

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr54 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Cheryl B. Engelhardt is a singer-songwriter, an entrepreneur, and a seasoned music business veteran based in New York. She's currently finishing a collaborative record called "Inevitably", and is preparing the launch of a new edition of her MX4 course for musicians.

In this WeSpin Recipes episode we talked with Cheryl on her rich background in the music industry, the MX4 Course and the Key Conversations podcast, the reasons artists fail to achieve success in music, and how to be a thriving musician without playing huge stadiums and having a worldwide recognition.

Listen to the conversation to also learn how to fight the fear of failure, focus on what you truly should do to succeed, and earn money through one of the three types of income sources available for musicians.

Go to http://wespin.co/wsr54 for the show notes and to http://getacard.wespin.co to learn how to support the contest and get a free WeSpin postcard.

Some of the topics covered in the episode:

• How science can help your music career
• You can be a successful musician without a worldwide recognition
• What stops musicians from achieving success
• How to constantly educate yourself
• Three types of things all artists can be selling
• Nothing is predictable in the music industry

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT54: The Path For A Whole Life Of Creating Music – Cheryl B. Engelhardt

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr60 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Sebastiaan Hooft is a widely recognized Dutch entrepreneur, who literally redesigned his life after a total burnout – which he experienced after working on his businesses almost 24/7 for fifteen years. Sebastiaan then sold his companies, gave the profits to charities, and started travelling the world to learn the tactics of other successful people. As the result, he invented a canvas for living a healthy entrepreneurial life, and started teaching it to leaders and entrepreneurs. Simultaneously, he followed his long-time passion for music, and starting a professional DJ career.

This WeSpin Recipes episode was recorded at Dancefair 2016 in The Netherlands, where Sebastiaan Hooft hosted a talk on Entrepreneurship in music. In the episode, Sebastiaan talks on the five facets of entrepreneurship skills, and shows which areas you as an artist (and hence an entrepreneur) should be focusing on more than you probably do now. If you haven't had a mentor before, and haven't realized the value of having one, here you will learn not only how it can impact your career – but also how to find and manage your mentors.

Listen to the conversation to understand the Business Model Canvas, see when to say "no", and hear numerous other actionable ideas on improving your music business.

Some of the topics covered in the episode:

• Applying entrepreneurial skills to a music career.
• The five elements of entrepreneurship.
• Don't underestimate the importance of building a team.
• Finding free mentors to help your career.
• Bringing value to your mentors as an up-and-coming musician.
• Planning with the Business Model Canvas.
• Which level (out of five) are you on now?
• Learn to say "no".

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT60: Why Artists Need Mentors – Sebastiaan Hooft

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr61 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Andras Bodrogi is a digital music consultant, certified YouTube expert and Google Regional Trainer with years of experience in the music industry (starting at EMI Hungary, and then launching the first music distribution company in the country). Currently his primary role is helping local YouTube partners, brands and content creators reach their goals with audio-visual content at Google Ground Budapest.

Several weeks after meeting Andras at the MENT music conference in Slovenia, Andrew interviewed him for this WeSpin Recipes episode. And, as you could guess, it's all about YouTube. Andras talks about different types of music-related content, video SEO tips, monetization, growing your YouTube community, and learning from successful vloggers.

Listen to the conversation to also learn where to find more free information about YouTube, and how not to name a band.

Some of the topics covered in the episode:

• From EMI, to own distribution company, to Google Ground.
• Learning from the new generation of YouTubers.
• "Watch time is golden."
• Types of content designed to attract new viewers.
• "Online doesn't work without offline."
• Video search engine optimization tips.
• Monetizing your videos in a smart way.
• Why not to block user-generated content.
• Use YouTube's free resources!

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT61: Mastering YouTube As A Musician – András Bodrogi (Google Ground Budapest)

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr63 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Sander Petit is an experienced Dutch entertainment lawyer, specializing in dance music copyright law. A DJ himself, Sander works with producers, booking agents, managers, and publishers, and shares his vast knowledge in a DJ Mag column, as well as other respected music publications.

Andrew met Sander at Dancefair 2016, where he hosted a session titled "Legal 101: Making or Breaking the Deal". This WeSpin Recipes episode, recorded a month later, includes a ton of practical legal advice from Sander Petit – applicable to musicians in any territories, and in any genres. What to watch out for in a contract to close a good deal, even if you can't hire a lawyer? How to avoid losing control over your intellectual property? Who to have in your team? Sander's got these questions covered.

Listen to this episode to also learn the reasons you may want to show a recording agreement or a booking agency contract you are about to sign to a lawyer, after all, and how to properly exit a deal you don't want to be in anymore.

Some of the topics covered in the episode:

The popularity of EDM: good, bad, neither?
Know the different types of rights.
Two sides of your team: business and creative.
Remember, you can always negotiate a contract.
Benefits of collective rights management companies.
Things to beware in contracts with booking agents.
The six questions to ask before signing a contract.
How to end a collaboration with someone the right way.
What can work as a contract (if there is no formal contract).

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

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MGT63: The 3 Most Important Things In Music Contracts – Sander Petit

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr69 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Adam Reifsteck, the founder of the NYC-based electronic dance music label Teknofonic, takes a different approach to running a record label. "Artists first" is clearly the imprint's motto, as Adam lets his artist keep all their copyrights, and "have full creative control".

Listen to this WeSpin Recipes episode to learn how exactly it works out for the label and its artists, and to also get some useful tips from Adam. During the conversation, we talked about getting signed, earning money through SoundExchange and PPL, and more.

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT69: Rebalancing Artists' Interests As A Label – Adam Reifsteck (Teknofonic)

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr70 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

This WeSpin Recipes podcast episode features our conversation with D Grant Smith, a Growth Farmer (listen to the show to see what "growth farming" stands for), professionally coaching musicians and entrepreneurial businesses. He's been showcasing unsigned artists since 2003 as the Syndicated Host of The Appetizer Radio Show, and now released a book on radio promotion called "The DIY Musician's Radio Handbook".

In this show, D Grant talked on the role and influence of public radio, the ways (not) to pitch your music, building strong relationships with the industry contacts, the importance of having a great sound and knowing who you sound like, the questions to ask a publicist or a radio plugger you want to hire, and much more.

Listen to the show to see why there is no such thing as an "overnight success," and hear one of D Grant's most important rules of radio promotion.

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

MGT70: Radio Promotion 101 – D Grant Smith

⏯ Go to wespin.co/wsr83 for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Tommy Darker, the guest of the very first WeSpin Recipes episode, is back to our podcast! Over the past year, Tommy has been busy working on a new creative project called Kenophania. His goal is to get in front of no less than one million people, and Tommy will tell you how he's going to achieve that.

Kenophania is described as "a docu-style arced reality series about an ex-military, now savvy musician, who embarks on a journey to create a new musical style and make it commercial success." What makes it particularly interesting: Tommy had never played music with others before.

Throughout 2016 Tommy has toured the whole Greece and collaborated with hundreds of musicians, while documenting the whole process. In this podcast you are going to learn how Yossi Sassi from Orphaned Land inspired Tommy to start Kenophania, what it costs to record such a documentary (with a detailed breakdown of expenses), and why your creative process has little to do with the final product.

Listen to this WeSpin Recipes episodes in full to be among the first to hear about the new music business platform Tommy is launching soon (which is like Quora for the music industry), and to find out how to watch the pilot episode of Kenophania.

NOTE: The podcast was renamed from WeSpin Recipes to Music Growth Talks.

WeSpin Recipes

MGT83: Reaching 1 Million People With Your Music – How Tommy Darker Is Doing It

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt88-musicpreneur-hub/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

This is a premiere of Musicpreneur Hub (http://www.musicpreneurhub.com), founded by Tommy Darker. The Hub is "a music knowledge platform," created to connect handpicked music industry experts with musicians and students looking for advice, Quora-style.

Listen to this Music Growth Talks episode to get a better understanding of Musicpreneur Hub, to see why it may be more like Airbnb than Quora according to Tommy, and to hear a few tips on asking questions on the platform. And then go to Musicpreneur Hub to ask a question yourself!

And if you don't know who Tommy is yet, then we highly recommend you listening to the previous two Music Growth Talks episodes with him as a guest – you can find the links in the show notes.

MGT88: Musicpreneur Hub, A Quora For The Music Industry – Tommy Darker

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2017/podcast/mgt95-jon-skinner/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast.

Jon Skinner, the founder and CEO of Music Gateway, is back to the Music Growth Talks podcast to talk about the latest platform developments, such as Sync Portal and Demo Space, as well as their just launched Kickstarter campaign aimed to fuel the October release of Music Gateway 2.0.

The new version of the platform, which connects musicians and industry professionals, is promised to have a load of new tools for artists, including the mobile app.

And the crowdfunding campaign is quite interesting, with the rewards including experiences such as a creative writing weekend on a yacht in Mallorca, various branded gear, or masterclasses on music business and sync licensing, and more. Find out the details and support the campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creative-music-film/music-gateway-empowering-creatives-everywhere

SUBSCRIBE

MGT95: Kickstarting Music Gateway 2.0 – Jon Skinner

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2018/podcast/mgt104-ariel-hyatt/  for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

🔓Get your free physical copy of Ariel's "Crowdstart" book at http://bit.ly/crowdstartMGT

Ariel Hyatt is one of the world's leading music marketing experts, and has been running the Brooklyn-based Cyber PR for over 20 years. Ariel has worked with hundreds of creatives and entrepreneurs, spoken at more than 75 conferences in 12 countries, and written four books about social media.

On this Music Growth Talks episode Ariel exclusively revealed a free giveaway of her latest book, "Crowdstart: The Ultimate Guide to a Powerful and Profitable Crowdfunding Campaign." Follow this link http://bit.ly/crowdstartMGT, fill out the form, pay for shipment, and Ariel's team will send you a paperback copy of the book, which retails for $14.99. The shipping is $7.99 within the US and $34.95 elsewhere, but if you're outside of the States you can contact the Cyber PR team and ask for a digital copy, which will come at $5.99 though.

And be sure to listen to this podcast in full, as it's packed with advice and insights on growing as an artist, one baby step at a time. Ariel talks about the importance of starting your marketing with a story, shares how they approach promotional plans (or "Total Tuneups" as they call it) at Cyber PR, explains the different types of fans and how to identify your core audience, and sets some realistic expectations about crowdfunding campaigns.

MGT104: Baby Steps Towards A Successful Music Career – Ariel Hyatt

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2018/podcast/mgt106-alex-frecon/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at http://musicianswebkeeper.com/

Alex Frecon is a hip hop artist and a media producer turned copywriter from Minneapolis. With many funny and experimental projects behind his back, the biggest one so far is a trip Alex made in March 2017... The trip was to North Korea. To play hockey against the North Korean Men's National Hockey Team.

Alex brought his GoPro along for the ride, and created a video about the trip.

Listen to this Music Growth Talks episode to find out more about Alex' experience in North Korea and how it helped promote his music, to see the true power of storytelling, and to learn how Alex applied the hedgehog theory to his music creation.

MGT106: How An American Hip Hop Artist Travelled To North Korea To Play Hockey – Alex Frecon

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2018/podcast/mgt113-tomsarig/ for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Tom Sarig is a music business veteran of over two decades, who has helped a number of acclaimed music artists sell millions of records, either as their manager or as a label A&R, in genres ranging from electronic to rock, pop, and hip hop. Prior to launching the AntiFragile Music label, Tom has run Esther Creative Group, where he's managed the careers of artists such as Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music, Rickie Lee Jones, CAKE, Against Me!, Blonde Redhead, and many others. For the 11 years prior to starting ECG, Tom served as a Grammy-winning Senior A&R executive at various major labels including Universal Records, Arista Records, MCA Records, A&M Records, and TVT Records, working with the likes of The Roots, Nine Inch Nails, Erykah Badu, Blink-182, Annie Lennox, Mos Def, Imogen Heap, DJ Shadow, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and so many others. Tom has also produced several feature films, having served as Film Producer for two acclaimed features, Red Shirley and Lou Reed’s “Berlin”, and as a Producer for MTV’s annual television special on his Shortlist Music Prize.

AntiFragile Music was established as "a reaction against some of the established big labels who are not doing enough for artists anymore." On this Music Growth Talks episode, Tom Sarig explained how their approach to working with artists is different, mentioned how he discovers new talent, shared an interesting artist success story, and outlined terms of a typical AntiFragile's record deal. We also talked about the impact which placements in popular Apple and Spotify playlists have on the label, and how those placements alone never "break" an artist – it's the job of an artist's team to develop them, and turn passive listeners into fans.

Listen to the show in full to learn what Tom is looking for in a music act besides the music, hear his excellent content marketing advice, and a lot more.

MGT113: The Rediscovered Power Of An Indie Label – Tom Sarig (AntiFragile Music)

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2019/podcast/mgt126-jammcard for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Elmo Lovano is a professional drummer, musical director, producer and founder of Jammcard, the invite-only music professionals network. Dubbed a "LinkedIn for musicians" by Forbes, Jammcard is currently available in Los Angeles, Nashville and Atlanta.

Even if you don't have an account on the platform, there is a lot to learn from the educational content Elmo has been putting out on Jammcard. He interviews some of the world's most successful freelance musicians for backstage stories, gear insights, and the nitty-gritty of how they've landed their dream gigs.

On this Music Growth Talks episode, Elmo talked about the different ways you can prepare yourself for being hired, networking in the physical and digital worlds, and how they merge the two at Jammcard.

Listen to the episode in full to learn how to improve your social media game, and how to master a working musician's "funnel": from being discovered to closing a deal.

MGT126: Getting Work As A Freelance Musician – Elmo Lovano (Jammcard)

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2019/podcast/mgt129-mubert for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Alexey Kochetkov is the CEO and founder of @Mubert, an AI generative music app. Mubert's algorithm creates unique audio streams from samples and loops uploaded by various electronic music producers. Each such stream is an infinite 'live' track that is constantly changing in real time. Listeners of the mobile app can choose from channels based on genres (e.g. Chill, Dub Techno, Hip Hop, House) and actions (e.g. Focus, Work, Sleep, Relax).

On this Music Growth Talks episode, Alex talked about musicians' role in the future of music AI; the increasing interest in generative music from commercial brands, games, and social media platforms; the fair monetisation model where producers earn money from the sounds they've uploaded; and a lot more.

Listen to the episode in full to also learn how to create a personal generative stream consisting only from your samples with Mubert.

MGT129: AI Generative Music And Producers' Future – Alex Kochetkov (Mubert)

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt146-five-vectors for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Andres Lauer is a former UMG exec who is now a co-founder of Five Vectors, alongside an esports/gaming expert Wasae Imran. They are building a technology that will enable independent artists and labels to engage with gaming communities in their native environment.

In this episode of Music Growth Talks, Andres shares how music impacts people’s identity in the social space like gaming and how they’re using that to market artists’ music. He then explains how Five Vectors is going to create a new music interaction layer for gamers, while presenting new revenue opportunities for independent artists.

Andres talks about the scale of the gaming industry, describes the importance of understanding gamers and what type of music they may be best responding to (it’s not only EDM!), and looks into the future of music.

MGT146: New Revenue Opportunities for Artists in the Gaming Industry – Andres Lauer (Five Vectors)

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt147-viberate for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Vasja Veber is a co-founder of Viberate, the biggest live music network designed to bring artists, promoters and fans together. It makes performing acts’ life easier by giving them a better version of an EPK, or even a traditional website. Viberate features over a million profiles of musicians, venues, events and festivals and employs over 100 people all over the world, with the majority in their offices located in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

In this episode of Music Growth Talks, Vasja shares how he launched the project with a fellow music manager Matej Gregorcic and a world-famous techno producer, UMEK, originally as a simple website that measured DJs’ social media metrics. Vasja shows what Viberate does today, how they keep artists’ profiles up-to-date, and reveals plans to make the platform the world’s biggest marketplace for underrepresented artists to be found by promoters.

Listen on in full for an in-depth explanation of how Viberate gets information on live events and how you can use the app to research venues to perform at.

MGT147: A Powerful One-Sheet for Booking Shows You Didn’t Know You Had – Vasja Veber (Viberate)

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt148-jammber for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Marcus Cobb is the CEO of Jammber, a company behind North America’s first self-serve, end-to-end royalty management platform called Jammber Splits. The app streamlines the process of metadata collection to help creatives receive proper credit and faster payment for their work. Jammber was founded in a Nashville's music tech accelerator, and has acquired over $5.5M in investor funding since 2013.

On this Music Growth Talks episode, Marcus demonstrates how broken the current workflow is, with musicians often not being able to receive money owed to them, and describes the three key features of the Splits platform: tracking the creators working on a song and their ownership, automatically registering that song across North American agencies, and collecting royalties via Jammber Money.

Listen to the episode in full to see how easier it can be to agree on song shares via a mobile app, and to learn about Jammber’s other upcoming products.

MGT148: Don’t Enter a Recording Studio Without the Splits App – Marcus Cobb (Jammber)

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt149-judah-holiday for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Judah Holiday is a Miami-based singer/songwriter who delivers a timeless breed of pop music. He just released his first album, Feelings in My Head, and is already working on his next two, while performing across the US.

In this episode of Music Growth talks, Judah talks about how his music calendar is planned out, shares the story of his drug addiction and how quitting has impacted his life’s mission and music career.  
Listen in to hear what advice Judah has for up-and-coming musicians who are confused about where to start and how they can turn their passion into a business.

“We don’t get penalized for our misses, but we get awarded for our wins.”

Key Points:

• Judah talks about the aggressive release strategy he chose to meet the obligations of his record label.
• Finding trustworthy people to be on his team.
• Judah explains his view on how technology has impacted putting out content.
• He explains how he first got addicted to prescription pills. The side effects of drug addiction and his turning point.
• How is Judah’s life after recovering from addiction?
• Why Judah believes he’s not in a safe place emotionally to fight for better mental health care for others.
• How did addiction affect his music creativity?
• There are many avenues of harm if you’re not careful: it’s not just drug addiction.
• Judah’s advice to anyone planning to succeed in the music industry.

MGT149: Beating Addiction to Find Success as a Musician – Judah Holiday

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt150-matt-bacon for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Matt Bacon is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. The founder of Dropout Media, Matt has worked with the likes of Phil Collen of Def Leppard, Coven, Exhorder as well as labels including Prophecy Productions, Artoffact Records and Ripple Music. Matt has also been dedicated to helping and developing young bands, through his numerous educational resources, the daily Instagram #BaconsBits series, and his podcast, Dumb & Dumbest.

In this Music Growth Talks episode, Matt talks about his journey from an unemployed 19 year-old college dropout living in Brooklyn to an industry expert working with some of the biggest acts in the heavy metal world, and the methods he used to grow his career. In particular, we go over creating content at scale, and being “unreasonably” aggressive in your marketing to stand out.

Listen to the episode in full for Matt’s practical tips on understanding your community, making the “one to many” experience feel “one to one”, and being on as many channels as you like.

MGT150: The Unreasonable Way To Market Your Music – Matt Bacon

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt151-bas-grasmayer for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Bas Grasmayer is a digital strategist who has held various roles in music & tech over the last decade, most recently as Product Director at IDAGIO, a music streaming service dedicated to classical music. He’s the founder of the MUSIC x TECH x FUTURE newsletter and the Music Tech Network community.

On this Music Growth Talks episode, Bas talked about one of his latest ventures, MUSIC x GREEN. Designed to “create more visibility for organisations and initiatives that make the music industry less impactful on the climate and ecology”, MUSIC x GREEN makes it easy to browse through various projects which can make music greener, without “greenwashing.”

Listen to the episode in full for the examples of how others make performing greener, and to see if moving from CDs to streaming has actually reduced music’s carbon footprint (it may not be what you expect).

We also encourage you to subscribe to Bas’ most recent MUSIC x CORONA newsletter, for daily updates “for the music business on the coronavirus,” at musicxcorona.com.

MGT151: How To Make Music Greener – Bas Grasmayer

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt152-muyinza for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

This week’s Music Growth Talks guest – an artist, songwriter and producer Muyinza – shows how he has been using his creativity to overcome hard times and succeed in business.

Muyinza’s family emigrated from Uganda to Canada in the mid-90s. After losing his mother to cancer in 2001, Muyinza and his family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts. Living in a dangerous neighborhood, Muyinza stayed home a lot to make music.

Starting to work at 13 years old to pay for studio time, eventually he would go to college for music, release two full-length albums, move to LA, and win multiple awards. In 2014, Muyinza established a successful online business, which enabled him to focus on making music full-time.

On this Music Growth Talks episode, Muyinza comments on what the creative community around him experiences during the current difficult times, and gives actionable tips on how you can create excellent content, engage with your fans, and grow your music career during the lockdown.

MGT152: Thriving as an Artist in the Face of Adversity – Muyinza

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt153-jonathan-stone for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Jonathan Stone is a highly regarded music-publishing professional and co-founder of Rocket Songs. Jonathan’s career highlights include executive positions at ATV Music, MCA Music, Quincy Jones Productions (where he handled A&R for the likes of Michael Jackson, Patty Austin, and James Ingram), and Windswept Pacific Music Publishing, a company that published the works of Bruno Mars, Kings of Leon, Beyonce, The Spice Girls, Snow Patrol, and many more.

On this Music Growth Talks episode Jonathan explains how Rocket Songs works for music artists who are looking for original songs to record, and for songwriters who want to “sell” their songs to other creators.

Listen to the conversation in full for Jonathan’s insights on exclusive vs. non-exclusive rights, how A-list artists find songwriters, and what areas of the music publishing world you may want to educate yourself about before signing up for Rocket Songs.

MGT153: The Original Songs Marketplace – Jonathan Stone (Rocket Songs)

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt154-portnoy-brothers for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

The Portnoy Brothers (also known as PORTNOY) is an Israeli duo, Israel & Mendy, who recently released their new album called No Complaints. They successfully raised over $30,000 in an IndieGoGo campaign to fund the record.

On this Music Growth Talks episode, The Portnoy Brothers reveal which tactics were most impactful for their crowdfunding success, share how they almost launched the campaign on PledgeMusic (right before the company ceased their operations), and give content and networking tips.

Listen to the episode in full to also learn about their recent single, an anthem for musicians struggling with the digital reality called “Spotified.”

MGT154: On Raising 30k Through A Crowdfunding Campaign – The Portnoy Brothers

⏯ Go to http://dottedmusic.com/2020/podcast/mgt155-jason-davis for the show notes and http://musicgrowthtalks.com to subscribe to the podcast. Become a patron to access a secret podcast feed with patron-only episodes at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov

Jason Davis, described by The 700 Club as “a music mogul,” has been in the music industry for more than two decades as an award-winning songwriter, author, president of a record label, executive TV producer, and entertainment consultant. Davis has worked with numerous worldwide stars, including Boyz ll Men, Sugar Ray, P. Diddy, Alabama, Lonestar, Dolly Parton, among many others. He has secured record deals with CEOs of companies like Capitol Records, Sony, Interscope, Island / Def Jam, Epic, and more. 

Davis has also launched and runs several major companies, including One One 7, Radar Label Group (Jimmy Eat World, Plain White T's, Neon Trees, The Unlikely Candidates), Awaken Records (Austin French), and Care For Kids.

On this Music Growth Talks episode, Jason Davis talks about his approach to the development of up-and-coming artists, finding new talent (and why he only meets new artists in person), as well as what changed his whole approach to life and business—something he wrote two books about.

Listen to the episode in full to learn how they develop very particular artist skills at One One 7, and to hear Davis’ insights on what many people in the entertainment industries get wrong.

“The [artist’s] gift is always hidden, and it takes a lot of love and care to uncover it.” – Jason Davis

MGT155: Turning Artists Into Pearls – Jason Davis (One One 7)

"Let's Get It Started" is a straightforward drumstep tune, bringing the party to a darker side. The alarming synths and the fat baseline will work perfectly in a middle of a drum & bass or a dubstep set at any bass night.

Double Penetration – Let's Get It Started

A podcast for music artists, record labels, start-ups, and industry professionals. Hosted by Andrew Apanov, the founder of the Dotted Music (http://agency.dottedmusic.com) marketing agency and WeSpin.co musicians community. On each episode, the world's smartest representatives of the music business share tactics and strategies you can use to grow your own music brand. Become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/andrewapanov to access a secret feed with exclusive episodes.

Music Growth Talks

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