This time it’s a bit of a different ‘Tips & Tricks‘ blog than usual. Instead of the typical production tips, I thought it might be interesting for you guys to gain some essential insights to how the music business actually works. So I’ve compiled a list of 20 of the best YouTube videos talking about crucial topics that relate to your artist career. From insights into music promotion to finding a manager, from sync licensing your tracks to TV / Movies to signing your tracks to the big record labels and more. I’m sure a lot of the information below will be useful in one way or another and can be applied to your own music career. So let’s kick off.
Burstimo – Major Label’s Marketing Techniques Used To Break Artists | Chat With Virgin EMI Senior Marketer
Burstimo’s channel is chock-full of relevant and useful information for any beginning or seasoned artist. This specific video focuses mostly on the music marketing side of things, where they interview a senior marketer working for Virgin. Giving you insight in how the industry has changed and still is changing, how to set up a marketing campaign, how to run successful ads for your music and much much more.
Damian Keyes – How The Music Industry Will Look In 2021: PREPARE NOW
As mentioned, the music industry is ever-changing. The corona virus pandemic has also had a big impact on the music industry in the year 2020. Many business in the music industry have needed to adapt in order to continue their work and this will have a lasting effect on the industry for the years to come. In this video, Damian Keyes breaks down what we can expect for 2021 and the near future.
Jon Sine – How to Get your Music on BIG Spotify Playlists – This got Me 3 Million Streams
Spotify playlists are an important part of the promotion of any modern day artist. In this video Jon Sine breaks down how he does the Spotify playlist promotion for himself and his record label.
Burstimo – How Major Labels Discover Their Artists | Warner Music Head of A&R
Another great video by Burstimo, where he interviews the Warner Music UK Head of A&R ,Joe Kentish. They speak about what an A&R actually does, what they look for in an artist, what steps an artist need to take in order to make a difference, how a record label works and some insights into how Dua Lipa’s career took off.
Jon Sine – Get signed to a Record Label – How it actually works!
In this video Jon Sine talks about how to send out your demos to record labels and make your demos stand out in order for them to get noticed, and ultimately signed, by the (bigger) record labels.
Burstimo – Donβt Release Your Next Song Until Youβve Done These 10 Things | Music Promotion
Music promotion is a super interesting subject and knowing all the ins and outs will help you get your career going. In this video Maddy, of Burstimo’s channel, discusses how to set up your music promotion before the release.
Music Business Podcast – Crafting Hits and Discovering Talent with Atlantic Records Senior Director of A&R, Brian Johnston
The Music Business Podcast interviews Senior Director of A&R at Atlantic Records, Brian Johnston and talk about how the role of an A&R manager has evolved over the years and how they go about finding new talents. Another interesting subject they speak about is how upcoming artists can, and need to be building out their fan-base from the very start.
Jonas Aden – How To Be Successful In The Music Industry – Q&A
In this Q&A Jonas Aden answers a lot of his viewers questions as to how to be successful in the music industry. Jonas uses his channel to give a lot of tips on music production and the music industry on his channel, so I can only recommend to give him a follow to keep track of his videos.
Aaron Davison – Everything You Wanted To Know About Music Clearance With Deborah Mannis-Gardner
Aaron Davison talks with Deborah Mannis-Gardner of DMG clearances about what music clearance is and how clearing music generally works. This goes for song usage in movies, television, and video games or other applications.
Tynia Coats – SONGWRITING ROYALTIES VS PUBLISHING ROYALTIES VS PRODUCER ROYALTIES | SPLITS
This is especially important for both beginning and experienced artists, as a lot of them (even the ones being in the business for many years) still don’t understand how songwriting royalties, publishing royalties and producer royalties are split between artists, songwriters, record labels, the publisher and other parties involved. Get your thinking caps on because this one does involve a bit of math.
Spotify for Artists – What You Should Look for in an Artist Manager | Co.Lab
Ah yes, the infamous artist manager. That one person you absolutely need in your life after you’ve just produced your first 1 bar loop in FL Studio, right? In this video ‘Spotify for Artists‘ talks with Seasoned manager Matt Sadie about what a manager does exactly, at what point an artists needs a manager and what the artist should be looking for in an Artist Manager.
Curtiss King TV – How To Sell & Design Your Own T-Shirts & Merchandise Online
This one is a bit different, but is very relevant to artist starting to build out a brand. Once you’ve got a bit of a fan-base going, selling your own merchandise can be an interesting way to generate some more income for your brand. In fact, for larger artists, it can be a very lucrative form of income. In this video Curtiss King explains how you can design and start selling your own merchandise.
Burstimo – Get Your Music in TV Shows and Movies | Music Sync Licensing Tutorial
Sync licensing your music to TV Shows and movies can be very interesting for artists, as you can reach a lot of (new) people with your music. On top of that, it can generate a nice amount of money too. No matter the genre or how big (or small) the artist is. So how do you actually get your music there? In this video Maddy will point you in the right direction!
Spotify for Artists – What Is Sync Licensing?
Some more information on Sync Licensing. Spotify for Artists explains exactly what it is and present you a game plan to how you can get your music licensed to other parties. Music supervisor Matt FX , artist Nick Murphy and various Spotify and industry experts break down what you should know when it comes to getting your music synced.
Rick Beato – Music Education On YouTube | Music Business: How It Works
Rick Beato is a seasoned music industry veteran. In this video he talks about how the music industry actually works. Covering everything from royalties, record labels, record and marketing budgets and much much more.
3 Ways to Differentiate Yourself: Artist Identity, Vision, and Intention | Music Business
The last few years the majority of music promotion is taking place online. It has never been easier to reach a big audience of potential music fans. But this also means the market has never been as saturated either. In this video of Berklee Online, Stephen Webber talks about how artists can differentiate themselves in order to stand out.
Damian Keyes – HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR SINGLE IN 2020 (20 DAY PLAN)
In this video Damian Keyes provides you with some great practical tips you can do yourself, today, in order to promote your music. With this 20 day plan you can really make a difference and upgrade the promotional schedule for your releases.
Burstimo – 8 TIPS FOR SPOTIFY EDITORIAL PLAYLIST PLACEMENT | Get On Spotify Playlists Hacks
Besides user run playlists, a lot of artists are looking to have their tracks playlist on one of the official Spotify playlists. And with good reason. A listing of your track on one of these playlists can generate hundreds of thousands, or even millions of plays. For an upcoming artists this can be a game-changer and lead to a decent paycheck too.
Indie Music Academy – DISTROKID VS TUNECORE VS CD BABY VS ASCAP VS BMI VS SOUNDEXCHANGE VS SONGTRUST
Copyrights? Royalties? Performing rights? This video talks all about copyright collection societies, what they can do for you as an artist and why you need to sign up to these organisations in order to be able to collect all of the money you are legally entitled to. This is a must watch for any artist, beginning or experienced.
John Public – Legal Advice – Replaying Samples
So, you’ve created this amazing track; but you have used a sample / loop / vocal from an existing (classic) track. How can you still release that track? Clearing the sample can be extremely difficult, expensive and can take a long time to pull of. So how do these seasoned artists and record labels do it? “Sample Replaying” is somewhat of an industry secret, where a classic sample is actually re-recorded (or replayed ; meaning you basically remake the sample or vocal from the ground up) in order to get around at least part of the copyrights, making it easier to use these samples in your productions. Hear a track on Beatport or in the charts that’s using a classic sample? There’s a 99% chance these are replayed!
** Bonus ** – My all-time favorite book on the music industry.
I can’t recommend this one enough. This book talks about every single subject you can think of in regards to the music business and is updated with fresh editions every so often. It’s heralded as “The Industry Bible” by the L.A. Times for a reason!
Conclusion
Thatβs it for now. Hope this information helps you with your tracks, promotion and artist career. Happy producing (or promoting)! And if you need any help, you know where to find me!
Kind regards,
Michael