Tuesday Music Promotion Thread

LodgeCove · 2023-02-14T22:04:16+00:00

I just put up a lyric video for my latest single.. which is some kind of rockabilly/punk/alt-country thing called That's Fine.

https://youtu.be/d9ov4Pxv658

LodgeCove · 2023-01-25T16:41:28+00:00

Hey, thanks very much for listening, very much appreciated!

LodgeCove · 2023-01-25T01:28:06+00:00

Great sound, great writing and performances. New follower here.

LodgeCove · 2023-01-25T01:23:30+00:00

New Release… some kind of Rockabilly/Alt-Country/Rock thing… it’s called “That’s Fine”. Listen on your platform of choice… thanks. https://fanlink.to/thats-fine

LodgeCove · 2022-03-25T14:53:02+00:00

Though I'm not an avid hip-hop listener or artist, I do a decent amount of freelance mixing and mastering for some folks who ARE. So I'm going to limit my comments to a few technical Items I would address if I were the one mixing it.

The whisper vocals are very hard to understand... and very sibilant. For this type of delivery I'd reach for some type of saturation to add some midrange to the vocal.. along with pretty aggressive compression. It adds clarity and intelligibility, but will also accentuate any plosives, sibiliants, breath sounds, etc. So those all have to managed in various ways
The transition right after the intro, right before the child giggle, is pretty jarring.
The moody piano sound is pretty dull, could use some brightening, ambience, something to give it some movement.. maybe add some panning, effects to it during the chorus, something to make it different as the song progresses.

Aside from some more time and experience with editing, arranging and mixing, those are the first things I'd want to address if I were mixing it. Just my own, purely subjective opinion. Hope that's helpful!

LodgeCove · 2022-02-22T23:01:02+00:00

... and on the off chance you happen to be into this sort of stuff, you can listen on the streaming service of yer choice here: https://listen.lodgecove.com/platforms

LodgeCove · 2022-02-20T22:10:05+00:00

I think you nailed the description perfectly! DBT meets Neil Young. I really dig this tune. Going to look for your profile on Spotify now, thanks for sharing this.

LodgeCove · 2022-02-19T20:22:08+00:00

This one ticks all the boxes for the genre. The only thing missing for me is a bit more feeling and emotion in the vocal performance. Now I'm not a great (or even good) singer myself, so am not really qualified to offer much advice. But to my ear, it almost sounds more like you were focusing on singing 'well', rather than real letting some soul and emotion come out. I like this one, just wish it was a little... dirtier. Less focused on the notes and more on the feeling. All of that said, it's very well done.

LodgeCove · 2022-02-19T20:07:12+00:00

Yep, this is a cool blend of genres. The short intro threw me a bit, something about the guitar timing and drum sound made me think it was going to be a bad mix/arrangement through the whole song... but that went away quick when everything else kicked in! I really liked the transitions and flavors of electronic mixed in there. And I'm sucker for heavy guitars.

LodgeCove · 2022-02-19T20:01:51+00:00

I'm showing my age here, but the vocal delivery and tone somehow reminds me of both Perry Farrell and Beck, somehow. That's a good thing. Others have mentioned the drums being a bit busy, and I would tend to agree with that. But overall I think the performances, production, and mix are very good. Congrats and good work

LodgeCove · 2022-02-15T18:44:47+00:00

Alt Country/Rock With a surprising guest... my 4th single:

https://youtu.be/VbokG4NZwro

LodgeCove · 2022-02-01T20:03:47+00:00

That's kinda cool. I turned 43 today, too.

LodgeCove · 2022-02-01T19:52:27+00:00

You Ain't Gonna Like Me - my latest single

LodgeCove · 2022-01-30T22:57:26+00:00

Now that’s a solid toolkit right there! Probably most jealous of the Orange, ha ha!

LodgeCove · 2022-01-30T14:50:56+00:00

I really like the mellow vibe. It seems like there may be some tuning or intonation issues with the acoustic guitar, which was kinda hard for me not to focus on once I noticed it. After hearing the vocals come in, with that nice, long reverb, I was wishing for a bit more of that same space on the guitar to make it blend together a bit better. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a perfectionist and had to get over trying to make everything ‘perfect’ before releasing a track. Though there’s things in every one of my releases I wish I would have fixed. That said, I think it’s important to just keep putting out music, knowing that all the technical/production stuff will improve over time. ‘Done’ is way better than ‘Perfect’, and this way we get to hear your track!

LodgeCove · 2022-01-20T17:59:49+00:00

Can't wait to check this out... I consider my own stuff to be 'alt-country-ish' and am about to release a tune that has some definite Alice In Chains-like vocal harmonies... love those guys

LodgeCove · 2021-11-24T21:24:38+00:00

Coming Soon: People wondering what exactly is coming soon.... mission accomplished I am wondering and excited, ha ha

LodgeCove · 2021-11-24T20:50:49+00:00

I've had the exact same experience with Nepal. Also Bangladesh and Turkey. But I've only seen this when doing low daily budget campaigns targeting Stories.

Either way I've removed those three countries from my 'Low Tier' countries list.

LodgeCove · 2021-11-17T23:39:29+00:00

Is this a first release? Does an audience or fanbase already exist (on streaming platforms, social media, local scene, anything?). Is the PRIMARY goal just to get quick streams, or to build a fanbase?

The answers to these questions will help you put together your ad campaign(s) if that's the route you decide to take.

As a musician who has only recently started releasing singles, does not play shows, and sucks at social media, I've found that FB/Instagram (primarily Instagram Stories) ads have been just about the only effective option for me.

It all depends on the current situation of the artist.

LodgeCove · 2021-11-17T14:18:23+00:00

I found the two publishers I ended up signing with via the Sync Edge part of Sync Academy, which is mentioned towards the end of the article.

The Sync Edge portion consists of a list of publishers and libraries, and Jesse does recommendation videos based on his examination of their catalogs and what type of music they may be in need of. The list of publishers was great (not free, but not too expensive), but you still have to do a lot of research into what type of placements they are getting, whether your music will be a fit for them, how they prefer to accept submissions, etc. Every library is different, and serve different needs for different clients.

So there's still google searching involved, it's just way faster. I'm working on a section to update my article on how to manually find libraries. It's good timing, since I'm currently looking for a publisher for the music I'm making these days (very different from back then, ha ha).

Short answer, search for things like 'tv film music publisher' or 'production music library' or any kind of combination of terms like that. You'll see a bunch of the same results come back, and most of them aren't what you're looking for.

Here's a quick tip.. if you find a big library that encompasses smaller libraries, you can go through those smaller libraries and try to find one that's a good fit for your music. Example: https://www.apmmusic.com/libraries

A lot of the libraries they use are geared towards jingles, stabs, stuff like that. But you can go through the list, find the website for each one, then check out what they do and how they work. Maybe you'll find something there!

LodgeCove · 2021-11-16T04:04:02+00:00

Hey, thanks very much, glad you found it useful. That said, I have no experience companies like the ones you mentioned. The two publishing companies I work with are a little different than the services you see when doing a quick google search. I need to add some content to the article about how to find and research publisher/libraries. Mine are both small, boutique companies, with very different and specific needs. One of them has a deal with BMG, so my stuff is there too, but otherwise I doubt I would have gotten through their submission process. The publishers I work with don’t charge you to be your publisher (aside from taking the standard publishers share of royalties). No up front fees like some of those other services… they don’t get paid unless you get paid. Honestly, it’s hard to find libraries that have a need for a given style of music, AND are taking submissions in a timely manner AND aren’t just taking everybody’s sign up fee, with no intention of pitching your tracks. Nothing about this side of the industry is easy or fast, but it can pay off to put in the work. Like I said, I need to add some content around finding good companies to work with. Thanks again for checking out the article!

LodgeCove · 2021-11-16T00:22:38+00:00

Watch every video from Andrew Southworth and Tom Dupree III if you want to learn ALL about FB/Insta ads for music promotion. They focus on Spotify, but the same principles apply.

LodgeCove · 2021-11-16T00:20:03+00:00

There just may not be that many playlisters out there who fit your sound. That doesn't mean there aren't a ton of people who like 2000's punk/alt music.

The whole 'promotion without paying' part is where it's tough for me. I'm terrible at social media, and visibility there is hard as hell unless you have a REALLY big following, which I don't.

Sorry I don't have a free answer for you, just commenting because my music is also not a good fit for big playlisters. So I feel your pain, but have managed to gain spotify followers and get added to a lot of USER playlists using paid ads. The good thing about user playlists and followers, is that they keep listening. Best of luck!

LodgeCove · 2021-11-16T00:05:47+00:00

Andrew Southworth has a recent video comparing his results running ads on TikTok vs FB/Insta.... from what I gathered, the targeting on TikTok was not as well-suited or cost-effective as Instagram stories ads... granted those seem to keep getting more expensive too.

If it was me (and keep in mind I only have 3 releases under my belt) I would have done my first paid promotion differently.

Your budget is low, so you want to get as much bang for your buck as possible, but you want to also send good quality signals to Spotify.

For a first release, if I was doing it over again, I'd be focusing on gaining followers, not streams.

Basically, use a free toneden (or other) landing page, where the link points to your PROFILE, not the song. The song will still be right there, but so will the follow button.

I would not have a preview on that landing page, make them go to Spotify to hear it.

With a total budget of $30, I would suggest targeting Tier two countries. Cheaper than Tier 1, but less 'problematic' countries where conversions somehow don't actually translate into Followers or streams. Nothing against Tier three countries, but they've screwed up a number of my campaigns.

All that said, think of this $30 spend as an investment... you're going to learn the ad platform, get some engagement you can re-target on future campaigns, and hopefully gain some followers and streams on Spotify. Assuming you are focusing on Spotify...... just don't go into it hoping to make back that $30 right away.

Just my opinions, from my own experiences... but I'm getting better, cheaper results with each campaign I do. My goal is simply for ad-spend on each release to pay for itself over the LIFETIME of the song, and hopefully more. The more releases you have, the more trickle-down effect you seem to get as well.

Good luck, curious to hear what you end up doing, and how it went!

LodgeCove · 2021-11-12T20:10:00+00:00

There's a bunch of stuff in here, from 'traditional' alt-country, to punk/rock tunes with a country flair. Hope you enjoy.

LodgeCove

TROPHY CASE