đ Embrace Your Authenticity
And: Engagement Pods; Showcases; Industry News You Should Care About
Welcome back folks! This week we are following up on the content vs art topic, reflecting on the importance of valuing your own creativity.
đł Walk Your Own Way
You might have noticed a strong trend in the music industry: the shift from artists to content creators. Especially in music, artists are more and more aware of how theyâll market a track, and often will explore how to write and compose in order to increase the chance of it going viral on social platforms. This happens at the expense of originality and authenticity and increases pressure on the artist to perform in a certain way or to meet certain expectations.Â
It doesnât make sense to us: how can you get yourself noticed if you are just following along the beaten path?Â
Truth is, there is a level of potential success one can achieve by emulating a style or a sound: getting into playlists and achieving a solid number of streams is the most obvious example of it, and the industry is conveniently playing along, supporting the âcontent creatorâ narrative, exploring new ways to monetize music digitally. Ultimately though, even a solid Spotify profile wonât be enough to build a motivated fanbase (the kind of fanbase that buys tickets and merchandise).Â
Authenticity will always be at the forefront of music creation. Donât be afraid to pour your identity into your music: there is value in being peculiar. If you have a story to tell, a genuinely fresh sound to propose -Â I guarantee -Â people will listen to it. Donât just make music to grow your online presence, or because you are creating a business around it and plan to sell merchandise. Make music because you have a story to tell, a new perspective, make it because itâs part of your identity.
Stop worrying about how you are gonna market what you are creating. Is it good enough for my fanbase? Will the blogs be receptive? Will my local radio host like the track? Focus on translating your artistic identity into your sound. No matter how weird, or how vintage, someone somewhere will listen. And when finally, after sleepless nights transcending your artistic persona, you finally reach the result you were looking forâŠÂ
Find your listeners. They are out there, but quite possibly not where you think they areâŠÂ
Written by Gabriel Mazza
đĄ On âEngagement Groupsâ: Why Engagement Pods Are Damaging Your Value - TRIBE
Beware of Engagement Pods - besides potentially flagging your account to algorithms, their actual value is also highly in doubt, since all that engagement doesnât translate in what you need it to translate into - tickets, merchandise sales and track streams.
Industry News You Should Care About
đ Spotify chose audio over music, but bigger decisions lie ahead - The Music Industry Blog
Troubling times for Spotify, potentially at a very crucial point in its existence.
đ Opportunities and Gigs!
We have a few gigs coming up, and we are finalising the line-ups for them. If youâd like to perform please email us at hey@weareymx.com with your preferred date.
13th March / 8th May - Evening time at The Finsbury. Looking for both potential headline acts and supports.
đ» Radio Show
Every Saturday afternoon we are running our own radio show on Caffeâ Latino Radio, where we interview up-and-coming artists, host solo live sessions, or just chatting over coffee. Our host Giack Bazz is keen to speak to you so get in touch! (hey@weareymx.com)
đž Submit your music to us
A reminder that you can submit music to us here