Some of the best memories many of us early 90s kids have growing up is a fading tradition that will soon be gone. The amazing and fun act of burning a blank CD of a playlist of songs for an occasion that means something to you. Back then, a song seemed to mean more if it was on a mixed CD vs the normal record it was released on. A burned playlist became a reflection or soundtrack for different moments of your life in different stages or an inexpensive gift that meant the world to a good friend. Some even went as far as the design and customize the CD with sharpies to personalize it even more. When going through old things that you have kept and one of those falls outs from the dark corners of your old stash of items, a smile and many memories hit you in ways that no other nostalgic possession could. Some would say that streaming killed the playlist. Making a CD of songs seems useless now with everything being digital, but playlisting has taken on a new role for many upcoming bands.
Lottery Of Discovery
The biggest thing many smaller bands want to know is how to be heard by more people. How to move your music in markets and into the ears of people who have never heard of you. One way, and a way that is in the here and now, is getting on playlists. People still enjoy them for workouts, car rides, parties, etc. Some people, including those who could potentially be the right ears hearing you, use them as a way to discover new music while listening to artists they already know and love. As your Spotify followers grow and monthly listeners as well, the most appealing you’ll be and the bigger playlists you’ll be added onto. Spotify has basically become it’s own social network, the new PureVolume if you will.
Marketing Your Music OFF The Internet
This where we will merge our stuff with this piece as we have developed something to help with this. This past week we launched our first promotional playlist for upcoming acts entitled “Tomorrow’s Headliners”. Using a few pieces gathered by different people, we have created what we now call for ourselves ‘Spoticards’. Much like fliers for a show, engaging personally with your fans and new listeners pays off in big ways. Spotify has had codes in which can be scanned in the app by your camera to take you to the album/artist/playlist you see. We have taken these codes and placed them on business cards with our website/socials on them also to now hand out at shows. Having these on tour on the merch table will be a great way to get new followers on the spot and to save your record, even if they do buy a hard copy. Below you can see our cards (front/back) and playlist: (gotta love compressed photo quality right?)
