Soundcloud just launched artist stores. A way to sell direct to fans on the app with 140m users. 1) Design exclusive merch 2) Made to order on SC 3) Pay no upfront costs 4) Fans get emails & in-app notifications Oh, and 100% of profits go to the artist. What can you sell? -

Spotify is a marketing tool. Use it for reach. Use it for discovery. Then get those fans somewhere else where you can nurture & monetize them directly.

Music's future is about fans, not followers. It's about creating meaningful relationships between artists & listeners, upgrading the experience for the biggest fans & encouraging paths to fandom. It’s about building artists. Not just songs.

Music's future is building artists. Not just songs.

Fan culture now drives pop culture. YouTube released its fandom report, and it shows we need to re-shape how we think about and engage fans. Here's some key stats & my takeaways: The most interesting stat? 8% of Gen Z fans now consider themselves Professional Fans—meaning

Let’s start thinking of it as the artist business, not the music business:

The reality is most labels & managers have no idea what to do with you until you've achieved a certain amount of traction on your own. Thinking they're the missing ingredient is a waste of time & energy. Go get better. Do great things. You'll get found.

There's lots of people telling artists to constantly release music. Never stop. Release everything. Well, remember to curate yourself. The power in writing 100 songs is that you can scrap 90.

A certain level of gatekeeping in music is good & losing all our curators to algorithms is actually not all that ideal. Total, all-out, 100% democratization means everyone gets a slice, but the slices are tiny and everyone gets cannibalized. Power accrues to who controls the

The days of relying on social media to reliably reach your audience are over. Use them for advertising. Use them for discovery. Use them for reach. Do not rely on them for communicating with your fans. Do that somewhere you own. Where you control the context. Free from

How to build a loyal AF fanbase: Show fans they're seen and valued. Repeat.

Streaming's model is broken. Pro-rata is done. It's over. Too many songs. Too much fraud. Too little connection between where fans think their money goes & reality. 100 million tracks 120k added per day $10.99 all-you-can-eat 30 seconds to earn a royalty But the big stat?