How can you as a indie musician build a presence take advantage Google+? This excellent article written by Ariel Hyatt over at Ariel Publicity gives you a great overview into what Google´s social networking has to offer indie artists. If Google+ is new to you and you are wondering why on earth you should build yet another profile in addition to your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter then this is a must-read. Thanks Ariel!
Apple recently announced and the are offering iTunes in 12 additional European countries - putting the total number of territories which have access to iTunes at 35. Here are the new territories which have been added:
If you chose to distribute your music to iTunes worldwide via Record Union (i.e. chose all territories when you published your release) then your music will automatically become available to listeners in these countries. If you did not choose to distribute worldwide but would like your music to become available on any or all of the above please get in touch with our content team and we will sort this out for you.
Quick fact: did you know that iTunes has to date sold over 15 billion songs?
Dear friends. Record Union has been asked to be one of those to partake in the first industry wide survey of digital distribution services. Its being conducted by Moses Avalon - an industry veteran and author of many books about the music industry - and being run from his website Moses Supposes.
All who have used digital distribution services previously are welcomed to take part in the survey, which will give them chance to rate and give feedback about their experiences using them. The results will be used to put together a larger comparison between the different services which will serve as a guide for artists and labels seeking digital distribution.
Those who do participate in the survey will also be entered for a chance to win a Free Music Business Consultation, be emailed Moses Avalon´s “Secrets of 360 Deals” Podcast and have free access to a more detailed results page.
The survey is only 10 questions and is anonymous - click here if you would like to take part.
As you may have heard Europe’s favorite streaming service Spotify has now opened its doors to listeners in the United States. As a resident of the US you can choose between two subscriptions models “Premium” and “Unlimited” – Spotify Free accounts are currently invite only.
This launch in the US is creates nothing but opportunity, both for those of you who already have your music on Spotify - but also also for us here at Record Union.
More people tuning in to discover and share music on Spotify mean more potential listeners within a few clicks of yours! As you know, Spotify is a great promotional tool and with more people tuning in there is even bigger potential to reach out to new listeners and boost your plays.
This is also exciting new for us here at Record Union. If the launch of in Europe was anything to go by, there will be a storm of new artists and labels wanting to get their music in the Spotify catalog. As one of the recommended routes for indie artists and labels onto Spotify we at Record Union are gearing ourselves up to receive them with open arms.
Being there from the beginning we have seen many examples of the way in which Spotify has helped independent artists reach out to new audiences in ways never thought possible – with the launch of Spotify in the United States we are looking forward to seeing this continue.
We have now finished updating the website and are excited to present to you some new features and improvements to the Record Union website. These are largely concerned with making our platform easier for people to use and also making it more flexible. Here is what we have done to accomplish this:
These are the major points though we have also updated our partners page so that it more clearly display the different kinds of partners we deliver to. We have also made improvements to the settings page which will make it easier to add company information for invoicing purposes.
We have bug tested all the new pages thoroughly, but if you do spot any bugs we have missed or would like to report any problems with this new functionality please email support(at)recordunion(dot)com. Spontaneous thanks, appreciation and positive feedback is also welcome.
Here are a few screenshots of the new pages:
Artist Mellony is a new rising star here at Record Union. The latest Spotify stats show that his music has been played over 3,000,000 times on Spotify. Yes, that is 3 MILLION times. We are sure you will agree that this is a massive achievement - especially for a young indie artist like himself. With his monthly plays still growing steadily, and a new single being released soon, we are excited to see where this is going.
What can we say about Mellony? Well, his name is Joakim Bergström and he is a Swedish artist releasing music on Record Union via his own label Mellony Music. He first found interest in his music on Youtube - but it was a tour with 100% party combined with a greater availability of his music on other digital channels that saw things really take off.
We took this opportunity to ask Mellony some questions about his journey to where he is now. We post his answers here for your reading.
What were your expectations when you first uploaded your music at Record Union?
None. I noticed a lot of people used Spotify and wanted people to be able to find my music there! It’s a really good service for both musicians and consumers. I found Record Union and they helped me.
And now, how does it feel to get 3 millions plays on Spotify?
Trying not to be a stick in the mud, it’s actually 3 million plays in february! Being June and all, it could be a lot more plays now! Sticking to the subject, it feels super great!
You clearly have a lot of fans – how did this come about?
It all started out with me uploading my songs to youtube, got a modest sum of plays, then I went on a Sweden tour with “100% Party”. That’s what got me started, though I had no idea I would be up in that many fans just by uploading my music to Record Union. Feels pretty awesome actually! : )
Is there anything else you would like to say?
Record Union got me in the music business, and I am forever grateful for that!
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Thanks Mellony! We wish you the very best in the future and promise to make sure your music continues to become available on all the great digital music services out there.
Dear Record Union users. We would like to inform you of a new payment routine which is now in effect. This new routine will involve payouts from your account page being temporarily disabled at the end of every month while new royalty reports are being processed.
The reason behind this new routine is a problem that can occur when a user pays out their account balance at the same time as a report is being processed by our reporting system.
To avoid this we will “switch off” payouts while our team work on uploading new batches of sales reports. This means you will see the sales information appear on your account straight away like before, but will have to wait until we have process all the reports before you can pay this money out.
The amount of time payouts will be disabled will depend on how fast we are able to process the new reports, but shouldn’t be more than 2-3 days.
If you have any questions or concerns about this, please get in touch with info(at)recordunion.com.
If you are a Swedish artist, head over to The Next Big thing website…now! They have just launched their biggest competition ever with some truly mind blowing prizes. We aren’t kidding! Here is what is on the line:
- A live performance at Way Out West festival
- The possibility to record a single at Kingsway Studio with Producer Mikael Axelius
- A promotion campaign on Spotify for the recorded single
- A tour organized by Luger / Live Nation
Few, if any, music compeitions can boast these kind of prizes. Take part and start activating your fans!
The are a number of different websites dedicated to sharing Spotify playlists - however, none are quite as thought through as the newly launched Tunigo. Directed at Swedish listeners right now, this website offers unmatched playlist discovery.
In a nutshell, Tunigo is a platform where everybody can import, share, tag and discover new music on Spotify. It is user generated, and beyond tagging your own playlists you can also sort them by different themes and occasions.
Small details are important - and the creators of Tunigo know this. The fact that you an “drag and drop” playlists from Spotify to import them on your profile is pretty cool - but not as cool as that when you click to play a song it will play directly from the Spotify client (no little pop-up window and “play” button). The tagging feature runs rampant, and once an artist, song or playlist is clicked fresh suggestions are never far away.
Beyond this effective environment from which to share, find and connect with music, Tunigo also offers a range of engaging editorial content from writers and music people. These are often in the form of “retrospectives” and relate music to the life experiences of the writer - a charming idea. You will also be able to keep up with the latest music news and gossip.
If you run an own label or are an indie artist you should definitely add some playlists here, sneaking in a few of your own songs. With the discovery potential Tunigo offers, you may just see the plays rack up.
Dear users. Just a quick note to inform you that our technical team are currently performing some work on our sales reporting system. This has meant we have had to temporarily disable payouts from your account page. The work is expected to be completed by the end of this week, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this will cause. If you have any questions or would like to get in touch with us about this please contact support(at)recordunion.com.
