As some of you may know, Facebook recently released a guide called “The Musicians playbook“. This has become essential reading for bands and artists who want to build and develop a presence on Facebook.

Facebook is a powerful tool in the independents arsenal and a basic knowledge of how to run, maintain and connect your Facebook page with your other online channels is important for any digital strategy.

This guide will cover all of the above, plus a lot more.

You all know about Nomy right? He is the guy who without a record label, management company or advanced studio has delivered digital hits to all corners of the globe. His most popular song “Cocaine” has been on the Spotify global toplist for over two years – at its peak achieving over 3 millions plays a month.  He is one of the Record Union success stories and proof of what indie artists can achieve in the brave new digital era.

So, it is with not just a little excitement that we announce Nomy´s return with a brand new song which already has the makings of a new Nomy hit. “A dream for the weaker” has only been out a few hours and his fans are are going nuts - the “shout box” on his website overflowing with praise.

Also featuring on the release are some new versions of Cocaine – one of these a pumped up U.S. Edit which he will be using to cajole his expanding US fanbase.

“A dream for the weaker” is released today on digital music services around the world.

Click here to find it on Spotify.

We often get questions about how the “Related artists” feature on Spotify actually works. A post on the Spotify blog gives a clear explanation if this feature - we will summarize it here.

Whereas Spotify first used tagging and genre matching from the All Music Guide they a while ago moved over to a more dynamic solution to power the related artists feature.  The current solution incorporates user listening data to power the feature. In practice, if there is data showing that people listening to your music are also listening to “Foster The People” then this band will be one of those in the list of the related artists.

For you as indie artist, knowing what other artists your fans are listening can be valuable information. One example would be when trying to introduce your music to new listeners - if you know your fans are listening to “Foster The People” then there is a high chance that other fans of “Foster The People” will also like your music.

You can then direct marketing efforts towards these fans - such as via music forums/blogs they frequent and other online hangouts. Now, this is pretty grass routes promotion but it is just one illustration how how this knowledge can be used to your advantage. Remember, one new fan who shares music with friends can mean many more.

Right, it’s official. Manon Dave is a musical chameleon - one second he is releasing remixes of Britney Spears and Timbaland, next melancholy alternative pop, then some dirty electro-dub riddims and now a pseudo-classical composition entitle Trinity.

We have seen few who can boast such a diverse range of projects - even fewer who actually pull it off.

For the track “Stones” and indeed parts of “The Flood”, it sounds as though Manon actually kidnapped an orchestra and locked them in his studio. He assures us this is not the case - and after checking with the authorities we have no reason to doubt him.

In fact he has managed to reproduce these delicate sounds without live instruments, somehow capturing the essence of each instrument to paint an intricate and utterly pleasing canvas of string and wind. This just goes to show what is possible with modern sound production.

For a proper review of this remarkable accomplishment, check out this excellent piece by Sean Michael Yoder.

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.

Yep that’s right folks! All of you who have accounts here at Record Union and are situated in the US have just received a VIP Invite to Spotify.

This was not only to cater to the high amount of requests we got about this but also because we thought it was a pretty neat thing to do.

We hope that by getting out these invites you will be able to familiarize yourself with Spotify and what it can offer - be this as a revenue generating tool, a promotional tool or just a great place for fans to be able to enjoy music.

If you are a registered U.S. user on Record Union and for some reason did not get an invite, send an email to invites(at)recordunion.com and we will sort one out for you.

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:

• A new procedure for publishing a release. The old “create a release” page has been removed and been replaced with a version which is more dynamic, attractive and user friendly. This contains a help tool which will provide information about each field helping you add that all-important metadata correctly. We are quite pleased with this and hope you will be to!

• Choose your stores. Thats right! You can now choose exactly which music services you would like your release to become available on. Only want your music on Spotify and iTunes? Select these stores on the “Choose Stores” page. This also means that if you have your release on a few of our partners already you can exclude these from the delivery list.

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:

Dear friends. Just a quick note to inform you that the Record Union website will be down for a few hours tomorrow. Our techies have been working on some updates and will be implementing these during this down time.  Once the updates are installed we will revive the website and tell you all about what we have done. Be well!

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.