First of all, who doesn’t know Shazam today? We have all, at some point in our lives, listened to music that is playing on TV or radio without knowing its name. Fortunately, Shazam is there for that. We press the central button of the application and like magic. The platform gives us the artist as well as the title of the song you have analyzed.
Online since 2008, the application was one of the first on the apple brand, that is Apple. Time goes by and in 2021, Shazam Entertainment Limited: it’s more than 1 billion songs that are shazamed not per year, but per month. It has more than 250 million users, which makes it an essential platform for all artists. This platform is to be taken seriously for all artists looking for visibility.
How to use Shazam?
First of all, it must be said that the application is very easy to use. All you have to do is open the application, point your phone at the audio source and press the blue button in the middle of the screen. It has become so standard that the application has become a verb.
The app is constantly evolving. For example, since 2017, it is possible to shazam songs without even having a network connection. In fact, the application will record the music you are listening to and then once you find a connection, it will give you the name of the song.
How does it work?
First of all, you have already asked yourself how such an application can work. How can a song be recognized in just a few seconds? It’s simple, Shazam will transform everything it listens to into a code thanks to the audio that is being listened to. Then, it will compare the code with all the other codes in its database.
The only problem with this method is that you will not be able to recognize songs played live. Indeed, the song must be played in the same way as the studio version.
How to use it for artists?
Now that you have understood how Shazam works. You are probably wondering how to integrate it in your communication strategy. The major advantage is the possibility to link your Shazam account to an Apple Music or Spotify account.
Secondly, when a user shazams one of your songs, it is listed in the application’s history. From then on, they can come back to it later if they wish.
Also, Shazam can have a direct impact on your streams. Indeed, a user can manually add one of your tracks that he has shazam in one of his playlists. This will create engagement, but also interactions that will only be beneficial to playlist curators.
How to put your music on Shazam?
As you read this article, you will have understood it. A song that is integrated in the Shazam database is very important to develop the notoriety of a song. To achieve this, you need to go through a digital distributor. Indeed, you can’t just knock on Shazam’s door and ask them to put one of your songs on the platform. You have to go through an intermediary, and Wiseband can offer to put your music on the Shazam platform right here.
Finally, once you’ve distributed your song on Shazam, you’ll be able to access the statistics via Apple Music for Artists. Secondly, this could be interesting for your advertising campaigns on social networks. If you find that your song performs better in a specific geographic area, you can target that area in your campaign. It can even give you information on where it might be interesting to have a concert. In conclusion, this is a platform that no artist can do without to gain visibility.
Anghami is the new application that offers its listeners around the world unlimited Arabic and international music. Indeed, it is the first legal music streaming platform in the Middle East and North Africa.
Putting your music on Anghami gives the opportunity to more than 80 million active users to listen to your music all over the world. The platform has just under 60% market share in the MENA region and is listed on Nasdaq in February 2022.
How do I get my music on Anghami?
To put your music on Anghami with Wiseband, it is essential to have an account. So the advantage of putting your music on Anghami is to be on one of the biggest music platforms.
You should know that once your song is downloaded on the platform, it will be available for free afterwards. In any case, putting your music on Anghami is a way to earn money every time
Distribute and share your singles, EP or albums with any download service in the world!
How do I distribute my music on Anghami?
To distribute your music on Anghami and all other music platforms, you must use the services of a music distributor like Wiseband. Thus, it is up to the music distributor to make sure that your tracks are delivered to the different music platforms you have chosen.
As you can see, it is not possible for an artist or independent label to ring the doorbell of Anghami (and other platforms) to be distributed directly.
If you go through Wiseband, you only have to do one thing: focus on your music. It’s easy to upload to the platforms of your choice.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact our support at contact@wiseband.com.
Technically, how do I put my music on Anghami?
Register on Wiseband and upload your music directly from the Wiseboard.
Choose the countries and music platforms you want to be present on.
Wiseband manages the rest without any bad surprises, you can remove your music at any time you want.
To keep in mind to put your music on Anghami :
Create a Wiseband account
Upload your music (single, EP or album)
Choose the platforms
Choose the countries
We only need some technical information to put your music on Anghami (to send at digital@wiseband.com):
This is often “the” question that most artists ask themselves, once their music is ready to be released. In a society of constantly evolving images, present in all modes of consumption, it has become almost impossible for developing artists to make their music known without accompanying it with a visual identity. This image is superimposed on your musical identity to form your artistic identity, which corresponds to your personality and defines your project.
It can happen that artists find themselves lost in front of this notion of image development which, in the unconscious, can quickly become similar to the world of marketing. It may be that the image is scary, it may be thought that it serves the musical creation, so much so that it is sometimes the last thing to be done, inspired by the existing.
However, it is your image and your identity, which is why it is an integral part of the creative process. When you create a piece, you do it with a feeling, which will immediately feed your imagination. As you compose, you will then picture colors and visual elements, which can sometimes even help you find the theme of a piece.
Without knowing it, you are already building your image, at the same time as the melody. It is not by chance that we often associate music with colors. If we say of it, that it can be hot or cold, that it evokes us the day or the night, the winter or the summer.
Because it provides us with feelings that we imagine instantly and which are engines of the creation of an image, according to its philosophical definition “The image is the mental reproduction of a perception” (Descartes).
TheClip Billie Eillish – Xanny :Directed by herself, this clip features the artist in a purified universe (reminiscent of psychiatric hospitals) where arms crush cigarettes on her face. A visual imaginative process (the human as a living ashtray) accompanying the song, in order to amplify the initial feeling: to speak about addictions.
Before even asking how to create an image, we must first ask ourselves two questions that will help us define it:
What is an image in art? A visual? A posture? A staging? A language? A color? It is all these elements and more. The image is the embodiment of your project and therefore of your identity. And to do so, it uses all the tools that allow it to come to life.
Why create your image? Before you even ask yourself how to create, you need to know why you are doing it, for what purpose. What should it bring to your project? Do you want to create a universe? A character? Do you want to put yourself on stage? Where do you want to go with this image? How far are you able to go? Do you want to create a lasting image or an identity that can be seen directly by as many people as possible? Why do you choose to put forward a certain song with a clip? Who do you want to reach?
Answering these questions in relation to your feelings, your personality and the identity of your project will allow you to see more clearly, to define where you want to go in order to tell your story at best.
Tell your story:
To compose or write a piece, we first start with an idea, a story that is our own. As soon as it transmits emotions, it becomes part of a storytelling that will link you to the world. This idea fits your personality traits, your feelings, your aesthetic tastes and all these elements together will build your artistic identity.
We often assume that the construction of an image depends mainly on the communication tools that are available to us. To defend a project, we must show that we exist on social networks, in one way or another. We try to follow the trends and see how we can connect with our project.
But the essence of our image doesn’t depend on the tools we’re going to put in place to develop it. Like a song, it depends on the story we want to tell. This idea acts as a pillar throughout the creative process.
We often think that a song should work first in its raw form, for example chords and text. An image is efficient because it puts in scene an idea which holds the road and which will be able to cross the times and the modes of communication.
Video – Orelsan – Sorry : Orelsan released this video in 2008, in which he thanks his audience for coming in such large numbers to his concert that some people were turned away because the room was full. He will then put himself on stage by being refused access to a nightclub. First of all, this video contains all the elements of the history of his project and his artistic facet, put forward by the second degree and the loose, central axes of his first album “Perdu d’avance”. Then it is endowed with a comical and strong idea which is anchored in the real. Finally it appeals to the feelings of each one, all generations confused (to be refused of a night club). The artist comes down from his pedestal after his concert, the public can identify with him and feel involved. It has all the ingredients of a video that could go viral today, its basic idea works and fits its musical identity. Of course nowadays, it would probably be edited more quickly with a vertical format, but the speech would be the same, there would only be to decline this format for the current supports. This image has the power to cross the ages and the advantage of having a zero cost, because the idea is sufficient on its own.
Telling your story serves to build your musical and visual identities, which feed on the same fuel: your life. The common idea that unites the two is the artistic identity.
A strong image open to the world:
It is important to think upstream about the power that your visual identity could generate. How does it anchor the project in the public’s imagination and how far can it take them? For these reasons, it must be both strong in what it conveys and open to the world.
Depending on its form and the choices you make to maintain it, always remember to leave doors open in case you decide to make artistic adjustments. For example, if you change your musical style or if you realize that it does not always correspond to the different facets of your artistic personality.
The image must be able to embody your identity and not take precedence over it, however strong it may be. It must both enrich and defend it, open your vision to the world but also adapt to you and to the world.
A versatile image that transmits strong ideas can naturally be used on all media. You can then use it on all aspects that you use to communicate on the project, whether social networks, interviews, live … Each of these appearances create points of connection that tell your artistic story and communicate with each other.
An image that is too strong could freeze the artistic project and on the contrary an identity that is too moving could alter its coherence. This is why it is always necessary to preserve a skilful harmony between these two creative voices.
As much as the strength of character of your image allows you to work on the particularity of a project, its versatility allows it to adapt to all the traits, moods of your artistic personality and to the world that surrounds it. Just like your music and your identity, it must be considered as a living element.
Image: “Igor” strong character of Tyler The Creator, who will have led him to the success of mainstream pop star with his eponymous album and that people identify more visually than his creator. He will then release a year after “Call Me If you Get Lost” an album where he reconnects with the rap of his youth, probably to reposition his image. Article – SVD: When Igor swallowed Tyler
How to develop your image
Scripting: Before jumping into the deep end, it’s important to evolve your idea and create your story. You can start by writing down words about the feelings your music evokes. Once you have these words, you can then imagine a world of your own. You will then have enough material to tell this story by scripting it like for a video clip. This will allow you to create a breakthrough, to open doors, to see more clearly and to imagine how far this image can take you. It is important to script each piece of content, each speech, in order to create coherence and links in your message. The more you advance in your scenario, the more sure you will be of the direction to follow and the content to produce.
Define your artistic references: Everything that will build the decor and the aesthetics of your visual universe, once again as for a song: Melancholic or sunny song / Analog instruments or plugins / Musical genre … With the image it’s the same: Color or black and white / funny or sad story / digital or analog image / Cinematographic or documentary genre… Once the idea is defined, you can then put these references in a document (mood board) where you gather all your inspirations by referring to existing images.
Mood Board Stav – Character page :I describe the different facets of my character and I paste existing references. This is the material that will allow me to build my character in its visual globality. We can create pages for the universe, the colors, the styling, the decoration, the visual references … and adapt them to each story we will tell: decor of a scene of a video clip, a youtube video, an album cover and all the supports you will produce. The best solution is to create a general mood board of your artistic identity, that you feed as you evolve, which will make the link between all your visual supports (album cover, video clip, scenography, video capsules, styling).
Anchor in reality and involve your audience: An image is all the more effective when it is anchored in the reality of all. Telling a story by projecting it into reality gives it content and weight, and the audience can project itself more into your message.
Clip Stromae – Formidable: When the artist takes the risk of staging himself in real life, in order to amplify a feeling evoked in his song (the sadness of a breakup): he becomes a drunk man at 8am on a public square. He uses the process of the embedded camera because it is impossible to bring a video team without being noticed. Also, a cinematographic image quality would not correspond to the feeling deployed which must be brutal. The camera becomes the eye of the spectator who is the passer-by on this square. The artist does not feed on the unexpected, it is he who becomes the unexpected. The people who attend the scene, wonder, take pictures of him (feeding these questions on the networks). Is it a staging? Is he really drunk and going crazy? This is the questioning that he manages to provoke. Those who watch the images on youtube, can only salute the performance and consistency. One is projected into an image that considerably enriches the words of the artist. Again, this process is not expensive, it stands out for a strong idea that becomes reality.
Big Flo and Olitease their next clip by putting themselves in scene Place de la République inside a studio built in a glass box. So we don’t know what will happen, but every passer-by takes pictures of them and posts them on the networks. The public becomes the artist’s own community manager.
Define your place: Before creating your image, it is important to define the relationship you will have with it. Many artists don’t necessarily want to put themselves on stage, out of modesty, because they feel uncomfortable, or simply because they feel it doesn’t fit with the image of the project. There is nothing wrong with that. But it is important to define this relationship at the beginning of the creation, rather than forcing ourselves and getting trapped in an image that doesn’t suit us. You will always have the choice to leave doors open and change course at some point in your evolution if you wish. But there are many ways to put a project in image, without staging its protagonists or in an abstract way (illustrations, animations, use of actors, real images). This is not a problem, each image has its own personality, you just have to be aware of it.
If on the contrary you want to put yourself on stage beyond the music, it is nowadays totally possible and social networks push artists to do it constantly. You have to define your place and make sure that this staging corresponds to the project. Be careful not to lock yourself in and become a caricature of yourself.
Staging yourself requires naturalness, but also work and distance. This is why it is important to script each idea and to give it a tempo. As for a song, don’t hesitate to make tests and mock-ups of your productions, before publishing them, in order to have an external eye on your work. In both cases, make sure to anticipate the urgency and to integrate your artistic direction in each of your speeches first.
Image: “1200 meters in all” album cover of Odezenne, no protagonist, very artistic visual universe close to the new wave, which corresponds enormously to the musical aesthetics of the project, poetic, trash, arty.
Define your means and your reality: Before even starting to produce, it is important to situate the project in its reality, what means you have: skills, know-how, entourage, financial means… Producing images can be costly and time-consuming, which is why it is important to anticipate all these factors beforehand. You can’t become an art director overnight, but today social networks and cell phones allow you to create quality content in an instinctive way. Try to use these tools as much as possible for your project. If you have other means to develop your image, don’t hesitate to create bridges to implement them. Analyze your reality, look around you, define your pluses and minuses. Do not estimate your means just for the production of a clip, but for the global production of your visual identity.
Manage your timing: Once you decide to start communicating a project, make sure you have several cards up your sleeve. There’s no point in producing a nice clip today if you don’t have another piece of content ready to go. Wait for the right moment to release your first content, make a retroplanning over six months, in order to make the project live. Once you’ve spoken, you need to be sure you can deliver.
Decline to the maximum and maintain your image: In order to make a project live, you must be able to decline your image. The life span of a clip today is very short, because there are so many releases. Each specialized media receives an average of 150 per week, just for France. At the same time as you think about the concept of the clip or your global visual identity, try to anticipate the production of additional material to make this content live: making of, teaser, cut scenes, on-board camera, acoustic version, tik tok filters… Try to think about these concepts in relation to your image, in order to create coherence and links that will bring your story to life. Don’t produce a teaser that will be just the intro of your song, create a parallel story, open doors, widen your field of vision, use a symbolic object of the clip in other videos, stage it in the real world.
Image: PNL teaser, two days before the release of their clip “Au DD” where they put themselves in scene on the Eiffel Tower, PNL created a countdown with a video of the earth spinning with from time to time, asteroids, Dragon Ball balls, scrambled transmissions of excerpts of songs that recall the communication with the extra terrestrial in the Fifth Element. This video will have succeeded in creating an unbearable expectation for the fans.
Make the most of the social network tools: In order to involve the public, don’t hesitate to use the new tools offered by the networks: Premiere on youtube with a countdown, countdown on instagram, real instagram, polls, questions, live, use of your song in Tik Tok videos to generate a stream around scenes related to your clip and your visual identity…
The tools to achieve your image :
Smartphones:
“To make a movie, you just need something that films” said Orelsan in his song “Note for too late”. Today smartphones offer you the possibility to take pictures and shoot videos in HD quality. Once again, it is the idea that prevails, the smartphone is an affordable tool that allows you to stage it.
You can install “Filmic Pro” a paid application (about 10 euros) real monitor simulator and video recorder, which allows you to shoot videos in pro mode (manage white balance, iso, aperture, heat,..)
Video editing tools developed by social networks:
Social networks offer today a multitude of free tools to develop your image. You can edit your videos yourself with transitions effects, use filters to showcase yourself, integrate songs to your montages. No more need for a computer, to export your videos and edit them on a pro software. These tools are mainly developed on Tik Tok and instagram.
Templates and graphic creation websites:
The platform “Canva” offers you the possibility to create easy designs using templates, made for social networks. If you are not a graphic designer, but you need to decline and post your content regularly (video release banner, concert tour …) this platform is for you. You can also link your networks to your account and schedule your posts. It exists in free and premium version.
Graphic design software:
For the more experienced, the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of graphic creations will accompany you in all your projects of professional content creation (Photos, design, editing, motion design …) for a subscription of 60 euros per month.
Google :
All the answers to your technical questions, video editing, graphic design, digital strategy, evolution of social networks, can be found in very well designed Youtube tutorials. Don’t hesitate to read about your questions and to keep yourself informed, because social networks never sleep.
The South By South West festival is held every end of winter in Austin (Texas), capital of live music. SXSW is one of the biggest American festivals, with more than 500 bands programmed each year but also hundreds of conferences dealing with new technologies (NFT, web 30 and metaverse were at the festival this year). For the fifth consecutive edition, Romain Lejeune and Dorota Kuszewska from Blind Suns were on the festival stages. They have created a strong community in Austin that helps them develop their international presence.
How did your SXSW adventure start?
Romain: I went for the first time in 2013 with my label, Wild Valley because the cities of Angers and Austin are twinned. So I was invited to participate in a delegation from Angers. That’s where I met Wiseband for the first time !
I quickly understood that SXSW was one of the biggest American festivals for independent artists and my goal was to play there with the bands of my label and, the following year, I applied. Artists from all over the world can apply on the SXSW platform. There are a lot of applications.
And The Blind Suns were selected?
Romain: We were finally selected in 2016, knowing that The Blind Suns was created in 2014, so it was pretty fast! It was a very big springboard for us because we were selected in “Highlights”, with a banner on the festival website.
You have to know that there are more than 500 groups programmed and when you are in the “Coup de coeur” we see you better! Since then, we write directly to the programmer on his email address, we do not go through the platform anymore! We came back every year except in 2020 and 2021 when there was no festival, because of Covid.
And from there, you have created a whole community in Austin Texas?
Dorota: Yes, we were adopted, we almost have a family there! It all started with Austin Angers Creative and from there, thanks to a friend of mine, Samantha, who is also a bookeuse, we were able to set up dates outside of SXSW. She introduced us to a lot of people, it snowballed…
And now, every time we go to Austin, we feel at home! But this year, there were a little less people than usual because of Covid. We usually do a dozen shows, but this year we had seven.
The concerts are always very short, 30 minutes?
Romain: It’s an American specificity to have very short sets with little time for sound checks and many bands playing on the same night. When you have just one opening act in France, you easily have 5 or 6 bands in the US and they all play on the same back line. You have to be fast and efficient on the sound check.
It teaches you to get to the point, not to be technical or detailed. The energy you’re going to have on stage, the show, that’s what’s really going to prevail.
Did you learn it on the job?
Romain : It was not easy at the beginning because we came with our habits of a young French band. When you are accompanied in Smac, as we were in Chabada, you benefit from very comfortable technical conditions.
If you are used to this comfort and you arrive in the United States in very small clubs with equipment that you don’t know and technicians who do it in a hurry, you are quickly lost! Moreover, for the first times in front of an American public, you put pressure on yourself, it’s not easy. But as time went by, we got over it and now we don’t have any stage fright at all, we’re good at it!
Dorota: Especially since the audience is very receptive and very expressive, and that also encourages a lot to feel at ease. It is very pleasant to play in front of the Americans.
This is your 5th SXSW, did it help you to develop in Texas, in the United States?
Romain: The American market is very difficult, it’s probably the most difficult in the world. Signing with a label and getting airplay on radio stations is almost mission impossible, especially for a foreign band. On the other hand, there are a lot of concert opportunities. We’ve been able to tour quite a bit, from Austin to Los Angeles. We’ve also played a few times in New York.
So those gigs have opened up opportunities for us elsewhere. We were able to play in Asia and Europe. It’s this American experience and also the international image it gave us that allowed us to cross borders and play a lot of festivals, from England to India or Estonia. The SXSW was a real argument.
Do you have an international posture?
Dorata: Our music is international. Our influences too. I was born in Poland and my whole childhood I listened to Anglo-Saxon and American music. Poland was very influenced by the US after communism. It was natural for me to reproduce what I knew.
The chance of life made that I found myself in France but my culture, my music, is not French. So of course, we did some dates in France, but we understood that our place was also elsewhere, that’s why we immediately started to work on export.
Where are you today, with this international strategy?
Romain: Until now, we have been groping our way through, seizing opportunities that have followed one after the other. We have been rather instinctive in our development. But today, we will have to work on it.
We are looking for touring agents. It’s the stage that keeps us going, along with the merchandise, and that allows us to expand our fan base. The vinyl market is more complex. It’s difficult to commit to a label…
What about streaming?
Romain: For that, we need a good distributor. That’s why we work with Wiseband! We see peaks of international listening after our various concerts but it goes down quickly. We are looking to improve our digital strategy and our communication after the concerts, to build loyalty after the tours and to develop on the long term.
These are our thoughts at the moment. We will probably have to work more country by country with marketing and promotion strategies adapted to each territory.
All your songs are in English but the Americans at SXSW particularly appreciated your French version of Patrick Coutin’s hit “J’aime regarder les filles”…
Dorota: Yes, it was a nice surprise. This song is very cool. It’s seen as exotic, sexy for the American public and it makes us think: why not add a little French in our lyrics?
You defended France in Austin! You were the only French group and without any particular help. Aren’t you jealous to see the support given by the Spanish or the English to their artists?
Romain: I don’t know why but it’s true that France is very little present on SXSW. Nothing to do with the English for example. Is it the fear of the American market?
Do the French want to have immediate results when the English are there to do communication on a longer term even if there is no immediate transformation in relation to the investments? It’s true that we were quite alone in defending France!
Contacts :
https://linktr.ee/theblindsuns
Discography :
LP “Baltic Waves” 2014 Double Single ’45 tours “Fire in the Sky” 2015 EP “I Can Sea You” 2016 LP “OFFSHORE” 2018 LP “Crisis Mode” 2022 (May 6th)
Wiseband gives you its selection of tools for artists and labels to promote their music!
Managing your artistic career is not an easy task, especially when you are inundated with tools, each one more innovative than the other. To have clarity, elements of comparison in order to make an enlightened choice on its working tools, here is the objective of this article! We have surveyed and tested all the tools we are going to recommend to you via our teams, our customers and our partners concerning the use of their tools in-house! We will distinguish two categories so that you can see clearly!
Beginners & semi-professionals :
Whether you are an artist or a label, in order to measure and know if you are going in the right direction, you don’t need the most powerful tools (which also cost a lot more). This selection of good tools has more vocation to go for free or freemium solutions, to allow you to start/confirm your activity.
Design & visuals : WITH CANVA
Although criticized by design and communication professionals, CANVA is now a serious alternative to “pro” software like Adobe Photoshop. CANVA offers a minimalist and easy to use interface. You can also take a look at Photopea, an equally serious alternative that is very similar to Photoshop. The advantage? This application is accessible online and free. Moreover, you can directly import Photoshop files (.psd).
Digital Distribution : WITH WISEBAND
Although we are the ones writing the article, we have designed and continue to develop Wiseband for all independent artists and labels.
Much more than a simple distribution that you make, you work with a human-sized team, in which you can trust also available for you!
Here are some testimonials from clients we support:
« Wiseband is without a doubt the most complete and human distribution platform on the market. A fast and professional service!” TRINIX – Electro Chill – 2.6M Monthly Listeners
“Top human relations, personalized and quality services. Reactive and professional: Wiseband, a unique support.” LUX – Dance Pop – 60k Monthly Listeners
“Unique in its kind. Wiseband makes the distribution experience human and upscale. A real luxury for us!” PLAYPACK RECORDS – Label – 2.5M Streams
The major pillar that will make the link between your music on the platforms and your fans: the fanlink. For the uninitiated, it is a global link that gathers all the links on each streaming platform (Example: Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music) that automatically redirects to the chosen platform.
At Wiseband, for each distribution, we take care of this famous link, 100% free! We call it the “Wisepage“.
Another way to create links for free is TONEDEN. In its 100% free version you can make your own links :
SACEM (artists & publishers)
We don’t tell it often enough to artists, but SACEM is the guarantor of your property on your works as well as a source of income for many artists! Remember to make all the deposits on your works.
Sharing & private listening : Soundcloud
To close this chapter on semi-free or 100% free tools, we recommend you to use Soundcloud which is still very present on the subject of sharing and listening to demo-previews.
Sometimes, some labels even require a private Soundcloud listening link. This allows you to have a first overview of your catalog.
For pitching (sending to official Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music playlists) of your projects distributed on Wiseband we also ask for a private Soundcloud listening link. This has become a standard today by industry professionals.
Experienced – professionals
Looking for professionalization of your activity or for more efficient tools to optimize your work and those of your team(s)?
Here is a selection of paying tools, which will optimize your work to perfection, so that you can concentrate on the essential.
Among the most underrated and paradoxically the most expensive tools, they both allow you to compare and see the cross-statistics of each Artist, whatever it is.
Whether it’s profiles on DSPs (Digital Streaming Platforms), profiles on social networks, various performance indicators (Fans, Radio Passage, Editorial Playlists and many more).
Thus, these are complete tools to analyze your own statistics in one place, but also those of your “competitors”. We have personally tested Soundcharts and we recommend it to you with our eyes closed. The only drawback is that the interface is a bit dated.
Other customers and partners also use ChartMetrics and Viberate…
Rights clearance/OGC: SCPP/SPPF + Adami/Spediddam
The purpose of this article is not to discuss rights clearance or rights management mechanisms in the industry, but in general, many labels and artists do not join all of these societies. This is particularly unfortunate, because if they do, they sit on potential revenue streams.
You can find more information here & here (French):
Electronic Signature : Eversign
We don’t teach you anything, but the record industry is strongly framed and regulated by a strict legal framework and it is in this spirit that generally the question of the electronic signature can be raised. For that, many tools exist as well as many features (more or less useful).
Keep in mind the main essentials for your business:
Legally valid tracking and signature (IP tracking and time/validation by SMS ect… Many validation methods exist)
Dematerialized sending
A NON limited number of sendings and signatures
Automatic follow-ups
At Wiseband, we have tested many of them (and of all prices) and we agreed on the very good quality-price ratio of Eversign.
Management of press mailings & catalog management : Bridge Audio
It is a recent tool (made in France) that we have already adopted within the team, and that we are very happy to present in this selection. Bridge.audio is the perfect compromise between a WeTransfer, a Google Drive and a Soundcloud. All this in an interface dedicated to professionals, minimalist and (very) efficient!
A small revolution for the industry, but above all a serious competitor to disco.ac. No more blah blah blah, we know you’ll adopt Bridge.audio.
In a dynamic of professionalization you want the best tools to understand the functioning of your fans and develop a real relationship with them. That’s why we recommend the two leaders of the fanlink market:
Linkfire : Mainly used by the majors, it’s a must-have all-in-one.
Feature.fm : Mainly used by independent labels, it stands out mainly by a different design and some specific features.
As much as the links in bio are always the same, not necessarily optimized and cruelly ugly (let’s be honest). But solo.to will make you change your mind!
Ton stage – ton alternance – ton Job chez Wiseband
Ton contact : talents@wiseband.com
Passionné de Musique et d’Internet…
🎶 🎶 « As-tu déjà fais partie d’une équipe, C’est fantastique, de faire partie d’une équipe c’est comme des planètes qui s’alignent, se dispersent et se replacent en ligne. As-tu déjà fais partie d’une équipe ? C’est magnifique de faire partie d’une équipe ! » 🎶🎶 by Philippe KATHERINE – 85 En Rouge et Noir
First of all, Youtube is undoubtedly the most used platform in the world. Indeed, every month, billions of people access youtube content through millions of videos that are published every day. The problem, as an artist, is that you have to face a very large competition that is constantly increasing. Even if this platform remains the first springboard for any professional or amateur of the music, it is important to stand out. That is to say, to differentiate yourself from the others in order to make your sound or visual identity known and fortunately, Wiseband is here to give you its best advice.
Introduction : YouTube for artists
First of all, if you are a novice as a musician or even if you are just a simple spectator and want to manage your own Youtube channel. Youtube for Artist is there for you. A quick reminder, it’s a service that gives artists more control or mainly gives the famous sesame so coveted by all users.
That is to say the certified or official account. However, a label or a specific structure will be necessary to achieve this. Thanks to this feature, you will be able for example to make better searches on the search bar and thus, link to a specific keyword on the platform.
From now on, this platform also allows you to differentiate yourself from others but also to share the essential news. In a second time, it is possible to keep informed all its fanbase of your news but not only…
It is simply a catalog where you can find a multitude of information. Like tools, news and everything that can be trendy for musicians or artists who want to progress and develop a community over a whole musical career. Wiseband delivers all the answers to your questions on our previous article YouTube: Official Artist Channel
In short, it allows you to provide subscribers with totally exclusive content such as cover songs or remixes. By using the right tools, your music career can only improve and Wiseband gives you its three best tips and tricks to promote music on Youtube.
1. Youtube playlist : the tool to get your music discovered
Playlists are probably one of the ideal vectors to make users discover a discography, catalog of a style or musical artist. It can be compared to an interactive CV since it contains all the material we want to use. The easiest way is to create your own playlist that can include content hosted on a Youtube channel that is not necessarily yours:
First, you need to select the playlist or clips that are to be transferred to the playlist.
Now, at the bottom of the video, click on the “add” icon.
Select a playlist that you have already created or you can click on “create a new playlist”. Start by adding a name.
Secondly, choose the genre of your playlist. The genre is essential so that Internet users can identify your playlist without even having listened to a single track. It must therefore describe your identity. You can for example insert video interviews, live clips, demos but also clips or backstage…
The choices are so wide and that’s the beauty of youtube. Always choose quality over quantity. To stimulate more the desires of the Internet users, propose unceasingly new content. The goal is to create surprise in the eyes of the user.
2. Your cover, the ideal springboard to become known on YouTube
When you start a music project and want to expose it on YouTube, don’t forget that covers (often called “remixes”) can help you attract more viewers.
Indeed, most of the Internet users are looking for the song of a very famous artist. Therefore, with the cover of the name of the artist with a great notoriety, the project appears in the new search algorithm.
This is the ideal way to increase your audience with covers of particularly popular songs, classics that respect your musical style and reinterpret in your own way. For video: You can focus on the quality of the interpretation, so don’t panic even if it is “homemade”.
However, if the quality of the video is also really good, this remix can really work for you! Finally, when it comes to covers, it can end up being a playlist created by the artist of the song you just covered.
3. Cherish your fan community on Youtube
Youtube allows an artist to address more directly with all his community but also to inform his fans about the present moment as his latest news. It is essential to maintain a good relationship and to respect his community in order to keep his future audience as loyal as possible.
Browse on Youtube in the “community” tab for all artists. Indeed, you can observe the latest news of all artists through posts with visuals that can give information on your next concert, your next release. Links to your merchandising can complete the whole.
Discover the ISNI (international standard name identifier)
Behind this acronym “ISNI” hides the terms “International Standard Name Identifier”. This standard has been developed since 2012 by the international organization of standardization that we all know as “ISO”.
Use of the ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier)
The ISNI is a 15 digits number followed by a control key, this combination allows to generate 1 million billion possible codes (we let you count…). The ISNI code will allow an entity (name, nickname, publisher…) to be identified via a unique number.
How useful is the ISNI for a musician?
A musician can have other activities and different pseudonyms (composer, author, etc…). In the databases he is therefore known under different identifiers (private and/or public). The ISNI code will thus allow him to obtain a universal and unique identifier allowing the databases to exchange information in a simple and reliable way. Without this code, it is difficult to identify a name like “John Smith” in a safe way. Indeed, we can find a lot of homonyms or close names that make it very difficult to distinguish.
How do I get my ISNI code?
Wiseband can help you get your ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) code. Indeed, we are an official partner of isni.org and we can deliver your code. To do so, you must make a request on our website https://isni.io/.
