Creative Juice

Worried about overwhelming your fans with too many asks, too many offers, too much content or the wrong kind? Avoid burning out your fans by tapping into the art of nurturing...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dive into one of the most overlooked aspects of music marketing—nurturing your fans. Learn about nurturing as a central stage in the fan customer journey for artists at both early and later career stages, the common trap when prioritizing monetization, and example nurturing strategies that you can implement in your music marketing today!   Want to ensure your ensure your fans stay excited and engaged without feeling bombarded? This episode will help you pick a nurturing path to build and expand upon so that your fans are always getting value from you!     DISCOVER: Why Nurturing Is Crucial In The Fan Customer Journey How To Identify If You're Testing Content Or Actually Nurturing Your Fan Base What Practical Nurturing Strategies You Can Start Using Today In Your Music Marketing Where To Nurture Your Customers Outside Of Social Media Why Throwback Content Is A Hidden Goldmine   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

It's 2024 and it's time to stop using data as a buzzword and start using it to actually grow your music career...   In this episode of Creative Juice, join Jack and Circa for a discussion on the truth about data and its impact on your music career! Learn how the music industry typically collects and uses data, where it falls short, and how to use actionable data to build your fan base, get more people to hear your music, and build revenue streams as an artist!   If you want to avoid gathering data that collects dust or overcome the overwhelm of taking action on your marketing data, this episode is a must listen whether you've got tons of fans or are just starting out!   DISCOVER: What Data The Music Industry Focuses On The Difference Between "Is" and "Ought" Data How B2b and B2c Data Is Used In Music Why Data Consolidation Is Important For Artists How To Leverage Your Owned Media and Customer Data To Grow   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Spotify is hotly debated and discussed right now...from royalty fairness and artist equity, to FTC complaints, publishing, and its CEO, so let's actually talk about GROWING on Spotify instead...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa discuss the latest digital marketing strategies that we teach artists and use for growing an audience on Spotify at our agency! Learn about the brand criteria for Spotify growth with digital marketing, where your content plays a role, and the paid traffic strategies that are working best for artists right now!   If you're looking for a refresher on Spotify growth strategies to test and deploy in your music career, tap into this episode to get the latest ground report from our music marketing agency team!   DISCOVER: Why Growing On Spotify And Getting An ROI Is So Challenging What Data The Spotify Algorithm Looks For What Paid And Organic Digital Strategies To Use For Spotify Growth The Pros And Cons Of Growing An Audience On Spotify When To Use Traffic Vs Conversions Campaigns In Meta Ads For Driving Streaming Growth   RESOURCES: Get Access To Our Spotify Growth Workshops Inside IndiePRO Get Our FREE Spotify Growth Starting Line Guide Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Knowing what marketing efforts to focus on can be the difference between adding hundreds of thousands in sales or spinning your wheels on another "great" idea for your music career. Here's how to know the difference...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa break down how we added over $300k in annual revenue and 15x'd the sales of one of our agency clients at IndieX! Learn the levers we pulled to capitalize on their two album releases with paid traffic campaigns on social media, exclusive vinyl variants, and a calendar of profit maximizer sales promotions...   If you're looking to pull out all the stops in using digital marketing in your music career, this episode is a MUST listen!   DISCOVER: How We Grew An Artist Revenue 15x Why Qualitative Engagement Is An Indicator For Monetization Potential How Release Cadence Impacts Sales What To Do When Your Merch Doesn't Sell Out How To Structure Your Sales Promotional Calendar For Profit   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!   — — About 300k fans across social Ran sales promotion first to existing fans: $11,834.07 total store revenue that month He did 8k the previous year in ecommerce sales He was doing around $2000/mo in ecommerce when he came to work with us   Here's the levers we pulled to 15x his revenue to $312,158.12 total store revenue last year 2 album releases in that time Cold sales ads for CDs and Vinyl (edited) Warm sales ads for CDs, Vinyl and soft cloth Sales promos every 6 weeks Sales promos alternate between new vinyl variants and new soft cloth launches Nurturing email every week   sales promos as profit maximizes qualitative engagement as a monetization opportunity release cadence importance make more offers, let them be scarce, sell out sell out your stock on the road as extra stock

Ever wondered why some artists never seem to grow? The answer might be simpler than you think: they never start. Procrastination could be your biggest barrier to success...   In this eye-opening episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa tackle the #1 reason artists don't grow—failure to take the first steps towards growth! Learn about the psychology of procrastination in a music career and practical strategies to overcome it, the importance of being willing to experiment with marketing, releases, and content, how to focus on actions that move your business forward!   Whether you're debuting your first track or you’re an artist with millions of fans, this episode is packed with insights on how to take action on new opportunities, overcome limiting beliefs, and start pursuing your goals!   DISCOVER: How To Break Through Procrastination At Any Career Stage What Experimental Approaches Can Help You Move Past The Starting Line In Your Music Career Where To Focus Your Efforts To Propel Your Music Business Forward How AI Can Be Experimentally Used To Build Systems And Tools How To Learn To Effectively Use New Tools Fast Why Artists Fail To Act On Additional Opportunities As They Grow How Limiting Beliefs Can Hold You Back And Strategies To Overcome Them   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Lessons in the music industry show up through different paths…some are taught, some are fought through success and failure, and others are caught from experimentation…   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa unpack ten music marketing and music business lessons to help shorten the learning curve to success in your creative career! From picking the best music to lead your marketing to brand building, people problems, and capturing viral audiences, there’s a lot of ground to cover from our 8 years of running a music marketing agency.   If you want a leg up that blogs and textbooks can’t give you, let the lessons in this episode point you in the right direction for navigating music marketing and the industry!   DISCOVER: Why Some Music Just Isn't Marketable and How To Select Your Best Music Where Music Videos REALLY Fit Into Your Marketing Strategy Why Social Media Virality Doesn’t Always Equal Easy Monetization How Repetition Is Key In Your Online Marketing Why People Problems And Bad Strategy Go Hand In Hand In Music Why The Belief That Music Is Recession-Proof Is A Myth How The Pareto Principle Applies To Artists   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

A simple trip to the grocery store today could change the course of your music career. Don't believe it?   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa talk all about how musicians need to tap into audience attention online and how tabloids and celebrity gossip can help! Learn why artists struggle to command attention, what terrible copywriting on social media looks like, how to write headlines that capture the attention of your fans, and tips for making your music releases, tours, merch, and content newsworthy!   If you want to stand out online among all the content noise, apply the lessons from this episode to your social media strategy and finally bridge the gap between the attention of strangers and fans!   DISCOVER: Why Many Artists Fail To Grab Attention Online How Terrible Copywriting On Social Media Is Costing You Fans How Tabloids, Reddit and Celebrity Gossip Can Help You Write Amazing Headlines How To Make Your Music Releases Newsworthy Where To Find Inspiration Outside Of Music For Your Copywriting The Difference Between Capturing The Attention Of Fans Vs. Strangers Why Insane Clown Posse Is The "World's Most Hated Band" How To Use True Stories To Create Real Connection With Your Audience   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

For artists trying to build their music careers by growing and monetizing a fan base, improving the music itself is not always the best starting point...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa discuss how to reverse engineer your music business growth by improving the processes that help you create, capture, and monetize your fans' attention! Learn why only focusing on developing your product might get you stuck at the starting line, how to set achievable goals to release music and content, and to structure offers and promotional cadences based on real fan feedback!   If you want to fine-tune the processes that will actually grow and scale your fan base and your career, the insights from this episode have you covered!   DISCOVER: How Circa Started Indepreneur With Personal Conversations Why Growth Isn't Solely About Creating Better Music How To Set Realistic Goals For Long-term Success How To Use A 9-word Email To Engage Your Audience Effectively How To Build And Reverse Engineer A Promotional Cadence That Fits Your Strategy What Artists Can Learn From Taylor Swift About Maximizing The Value Of A Release   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Are you gearing up to release your next single? Don't pick your release date until you maximize your efforts in the stages before, during, and after the launch!   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa pick apart the foundations of single releases so that you can plan your waterfall releases to have the biggest impact. Learn about the myth of fast releases, dive deep into what assets and content you should have ready for both pre-release and ongoing marketing efforts, and best practices for distribution and effective pitching to playlists!   Before dropping your next song, let this episode be your checklist with strategies and tips to make it your most successful release yet!   DISCOVER: What Assets And Content You Need For An Impactful Pre-Release And Post-Marketing Best Practices For Distribution And Timing How To Utilize Spotify For Artists For Playlist Pitching What Spotify's Audio Profiling Means For Your Tracks In The Recommendation Engine When To Consider Pre-save Campaigns Why Post-marketing Is The Most Critical Phase Of Your Release Strategy When To Consider Using Paid Traffic To Boost Your Visibility   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO How To Kick Start A Fanbase With Content Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Are bottlenecks in your creative business slowing down your progress? Identifying and removing these barriers can be the key to unlocking your creative output AND fan base growth...   In this special episode of Creative Juice, Jack is joined by Jonah McLean (aka DUX), a lead strategist and coach from our IndieFounder program, to dive into the most common bottlenecks he finds in artists' creative businesses! Learn from Jonah's experience consulting and coaching hundreds of artists and explore the three biggest bottlenecks he's observed in music marketing, from the challenges musicians face after an initial burst of audience growth to the paralysis caused by indecision and overthinking!   If you're stuck in your music career growth and not sure why, this episode covers it all. From simplifying your music business systems to managing your work and failing forward in your marketing, use these tips to get yourself back on track!   DISCOVER: How To Tackle The Three Biggest Bottlenecks Jonah Sees Musicians Face Where Artists Struggle After Initial Audience Growth How To Handle Indecision And Overthinking To Keep Your Projects Moving Why Failure Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool How To Simplify Your Music Business Systems What You Can Learn From Tim Ferriss and A Simple To Do List   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Work With An Indepreneur Coach To Build Your Music Career! How To Run Your Music Business and NOT Burn Out w/DUX Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Feeling stuck in your music career? Not sure what roadblock is holding you back? If you're at a standstill, diagnosing the root cause is the first step...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dissect the major reasons why artist careers slow down and how to diagnose and avoid these pitfalls. Learn about maintaining a consistent release cadence, keeping your enthusiasm to engage your fans, navigating the honeymoon phase of music marketing, and the common breakdowns in artists’ traffic systems!   Don’t let your music career falter without a fight. This episode will give you a diagnostic approach to help you keep your career on a growth trajectory with strategy, tactics, and stories from our agency and coaching clients!   DISCOVER: What It Takes To Maintain Momentum With Your Music Releases How To Keep Your Engagement High And Your Fans Excited Why Navigating Past Early Success Is Crucial For Sustainable Music Marketing What Causes Most Music Career Stalls And How To Overcome Them Where Email Marketing And Tour Marketing Collide How To Overcome Revenue Slowdowns With Offers   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

For artists and bands looking to fuel their growth with effective music marketing strategies, there's a dizzying array of options constantly being advertised to you...how do you know what opportunities to focus your time, effort, energy, and budget on?   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa break down opportunities in the industry for marketing your music so that you can choose the best vehicle for your growth! Learn about the differences between digital marketing, influencer campaigns, playlisting, and PR and the pros and cons of each strategy.   Whether you're looking to work on your own music marketing or build a team, this episode will help you you survey your options and choose the most effective ways for you to grow your fan base, revenue, and business from top to bottom!   DISCOVER: Why Having a Large Fan Base Offers More Leverage for Monetization How We Structured Our Agency to Seize Music Marketing Opportunities How Email, SMS Marketing, and Paid Ads Can Predictably Grow Your Career The Pros and Cons of Influencer Marketing The Risks Associated With Playlisting and How to Navigate Them Why PR Is Effective for Building Brand Authority   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Visit the websites of your favorite artists and bands and you'll probably find a form with the call to action "Sign Up For Updates". Tough question: how many fans do you think actually sign up just for updates?   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa answer one of the biggest questions on growing your list of fans...how to actually get fans to sign up! Learn about the top email list-building offers we use with our IndieX agency clients right now, choosing the right offer based on your audience size, and what emails to send to your fans after they sign up for an offer!   If you've tried email marketing before and want to give your fans a solid reason to sign up, this episode unpacks everything that we see working for artists in the wild today!   DISCOVER: Why It's Important To Properly "Bribe" Your Fans How To Build A Permission Offer Based On Your Audience Why Early Access Offers Perform For Email List Growth How To Craft An Effective Giveaway Campaign Where Email Marketing and Tour Marketing Collide How To Create The Ultimate Offer Around Your Album   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Will 2024 be the year that email marketing proves to be dead, buried, and useless for artists? The answer might surprise you...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa spill the beans about the future of email marketing for musicians with facts and figures, case studies, and client stories showing how email is one of the highest ROI channels! Learn why music industry folks think that email is a thing of the past, why poor strategy ACTUALLY makes email marketing appear dead, and how we've used email marketing at our agency IndieX to drive five, six, and seven-figure e-commerce campaigns and operations!   Want to make email marketing work in your business? This episode dives deep into stories, strategies, and automation tactics so that you can transform your email marketing into a powerhouse!   DISCOVER: Why Email Is NOT Dead In 2024 How Poor Strategy Leads to Unsuccessful "Dead" Email Marketing What Makes Email Marketing a 4200% ROI Channel How An IndieX Client Did $40k in Vinyl Sales In One Day Through Email Marketing Why Owning Your List of Fans Is Critical for Success What Offers and Email Automations To Use In Your Marketing   RESOURCES: Learn Email Marketing For Musicians Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Planning an EP or album release this year and overwhelmed with options for building the marketing strategy? There are two camps when it comes to launching an album in 2024...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa share album launch strategies that set our IndieX agency clients up for success so that you can apply them to your releases - and profit! Learn about the common pitfalls in EP and album launches, the interplay between singles releases and full album launches, how to get your fans excited about your launch, what you need to get started, planning a release timeline, and building an album launch funnel that converts!   Don't release an album in 2024 without a roadmap for engaging your fans and maximizing sales! This episode is packed with strategy, tactics, and stories from successful launches to help you plan your most successful launch yet!   DISCOVER: Why Is There A Gap Between Production Costs and Marketing Budget For Artists How To Build An Effective Album Launch Funnel How To Engage Your Fans for a Successful Launch What You'll Need for a Successful Launch From Music and Tools to Content and Beyond How to Plan Your Release Timeline Why An Album Launch Funnel Has Long-term Benefits PLUS: Get Our Free Album Launch Workbook   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Get Our Free Album Launch Workbook Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Compared to every other industry around the world, the music industry is notably bad at data consolidation and artists suffer the most from it! There are a dizzying amount of digital marketing tools that can help artists capture and monetize fan bases...So where do you start?   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa discuss the marketing tools every artist should have in their arsenal and unpack the features that are non-negotiables! Dive into website platforms, email and SMS marketing tools, e-commerce platforms, funnel builders, and automation tools and learn why "music" specific tools often don't measure up to broader digital marketing solutions!   Don't let the lack of the right tools hold back your fan base growth and revenue! This episode provides a roundup of the digital marketing tech that we use day in and day out for marketing for artists and bands of all kinds!   DISCOVER: What Essential Marketing Tools Every Artist Should Have Why Broad Digital Marketing Solutions Outperform "Music" Specific Tools How Email Marketing and SMS Marketing Should Differ in Your Strategy What Real Value Automation Brings Artists and Common Misunderstandings Examples of Simple and Complex Automation PLUS: An Inside Look at the IndieCRM!   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Ever felt like your music is the roadblock in your marketing journey? It's time to rethink, reassess, and re-strategize!   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa reveal what to do when your music marketing strategies hit a roadblock and how a critical evaluation of your music could be the key to unlocking audience growth. Learn why social content fails and how to diagnose yours, as well as when to fine-tune your music from gathering and analyzing feedback to refining songwriting, production, mixing to create a better product!   Don't let your music hinder your marketing efforts. If your music needs some fine-tuning, this episode has you covered with tips to transform your music from a stumbling block to a spark for your career!   DISCOVER: The "Do Not Pass Go" Moment in Music Marketing Why Content Fails and How to Diagnose It What Steps to Take if Your Music Needs Work How To Gather and Analyze Feedback For Your Music When To Look Critically At Your Music How To Refine Your Songwriting, Production, and Mixing Processes   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

What separates a good artist from a great artist brand when it comes to merch? Here's a hint: It's all centered around customer experience...   In this episode of Creative Juice, we're joined by special guest Seamus Menihane, founder of Down Right Merch to get his expert insights on merchandise and fulfillment for artists and brands! Learn about how Down Right Merch got its start in the industry as we discuss what artists often overlook about merch and fulfillment, how to create unforgettable customer experiences, and the pros and cons of print-on-demand, the different types of merch deals, and much more!   If you're looking to make your merch operations great, the insights from Seamus on this episode will give you a dive deep into merch from design and product to fulfillment, bonuses, and beyond!   DISCOVER: How Seamus Built Down Right Merch After Time On The Road What Artists Miss About Merch and Fulfillment How To Create Amazing Customer Experiences What Pros and Cons Exist For Print On Demand Merch How To Understand Different Types of Merch Deals What You Can Learn Merch Operations of Artists Like ICP, Taylor Swift, KISS, Misfits, and More   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Learn More About Down Right Merch Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Wondering why the buzz around music NFTs seems to come and go? Want to know what's behind all the hype about web3 and the music industry? A lot has happened in the last few years...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack grills Circa on the latest developments at the crossroads of blockchain technology and music! Dive into the recent changes in web3, AI disruption, why blockchain became so attractive to the music industry and uncover the REAL reason web3 has become a hot topic in music!   If future tech, monetization, NFTs, and the metaverse catch your interest or baffle you, this episode is a helpful primer on the basics of web3 and predictions of its future in music!   DISCOVER: What Is Web3 and How Does Blockchain Technology Play A Role In The Internet Why Blockchain Became Attractive to the Music Industry The REAL Reason Web3 is a Hot Topic in Music How Web3 Has Changed Over Market Cycles What The Future of Music NFTs Looks Like   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO A Crash Course in Web3 and Music Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!

Ever worry about aging out of a music career? Concerned that running ads will kill your organic growth on social media? Artists shouldn't let these myths get in your head...   In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa debunk common misconceptions that plague the industry and dive into the mindset of highly successful artists who keep their goals laser-focused! Learn how to build systems to prevent self-sabotage, how to attract attention without labeling your genre, tips for writing better hooks, and what you can learn from influencers and other industries about building a fan base!   If music industry myths keep you from executing, this episode will help reshape your perspective on your music career!   DISCOVER: How Paid Advertising Does NOT Kill Organic Traction Building Fan Engagement Systems to Avoid Self-Sabotage How To Gain Attention Without Labeling Yourself or Your Genre What You Can Learn from Influencers Like Grant Cardone and Other Industries How To Write Better Hooks How to Smash Online Trolls Romantically   RESOURCES: Learn Top Music Marketing Strategies Inside IndiePRO Looking to expand your team or need marketing help? Apply to work with IndieX! Join Us In The Indepreneur Discord Server!