We’re Rachel Hurley and Frank Keith IV, co-owners of the Sweetheart Pub. We’re music industry veterans with over 30 years of combined experience in the music business, having worked in licensing, talent buying/booking, label management, tour management, and more. Once a week, we’ll publish a new edition of this newsletter, where we’ll share some philosophy and actionable advice on all facets of the music industry.
Before we dive in … a quick reminder:
As we often receive requests to work with artists who don’t have the budget to afford a full campaign, we’re launching an “Office Hours”-style consulting service where you can book us for 30 or 60-minute blocks of one-on-one time.
You can learn more here (scroll down past campaign details)
What we’re thinking about this week...
New Music Friday
Have you been told to release your music on a Friday, but you have no idea why? Why does everyone keep releasing music on the same day? Wouldn't it be beneficial for some artists and labels to release on other days of the week and avoid all the competition that happens every Friday?
The answer comes down to a few key reasons: chart calculations, DSP (streaming service) placements, editorial calendars, and Beyonce. You can check out when and how the industry went from Tuesdays to Fridays here.
Releasing on a Friday gives artists the best chance to maximize their chart potential. Billboard tracks sales from Friday to Thursday each week, so a song or album released on a Friday has the advantage of being tracked for all seven days of the weekly cycle. This, of course, is really only a factor for major artists and labels, and is less important on the indie/upstart side, however, trying to go against this standard is frowned upon just because it’s just annoying for press outlets to have to keep up with everyone’s release dates individually.
All major DSPs (like Spotify and Apple) update their storefronts, algorithmic and editorial playlists on Fridays. This gives you the potential for a more 'successful' release day if you drop your project on Friday, get a song on New Music Friday, Hot Tracks, Release Radar, etc., and see traction right away. These discovery-focused, algorithm-based streaming placements are a great way to gain new fans and are the reason we still suggest newer artists release music on Fridays.
Apple Music is on the record saying that the decision to focus on Fridays isn't entirely their own, though. They explain that most artists currently release music on Fridays, so it makes sense for streaming services to update their new music playlists on Fridays as well. Then, in turn, artists are incentivized to drop music on Fridays and increase their chances of getting placements on those playlists. In other words, it's a chicken-or-the-egg cycle that points to Fridays from both directions.
Then there’s the editorial calendar aspect — from our publicist viewpoint, releasing on a Friday gives us four possible days (Mon-Thurs) to pitch an exclusive premiere for a new track before it goes public on Friday. If you release on a Wednesday, that means we can only ask for Monday or Tuesday that week when setting up a premiere. There’s a chance an editor might say “those days are already booked up” and then, well, there goes your exclusive coverage at your dream outlet.
DSPs will likely move away from a Friday-or-bust model at some point, but for now it’s still the best day to release your music with the biggest potential upshot for gaining new fans.
—Frank
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S*** You Can Do Today
This Friday, on March 5th at 12pm PST, Ari Herstand is hosting a free live webinar about the three myths and three truths of live streaming for musicians.
It’s free and live so you can ask questions at the end.
Ari recently hosted a conversation with the head of music at Twitch on his podcast, where he revealed the startling stat that musicians who made over $50,000 on Twitch in 2020 did so from an average of just 183 viewers. Check out how they did it and what others are doing to successfully live stream these days.
If you can't make it live, as long as you register for this webinar BEFORE noon on Friday, you'll get the replay to watch for 7 days.
TikTok of the Week
Nile Rodgers on why funk music is called FUNK
Just for Fun
Music Rookie Podcast
A conversation with Music Supervisor Joe Rudge, who is known for his edgy projects such as Room, Blue Valentine, The Big Sick, Eighth Grade, and Midsommar
Free Advice
Have a follow-up question for one of our guests? Got a tip? Did we (*gasp*) get something wrong? Our line is always open -- hit us up and if we use your question or response in a future newsletter, we’ll give you credit and link your socials.
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