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Discover the latest music trends and insights with A&R Factory. Stay informed and inspired as we explore the dynamic music industry landscape where we cover the latest music industry trends, analysis and predictions in the industry. Whether you’re a music enthusiast or industry professional, A&R Factory is your go-to source.

What Group of Instruments Are Used in Folk Music?

Posted on 9 May 2022

After the Folk revival in the 50s, many of the instruments that were a staple for Woody Guthrie, Oscar Brand and Cisco Houston have remained a popular part of the neo-folk landscape in 2022.

Folk instrumentals may sound different under the massive production from artists such as Fleet Foxes, The Lumineers, Bonny Light Horseman and Bon Ivor. Yet, even the most contemporary folk artists haven’t strayed too far from the traditional folk instrumental ensemble.

This article will show plenty more instruments in the archaic folk arsenal than the usual suspects, such as banjos, mandolins, acoustic guitars, and fiddles, and outline a diversified snapshot of folk cultures across the world.

Before you start to understand the different folk instruments, it is important to cognitively contend with how folk music differs from every other genre. Folk is more of a part of our traditional social history than a part of the music world, as we know it today. Historically, and sometimes modernistically, folk music acts as the voice of the people, snapshotting pivotal points of history. In short, a form of sonic storytelling.

The folk genre sprung up independently across America, England, Hawaii, Iceland, Romania, Greece, Sweden, Ukraine, and most other continents with cultural history to share through songs played on easily obtainable instruments.

What Instruments are Used in Folk Music?

  1. Fiddles

If you ever want to understand how integral fiddles are to folk music, consider Irish folk. The word fiddle is often used interchangeably with violins; however, all violins are fiddles, but not all fiddles are violins – it’s the same story with the violin’s smaller cousin, the viola and its lower-pitched and larger cousin, the cello.

The comparatively small 4-stringed instrument goes by many names across different cultures, and it is popular for its accuracy on every note and highly evocative timbre.

  1. Banjo

There is no twang folksier than the notes from a banjo, which takes the shape of a smaller and more classical guitar and plays with 4 – 5 strings.

Banjos also share tunings with classical guitars while the method of playing them tends to differ, with most banjoists preferring the 5-finger picked style.

  1. Resonator Guitars

Since its inception in the 1930s, the Dobro brand of resonator guitars has been helping to shape the Americana landscape. Resonator guitars carry a similar structure to standard acoustic guitars. Its key characteristic is its inverted-cone resonator in the body which gives the guitar its robust timbre.

  1. Accordions

Accordions may not be as popular today as they were back in the 20th-century, especially in the US and the UK. Across Europe in the 1800s, they provided the soundtrack to revolutions in Germany, and their upbeat nature made them the perfect instrument for traditional folk-dance music. Of all the folk instruments, accordions are one of the only ones that appeal to all social classes.

  1. Harmonicas

If any folk instrument can take you to a front porch in Tennessee in just a few notes, it is the harmonica. The harmonica may never have been one of the most highly respected music instruments from across the ages. Yet, the pocket-sized instrument was utilised by folk and blues singers alike who used them interchangeably with their vocal cords.

  1. Acoustic Guitars

Adding acoustic guitars to this list of traditional folk instruments almost feels painfully obvious, but they’ve done well to earn their place by becoming the most popular traditional instrument in the folk genre. The first acoustic guitars were brought to the instrument market in the 1830s by Christian Frederick Martin. For over 180 years, Martin Guitars have been leading the way in acoustic guitar quality, but plenty of other brands made their mark, such as Gretsch, Fender & Gibson.

  1. Mandolins

Mandolins are members of the lute family, which has been planting its seed in folklore since 3100 BC. When the folk revival hit America in the 40s, Mandolins saw a resurgence of popularity, and they often accompanied acoustic guitars and banjos on folk records. Its tuneful and melodious nature was celebrated in folk genres across the globe, especially amongst bluegrass and Americana artists.

  1. Ukuleles

Despite appearances, ukuleles are also members of the lute family, which originated in Hawaii. They may not carry much clout in the 2022 music market, being the marmite of instruments, but there’s a lot to be said about the 4-stringed instrument that comes in soprano, concert, tenor and baritone form.

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If you want to continue your folk education adventure, check out some of our best folk music blogs. We’ve covered folk artists from across the globe, including the Croatian folk-pop luminary J. R. August, Aberdeen’s Colin Clyne and the Istanbul-born, London-based artist, The Guv.

Free Ways to Promote Your Music Online

Posted on 5 May 2022

With so many figures capitalising on every corner of the music industry landscape, it is easy to feel that nothing is free. Yet, there are several effective ways for independent artists without a PR and marketing budget to connect with fans online.

This article will run you through how to harness the power of social media, which kind of contacts will be a necessity in your self-promo campaigns and how to make the most of streaming platforms.

  1. Sprawl Across Social Media

Instead of forever lamenting the glory days of Myspace, which took many independent artists to stratospheric-international heights in the early 00s, you can use the platforms frequented by billions of users across the globe.

Establishing a presence on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter is the easy part; the hardest is garnering attention amongst users who are already inundated with info and over faced with users looking to make an ever-lasting impression.

The trick is to see every digital space as a potential marketplace for transactions. In this domain, you will have to put your artistic side to the wayside and think in terms of marketing strategy, strategy being the operative word. With every new release, you will want to hatch a social media marketing plan which incorporates plenty of pre-release hype but never make self-promo the be-all and end-all of your social media presence. Allow your posts to reflect your morals, values and personality, just as much as your creative talent.

Along with using your existing network, always look for relevant groups on sites such as Facebook; there are music groups filled with thousands of music fans that have all congregated to celebrate a particular niche. When you are dipping your toe in the self-promo water in these groups, never attempt to find devout fans; focus on creating valuable connections with others.

  1. Feature Your Music on All Platforms

There is no advocating the Spotify royalty system as it currently stands. However, the platform is so much more than a potential revenue stream – especially if you find yourself on one of the popular playlists with over 1 million followers. Spotify also comes with the unique and useful Spotify for artists feature, which has helped countless artists connect with fans eager to find a new obsession-worthy artist. The Spotify for artists feature is 100% free; all you will need to do is claim and verify your profile.

Uploading music to Spotify may be a little more complex than if you were to upload it to SoundCloud or YouTube. With help from third-party distro companies, your music can be launched across all major platforms, such as Apple, Tidal, Spotify, Bandcamp, ReverbNation and SoundCloud.

YouTube is yet another great way to promote your music for free online. You can create a channel and playlists; or contact popular YouTubers whose channels revolve around promoting similar music to yours. While some influencers, playlisters, and YouTube will charge you through the teeth for their services, there are plenty more figures that do it for the love of the music.

  1. Reach out to Blogs

For every popular genre, and then some, there is a blog or an online publication that operates at the centre of it. While it is undoubtedly easier for an experienced A&R rep or PR company to use their warm connections to promote music, that is not to say that independent artists can’t endeavour with the DIY method and still succeed.

Before you start to reach out to blogs, you will want to create a press release and electronic press kit (EPK), which you will use to pique interest in your new release. Spend 5 minutes on Google, and you will find hundreds of blogs to submit music to for free. The competition may be tough against your fellow indie artists, but if you believe your music has what it takes to appease the tastemakers, tapping into their expansive reach is always worth a shot. Save yourself the time, energy, and pain of rejection by being discerning with who you contact. Always stay as close to your niche, or look for blogs that cover artists in your area. You may have to start small when you are getting press features and interviews, but by using this method, you have a better chance of building your credibility from the grassroots up.

  1. Get Playlisted

While some playlisters charge independent artists for a spot on their playlists, this isn’t the case for all playlist curators. Playlists are up there as one of the most popular ways for music fans to discover new artists; tap into that market by reaching out to the relevant independent curators. Because once your Spotify stats start to appease Spotify’s algorithms, you will have a chance at landing on one of the official Spotify playlists, which is the epitome of 21st-century music promotion.

You may need to become somewhat of a detective to find the best details for Playlisters but once you find an email or their profile on social media and develop a relationship with them – not just expecting them to provide a service for you, you could have a key industry contact for the duration of your career.

  1. Create High-Quality Multi-Media Content

Figuring out what kind of content you drive up engagement with will be trial and error with your target fanbase at first, but whatever you put out there, make it meaningful and engaging. The best way to test the water without posting a plethora of posts that fall flat is by looking at what works for similar artists to you. For example, for some independent artists, viral-worthy videos on TikTok will work best; for others, thoughtful, moral, and mindful Tweets on Twitter will work better.

Where possible, always create music videos for your seminal releases because even if the song isn’t a resounding success, the music video might be. Additionally, remember that it isn’t solely you as an artist that can benefit from the music and content that you create. Just as music will always be needed for adverts, films and TV, independent content creators such as YouTubers, Twitchers, and TikTok dancers need music for their content too.

How to Become a Better Musician 

Posted on 25 April 2022

There will never be a universally shared idea of what makes a good musician. Even if you throw genre and style to the wayside, there are still different things that make every music fan tick. Whether that is ludicrously-long nine-note jazz chords, tear-jerking lyricism, or filthy riffs, there will never be any pleasing everyone – and therein lies the first tip on how to become a better musician; be original. It’s not like there is a mainstream anymore. Instead, there are a million different niche tributaries to dip your toe in and find your sonic tribe.

If you truly want to learn how to become a better musician, you will first have to consider the ultimate aim of music. Which is to express emotion, convey information, and bring meaning to the listener. By working on your ability to do that, you will instantly become a better musician.

In the 21st-century, it is easy to confuse the original aim of music with the desire to climb up the billboard charts, sell thousands of albums and sell out stadiums. That is not to say that having optimistic goals is a bad thing, but it does highlight a very real issue – the narcissism that has worked its way into the music industry through the artists that are less concerned about writing great music and more concerned about how it will feel to go viral.

How to Become a Better Musician 

  1. Seek Internal Validation as Much as External Validation

Bringing mindful self-awareness to the evaluation of your music can work wonders. We are all our own worst critics, but we don’t have to be. When you listen to your music or read your lyrics, don’t just look for the mistakes; look for what works and where you excel. By giving yourself credit where credit is due, you’ll take some of the sting out of taking your blinders off to your aural shortcomings. Acknowledging the flaws may be painful at first, but it is all part of honing in on your talent. After all, that is exactly why you are reading this article.

  1. Mark Your Progress

Most of us work best when we feel pressure from a deadline or are working towards a goal. This can easily be applied to bettering yourself as an artist by setting long-term and short-term goals. The goals can be habitual such as dedicating 30 minutes every day to practising, or they can be a roadmap to your in-progress projects. When you achieve realistic goals, you will feel infinitely better about the accomplishment than if you just arrived at it haphazardly.

  1. Stop Looking for Shortcuts

It is one of the most insidious lies ever told that talent is something that belongs only to the gifted and not the artists that have callouses crawling across their fingertips from hours of practice.

Even practice makes perfect is a bit of a red herring adage; perfection doesn’t exist, and certainly not in the context of music. There’s a certain beauty in the fallible nature of our artistry. It’s not always the pitch-perfect voices that make us feel the most; it’s not always the rock virtuoso that carves jaw-dropping hooks; it’s not always the 21st-century Shakespeare that can write a lyric that will be tattooed on bodies the world over. So, give yourself a break if you hit a dead note now and again.

  1. See Yourself as an Instrument

Just as instruments need to be re-stringed, serviced and maintained, artists must give themselves the same care and consideration. What is more instrumental to the orchestration of music than the minds it comes from? There is no use in pouring from an uninspired intellect-less cup if you’re trying to win over an audience, but the good news is that there is almost an infinite amount of ways to soak up culture, intellect and inspiration.

Understanding our material reality, the constructs it contains, and the varying phenomena that can become parables for emotions and life experiences is one of the best ways to improve as a musician. Immerse yourself in what inspires you, find your philosophical standpoint, and always be aware of what you’re putting into the world through your music. Now, more than ever, music fans are crying out for artists that speak for them.

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If you are looking for more insight and information on how to improve as a musician, consider our music artist development services that are engineered to help newly emerging artists find their feet in the industry and play to their unique strengths.

The Best Way to Promote My EDM Music?

Posted on 23 April 2022

Running a high impact campaign for your EDM music is much more than simply dabbling with various promotional endeavours in a haphazard and ill-timed sequence of events. Timing is crucial, as is having the right mindset when you’re putting yourself out there and (hopefully) making those valuable connections.

Contrary to popular belief, an effective PR campaign doesn’t have to cost the earth for promising EDM artists that need to get in the right golden ears. Yes, there are plenty of sharks out there waiting for some fame-hungry fish to take the bait. There are just as many industry figures in it for the love of the music, not just the profit.

How to Promote Your EDM Music

First and foremost, before you embark on any form of self-promo or paid promotional mission with your work, compare your music with what else is out there on the market. With the accessibility of music production software and the spike in free time during the various global lockdowns, many new artists made their debut and immediately started seeking promotion. It will pay in your time, energy, and talent to know when the right time to seek PR is. If you’re still perfecting the craft, mastering the fundamentals and carving a sonic signature should come before trying to get your sound in the ears of the masses.

Secondly, you will need to apply some of that same realism to your perception of the self-promo process. There is no golden ticket to going global overnight. If you’re looking for hacks to getting hundreds of thousands of streams, you are at risk of falling for the scam artists promising the unrealistic ideals. The truth is, getting discovered takes real time and effort. It isn’t enough to be an exceptional producer; you will also need to know the fundamentals of marketing.

In this guide on how to promote EDM music, we’ve outlined cost-effective tips that can ensure long-term success as an EDM producer.

  1. Think Long-Term

Save yourself the soul-crushing experience of becoming a one-hit-wonder. The allure of the viral track or video may be strong, but it isn’t sustainable. All of your self-promotion plans should contain an element of consistency. With the long-term approach, you will want to meticulously plan the dates of your releases and consider how you will keep your fans engaged between releases.

  1. Time Your Releases

Patience is one of the most important virtues in EDM music promotion. As eager as you may be for the world to hear your music, give it the justice it deserves by properly planning the release. This will involve uploading on all major streaming platforms – not just SoundCloud, creating high-quality artwork, and building up the hype before the release. You may also want to consider high-quality music videos, lyric videos, digital merch or physical releases – if that is in your budget.

To gain more momentum around your release, reach out to blogs, magazines, and influencers three weeks before the official release, and create a solid social media campaign that includes pre-release content and teasers.

  1. Build & Utilise Your Network

Building and maintaining a network of bloggers, YouTubers, labels, and promoters may be the hardest part of self-promo for artists on the more introverted side, but it pays off in the long run. It is one of the only ways to drastically move aside the competition and get your music heard. Cold contacting industry figures and wowing them is potentially on a par with winning the lottery.

Some of the best ways to build your network are by making yourself known in your local scene or using platforms such as Facebook to find industry figures with valuable networks. Getting friendly with label owners, bloggers, playlisters, and A&R reps is much easier when you can offer as much value as you expect from them. No one likes a one-sided deal!

Once you’ve created a list of contacts, create a spreadsheet-style database to store their name and contact details; always document the date last contacted. Constantly spamming a contact will get you nowhere other than the spam folder.

  1. Submit Your Music to Blogs

Getting your music featured on a popular blog or online magazine is still one of the best ways to get noticed by key industry figures and keen fans looking for playlist stapes. You can choose to target EDM-focused blogs, such as EDM Sauce, Dancing Astronauts, and We Rave You. Or you can submit EDM music to popular multi-genre blogs such as A&R Factory, which has been raking in awards since 2012 and connecting artists with labels, management companies, publishers and radio stations.

How to Promote Your Music

Posted on 20 April 2022

The nature of music promotion is always evolving. With every new app and technology, there is a new avenue to take your music down in the hope of bumping into super fans and career-changing industry figures.

While some of the old school techniques apply, such as playing live in the hope of enamouring a label owner, some of the other methods are far more 2022, by establishing yourself in a Metaverse and digitally playing to a crowd.

The best way to promote your music boils down to the type of impression that you want to make in your respective scene. Firstly, it is important to ask what you want to get out of promoting your music. Do you want gigs on bigger stages? Do you want to be revered by respected bloggers and radio DJs? Do you want your music on a playlist with millions of followers? Hopefully, by this point, you’re starting to see the importance of creating a self-promo plan with goals and milestones. Once you’ve set those, you can start making it a reality. However, there are some aspects of self-promo that all artists should consider.

How to Promote Your Music

  1. Create a Promotion Strategy

For independent artists, the hard work has only just begun when the single or album has been mixed and mastered. Once the release is ready to get in the ears of your fans, give yourself the chance to increase the number of those fans before the release.

Everything you put out into the world artistically should be part of a marketing strategy. Ideally, you will want to keep up all of the momenta from previous campaigns by releasing new content regularly. You will also want to create a social media campaign and pre-release content before contacting blogs, radio stations, and A&R reps three weeks before the release.

  1. Social Media Marketing

In 2022, the average person spends 147 minutes every day on social media. Use that to your advantage by building a fanbase on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Once you’re Facebook friends with a few contacts in your local or genre-specific scene, it will be infinitely easier to make more connections within your respective scene. Via social media, you can capture the attention of your targeted audience with your brand; you can also create connections and friendships with influencers and industry figures.

Not every platform will work for every artist, but it is worth joining them all as a process of trial and error. The ability to sync posts across multiple social media platforms makes this process almost effortless. You will also want to make sure that you post just enough to keep fresh in people’s minds and not enough to become irritating.

  1. Build a Mailing List & Create a Website

Even if all of your info is available on social media and you relay all of your news via Facebook, you will still need to build an official website and create a mailing list.

Mailing lists are far from a thing of the past. They are one of the best ways to promote new tours, releases and merch drops. Building a contact list can be hard work, but it can pay off in the long run. Always try to create an incentive for your fans to join your mailing list, such as early access to new releases.

  1. Consider Traditional Means

A few years ago, getting playlisted on a major influencer-owned playlist was one of the best ways for independent artists to market their music. Now, capitalism and corruption have wormed their way into that promo method. While some of the older promotional means have stood the test of time.

Not only does radio play help you rapidly expand your audience, but it can also pay well – especially if you get put in regular rotation on a popular station. You can either shoot for national or regional stations or look for indie online radio shows seeking fresh sounds from emerging artists. Blogs are also helpful music artist promotion services. As with the radio play, the benefits are two-fold; along with the exposure, once you’ve garnered some critical acclaim, you’re infinitely more likely to receive some more.

Last but not least, global pandemics aside, don’t shy away from playing live. Shows and festivals are some of the best ways to build your network with other bands, promoters, photographers, and journalists. The benefits of befriending other bands in your scene may not be immediately evident, but it always opens the door to the prospect of more future tours and fanbase-sharing.

When Was Rock Music Invented?

Posted on 18 April 2022

The story of rock n roll, the highs and the lows and the epic points in history that dot the last eight decades is one of the most exhilarating tales of fiction that humanity has ever created off the back of a cultural movement.

Here, we’ll take you back to just how rock music siphoned off from rock n roll and started to create a multi-national surge of teenage rebellion after spawning from African American innovation.

When Was Rock Music Invented?

To understand the advent of rock music is to understand that rock isn’t an original genre; it is a mash of multiple genres, including rockabilly, jazz, rhythm and blues and gospel, blended by artists with an untamed experimental attitude.

Just as it would be hard to pin down the creator of a fresh new genre today, it is impossible to pinpoint who the true originator of rock music is. Many bands ran with anti-establishment edges to their sound when the second world war started to bring close to the carnage in 1945.

While some see the 1950s as the official starting point of rock, it was during the late 40s that Rock music started to take hold of American teenage attention. In the late 40s, African American artists exuded the rock and roll attitude and even derived the term rock n roll, which was originally African American slang for sex.

Before rock music catered to the masses, it spoke to teenagers coming to terms with post-war pessimism and their new consumer position. It is no coincidence that the late 40s was the time the word teenager itself started to appear in the general population’s vocabulary. It was during this time that there was plenty of cultural traction around teenagers as they followed the laws of sex, drugs and rock n roll instead of the status quo and the general social common consensus.

Chuck Berry may frequently be painted as the pioneer of rock music, yet, the Cleveland DJ, Alan Freed, has far more stake in that claim with how he popularised the music by becoming a rock evangelist with other DJs across Nashville and Memphis. It wasn’t long before rock music started to get the blame for corroding traditional values in the 40s, thanks to its hyper-sexual lyricism and raw ultra-amplified energy. By the time the 50s rolled around, it wasn’t just teenagers taken in by the liberating sonic spirit of rock; everyone was hooked on the hits from Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard.

In the 1950s, rock was so much more than the soundtrack to rebellion; it was contagious across all aspects of culture with its danceable rhythms and foot-stomping beats. So, Presley may have been dubbed the King of Rock n Roll, but don’t forget that his music came from African American Roots.

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Rock’s pulse may be weak in 2022. But there are still plenty of artists committed to keeping the raucous vibe rocksteady. If you’re amongst the rock revivalists and alt-rock pioneers, submit rock music to our award-winning blog to be featured amongst some of the most promising up-and-coming acts, such as The Suicide Notes, She Burns Red & Warning Signal.

Top 5 Tips When Writing Folk Music

Posted on 13 April 2022

Let’s be honest not every folk artist gives the genre a good reputation. Not every artist can see past the ‘basics’ of the raw sound. Fewer can get the formula right when creating an evocative track. Folk music is often the first choice for beginner singer-songwriters, meaning that making a good first impression is often infinitely easier said than done. With that in mind, we have curated the top 5 tips for beginner folk singer-songwriters.

How to Write Folk Music

  1. Know The History of Folk

Don’t mistake the 1950s American folk music revival for the beginning of the folk music genre. In varying forms, folk music has been the epicentre of cultural communication and connection for centuries. Folk music pre-dates the invention of recording equipment quite significantly, and even though it takes a myriad of international forms, there are a few key characteristics. Nailing the sonic signatures of folk is one thing. Getting the substance right is quite another.

Traditional folk music was created and stayed within social and cultural discourses to share the history of villages and mark notable events in history. In time, the verses changed to be more reflective of the times. Unlike most other music genres, especially the more traditional genres, folk music has never been about virtuosity or technical skill. Instead, it is an accessible form of music that can be performed on folk instruments by a large proportion of the community. Most modern folk songs tend to use the same chord patterns and structure. However, that doesn’t mean that traditional-style folk songs can’t be equally as striking as original Avant-Garde pieces.

  1. Spin a Strong Narrative

Whether you choose to create a confessional folk song where you viscerally pour your heart out over personal issues, a protestive political track, or a narrative work, being candid and emotionally vulnerable is vital. The greatest folk songs stem from emotion. Not just the mere idea and inclination to mechanically write a folk song.

Writer’s block or lack of inspiration may not make this easy for all songwriters, but there are plenty of ways to find inspiration when the muse is playing hide and seek. Look to your favourite artists to see what they focus on for the themes of the music, read poetry, and if you need to, you can borrow a few poetic sentiments to throw into a stanzaic narrative verse.

The recommended topics to cover in your folk music include politics, religion, social phenomena, national culture, iconic figures, and rural landscapes. Yet, if you can write passionately on any given subject, don’t leave it off the drawing board.

  1. Familiarise Yourself with Folk Music Structure, Melodies and Chords

If you want to keep your folk music traditional, you need to use the traditional folk formats. The most common structure is a track with four lines in the verses, the ABCB rhyme scheme and a chorus following the verses. Or, you can use the one-part format, where the structure is the same. The only difference is that choruses are left out, and you use a repeated line at the end of every verse – make it a strong one. For beginner singer-songwriters, we’d advise not cutting the chorus; this is what makes your track catchy or memorable. For songwriters that are brave enough to try something a little more complex, add a bridge to alternating choruses.

If the traditional folk format doesn’t leave you feeling inspired, a folk subgenre may suit your style better. In 2022, there is an endless array of folk subgenres, including but by no means limited to neo-folk, psych-folk, folk-punk, anti-folk, country-folk and progressive folk.

  1. Try Writing the Melody First

Your melody should be the cornerstone of your folk songs. Once you’ve got it nailed down, you can continue to draw from it throughout the songwriting process.

To construct a melody, consider the desired tone by overviewing the lyrics. Are they sad and sombre? Play around with the minor keys; is it a riotously charged folk song? Feed that into the tempo, beat and rhythm. At this stage, it is ok to look to other folk artists for inspiration; be sure that you don’t end up copying the same rhythms and scales. Even if you think you can get away with it, you can’t – people will know, and you will hardly establish yourself as a pioneering songwriter worth space on people’s radars.

If you struggle writing melodies in your head or with your voice, try experimenting with different instruments. Some of the most popular instruments for folk songwriters use to construct their melodies include piano, acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins and ukuleles. While you’re running through the chord progressions, don’t be afraid to play with different scales, keys and rhythms.

  1. Use the Right Chords & Perfect the Art of Verses.

There is always room for experimentation in folk music but knowing how to get that definitive folk music sound down is key to being a successful folk singer-songwriter.

Some of the most common chord patterns in folk songs include:

–             Triadic chord structures.

–             Minor chords in songs sung in a major key.

–             Diatonic; only using seven chords from either the minor or major scale.

Storytelling through lyrics isn’t exactly an easy feat. You need the same skills in your arsenal as novelists, in the sense that you will need to pay close attention to your lexicon, the imagery you use and the flow. For the imagery, lean on metaphors – but be careful that you don’t make the lyrics too abstract to be decipherable by the average listener. To build anticipation, start verses in low keys and build from there and make sure that every verse has a point to make. If you’re particularly proud of one of your lyrics, don’t be afraid to repeat them to hammer them home.

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Once you’ve created a folk song that you’re proud of, use our folk music blog submission form to submit your music to our award-winning blog.

How to Promote a Band Using Social Media

Posted on 11 April 2022

Social media is a necessary evil for every independent artist and band. The self-promo can be soul-crushing when you drive up minimal engagement at the start of your career, but if you’ve got music that deserves the hype, it’s up to you to bring it – until you’ve got the funds to hand your PR over to a pro.

1.         Find the Right Platform for You

We advise independent artists to try and make an impact on all social media platforms. There is no telling which one you will be most successful on until you put the arduous work in.

Contrary to popular belief, TikTok isn’t just for annoying and narcissistic teens lip-syncing to music they didn’t create. Many artists of all genres have gone viral on the platform and sustained their success and popularity afterwards. You might need to master the art of viral-worthy content for TikTok, but there are plenty of tools that can help you to do exactly that for free. Share clips of your latest music video, make videos of the catchiest part of your songs and show TikTok what they missed out on when they didn’t come to see you live.

Other platforms that you will want to make a part of your social media marketing strategy include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and, of course, all of the main streaming platforms. Yes, Spotify is one of the most awful symptoms of late-stage capitalism, but that doesn’t mean it can’t transform independent artists’ careers. Just take the Australian singer-songwriter, Jacob Lee as the perfect example.

2.         Create a Social Media Strategy

Creating a social media strategy is especially important in the run-up to big single, EP and album launches. Yet, don’t allow the momentum to slip between releases and tours. For the best use of your time, schedule posts in advance and consider syncing your posts across platforms.

When creating your social media strategy, be mindful that you are using the quality over quantity approach, and always keep up to date with new developments in algorithms. In 2022, here is what you need to know in regards to appeasing algorithms on each platform.

Instagram – use tags that are currently trending, only if they are relevant. Try to drive up your number of followers by finding accounts that follow similar accounts to yours and by posting engaging content. Once you get an engaged audience, reply to comments, or at least like them. Additionally, keep your post frequency consistent. Push for two Instagram posts each week.

Twitter

Follow suggested accounts and Tweet regularly to stay visible – up to four posts a day is advisable. However, you will want to keep your self-promo posts to a minimum. Instead, show your followers what you’re all about. Weigh in on social and political trending topics or moves in the music industry. Twitter is one of the best places to showcase your personality and share values to help your fans connect with you instead of just through your music. Always Tweet when your audience is likely to be active and use keywords or industry influencer names to attract the right attention. Perhaps most importantly, mix up your tweets with images, bite-sized videos and GIFs.

Facebook

Refrain from posting anything that may be flagged as misinformation or spam. Only share the type of content that seems to get your audience engaged; this will be a process of trial and error until you find out which content works best for you. Typically, aim to post at least four times a week.

TikTok

On TikTok, it doesn’t matter if it is your first post or your 1000th; it has the same chance of going viral with the right keywords in captions.

Once again, only post when your audience is likely to be online and always find new ways to drive engagement.

3.         Be Authentic & Engaging

There is no denying that the music industry has changed since 2020. People are less concerned about connecting with egos and more eager to connect with authentic up and coming music artists.

The trick to promoting your band via social media is to aim for genuine connections – not just to have a collection of sycophants at your disposal. Always stay humble and authentic. If people connect with your lyrics, they will connect with your posts, and vice versa. Most importantly, make posts that people want to engage with. Ask for input, spark a friendly debate, or start a merch giveaway on your social media feeds.

How to Make an Album Cover

Posted on 8 April 2022

Image isn’t everything when it comes to successfully releasing an album, but an eye-catching aesthetic can go a fair way in piquing interest in albums from independent artists. Independent artists don’t get the same privilege as established artists, where any image can become an iconic one, such as the light prism on Pink Floyd’s 1973 record, the Dark Side of the Moon.

 

Unless art or graphic design is your forte, first and foremost, we would advise outsourcing the artwork. You will need to put the DIY pride to the side if you want to make a good first impression with your music, and that is exactly what good album art helps you do. What if the Velvet Underground and Nico decided to make their album artwork for their debut instead of Andy Warhol?

The days of people choosing records by wandering into a record shop to discover new music are over but good artwork still goes a long way on streaming platforms and highly visual platforms such as Instagram.

There is no rule book with what you can use for album art. From surrealism to retro graphic design to Dadaist imagery, the world and the realm of technology is your visual oyster. Get creative with it.

How to Make an Album Cover

  1. Make it Representative

If you have an amazing album artwork idea but it doesn’t gel with you as an artist or what you have created aurally, scrap it and draw your listeners in with artwork that fits with the cohesive vision of your new release.

 

The rule of don’t judge a book by its cover doesn’t apply to albums. The right artwork will attract the right listeners; the wrong artwork will attract the audience your music never stood a chance with in the first place. Always make the effort to know the aesthetic preference of your fans.

  1. Learn Colour Psychology

Every time our brains process the visual information of colour, it will trigger an emotional response. Not everyone will notice a strong emotional reaction when they look at colour, but that doesn’t mean the reaction isn’t effective and present. For example, red can represent love, anger and passion, yellow can represent hope, blue can reflect sadness, and purple can evoke feelings of royalty or creativity. Find the overarching tones and themes in your album, reflect them in your artwork. Another psychological trick to take advantage of is the tendency of music fans to be more likely to purchase an album if it has a face on it. This goes a fair way in explaining why so many artists put themselves on the cover of their albums.

  1. Don’t Get Lazy on the Fonts

Creating great album art takes so much more than simply choosing an image and slapping your artist moniker and album name on it. The positioning, blending, font, and text size are important considerations. Don’t just be tempted to use the first font you see on photoshop. The font can say as much as the artwork itself. For example, for scrawled handwriting on an album, you’d expect something intimate, with massive block lettering, that’s usually a sign that the music will be as big as the font. Along with deciding on the front cover font, you will also need to consider the text on the inner jacket and the tracklist.

 

  1. Make It Fit All Formats

Your album artwork looking good on photoshop, or whichever program you use to knock it up, is one thing. Getting the image to look good across all formats and platforms is another. If you’re planning on releasing vinyl copies of your album, this will need to be a massive factor. Yet, you will also want to make sure it stands out just as much as a thumbnail. It’s a delicate balance.

  1. Experiment with Programs and Software

If you’re not a photoshop pro, there are several platforms – such as Design Hill – which makes it easy to create artwork with relatively little skill. Services such as these may not be free, but they will be far less expensive than hiring a professional artist.

How To Successfully Write Neo Soul Music?

Posted on 4 April 2022

Neo-Soul may not be or was ever the most popular genre, but from it came some incredible records, such as the seminal releases, Voodoo by D’Angelo and Baduizm by Erykah Badu.

When it comes to successfully writing neo-soul music, many of the usual songwriting requisites apply, but there are a few ways to ensure that your neo-soul tracks hit the way they were intended to.

How to Write Neo Soul Music

There is no one size fits all approach to writing any song; while some neo-soul music artists like to start with the melodies, others will form them around the lyrics.

This part of the process is down to preference, yet there are some tips that you will need to note if you’re intent on making it as a successful neo-soul artist.

There are several key characteristics that neo-soul has grown from; getting to know them is a pivotal part of writing successful neo-soul tracks.

Learn the Roots

One of the most important things that you will need to master is the art of neo-soul chords and progressions.

Compared to its aural cousin, RnB, it can be harmonically complex, and almost always, it pays ode to gospel music, jazz, soul or blues.

Before you tackle the progressions yourself, we’d recommend getting acquainted with the roots records. Just because D’Angelo turned gospel-style organs into a neo-soul style, that doesn’t mean the pioneering book has to stop with him when it comes to neo-soul innovation. Just like D’Angelo, you have to find your own place in the neo-soul market.

Pour as Much Soul into the Lyrics

Beyond the sonic appeal of your music, there has to be lyrical substance. No one wants to listen to a neo-soul single that only scratches the surface of human emotion or vaguely addresses what has already been said a million times before. Neo-soul fans, like all music fans, look for resonance in their music.

Memorable and meaningful lyrics require an incredible amount of imagination and creativity; for some, it comes easily. For others, this can be the hardest part of the process. To make it easier, read poems on subjects that intrigue or inspire you. If you find a poem that you connect with, build a song around it.

Let Your Melodies Ooze Classic Soul

To prop up the smooth neo-soul vocals, preferably, you will want a catchy melody that is modern, yet also carries reminiscence of the 1960s soul icons, such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. A major part of neo-soul is keeping that connection to the past, but there is a thin line between reminiscence and assimilation – walk it carefully. Once your classic soul melody has been laid out, bring the contemporary groove in the rhythm tracks – you can be as experimental as you like here. No genre is off the table! Which tools you use to write a melody is up to you, although many neo-soul artists use keyboards to build the distinctive and characteristic 2-5-1 chord pattern.