Spotify's competitive edge is the amount of data it holds on listeners and the way it uses that data to increase engagement. ... Using the same underlying data and technology can provide unique insights to record labels and artists about who's listening to what and help them reach more listeners. The Spotify algorithm sets itself apart from other digital music streaming services. The algorithm is an AI system known as BaRT (an abbreviation of Ba ndits for R ecommendations as T reatments). Basically, BaRT’s job is to keep listeners listening. It does this by playing and suggesting songs it knows the user is familiar with, while dropping in some fresh tracks it thinks they might like, but most importantly, haven’t heard before. This makes sure the listener is engaged, but things never get boring. BaRT decides what to suggest to listeners by combining two concepts – Explore and Exploit. This combination is the key to the platform’s recommendation system. Exploit uses the listene

Is Your Songwriting Inspiration-Dependent? by Kapa Freeman Talent may be keeping you from your songwriting goals, but not in the way you think. There's an idea in the songwriting community that's really harmful. It's the idea that you have to have "talent" to write songs that people love. I know, because I used to think that too. It was crippling. When you run into negative feedback on your songs, you feel like you should quit because you "Just don't have the gift.". We get this idea because hit songwriters make it look so easy, but watch any documentary on a hit songwriter's life and you'll see how many bad songs came before their good ones... and how many drafts went into the classic ones. Talent can actually be a songwriter's handicap if it's not combined with skill. The talent-only songwriter essentially relies on inspiration to give them songs that people connect with, but inspiration can be a crutch... a pretty unreliable crutch

Writing Lyrics You Can Feel by Kapa Freeman Do you want to write song lyrics that people can feel? Here's a trick from one of my favorite CCM songwriters. Thank Matthew West for this one. One of his more recent songs, "Truth Be Told" really pulls the heart strings. He gets this effect by using a technique that I call "Imagery pairs.".  Before I get into how to make one, let me show you why they make lyrics so easy to feel. People are hardwired to connect more with visual lyrics. Why? It's simply human nature. If you want someone to feel something, you can't just tell them about it. They have to experience it for themselves. And if you want them to experience it for themselves, they have to SEE it for themselves. It's one thing to tell someone that their words hurt you. It's another thing to tell them: "You stabbed me in the heart with a sentence!" So, the more visual, the more emotional impact, but there is a drawback. Sometimes lyrics

Choruses That Grab Attention by Kapa Freeman Do you want to start your choruses with a bang? Grab their attention at the start? Just like Lauren Daigle.   Lauren Daigle made Billboard history with her song "You Say." It was at the top of the Hot Christian Charts for a record 100 weeks. Part of what makes the song work so well is how the chorus starts. She starts by repeating the same note and rhythm. That's it. No, seriously...that's the whole technique. "You say I am loved..." "You," "Say" and "I" are all the exact same note and the exact same length. This technique is used in lots of other #1 Songs, in different styles of music, and different time periods. Sometimes it's a repetition of the note, but the rhythm changes. Sometimes it's a repetition of the rhythm, but the melody changes. But one thing is certain... Back to back repetition at the beginning of a chorus is a great way to make a song people love. Songs like

John Mayer's Secret to Writing Catchy Song Lyrics by Kapa Freeman  Why are John Mayer's song lyrics so easy to remember? It comes down to human psychology. I am notoriously bad at remembering song lyrics, except for John Mayer's Songs. Other artists may write a song I remember here or there, but John Mayer does it consistently. Why? I discovered the reason when I was working full-time as a teacher. Teachers can always tell when they're losing students. When those eyes start to glaze over, when that one eyebrow raises in confusion and someone yells out... "I don't get it!"  I got those a lot when I first started teaching. Talking to other teachers, I soon discovered why. I was giving too much information at once. I would vomit these elaborate explanations, thinking that more information would help clear things up... But they just got confused. Talking to my teachers reminded me of lessons I'd learned while getting my teaching degree:  "People remem

During some of the informal conversations we have with Indie artists, we often hear questions regarding what it is that they could do differently to get their music noticed.  In todays article, Kapa Freeman addresses one of the biggest challenges that many Indie artists are facing and is actually stagnating the growth of their music careers.  Happy reading! Why is it so hard to get your songs noticed? by Kapa Freeman  One word holds back more songwriters than anything else... It delays some music careers by years.... It destroys others. I'm speaking from experience. It took me 15 years to figure out that my first publishing deal could've happened 15 years earlier. Unfortunately, there was one word that was keeping my songs from the quality I needed, if I wanted anyone to take me seriously. So what magic word kept my music career in limbo? The word is "multi-tasking." I made the classic mistake that most indie songwriters make.... Trying to do it all! It took me forEVE

Are you a Christian music artist? Do you want to build a larger audience for your music? In this 5 part series, we will explain our music marketing strategy for exponentially expanding your fanbase. In part 5 we are sharing our final tips and wrapping up this series of posts. Use a Mailing List Having a newsletter that people can join is one of the best ways to not only communicate with fans, but to also build up relationships with them and turn those relationships into profitable ones. Once people visit your website, the last thing you want them to do is to leave and never return again. This is where mailing lists come in! If you can get people to sign up to your list before they leave, you’ll have their email address. From here you can communicate with them on a weekly basis, and remind them about you and your music. It may sound old school, but email is arguably still the most important tool at your disposal for marketing your music. The top reasons to have an email list are: You ow