On my very first day at The Orchard almost three years ago, my boss took me around the office in typical Orchard tradition and introduced me to every single person sitting at his or her desk, from our accountants to our developers and everyone in between. Was anyone off limits? …
If you had the opportunity to get your music featured in more places, why wouldn’t you take it? And if those places were high-engagement areas, it’d really be a no brainer. Well listen up then, because our latest Marketplace partner, Klick Push, has just the thing for you. With access …
So you’ve got a new album coming out and you want to give fans a taste of what to expect. Try creating an album preview video and uploading it to your YouTube channel! We’ll walk you through how to set this up. Prepare Your Content We’re not going to go …
Between updating their subscription plans and experimenting with more visual profiles (still in early beta), SoundCloud has been on fire lately. ComScore even recently reported that their traffic increased by 26% in one month, making SoundCloud the 8th fastest growing site in the U.S. Though it’s certainly evolved since its launch in Berlin in …
Introducing Martina Canale, Client Manager, Latin America
Hi, I’m Martina, born and raised in Buenos Aires. I studied Communications at Austral University, and I’m only a couple of finals away from getting my degree. I chose my major because I wanted to be a Music journalist and because I love to travel, and I felt like this career would allow me to do it. As time went by, I realised that I could work in the music business in areas other than journalism, and that’s how I found The Orchard.
I also work as a producer in a radio station and write my own blog about music. As for my favorite artists, I spend my time listening to Ellie Goulding, Alt-J and Arctic Monkeys, between many many others. I also play tennis, learn Portuguese, take photography lessons and love watching TV shows and traveling.
I’m very excited to join The Orchard team!
This article, written by Green Light Go Music PR Founder, Janelle Rogers, originally appeared on Sonicbids. We’re excited to be working with them to exchange industry tips and trends for your business!
If you’ve ever attempted to write your own band bio, you know how difficult it can be to be objective and also create something that would be interesting to the reader. A few weeks back, I posted the article “6 Components of a Great Bio” and emphasized the importance of knowing your own story, which is how you differentiate yourself from other bands and stand out from the crowd.
So how do you get to that juicy center? How do you figure out exactly which story to tell that will engage the reader, but is still true to you?
1. Start with the basics
What inspires you? How did you come up with your band name? Who are you influenced by and why? Do your surroundings inspire you, and if so, how?
2. Get specific and tell anecdotes
Were you inspired by a specific event when you started your band or wrote and recorded your album? For instance, Rahim Quazi was inspired by ghosts, both living and dead, when he wrote his current album. The story of hearing a woman scream in what he reluctantly called “a haunted house” was intertwined in both his life philosophy as well as his music, which allowed both his music and story to come to life.
Read the full bio here.
3. Look for themes
At Green Light Go Music PR, the surveys we create for our clients to determine their story angles have over 40 questions, including many of the basic ones mentioned above. Here, I’ll look for a central theme that seems to keep coming up throughout their responses. For instance, when we wrote the Moonbabies bio, I noticed the term “color” came up in many of their responses. I wanted to tie in the importance of their music feeling colorful and vibrant with the overall story, which was feeling as if they lost their way during a seven-year hiatus and then finding home again. In this case, we used the metaphor of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz to connect the two ideas.
Read the full bio here.
4. Connect the story to your music
Neil Holyoak is a great storyteller by nature, and although I typically recommend against a first-person bio, he does it so well. He places the reader directly in his setting so they can see, taste, and feel it. His story captures the feel of who he is as a person and how his experiences inform his songwriting by evoking his inspiration from the great outdoors and the open road, youthful energy, and the journey to find himself. All of this engages with a reader who would be drawn to those same things. The music perfectly matches the story. By giving the journalist the backstory, he or she will be more inclined to listen to the music with a deeper appreciation.
Read the full bio here.
5. Dig deeper
I’ll also look at areas where there’s more to the story, but the band seems to be holding back a bit. This is typically where I can find that juicy center. I’ll then ask the band to elaborate on a specific angle while looking at ways we can convey what’s still true to what they’re comfortable telling.
For instance, as I mentioned, it had been seven years since Moonbabies had released any music, and we knew there was a story to tell. We dug deeper and discovered all the steps along the way from struggling with success while staying true to themselves, and striving for that place that felt true again to them. It was all those missing stories in between that gave depth to the band, story, and music.
If you’re struggling to find your story, look at one of the points above that speaks to you. Write out those anecdotes that are true to only you to give yourself a starting point to write your own compelling story.
Jeff Stempeck
Manager, Global Business Development
Joined The Orchard in November 2010 as a Client Representative
From Client Rep to Business Development Manager, not to mention Valentine’s Day male Orchard stand-in, we’re a bit at a loss as to what the #&@$ do you really do. Enlighten us?
Orchard modeling really doesn’t pay the bills so my main focus has been on the business development side. What this means is focusing on new and existing music services, applications and other partnerships that feature The Orchard’s audio catalog and making sure that our labels are fairly compensated.
As the digital music landscape has rapidly changed, so have the business models, usage rules and fee structures around those avenues and the business development team oversees this constantly changing environment. There’s also a lot of upkeep in executing our deals, from managing the reporting and delivery integration to leading internal communication and compiling analytics on services’ growth.
Lastly, I work under Tom Wheeley, which means I tangentially listen to a lot of late-90s Brit-Rock against my will.
Ha! Tom spares no victims when it comes to Brit-Rock.
In terms of developing business, which areas are growing the most and what challenges do you face in incorporating them into The Orchard’s distribution landscape?
Tough question! Soundscan sales and downloaded tracks have long ruled as tangible benchmarks in our industry but they’re no longer an encompassing, standalone view of what success means today. We’re moving to a more audience-focused, data-centric approach and it’s our team’s job to pursue and provide our content in as many opportunities possible to navigate this landscape as it develops.
In addition to investigating new models, it’s also important to remember that we’re still breaking ground on a lot of new territories where smartphones, digital music services, and copyrighted, licensed music in general, haven’t taken hold. For example, we’re starting to see multiple streaming services make a serious push in to Nigeria, Ghana, Angola and other developing markets with very little historical precedent of digital music penetration. We’re also encountering entirely new degrees of specialization as services are diversifying via genre-specific streaming models and reduced catalog, playlist-focused offerings that aim to undercut the standard $9.99 subscription market rate. There’s not a cohesive “one-size-fits-all” digital music service so it’s our job to make sure we’re in as many as possible if a compelling opportunity exists.
It appears you’re a well respected music tastemaker and run the blog Bempology.com, along with Spotify and Songza playlists that you update regularly. How did you get into that, and what’s your favorite thing about it?
Can’t say I’d call myself that but thanks! I was an early HypeM and music-blog devotee in college and have always enjoyed the discovery process, which nowadays is a lot easier with the amount of streaming and algorithmic recommendation options. My favorite thing is being able to catch incredibly good artists for $10-15 at smaller venues before they play larger, more expensive venues that I loathe. Some names to watch: Years and Years, Shura, Seinabo Sey, Ryn Weaver, Josef Salvat.
Awesome! Pushing play….now. Thanks for sharing what the #&@$ you do, Jeff! We hope to see you pouty-face and all in our next high fashion Orchard spread.
how your first aid-bro kit came about (we’ve heard you’re the man to see for emergency body spray): I enjoy creating/subsequently treating hangovers for fellow employees.
drink of choice when out on the town: PBR tall-boy
how you felt when you won a second hand “Sexiest Man at The Orchard” award at our Holiday Party 3 years ago: Brave for accepting the award Charles Hendricks couldn’t handle.
random fact: I played tennis most of my life and in college and pretty much love any sport with a racket — tennis, squash, ping pong, kadima, etc.
