Design & Music Marketing Blog

Articles on direct response design, music marketing, Spotify strategy, and cultural journalism.

Music Marketing

• 100,000 Followers Who Don't Care Is Worse Than 5,000 Who Do
• Artist Landing Pages Convert Like Business Landing Pages When You Treat Them That Way
• Artists Who Only Optimize for Spotify Leave Money on Other Platforms
• Bandcamp Is Where Your Real Fans Pay Real Money
• Crowdfunding Works When Fans Feel Like Investors Not Donors
• Getting Actual Streams From Your Music Video
• How to Sell Tickets When Nobody Knows You're Coming
• Instagram Followers Don't Equal Streams and Most Artists Never Learn Why
• Journalists Don't Care About Your Press Release and Here's What They Actually Want
• Live Streaming Fails When You Treat It Like a Concert You're Broadcasting
• Most Artists Have Fans but Almost None Have Communities
• Most Artists Treat Content Like an Afterthought and Wonder Why Nobody Cares
• Most Brand Deals Aren't Worth It Unless You Negotiate This One Thing
• Most Musicians Have Zero Email Subscribers and It Costs Them Everything
• Most Pre-Save Campaigns Fail Because Artists Ask Before They Give
• Most Press Kits Get Deleted in Seconds and Here's What the Survivors Have in Common
• Playlist Curators Get Hundreds of Pitches and Here's What Makes Them Open Yours
• Pre-Save Numbers Don't Mean Anything If Those People Don't Stream on Release Day
• Release Day Is a Single Moment in What Should Be a Three-Month Campaign
• SoundCloud Isn't Dead and Here's Why Some Artists Still Build There First
• The Artists Who Survive Don't Rely on Streaming
• The Careers That Last Look Different From the Ones That Peak and Disappear
• The Wrong Way to Collaborate With Other Artists and What Actually Works
• TikTok Made Music Discovery Different and Most Artists Are Still Playing the Old Game
• Why Podcast Interviews Convert Better Than Press Coverage
• Why Your Merch Table Loses Money and How to Fix It
• YouTube Shorts Is TikTok With a Streaming Funnel Attached
• Your Artist Website Is Probably Confusing Three Different Audiences at Once
• Your Brand Isn't Your Logo and Most Artists Get This Completely Wrong
• Your Email List Is Worth More Than Your Follower Count

Technology

• AI Won't Replace Designers But It Will Change What Designing Means

Direct Response Design

• Accessible Landing Pages Convert Better and Here's Why
• Analytics Tell You What's Broken but User Research Tells You Why
• Button Color Debates Are Wasting Your Time and Here's What Actually Matters
• Category Pages Are Conversion Opportunities You're Probably Ignoring
• Designers Who Can't Prove ROI Get Their Budgets Cut First
• Email Sequences That Build Relationships Instead of Spam Folders
• Every Extra Field in Your Checkout Costs You Sales
• Every Form Field You Add Costs You Conversions
• Every Friction Point in Your Checkout Is Costing You Money
• Every Page Load You Add to Your Funnel Loses You Customers
• Every Second Your Page Takes to Load Costs You Conversions
• Exit Popups That Don't Feel Like Desperate Traps
• Fake Urgency Destroys Trust Faster Than It Creates Sales
• Getting Someone to Commit Their Time Is Harder Than Getting Their Money
• Heat Maps Told Me Everything I Thought About My Landing Page Was Wrong
• How to Recommend Products When You're Getting Paid to Recommend Them
• Landing Pages Can Rank for Organic Search and Most Marketers Never Try
• Landing Pages That Look Good But Don't Convert Are Wasting Your Traffic
• Long-Form Sales Pages Still Work When Short Ones Fail
• Most A/B Tests Fail Because People Test the Wrong Things
• Most Membership Sites Hemorrhage Subscribers Because They Optimize for Signups Instead of Retention
• Most Pricing Pages Confuse Visitors Instead of Helping Them Decide
• Multivariate Testing Finds What A/B Tests Miss
• One Security Mistake Can Destroy Everything Your Landing Page Built
• Personalized Landing Pages Convert Better But Most Companies Get the Implementation Wrong
• Quiz Pages Convert Better Than Regular Landing Pages and Here's How to Build One
• The Sales Page Psychology Most Marketers Get Backwards
• The Simpler Your Squeeze Page the More Emails You'll Capture
• Video Sales Letters Convert When Written Ones Don't and Here's Why
• Visitors Decide Whether to Trust You Before They Read a Single Word
• What Most A/B Testing Gets Wrong and How to Actually Learn From Tests
• What to Do When Someone Almost Buys Then Leaves
• When Video Helps Your Landing Page and When It Kills Conversion
• Why Generic Testimonials Don't Build Trust and What to Use Instead
• Why Your Lead Magnet Isn't Converting and What to Do Instead
• Your Desktop-First Design Process Is Sabotaging Your Conversion Rates
• Your Emails Are Getting Deleted Before Anyone Reads Them
• Your Footer Is Wasting Prime Real Estate
• Your Landing Page Copy Answers Questions Nobody Is Asking
• Your Landing Page Is Fighting Itself Because Everything Looks Equally Important
• Your Landing Page Is Trying to Convert Everyone the Same Way and That's Why It Fails
• Your Navigation Menu Is Either Helping Conversions or Killing Them
• Your Product Pages Are Losing Sales and You Can Fix It in a Weekend
• Your Retargeting Ads Are Sending Traffic to the Wrong Pages
• Your Site Search Is Probably Losing Sales You'll Never Know About
• Your Thank You Page Is the Most Wasted Real Estate on Your Website

Marketing

• Direct Response Marketing Only Works When People Trust You First

Entertainment Journalism

• Every New Technology Changed What Music Meant to Us
• Independent Artists Are Earning More Than Ever But Most Are Doing It Wrong
• Most Artist Features Are Boring and It's Because Writers Forget to Tell Stories
• Music Criticism Isn't Dying But It Is Becoming Something Else
• Music Supervisors Are the Most Powerful People in Music You've Never Heard Of
• One Sync Placement Can Earn What a Million Streams Won't
• Publishing Revenue Confuses Every Artist and That Confusion Costs Them Money
• Social Media Replaced Radio and Most Artists Haven't Adjusted
• The Algorithm Decides What Music You Hear and Most People Don't Realize It
• The Money in Music Goes Places Most Artists Never See
• The Music Industry Runs on Relationships and Most Artists Build Them Wrong
• The Power in Music Didn't Disappear When Streaming Arrived, It Just Changed Hands
• The Real Math Behind Artist Income in the Streaming Era
• Vinyl Wasn't Supposed to Come Back and the Reasons It Did Tell Us Something Important

Design Trends

• Flat Design Had Its Moment and That Moment Is Over
• When the Font Becomes the Interface

Live Events

• Making Concerts Worth Leaving the House For

PR Strategy

• Stop Writing Press Releases and Start Getting Coverage

UX Design

• The Tiny Details That Make Interfaces Feel Expensive

Music PR

• What Actually Gets Songs on Playlists and What Doesn't

Spotify Strategy

• What Spotify's Algorithm Actually Cares About and How to Optimize for It

Public Relations

• When Your Career Blows Up Online You Have About Four Hours to Respond

Music Business

• Why 100 Dedicated Fans Are Worth More Than 100,000 Casual Listeners

UI/UX

• Why Dark Mode Feels Better and When It Actually Isn't

Career

• Why Knowing Multiple Skills Beats Being the Best at One

Culture

• Why Selection and Taste Have Become Creative Acts

Branding

• Your Brand Has a Look But Probably Not a Sound and That's Becoming a Problem

Entertainment

• Your Music Is Invisible Without Visual Content