YouTubular

I wanted to accompany my Spotify account with a YouTube channel! Check out the new playlist here:

• Study Music playlist on YouTube!

I covered some of the previously mentioned artists along with new suggestions:

• Ski video / LCD Soundsystem: This ski video, featuring JP Auclair, was filmed in British Columbia. The video is accompanied by LCD Soundsystem's song Dance Yrself Clean from the album This is Happening. It's a creative production featuring a talented ski performance.
• Patience by Tame Impala: Following a slight hiatus from the studio, Tame Impala released this new song in 2019. This is a great track that lives up to their previous work!
• Since I Left You by The Avalanches: Keeping with the Australian theme, this song is from The Avalanches' album of the same name, Since I Left You. Receiving much acclaim, this album has been considered one of the best ever from Australia.

Making a channel in YouTube is really simple, and allows anyone to create playlists of their own. If you have a Google account just login and go to YouTube. Your account will be linked allowing you to subscribe to other channels, like or comment on videos, and provide your own content.

Another great platform to find and share music!

Study Music Playlist on Spotify

I created a Spotify account to share some music. Here's a link to the first playlist:

• Music Notes - Study Music playlist

I titled the playlist "Study Music" as it contains some decent background music for study or work! The theme of the playlist generally covers downtempo / indie electronic music. Here's some info about the bands:

• Poolside - This band from California has released two major albums. Their style of music is "daytime disco", which is essentially a mellow mix of synthesized beats and vocals. I've heard this band played in the mall lately, maybe they're getting more recognition!

• Tame Impala - This band (which essentially consists of member Kevin Parker) is from Western Australia. Making waves with the album "Currents", among their other releases, Tame Impala is another indie electronic act that's worth a listen.

• LCD Soundsystem - This project from James Murphy has been very influential in the alternative dance genre. Originating from New York, their album "Sound of Silver" in particular was critically acclaimed.

It's easy to create an account and playlists on Spotify, try it for yourself. You can find pretty much any kind of music on there. Whatever music keeps you focused, motivated, and awake, you can add your own style!

SoundCloud Safari

Have you checked out SoundCloud yet? It's an amazing music platform with a ton of content. I found it particularly good for DJ mixes, a great way to discover new artists!

It's really easy to create an account, you can find a link to mine here:

• Music Notes (rockin') SoundCloud profile

I think of the platform like a YouTube for just music audio. It's great for listening on your computer at work since it's all streaming and you don't need to download anything. Some of the playlists were great for powering through projects in the afternoon!

I wanted to point out a couple of mixes. One is from Bonobo, a British DJ and recording artist. There are plenty of mixes from this DJ, often with a couple of hours of content. Here's an example:

• Bonobo - NTS Radio Show

For anything you find on SoundCloud, just click the play button and listen! You can also like and follow music and artists to create your own library. Another great feature is the Related tracks list on the right of the screen. If you find something you like on SoundCloud, use this to find even more!

Another artist I wanted to point out is Tycho, who has some great mixes on SoundCloud as well. A few of them were performed at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. Here's one of the shows:

• Tycho - Burning Man Sunrise

SoundCloud is also an amazing platform for artists who want to upload their own content. If you want to share your own music, here's a beginner's guide from Mashable.

Happy listening.. or sharing!

Spotify Features

Have you tried using Spotify yet? It's a great app that lets you listen to all types of music. There are both free and premium accounts with more or less the same functionality. The main difference occurs in the ads that play for the free service.

So what can you do in Spotify? Well, aside from building your own collection of music you can also listen to the playlists that are automatically created. Why am I telling you this? It's been a great experience to find new artists, many of whom are independent. It's cool to hear from artists that in the past you may never have heard of!

Two features in particular that I wanted to mention are Discover Weekly and Daily Mix.

• Discover Weekly: This feature assembles a list of tracks every Monday that you might like based on your listening history. They may not always resonate, but sometimes you can find some amazing stuff!
• Daily Mix: This feature assembles 6 daily mixes for the user, loosely based around genre. It plays music you've saved in your library, and also adds in related tracks!

Aside from features found in the app, I think that streaming music services have been a revolution in the democratization of music. Not too long ago you might not hear a musician unless they were signed to a big label or, alternatively, if they were a local act. Using services like this (in addition to others like SoundCloud) has provided more power to artists!

Not only have services like this made the release of music more accessible for artists, they've also disrupted the industry in general! We could go further into the marketing implications of this such as the general adoption of new technologies (i.e. vinyl -> cassette -> CD -> .mp3 -> steaming), maybe in a future post!

At the end of the day it's about having fun finding music that you enjoy!

Music, Marketing, and Analytics

Music is produced through a combination of creativity, talent, and technical skill. In addition to the creative process, bands also stand out based on their brand. This becomes more apparent with some of the big names who likely utilize a lot of marketing resources.

With the advent of digital marketing tools, a lot of analysis can be done for the online presence of a brand. For example, determining how users engage with web site content including media and merchandise pages. Sonicbids Blog provides a good overview of the importance of analytics in the music business.

Google Marketing Platform

A lot of resources aren't required to conduct analytics using tools such as the Google Marketing Platform. You just need a Google account to access the platform where you can use several tools for free. Here are some of the products available:

• Analytics: Learn more about web traffic for your sites
• Data Studio: Combine data sources and generate reports
• Surveys: Gather audience insights
• Tag Manager: Set up multiple analytics tools

Google Analytics

We'll go into a bit more detail specifically for Google Analytics. This is a great tool that allows you to get insights to help your brand. Here are some examples of the data provided:

• Number of visitors to your site by day and time
• Demographics: Language, country, and city of visitors
• Platform info such as browser, operating system, and whether it's mobile
• Referral sites from where visitors reached you
• Bounce rate: When visitors leave your site without engaging

This just scratches the surface of the product. For more information there are courses available at Google Analytics Academy from beginner to advanced level. The tool will help to get a better picture of the audience and the effect of ad campaigns when utilized.

A couple of useful terms to understand when starting out with analytics:

• Metric: Numerical data like number of visitors to your site
• Dimension: A category such as country of origin for web traffic

A lot more resources for the tool can be found with an online search. More specifically for applying the tool to the music business is an explanation by The Hostbaby Blog. Hopefully this overview will be handy for independent artists to research further.

Music Venues and Lifestyle in Toronto

Toronto has a variety of music venues including arena scale, outdoor, and club setting. Here's my impression of a few venues:

Scotiabank Arena

Located in the heart of Toronto's Entertainment District, this venue hosts some amazing live music. I saw Muse perform there (seen below) and it was a great experience. Consider this venue if you want to see well known bands and large scale productions. Scotiabank Arena Concert Listings

NXNE - Various Locations

Held at various venues across the city, NXNE is a Toronto music festival that runs for over a week. One of the main stages is at Yonge-Dundas Square where free outdoor concerts are provided. It features a variety of artists with a few headliners so check the schedule to see who's performing. I saw Cadence Weapon and Chvrches (seen below) which were both decent shows. NXNE Info

King Street West

The King West area of the city is host to many bars and nightclubs. There are often DJ sets at the venues in addition to some live performances. Smaller scale sets than some mentioned above with lots of energy. One example is Uniun where I happened to see Wyclef Jean perform (seen below).

Resources for events and active lifestyle

There are lots of great things to do in Toronto including concerts, events, and restaurants. Keeping track of things can be difficult so I wanted to share a few resources:

• blogTO: This blog maintains an amazing list of events including concerts and other entertainment around the city.
• NOW Toronto: Another great site containing a list of music events in Toronto and info on local bands.

In addition to music events here are some blogs to complement an active lifestyle:

• How to Live Local in Toronto: Restaurants, entertainment, and shopping in Toronto.
• J Foodie Adventures and Reviews: Explore some places to eat around the city.
• Science for Muscle Up: Stay healthy and fit. 
• Meal Prepping Made Easy: Save time with these quick and easy recipes.
• Ana's healthy food blog: Tips on healthy food and lifestyle.
• Beyond the Blonde: Protecting your health and the environment.

Welcome!

The goal of this blog is to provide info on some interesting bands and songs. With so much amazing music out there a lot of quality gems can be missed. Through friends, playlists, Shazam, and Spotify algorithms, a lot of new music can be discovered. Follow along with the journey to learn about some unique artists!

Stay tuned for more info.