Remember a few years ago when Soundcloud was a ‘thing’? Remember when Hype Machine was a ‘thing’? Remember when music blogs were still a ‘thing’? Ah, those were the days. A new unsigned artist could upload a cut on Soundcloud, get in touch with a bunch of bloggers, who if the track was strong would post it, Hype Machine would ensure that thousands of people heard it and boom, before you knew it you were a ‘buzz’ act and all the ‘tastemakers’ and music industry types would be flocking to your door. Worldwide fame and recognition were for the taking.
Although I’ve over simplified things a little bit it really was, with the right song and a bit of work, relatively simple to get some early traction as an artist through this method. But things have changed a lot since then. Certainly on Breaking More Waves although the daily views I get remains relatively constant these days after a drop in traffic a couple of years ago, very little of it comes from Hype Machine compared with the past.
In fact, I can fully understand why certain blogs are so desperate to get premieres of tracks they post, from even the smallest artist, as it’s a way of generating traffic, via links from the artists social media when they link to the post. Thankfully I don’t write this blog for any other reason than my own happiness and fulfilment, so I don’t need to worry about traffic. Rather like an independent musician with a full-time day job who creates music for their own pleasure and if anyone else listens that’s a bonus, it’s the same with Breaking More Waves. I’m fortunate that people do come and read the bollocks I spout out on line when I grab a few spare minutes in the day, but I’m not reliant on it.
Which brings me to Bülow. Her Damaged Vol. 1 EP, is picking up a fair amount of traction, not via old school methods like Soundcloud, blogs or Hype Machine but via Spotify playlisting. Ironically, because of those Spotify streams (over 1 million so far) blogs like this one are now beginning to feature her, embedding her Soundcloud for the song This Is Not A Love Song and hence she’s doing pretty well on Hype Machine. At the core here is a simple message; give people a song, promote it and if they like it will find a way to stick.
This Is Not A Love Song is full of musical glue; it sticks easily. An of-the-moment shoulder shimmying pop jam about the excitement of meeting someone for the first time (even if in reality there’s not much between the two people) I could easily imagine it' being played right now the likes of daytime Radio 1. Its bubbly electronic sound is highly infectious. It’s very early days yet as Bülow still hasn’t graduated from college yet, but she’s already promising a Damaged Vol.2 EP and if it matches the sheer pop accessibility of the first EP she could be finding herself taking some quick steps up the musical ladder,
Having had a bit of a nomadic lifestyle in her 17 years so far having grown up in Germany, with time spent in England and the Netherlands Bülow (it's her surname and her first name is Megan) is due to move to Canada soon.
An international person, with her music beginning to find international recognition, check out This Is Not A Love Song below.
Bülow - This Is Not A Love Song
So this is the first time hearing of your blog. I do agree with the past tastemaker statement, even as much as I hate that word, but Hypem is still a THING, and if it wasn't for them, I would not be here.
ReplyDeleteThis is nice prescription pop, I love her voice, the song is intoxicating and fun, however it is a rhythmical rip-off of "This Is How We Do" produced by Klas Åhlund/Max Martin that they did for Katy Perry a few years back.
The melody is too similar for me to take this song for face value.
I love your blog! Keep it up!
Cheers,
Travis
THIS IS HOW WE DO BY KATY PERRY RIP OFF
ReplyDeleteHey Travis
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear Hype Machine is still a thing for you, alas it does seem less people use it today - which is a shame because it is one way that unsigned unknown artists can get their music heard through the noise. Let's hope it survives, even if it has a smaller user base than a few years ago!