Today, I launched my newsletter: Where Music's Going. It's for Artists & Builders working to create music's best future. Each week, I break down new tools & strategies to grow more connected audiences. Here's what's inside ↓

Oasis are changing the game on direct-to-fan. 11 cities 38 stadium shows 3 million+ tickets Not a single one available in a general onsale. Fans need to go direct to the band. 1. Register with Oasis 2. Join their world 3. Validate you're a fan 4. Get a personalized code matched to your fan ID 5. Access the invite-only sales at Ticketmaster The band is harnessing this moment into actual fan relationships by making everyone come through their front-door. Plus, they're reducing queue times and giving fans a better shot at tickets by splitting demand across multiple invite-only sale windows based on access. This is what happens when you know who your fans are and build the infrastructure to serve them directly. The shift is happening. It's time to go direct. Be the platform.

Your monthly listeners aren't your fans. They don't care. Troy Carter, former Head of Creator Services at Spotify and manager for Lady Gaga, put it perfectly: "𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝟤 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘍𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘐'𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝟩𝟧 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝟩,𝟧𝟢𝟢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦". Exactly. I've been banging this drum for years. Big “awareness” numbers don't mean much if they don't translate into people who actually care. Yet so much of the artist growth playbook is still designed around maximizing low-intent, low-value attention, rather than building something real. Make the clip. Chase the trend. Feed the algorithm. Get the streams. And then send all that attention straight back into somebody else’s platform. Hope they follow. Hope the algorithm shows you to them again. Hope that eventually some tiny percentage care enough to find their way back and buy something. That's playing the wrong game. The platform's game. But artists should start playing their own game. → Build your own platform. → When you earn attention, don't just send it back into the feed. Bring people into your world. → Give them somewhere to go deeper. Somewhere to discover more. Participate. Interact. To become part of something. Let them join, not just follow. The goal isn't to stop chasing attention. It's to stop wasting it.

No one wants this.

Moral of the story: Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Or something.

Dear music industry: Stop trying to extract every dollar from superfans. Start trying to create more of them.

Because the bad part of touring is the travel, not the part where you play shows to 20,000 fans.

Stop asking fans to presave your music. - It's boring - They don't care - They don't even know what it does It's a terrible fan experience. Do this instead: - Offer them a 1st listen - Use a presave + email signup to unlock it - Immediately let them listen, comment & share Boom. Now you've actually given them something. And you've built your own platform. Not just someone else's.

Your monthly listeners don't care. They're not your fans.

One year ago I asked 35,245 people "what's the biggest problem in music?" Here were the most common answers. What's changed?

Artists need to start thinking differently. The old way: • Grow someone else's platform • Rent your audience • Feed the algorithm The new way: • Grow your own platform • Own your audience • Feed your fans It's time to go direct-to-fan It’s time to build your own world.

Artists: Stop playing the wrong games. Stop sending your fans back to streaming. This person chose you out of billions of things vying for their attention, yet you're sending them to an experience alongside every song in the world, devoid of your brand, context & any way to level up with you. To make matters worse, the app's goal is to suggest other content to them - songs, playlists, podcasts. All to quickly move them off of you to something approximating you. You're out of your mind. Don't be fooled by people who say you must kick-start the algorithm by pushing your own fans in first. It's bullshit. That's playing the wrong game. The platform's game. Playing it will change how you market, interact, and even create. You'll never escape that rat race. Get them in your world. Play your game.

Spotify Wrapped just dropped so here's your reminder: Go check out your top 5 artists... Then: Buy their record Get tickets to a show Join their community Subscribe to their mailing list (Even moreso if that artist is still on their way up) Go a little deeper. And go direct.

Suno has spent $32M training it’s AI music model. $32m on compute $2,000 on data (songs) Let that sink in.

Hello music industry: Stop trying to extract every dollar from superfans. Start trying to create more of them.

So many music tech startups pivot to building for "all creators" and it's a mistake. I get it: - "Music isn't big enough" - You need a bigger TAM - You need to sell it to your investors But artists aren't like "all creators". Music is different. It's distinct. Artists require purpose-built tools to address their unique workflows, goals, and challenges. Generic, one-size-fits-all solutions won’t cut it. And today, more than ever, you must show artists that you actually, truly, authentically give a cr@p about their problems. The moment you shift to building for podcasters, YouTubers, and influencers—chasing that TAM investors keep pushing—you abandon the product and mission that connects with artists. If you build for everyone, you build for no one. Have some conviction. PS: This goes for basically any vertical. I don't care what your eventual plan for world domination is, you better start with a narrow customer profile and solve the hell out of their problems first.

Artists - now is the right time to post that TikTok asking people to sign up for your email list or community. Even if TikTok isn’t banned, this makes clear the value of direct fan relationships. These platforms can disappear or change their algo overnight.

Move fans somewhere you own. All that matters before Sunday is moving fans off TikTok & into your world where you can connect directly. 1) Add a sign-up form to your profile 2) Ask fans to join you there in your bio 3) Post about the need to connect directly Forget all else.

Bad Bunny just launched a massive 21 show residency in Puerto Rico & he's doing some incredible things to take care of his fans & his home. How? He's going direct. 1. Register with Bad Bunny 2. Real fans become eligible for tickets 3. Winners receive concierge access to buy No stress. No panic. No bots. Oh, and the first 9 shows are for Puerto Rico residents only. Love it. Why do this? 1. Reward real fans, not scalpers 2. Offer a much smoother process. 3. Create direct relationships with fans. 4. Bring tons of $$ to his home of Puerto Rico. How's he doing it? Openstage. It's a beautiful thing taking care of your fans. We're about to see a lot more of this.