On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: eight maids-a-milking. Which sounds quite similar, if you’re really stretching an article-introductions schtick way beyond the point where it’s sensible, a bit like eight maids-a-marketing, eh?
What might they be marketing? Music in all its forms! And that’s what Music Ally’s Sandbox Guides are all about. They’re our regular reports focusing on key music marketing trends and platforms. This year we published a number of them, and you can get a taster below of the five that were most popular.
Note, our Sandbox Guides are part of Music Ally’s research service, so they sit behind our paywall for subscribers. Fear not if you’re yet to join the community though: you can sign up for a free trial subscription here!
The Sandbox Guide to Creative AI
Music Ally has been writing aboutĀ AI musicĀ sinceĀ late 2014, when British startup Jukedeck first emerged with its system for generating original music.Ā In 2022 and the early months of 2023, the wider topic of creative AIs seemed to be on everyoneās lips, thanks mainly to models capable of spitting out text or images.
Their emergence has created excitement and controversy in equal measures. In this Sandbox guide, we looked at what musicians and their teams can do with these models, both as part of their marketing and content strategies, and in their creative processes.
You can find the full guide here.
The Sandbox Guide to Marketing in 2023
Music Ally kicked off the year by asking 30 of the music industryās leading lights what ā in the wide world of digital music marketing ā they were looking forward to in 2023.
Our experts included:Ā Jessica Keeley-Carter, executive vice president, global marketing, Warner Music;Ā Alexandra Murphy, international marketing director, Secretly Group;Ā Olivia Matthias,Ā head of marketing, Warner Records UK;Ā Chaz Jenkins, chief commercial officer, Chartmetric; andĀ Aaron Bogucki, global head of audience development at AWAL ā amongst many others.
You can find the full guide here.
The Sandbox Guide to SoundCloud
Ā SoundCloud,Ā the creator-oriented DSP, offers lots of new features that promiseĀ juicy marketing connectivity with superfans. So: whatās on offer, how are artists building communities in interesting ways, and can these communities fuel growth forĀ emerging and established artists? We spoke toĀ the insiders and took stock.
You can find the full guide here.
The Sandbox Guide to Spotify’s New Tools
Earlier this year, Spotify’s āStream Onā event generated headlines for the unveiling of its mobile appās new homepage, but it included a number of other product announcements that, for music marketers, are just as significant ā this Guide looked into those tools, and how labels, artists, and their teams can use them to creatively connect with new audiences, and satisfy existing ones.
You can find the full guide here.
The Sandbox Guide to YouTube Shorts
Short form video isnāt just a thing that can go viral; in 2023 it was THE thing that goes viral: if you wanted something to get buzz and be shared, it will probably have been a short piece of video.
YouTubeās Shorts, a platform-within-a-platform that now generates 50bn daily views, is designed to drive fans from artistsā short video content into deeper engagement around their longer videos and music ā all within YouTube itself. This guide looked at how to get the most out of Shorts.
You can find the full guide here.
Thanks to the Music Ally team, who started the year writing our Sandbox Guides. But thanks too to Francine Gorman, who took over earlier this year and is doing a fab job.
