Spotify for Artists makes verification easier

We’re always so proud of all our Spinnup artists that ’graduate’ from our service and go on to be signed by Universal Music. We make sure to keep tabs on them and update you all with their successes from time to time.

Swedish Capitol Music signing Albin Johnsén is a former Spinnup artist who was discovered after he released the song ”Din soldat”. It was picked up by the Scouts, who passed it on to the ears of the A&Rs at Universal Music Sweden. The track became a major hit locally, and in just two months was certified platinum! Today it was been streamed over 40 million times on Spotify!

Kosovare Asllani, forward in Swedens women’s national football team was a big fan of ”Din soldat” and asked Albin to write the official women’s euro-cup song.
Albin, who’s a huge football fan, did not hesitate to take her up on the offer!

He’d already begun writing a track set to the tempo the team requested, and set about crafting lyrics to match. The track is about fighting, not only within football but in life. The song is called ”Hjärtan av guld” and is inspired by Albin’s fight against anxiety and low self esteem.

”Hjärtan av guld” was released on June 8th and only three hours after being released it had already reached 100.000 people and at the moment the release has over 160.000 views on Facebook.

The Swedish/Cape Verdean producer duo VAZ is made up of the sisters Jenny & Cecilia Vaz. You may recognize Cecilia, as not only is she a Spinnup artist, but she was also a former Spinnup Scout in the Swedish team! The sister duo last week released their new release ”Luxury Problems”.

Having established themselves on the Swedish festival-stage in 2012 with the great success of their first release “Miss Frost”, the singer/songwriter/producer duo make music that is a mix of traditional African drums with electronic beats and multi-dimensional harmonies.

They want ”Luxury Problems” to be an inspiration to other producers and have made the song’s stems available for download – free for everyone to modify and remix! You can access the stems via the track’s website (http://lxry.pro/) which was made in collaboration with Stockholm-based creative network CCCOLLECTIVE.

Once you’ve pieced together the beat’s different parts – you’re able to download the ”Luxury Problems” remix pack, containing stems and press photos for the song. If you’re inspired to make your own version of a Luxury Problems remix and you want to show it off, Cecilia and Jenny are waiting to hear it! Send your remix over to remix@lxry.pro and they’ll get back to you as soon as they’ve listened 🙂

This is a great opportunity for all the Dj’s and producers out there to be creative with some very cool ready made stems!

Listen to ‘Luxury Problems’ here!

We are so proud to announce our 31st artist signing, Sweden’s Milwin! Not only has he signed to Polydor Sweden, but is releasing his new single ”Follow Your Heart” today!

Edwin Lindberg, known as ”Milwin” is a 20-year old music producer from Uddevalla who’s whole life has revolved around music. As a kid he showed an interest in playing drums, so his grandfather bought him a drum set. This drum set eventually turned into a guitar and then into a piano, in other words – this guy is a musical genius. The knowledge of how to play so many instruments inspired him to learn how to DJ and to produce music. In 2015 Milwin released his first single ”Coming After You” through Spinnup which received a huge number of streams!

”Follow Your Heart” is the single that Milwin is releasing with today, and the story behind this song is quite interesting.

Milwin actually found an early version of this track made by artist ”Sha”, who is based in Nigeria, on Soundcloud and asked him if they could re-work the track, and so the magic happened! After they released the song through Spinnup a while ago the Spinnup team in Sweden picked it up and showed it to the A&Rs at the local Polydor office, which resulted in a new signing!

Stream “Follow Your” Heart on Spotify below, or stream/download from the other stores.

We are so excited about this and congratulate Milwin on his signing!

 

When you’ve put so much effort into your music, don’t let your release down by pairing it with anything but amazing cover art.

A great track needs a great artwork – with millions of songs on Spotify and Apple Music these days you definitely need a professional cover art to stand out in the crowd.

Our friends at Cover Art Factory have always given Spinnup artists 10% in store, and even helped us celebrate reaching 100,000 artists by offering a limited time offer that was three times that during our special free release period.

We are so excited to announce that Cover Art Factory now offer a huge 25% discount on all of their products!

Cover Art Factory is the #1 online design service for the music industry. In addition to cover art design they also create lyric videos, social media design, band logos and much more. All designs are created by professional, verified designers and always with fixed, affordable fees and fast delivery.

We’ve had great reviews from the numerous Spinnup artists who have used Cover Art Factory in the past. So make sure you take advantage of this special offer, as it will only last until May 31, 2017.

To receive 25% off all products at coverartfactory.com, use code SPINNUP25 at checkout.

 

 

Last weekend Spinnup Sweden teamed up with the audio production-school SAE Institute for a Songwriting Camp, and MAGIC was created!

The day started at 10am at Soundtrade Studios where current and old students of SAE gathered at the school for an introduction with different briefs to work on. They were divided into groups and kept working together for the whole day and the results from this were amazing!

We hope to hear some new releases from this songwriting camp coming through Spinnupvery soon! Well done to all the songwriters who attended and worked hard all day, and big thanks to all the people who participated and help put on a great day!

Check out some of the photos from the songwriting camp below, or view them all on Facebook.

Do you want the chance to win one of Scandinavias biggest awards?

You as a artist, band, songwriter and producer should apply for this great prize “Rookie Award” at Denniz Pop Awards. You’ll get recognized and judged by some of the biggest people in the music industry like Tove Lo, Max Martin and many more. The prize is a great push in your music career, and $10.000!!!

Last day to apply for this is on May 7th
So hurry up and get your songs ready to send them in!
You can enter here: dennizpopawards.com/enter

What is Denniz Pop Awards?

In 2013, the members of the Swedish music company Cheiron started Denniz Pop Award to honor one of the greatest songwriter and producer of Sweden whose name was Dag Krister Volle, but people around the world know him as Denniz Pop.

Before Denniz Pop passed away in cancer in 1998, he worked closely with artists like Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Nsync and put his mark on the new sound of pop that became big in the world in that era.

Denniz Pop Awards is a non-profit event for aspiring artists, songwriter and producers with great potential and to win a award here helps liftning them to reach a music career on an international level.

The jury consists some of the greatest artists, songwriters and producers of Scandinavia and most of them were close friends and colleagues of Denniz Pop. Max Martin, Tove Lo, Laleh, Rami Yacoub and Andreas Carlsson just to name a few!

This is something we want all our Spinnup-members to apply to! Who knows, maybe you will get something interesting out of applying to this 😉

Enter here 

Hi Guys,

This is Isabella, I’m an intern at Spinnup in Sweden, working out of the Universal Music offices in Stockholm. I’m currently in my last year of studies at the ”Music & Event” education at Campus Nyköping and in order for me to get my Diploma my last assignment is to run a project within the music business – completely on my own! As I am already spending most of my time here at Spinnup, I thought it was a great opportunity to arrange an event with Spinnup artists!

Over the past few weeks I have been putting together a special event here in Stockholm that will a) help me finish my studies, and b) showcase some great local Swedish Spinnup talent!  There will be two Spinnup acts performing at the showcase. Headlining the night is Fristaden, a Swedish pop/rock-band quite new here at Spinnup, who inspired by artists such as Jakob Karlberg and Coldplay. Their recent single is called ”Happy Pride”, a fun track that is a tribute to the Pride festival.
Watch Fristaden’s latest music video below.

 

Supporting Fritsaden is acoustic singer-songwriter Marcus Alexander, who has been with us at Spinnup for quite some time now and streaming really well on Spotify! Inspired by acts such as John Mayer and Ed Sheeran to name a few, Marcus’ beautiful voice is sure to wow you!
Have a listen to Marcus Alexander here

I’ve had the great opportunity to work and collaborate with sponsorship partners, who I approached to help put on the event. I am so happy that Propercorn, Fazer and N1CE Company have all come on board as sponsors for the night! Thanks to their support we will hand out goodie bags to all early birds and N1CE Company (founded by world famous DJ Sebastian Ingrosso!) will be there to hand out cocktail ice cream. I am so excited to be throwing this event, and if you’re in or near Stockholm, we’re more than happy to invite you to come and share this evening with us!

Spinnup Showcase

Thursday 4th May
Kåken, Stockholm: Regeringsgatan 66, 111 39 Stockholm, Sweden
Free entrance!
19:30 o’clock
18+

Can’t wait to see you there!

Isabella

 

Want to get verified on Spotify and edit your artist profile?
It’s now easier than ever!

Spotify is very important to us here at Spinnup – it is one of the major online retailers we distribute each and every one of our artists to, and we collect Spotify trend data which we give to our artists in the ‘Stats & Activity‘ of their account, which we believe is very important to knowing how your music is going. Plus they started in Sweden, just like us!

Lately Spotify has been going through some changes, which can have an impact on each and every one of you, both as artists and as listeners. So if you find yourself asking, “what’s new with Spotify? And how will it affect me?” Well, we got you covered.

Fan Insights / Spotify For Artists

Back in late 2015 we told you all about Spotify’s beta version of Fan Insights, but now *drumroll please* Fan Insights has been renamed ‘Spotify for Artists‘ and is available to all artists!

In the two years since Spotify launched data tools for artists, they have been talking (and listening) to artists and management teams all over the world to optimise this aspect of their service and make it as useful as possible.

Spotify describes the reincarnation of their data tool as “a one-stop shop designed to guide you through Spotify.” What they mean by this is Spotify for Artists will help you access improved audience insights, song data and play listing information

This helps you get to know your fans better by finding out where they live, how old they are, what features they’re using to discover your music, and what other artists they are listening to. Just read the testimonials of artists who have used the new Spotify data to make more informed touring and release decisions, which means you can too. 

As well as improving their data insights tools, it is now easier than ever to manage your Spotify artist profile and…

Get Verified!

No longer do you have to wait until you have 250 followers to even be able to apply for verification. Instead, now all you need to do is have access to Spotify for Artists!

If you don’t already have access to Spotify for artists, click here and follow the steps to access your account.

But if you’re already verified don’t worry, you don’t need to do anything to keep the pretty blue tick on your profile. The new verification system means you’ll use Spotify for Artists to add and remove playlists from your profile, but use your personal account to create and edit them.
Read more about Spotify’s new artist verification here.

Artist Profile

Now that you’re a bonafide and verified Spotify artist you are able to freely edit your public profile! Get your creative hats on because now you can update your artist image as often as you change your outfit – sounds like a lot of work, but each to their own! You can also show people what music you’re jamming to by choosing your ‘artist’s pick’ that sits at the top of your profile, and add playlists – either ones you’ve created or your favourites that you want to share with your fans.

That’s a lot of info, so to break it down…

What does this mean for existing verified artists?

• You will keep your verification and all playlists will remain
• You will now add and remove playlists in Spotify for Artists, but you create and edit them from your personal account, like always
• If you’re using Fan Insights, you need to switch to using Spotify for Artists

What if I’m not verified?

• You can become verified really easily, simply by accessing Spotify for Artists, no more 250 followers!
• You will need to add/remove playlists in Spotify for Artists, but create and edit them from your personal account
• All blue ticks should appear around early May, so you may need to wait a few weeks for it to appear on your profile.

There is so much on offer here for you to take advantage of, so access Spotify for Artists and explore the full rundown of new features on the Spotify blog.

To raise awareness for World Autism Day on April 2nd, UK charity Prior’s Court has released the single ‘Let Me Shine’ on Spinnup, which was performed by the staff and young people at their Berkshire centre.

Written by Jamie Jay and Carlos Posada from Oxford four-piece Low Island, the song is performed by young people with severe autism and aims to raise awareness for the condition, as well as increase acceptance and understanding of the full spectrum.

Prior’s Court work with 80 young people aged 5 to 25 from 40 authorities across the UK with severe autism and severe learning difficulties. 80% of the young people are non-verbal and all have significant difficulties with communication. Before joining Prior’s Court many children or young adults are in crisis, often with placements having broken down, and families struggling to cope. The specialist approach at Prior’s Court school and young adult provision enables the students to achieve progress in all areas of their lives.

“Accept me for who I am and let me shine.” 

“We were blown away by the incredible relationships we saw between the staff and young people, and wanted that sense of warmth and joy to come across in the song,” says Jamie and Carlos.

The accompanying video reflects the special bonds forged between students and their highly trained staff, and how crucial the 24-hour care and support provided by schools and colleges like Prior’s Court is for their development. The lyrics highlight this: “I have made a connection, A special bond…You and I are friends for life, Stand next to me, walk by my side.”

 

 

CEO, Mike Robinson, estimates that there are around 1000-1500 young people in the whole country who require the high level of specialist support provided by Prior’s Court. As he explains: “’Let Me Shine’ encapsulates in a number of ways what we’re trying to do at Prior’s Court. The core of it is that we’re trying to be as ambitious as we possibly can for our young people; letting our young people shine.”

Over several months the students were taught the song by staff, including the speech and language therapists using communication methods including signing, symbols and written words. Staff at Universal Music UK advised Prior’s Court on the set up of the release, and Spinnup donated the cost of distribution. We loved working with the people at Prior’s Court to distribute the release, and in the process learning more about the work they do and the young people they support.

 

We are so proud to have been involved in the release of this beautiful and uplifting tack, the song is a testament to the achievements of the young people at Prior’s Court and the passion of the specialists who support them, and enable them to shine.

Please support Prior’s Court in the very important work they do by buying or streaming ‘Let Me Shine’ on iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Google Play, Spotify, Deezer, Napster and Tidal. All proceeds raised from the song will go directly towards supporting the young people in care at Prior’s Court.

You can also follow Prior’s Court on Facebook, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.

For more information on Prior’s Court, please visit their website at priorscourt.org.uk

Ok, so you’ve been really smart and released your tracks through Spinnup to get your music on some of the world’d best streaming and download platforms. You’ve connected your socials and pimped out your artist profile to help you get discovered by the Scouts and Universal Music A&Rs.

So now what?

…How about a music video?

We’re sure every artist would love to make videos to accompany their tracks that are as slick and impressive as a Beyoncé visual album, but who has the budget for that?!

Here’s where our friends at Rotor Videos come in. With Rotor you can make a free account and create a music video for your track using their huge range of templates, stock footage and graphics. You can also upload your own images and photos (which can be as low-res as phone recordings!) to add in and customise your video to make it more personal, add text or promo messages, and trim the length of your clip. The best part is, when you complete the first step of uploading your song, their intelligent engine actually analyses your song to recommend certain styles and edits based on the track’s tempo and unique features.

Once you have made your video you can watch a preview of your creation. Don’t like it? Start from scratch without paying a thing, or if you love it and think you could be the next Hype Williams, pay a one-time fee to download your video starting as low as USD$10.00 for a 360p (watermarked) version. Prices go up depending on the level of quality of your video, with the highest being $35 for the 1080p version!

Watch the video below to see how it all works.

 

Rotor was designed and built by music video directors and creative developers, with the sole purpose of creating affordable music and promotional videos, which can really help you build your audience. Basically what we do for unsigned artists with music, Rotor do for unsigned artists with video!  

Having only launched recently the team at Rotor are continually developing the platform and adding new features, new styles and content for all artists plus a lip-sync feature due to be released in the coming weeks!

To help you get going with your first video, Rotor are offering a special 40% discount for all Spinnup users to make their first video. To take advantage, simply go to www.rotorvideos.com, create your video and use the code RotorSpinnup17  at the checkout. The code is valid for one month, until April 17th 2017.

Once you have your shiny new video, make sure to upload it to your YouTube channel, share it on your socials, and embed into your Spinnup artist profile – click here to find out how.

We’d love to see your masterpieces, so feel free to share them on our Facebook, Tweet us a link, or tag us on Instagram.