Spinnup & Abbey Road come together (right now)

One of the reasons Spinnup exists is to discover the best talent out there, and it’s no overstatement to say that discovering artists and seeing them signed to Universal is the best part of all our jobs.

Early last year I was in Berlin visiting our German team, when they played me a new song by an artist that was interested in releasing it on Spinnup. The song was unreleased, only heard by a few people, and I was blown away.

The song was ‘Flicker’ and the artist was Lxandra.

Not long after, the second single ‘Hush Hush Baby’ was released, then we fast forward a year and Lxandra has been signed to Vertigo (Universal Music Germany) and Island Records USA, making her the 40^th Spinnup artist to be signed to a Universal Music label. In March of this year Lxandra also released her debut major label single, ‘Dig Deep’, and just last month supported Dua Lipa (aka the most streamed female artist of 2017) on part of her European tour.

 

With each release we are more and more impressed by Lxandra’s talent, but we do have a soft spot for ‘Hush Hush Baby’. The most tender of songs, this is a track Lxandra wrote for her mother as a birthday present. It is also the final song Lxandra released with us on Spinnup before making the leap from unsigned artist, to a part of the world’s biggest record label. But we’re not the only ones who love it – ‘HHB’ also earned a lot of attention in Germany in the lead up to Christmas as the soundtrack for local retailer Saturn’s Christmas ad. Watch it here and let it pull on your heart strings.

When we approached Lxandra about shooting a video to celebrate her signing and success, she immediately suggested filming a video for ‘Hush Hush Baby (Mommy` – Demo version)’’. Filmed recently in her native Finland, this clip is stunning in its simplicity and rawness, and we are so pleased to present to you today.

Now all you need to do is ‘hush’ and press play.

We look forward to Friday every week for many reasons – it’s the end of the work week, and it’s when most new music comes out. If that wasn’t enough to make today special, we are premiering the new live video for Spinnup Denmark artist Eif’s debut single ‘Bridges‘.

Released in October last year as part of Denmark’s annual scholarship competition, Eif wowed the guest judging panel of A&Rs and Scouts with her particular brand of dark electronic tinged pop. Taking note from artists like London Grammar and MSMR, Eif combines digital synths with atmospheric guitar patterns and powerful vocals laced with smooth pop/R&B melodies.

 

The video for the R&B inspired ‘Bridges‘ was shot in the heart of Copenhagen in an old control tower on Knippelsbro, the city’s famous bridge, which inspired the track. Stirred by the beautiful view while cycling over the bridge, Eif wrote the song as a love story that stretched from the small pocket of Copenhagen to the wide reaches of Iceland. If you’re in Copenhagen you can catch Eif performing ‘Bridges’ and other new music in the bridge’s ‘Kulturtårnet’ tower tomorrow, April 7th. Click here for more info.

Follow Eif on Spotify and Soundcloud for new music, and on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with the latest news.

Updated April 6th 2018

Spotify is without a doubt the giant of the music streaming world, and a very good friend to artists (signed and unsigned) worldwide. One of the things we love most about Spotify, is their artists-only tool Spotify For Artists.

As a music service but also a tech company Spotify is constantly evolving so we have put together our one-stop-shop for understanding Spotify For Artists, which we will continue to update each time there is a new feature added to the service.

In this article we will explain: 

• What Spotify For Artists Is
• How To Get Verified on Spotify
• How to edit your Spotify artist profile & bio
• Adding social media links to your profile
• How to add team members to your Spotify For Artists account
• What data you can find in your account

Getting verified on Spotify is now easier than ever!

Spotify is very important to us here at Spinnup – it is one of the major online retailers we distribute to, and we collect important Spotify trend data which is displayed in every artist account under ‘Stats & Activity‘ to help artists gauge how their releases are performing from day one. 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.

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
• You may need to wait a few weeks for the blue tick to appear on your profile.

Artist Profile & Bio 

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.

In September 2017 Spotify announced that artists can now directly edit their artist bio, which was previously unavailable. This is a great place to let fans know more about you or your band, and convey your personality, creativity or sense of humour. Have fun with it, but don’t go too overboard!

Electronic musician Caribou keeps his bio short and sweet, but is a nice touch!

 How to edit your artist bio, step by step: 

1. Go to your Spotify For Artists profile and scroll down to ‘Artist Bio’
2. Write your amazing, brilliant, creative, thoughtful bio in 1500 words or less
3. Add links to your music, music you feature on, playlists – anything on Spotify! Just use the ‘@’ symbol to look up playlists, artists or albums
4. If you have a Wikipedia page (if not, why not create one? It’s free and easy!) you can add a link to that here.

Pimp your profile with an image gallery

As of March 2018 artists can now make their Spotify profile look even better than ever with new custom image galleries. Once you login to your Spotify for Artists account, go to Profile under Tools in teh left hand menu, just like you would to edit any of the info on your Spotify artist page. Above where you enter your bio you can now add up to 125 photos of your choice! These could be official artist images, photos on you in the studio or making music, or on the road performing live – the possibilities are endless! It’s a great way to show fans what you’re up to and let them get to know you better. You can also edit your gallery from the Spotify for Artists mobile app.

You can edit the order of images, add or delete them at any time – so get creative!

Image requirements:
jpeg, gif or png
690px x 500px
Avoid text, logos, and busy backgrounds
Max 125 images

 

Add your social media links

While we’re on the topic of editing your profile, artists can now add social media links to their profile, making it easy for fans to find them elsewhere online. No more hoping artists will find your Instagram handle where you’ve misspelled your name and use a 3 instead of an ‘E’ because someone already has a profile with your regular artist name.

Like above, just head to the Profile tab in your Spotify for Artists account, click About, and on the right hand side there is a new ‘More Info’ panel. Here you can add links to your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia pages.

Team Members 

In September 2017 Spotify added an extra feature to Spotify For Artists, allowing artists to add team members to their account. Being a musician is a tough business, and having a team around you to support and grow your career goes a long way to helping you become a success! Now your team can help you even more by accessing your data and profile.

All artists can add team members to their Spotify For Artists account in three different access levels:

• Full Access – users that you grant complete access to all your features, including artist profile, stats, and the ability to invite and edit team members
  Recommended for: Band members, managers 

• Edit Access – these users can update your artist profile, view streaming stats, invite new team members for edit or view access, and view all members and their contact information
  Recommended for: Booking agent, promoter, publicist 

• View Access – these guys can view your streaming stats only
  Recommended for: producers, collaborators 

How do I add Team Members?

To add as many members as you would like to your team, simply signup or login to Spotify For Artists, and click the arrow next to your name. In the dropdown menu select ‘Manage Team’, which opens a page where you can input email addresses for the lucky few you will give access to, and set the access level for each.

Spotify Data

It’s no secret that here at Spinnup we love data, and lots of it. Which is why we were so excited to hear that Spotify has added even more data and analytics to the Spotify For Artists platform. You can read all the info about it here, or read below of a breakdown of what you can expect in your own SFA account.

• Stats for all songs – no longer do you have to earn 1000 streams to see your data, now you will se absolutely all of it for your top 200 songs. Don’t have 200 songs yet? Well what are you waiting for? Get recording!
• Time filters – you can now view your data by 7 days, 28 days (so 4 weeks, really), or two years! The reason this is so useful is that it will give you the chance to see if any big pushes (think PR cycle, a particular gig, social media campaign etc) really made an impact to your fans and streams.
• Follower data – your followers are your super fans, the ones who love your music so much they want to be notified every time you release something new. In your SFA account you now have a Follower Timeline to be able to track, and hopefully grow your follower count. More followers = more fans = more streams… you get the picture.

 

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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.

You may remember last year we introduced a couple of Spinnup artists, Indigo Palace and BLOOM, to the good people at Abbey Road Studios to help launch their first ever app, Topline.

We spent the day in Abbey Road’s incredible Gatehouse Studio with our artists, who tested the app, wrote some tunes – and like kids on Christmas – played with anything they could get their hands on.

Since then we’ve kept working behind the scenes with our friends at Abbey Road, who we’re sure can claim the title of Most Iconic Recording Studio In The World.  If you don’t know what we’re talking about, can you even call yourself a musician?
(We’re joking, but seriously if you don’t know Abbey Road get yourself to Google ASAP.)

 

In their quest to be instrumental – no pun intended – in the careers of musicians worldwide Abbey Road launched Topline as a mobile recording studio for singers and songwriters. With the app, which is completely free we might add, you can record multi-track demos, add lyrics in the notes section, attach images & locations, AND share easily from within the app. As BLOOM and Indigo Palace will tell you this is perfect app for collaborating, recording harmonies and BVs, and writing to a track.

Download Topline free from the App Store here and get your music on track.

Once you’ve recorded the masterpiece you wrote with Topline, how would you like to have it mixed by Abbey Road’s team of award-winning engineers? Or go one step further and them master your final track? You can even chat to them while they’re mastering.

No matter where you are in the world you can make the most of Abbey Road’s online mixing and mastering services, and now Spinnup artists receive 10% off!

To get started login to your Spinnup artist account and head to the Offers page in the left-hand menu. Here you will find you discount code and link to Abbey Road’s Online Mixing and Mastering pages. Then just upload your track, select your preferred engineer, and enter your exclusive code at the checkout.

Start making music with Abbey Road, and when you’re ready to unleash it to the world, we’ve got you covered.

I’m sure you would have seen online and across social media, today is International Women’s Day.

This is not a topic we would traditionally delve into on the Spinnup blog, but for today, we want to change that. With the recent rise of movements like #MeToo and Time’s Up along with the spotlight that is being thrown on diversity in the music and entertainment industries, we thought we’d open our door a little wider and give you a peek inside the organisation behind Spinnup.

I am Nina Usher, a woman in the music industry, a senior executive for a tech platform, the head of a start-up – in short, Spinnup’s General Manager.

That was in no way meant to sound boastful, although I am very proud of my achievements. It will come as no surprise to you that the music, tech and start-up industries are traditionally male driven, and the thing I am most proud of is that Spinnup says a huge NO to stereotypes in every way.

Spinnup is run by a small team, based in local Universal Music offices in Stockholm, London, Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen and Oslo.

Was this by design? No. We firmly believe in hiring the best candidate for a role and always maintain an open mind when interviewing staff.
Are we proud of this percentage and adamant to continue encouraging, guiding and mentoring the next generation of female musicians and executives in the music industry?

HELL. YES.

We’re well aware that bucking this trend so violently is not common, which is why I felt the need to highlight it today.

Outside of the direct Spinnup team we have played a part in the journey and have supported the development of female artists such as Lova, Adrijana and MOODY, who were all signed to Universal Music labels.

And of course, we have an army of some of the most fearless, and fiercely talented, female musicians on Spinnup –Vaz, Kihla, Marcella, Bethany Ann, BLOOM, Lani Dawson, Lucy Camp, Chuchoter, MADANII, and Joko, to name but a few.

We are fortunate to work alongside a group of brilliant, supportive and respectful men at Spinnup, I value everyone on the team in exactly the same way. But, today is about throwing a spotlight on the wider issue, by commemorating our achievements, celebrating our progress, and championing the gutsy girls who run the world.

Today is about women, so who better to soundtrack #InternationalWomensDay than the women of Spinnup? Head to our Spinnup, Girl Powered playlist on Spotify to get your daily dose of girl power, or hit play below. 

2018 has begun with a bang for the team at Spinnup France, who have gotten their first artist signing – and the 35th signing for Spinnup!

Congratulations to Nelick, a local urban artist who was recommended to use Spinnup by his manager, Aly, a Scout in the French team!

He released his first Spinnup track, Range Rover, in late 2017, followed by 10 décembre, which was released, well, on the 10th of December. Nelick’s style of rap can be decided as very laid back, with soft melodies and chilled out beats that his voice flows lazily overtop of.

Not wasting any time, Nelick has already dropped his major label debut with his EP KiwiBunnyTape, released on Caroline on Friday January 19. With his February 1st release party already at capacity, we know Nelick is definitely an artist to keep an eye on!

 

WHO IS NELICK?

Old school versus new school, the opposition is as old as rap itself.

Mixing the boom-bap of the nineties against modern flows and instruments – there is a generation of rappers who find their niche by expertly combining the two, a generation that Nelick flies the flag for.

Having been very active in 2017, with four projects to his name, Nelick saw his star climb online last year. Without much media coverage, this self-produced artist grew his following on social media via not only his music by distinct visual style. The video for “OCEAN 2077” with its off-the-wall imagery and distinct 90’s treatment has earned over 1.7 million views on YouTube!

What impresses us about Nelick’s rap is not just his rhyming talent, but also the relaxed vibe he conveys, like the feeling of summer, injecting a sense of love and fun into his tracks,  complete his characteristic cheeky nature. From the first taste of his mixtape, the KiwiBunnyTape, you can feel it has a sweetness to it, not unlike the feeing you get from the video of his 2017 single ‘Range Rover’.

Our new signing does not always work alone, accompanied by talented young artists like himself, Nelick’s other project is PALASS, a duo formed with Lord Esperanza. Together they released the Acid Rose Garden mixtape in 2016.

Having quickly seduced hip hop fans all over France, we are sure it won’t take long for his music to cross country borders and reach even more people around the world. I know that we’ll be waiting eagerly to see what he does next!

For the second year in a row our Danish team have run an amazing competition that gives independent artists the chance to win an invaluable ‘Spinnup Scholarship’, which includes prize money and other industry support. This year’s scholarship grantee is urban-electro singer-songwriter Kihla! The Jury who picked her out consisted of A&Rs from Universal Music, Spinnup Scouts, and reps from Spotify and Glass Management. Together they had no doubt that the scholarship belonged to Kihla:

“Kihla is a one woman army who creates all her music by herself – she has the full package with a strong visual image on the side of her music. Her sound is fully defined and her music is pure coolness”, says Christian Skjølstrup, the manager for Danish music sensation Gulddreng, and part of the jury who selected Kihla for the scholarship.

The story of Kihla starts 15 years ago when she, as a 5 year old, got a mini piano from a thrift store. Later, she upgraded to a keyboard and despite being the only musician in her family, Micheal Jackson and Whitney Houston were always playing on the stereo in her home. Artists who Kihla notes as some of her first big inspirations.

Now she makes her own music, which she describes it as a mix of pop, R&B and futuristic jazz. All her music is produced on Garageband on an iPad – but even though Kihla’s equipment is simple her dreams are anything but:

“I haven’t seen that many artists who look like me and make the same type of music in Denmark, so I’m exited to see how people receive my tracks. My hope is of course to become one of the cool female artists who manages to get a platform on the Danish market, but first and foremost I’m really excited to now have the funding to make even more music.”

The scholarship Kihla receives includes 20.000 dkk and a performance at one of the biggest music industry festivals in Denmark, Spot Festival. After revealing her as the winner, the Spinnup Denmark team surprised Kihla with her own digital billboard in the centre of Copenhagen, and caught it all on video! We are so excited to follow Kihla’s journey and music from the iPad, to the music studio, to the stage in front of a huge audience at Spot Festival in 2018.

Check out Kihla’s track “Breathe You In” here:

We are so happy to announce our 34th artist signing to Universal Music, Denmark’s BEKO!

At just 17 years old – born and raised in Taastrup, Denmark, Beko is our youngest signing to date. He was discovered through Spinnup by a Scout via his certified hit ‘Adriano‘, which has gained over 1,000,000 streams organically on Youtube and Spotify combined.

BEKO’s style could best be described as urban, with strong influences from his Turkish roots – and like himself – a balanced mix of toughness and sensitivity. The young artist has a keen understanding and ability to combine the more sentimental and personal aspects of his life with his tougher ‘street’ side in both sound and lyrics. He is a man of contrasts who dares to publicly explore feelings and thoughts about himself and his surroundings.

Check out his latest single and debut major release, “Ayo”, here: