Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Promoed! We are thrilled to have you with us, whether you're a returning reader or a first-timer. Thank you for joining us as we dive into the latest music marketing news and insights.

In this week’s edition:

• Arlo Parks Tea Collab. We get the scoop from Sophie Brown, A&R and Marketing Manager for [PIAS].

• Around The World. Daft Punk and Snapchat’s global campaign.

• Fans Love Free Stuff. 5 Ideas for fan giveaways.

Soundcloud is Changing the Game. Here's How:

Soundcloud is shaking things up! For a long time, music streaming services have, on the surface, been fairly similar. But Soundcloud seems committed to offering something different. Let's take a closer look at what sets them apart.

A New Way to Pay Artists

In 2021, Soundcloud announced "Fan-powered royalties," a revolutionary approach to calculating artist streaming royalties that pays artists based on their fans' listening habits. This is a departure from the pro-rata model used by Spotify and Apple Music, which mostly benefits the most popular artists. The new system has received positive feedback from the industry, which has long criticised the pro-rata model.

Merlin, the organization representing select independent labels and aggregators, and 15% of the recorded music market, has recently struck a deal with Soundcloud to bring fan-powered royalties to its members, including Beggars Group, CD Baby, Downtown Music, Domino, and Epitaph Records.

Connecting Artists With Their Fans

This week, Soundcloud announced the launch of a new Fans platform. The platform is designed to help artists better engage with their fans, a criticism often levelled at music streaming services, which share limited data on artists' fans with the artists.

The new Fans platform allows artists to filter their listeners based on engagement metrics such as comments and sharing habits, and most significantly, it allows artists to DM their top fans.

Fans are able to opt-out of receiving DMs, so hopefully the feature will not lead to excessive spam. However, if you're a top fan of an artist, receiving a direct message from them would certainly feel pretty special.

This, in addition to the recently announced partnership with marketing platform Feature FM, is really helping Soundcloud position themselves as an artist-friendly alternative DSP.

Looking Ahead

We think these new developments could potentially mark an exciting shift in music streaming. In an industry that is so fragmented, anything that helps bring artists closer to their fans gets our nod of approval.

Is it perfect? Probably not. The new DM feature has the potential to get spammy. Hopefully, the ability for fans to opt-out should alleviate those concerns and encourage artists and their teams to think about the best approach.

Overall, it's great to see some diversity in what music streaming services offer. Soundcloud's new developments could lead the way for other services to follow suit and give artists more access to their own fans.

^{Written by Nick Lynagh}

In Other Marketing News

Get Brewing: Arlo Parks has collaborated with Eora/Sydney-based artisanal loose leaf tea company, T Totaler, on an exclusive, Australian-only collaborative tea blend to celebrate the release of her upcoming album "My Soft Machine", out May 26 via Transgressive.

The tea blend, named "Purple Phase" after one of the album tracks, is a combination of organic chamomile, lemon myrtle and blue pea flower, designed to mimic the color scheme of the album art. The tea gently morphs from electric blue to deep purple as it brews.

[PIAS] A&R and Marketing Manager Sophie Brown shared with us that they wanted to create something personal to Arlo that would also engage industry and fans. “We really wanted to create something different for fans, something that feels very personal to Arlo. On her socials, she’s always talking about taking time for yourself, listen to music, read a book and drink some tea. So we took one of the core things that she loves and reached out to T Totaler.”

“We hadn't seen anything like this done before, so partnering with a local Sydney brand such as T Totaler felt important in order to make it feel super special," she said.

The 'Purple Phase' tea blend is now available for purchase on T Totaler's website and in-store at their flagship George Street tea bar and shop.

Around The World: Snapchat’s AR studio is partnering with Daft Punk’s creative team to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Random Access Memories. The global collaboration will result in the release of “Daft Punk: Memories Unlocked,” a fan activation that includes a range of augmented reality and geo-targeted music experiences.

The anniversary edition of the album will be preceded by a 48-hour period during which fans can use Snapchat's camera to scan the original Random Access Memories artwork, revealing a new crystal helmet AR lens and playing the previously unreleased track ‘Horizon’. Fans will also have the opportunity to ‘wear’ the helmet while listening to the song.

In addition to this, there will be a treasure hunt across 10 major cities worldwide, with GPS coordinates shared on the band’s social media channels to provide direction. Finally, an extensive billboard campaign will run across six countries showcasing the new 10th-anniversary crystal helmet, which can also be scanned with a QR code.

Another impressive example of how major labels are heavily invested in marketing catalouge music.

Join the RAC Cult: RAC, the awarding winning artist and leading figure in the Web3 movement, has unveiled a new fan membership project called "Cult Pass." The membership is dynamic and visually morphs based on the user's wallet activity.

As RAC explains in a Twitter post, collectors can "mutate" their Cult Pass to generate a unique "Orb" that represents their on-chain activity. In essence, fans who purchase RAC music NFTs will own an evolving Orb image that changes based on their level of engagement with RAC Web3 projects.

Although the project is a fascinating example of Web3's potential for fan engagement, to us it still remains a very niche concept and far from mainstream adoption. Nonetheless, the evolving Orb image is a visually stunning concept that highlights the growing interest in Web3 and its possibilities for music fans.

Fans Love Free Stuff. Here are 5 ideas to help you inspire some great giveaways via Bandzoogle and keep your fans coming back for more.

ICYMI

Catch up on our recent stories:

• Inside DMA'S Winning UK Album Strategy

• The Future of Radio: Navigating the Threats and Opportunities of AI and Streaming

• The Secret Sauce of JVKE's TikTok Success

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Lead Writer - Olivia Gliku
Editor and Publisher - Nick Lynagh

Promoed is created and published by Habit Music Pty Ltd.

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^{We acknowledge the Turrbal people, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we stand, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.}