Music Production and Mixing Tips Podcast for DIY Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
If you're searching for answers on topics such as: How do I make my mixes sound professional? What equipment do I need to start producing music at home? What is the difference between mixing and mastering? What are some of your favourite production tools and techniques? How do I get my music noticed by record labels? Or what are the key elements of an effective music marketing strategy? Either way, you’re my kind of person, and there's something in this podcast for you!
I'm Marc Matthews, and I host the Inside The Mix Podcast. It's the ultimate serial podcast for music production and mixing enthusiasts. Say goodbye to generic interviews and tutorials, because I'm taking things to the next level. Join me as I feature listeners in round table music critiques and offer exclusive one-to-one coaching sessions to kickstart your music production and mixing journey. Prepare for cutting-edge music production tutorials and insightful interviews with Grammy Award-winning audio professionals like Dom Morley (Adele) and Mike Exeter (Black Sabbath). If you're passionate about music production and mixing like me, Inside The Mix is the podcast you can't afford to miss!
Start with this audience-favourite episode: #175: What's the Secret to Mixing Without Muddiness? Achieving Clarity and Dynamics in a Mix
Thanks for listening!
Music Production and Mixing Tips Podcast for DIY Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
#205: Why Artists Need Strategy Over Followers in 2025 (feat. Jesse Kirshbaum)
The music industry is shifting fast—are you ready for it? In this episode, Jesse Kirshbaum returns to Inside the Mix to break down how independent artists can build sustainable music careers in 2025. From strategic content creation to authentic brand deals, Jesse shares how “selling in” (not selling out) can help you monetize without compromising your creativity.
We dive into why follower count no longer dictates brand value, how artists with smaller audiences can still land partnerships, and what platforms reward consistent over perfect content. Jesse also unpacks the surprising return of physical retail spaces and why real-world fan engagement is more valuable than ever.
This episode reveals how to approach non-music brands, align with your values, and stay relevant in a fragmented industry where niche audiences rule. Whether you're just starting or rethinking your strategy, Jesse’s insights from the Beats + Bytes 2025 Halftime Report give you the tools to succeed on your own terms.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Follow Jesse Kirshbaum
Beats & Bytes 2025 Half Time Report
Ways to connect with Marc:
Book your FREE Music Breakthrough Strategy Call
Radio-ready mixes start here - get the FREE weekly tips
Grab exclusive access to BONUS content
Follow Marc's Socials:
Instagram | YouTube | Synth Music Mastering
Thanks for listening!!
Forget everything you know about music production. What if virality shifts and branding strategies could completely redefine how artists build careers in 2025? In this episode, Jesse Kirschbaum returns.
Jesse Kirshbaum:You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast with your host, Mark.
Marc Matthews:Matthews, welcome to Inside the Mix, your go-to podcast for music creation and production. Whether you're crafting your first track or refining your mixing skills, join me each week for expert interviews, practical tutorials and insights to help you level up your music and smash it in the music industry. Let's dive in. Welcome back folks. Welcome back, or welcome to Inside the Mix. Today I'm joined once again by American entrepreneur, talent agent, author and CEO of new agency, jesse Kirschbaum. If you caught episode 141, you'll remember we broke down why independent artists don't need a record label to succeed and how personal branding is one of the most powerful tools in music today modern music. Jesse, how are you? And welcome back. It's been a while 141, so over a year. I would say yeah.
Jesse Kirshbaum:Mark, it's so good to be here. I'm doing well. I'm glad to be back, my friend. We had a lot of fun last time and there's a lot more to talk about. It's a really interesting, exciting time with a lot of opportunity and a lot of uncertainty out here.
Marc Matthews:Indeed, yeah, we've got some really, really interesting topics to go through today, so we're taking this conversation into the future. So Jesse just released his Beats and Bytes 2025 Halftime Report and I'm going to put a link to that in the episode description because it is a very important read and in this episode, we're diving deep into the key trends and strategies you need to know as an indie artist or producer. So if you're serious about building a sustainable, future-proof career in music, this episode is packed with the insights you won't want to miss. So before we dive into that, though, if you want weekly tips to make your music playlist worthy, click the link in the episode description to get my free tips to level up your music productions.
Marc Matthews:No fluff, no rubbish. Just once a week, I'll send you loads of really interesting stuff to help you develop your music, including a link to the Beats and Bytes 2025 halftime report as well. So that's enough for me waffling on as I do at the beginning of these episodes, jesse, so I thought we'll start with navigating the changing digital landscape. So if we could talk about recent management shakeups and maybe you could talk a bit about should artists now think like brands?
Jesse Kirshbaum:This has been a year where we're seeing more and more artists musical chairs changing places. The golden rule of management has always been it's not if you're going to be fired, but when. So you're always living with this level of uncertainty. But now, with people being able to go direct to the artists through social media and artists being more comfortable fielding their own deals and communication changing and the landscape changing in terms of dynamics of power, in terms of top players in the space, in terms of priorities of artists in a digital and brand forward landscape, a lot of artists have been changing teams, so we're seeing a era of management shake up more than we've seen ever before, and that is definitely changing the power landscape and we're seeing that more and more in this business.
Jesse Kirshbaum:Indie artists are on the rise as a trend. Artists are owning more of their own masters. Artists have to reevaluate how they think, especially if they want to approach brands, because in the brand partnership world, you need to be thinking like a brand and if you're working with bigger brands, you need to be figuring out how to service them, almost with agency capabilities. It's brands like Oreos and Sour Patch Kids and Levi's and the Gap and so many others Levi's and the Gap and so many others Anheuser-Busch, stellar, artois these are brands that are big and have major distribution and are used to agency level service. So if an artist is working with these brands, they just need to be thinking about things differently than what they would have approached a brand partnership maybe, or a sponsorship in the past. The whole market is shifting and this is also reflected in a lot of this kind of management musical chairs that we're seeing.
Marc Matthews:Interesting. I like the idea of management musical chairs.
Jesse Kirshbaum:It's quite an interesting one, so you pick one up you lose one, when the music stops, you might be out on the street and then you know this is a business that loves comebacks and you know in many ways the coaches outlive the players and in many ways you know you could be down on your luck in may and back on top in june. So just because you lost one round, uh as an entrepreneur doesn't mean that you're done for uh, you could definitely be back with the next act and take all the learning she took from the first one and apply it to the next one. I see it all.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, you kind of got to be quite resilient. It's developing that resilience, isn't it? I think that's just in the creator, no matter what sort of creator remit you're, in being resilient and being able to ride the ups and downs of it. An interesting point you made there about indie artists. When it comes to brand deals, have you noticed like a trend with particular genres of music or maybe genre of indie artist? Would that be a thing or subsection of music in particular that is more conducive to a brand partnership, or does it depend on the actual individual themselves.
Jesse Kirshbaum:The creator economy, which is really defining this decade and this era, has changed the rules when it comes to artists, influencers, smaller acts, bigger acts, and how they interchange and how they market with and deal with brands.
Jesse Kirshbaum:Brands are now way more comfortable working with macro or micro influencers, nano influencers 10,000 people, 500, 1,000 true passionate, engaged following Is enough for a brand to say that moves the needle for me, as long as it's a selling product. So what influencers or creators have really figured out is how to do these type of deals, because that's their only stream of income. And I look at musicians and I'm like they're the ultimate creators, they're the ultimate influencers. They make music that can travel faster than the speed of light and they can connect and they can be in all of these different rooms and they tour and they put out a product that really touches on the heartstrings and minds of people. It's a universal language. Like. Musicians are so well positioned in this creator economy boom that we're seeing they just have to be willing to play ball in regards to these opportunities that brands are looking for and are able to make a great living because they are very focused on tailoring their work to brands.
Jesse Kirshbaum:I don't think musicians should do that, because I think it hurts the integrity of their art, but I do think there's enough brands out there that believe in the power of this influencer world that would want to work with artists in an endemic, creative, authentic way, and it's really just about being able to bridge that gap and knowing what, as an artist, you stand for and what brands you want to work with and what brands you love and why, and I think, pretty quickly there is a marketplace to connect these brands on a smaller scale. You no longer have to just be on MTV or the radio or send 10 million records to be relevant to a brand, because brands are used to working with smaller but niche targeted partners all the time in this creator economy. So it's a big opportunity. I think it's untapped by a lot of the Indiacs because they're not necessarily approaching themselves as traditional or what's looking like an influencer marketplace and instead they're just kind of, you know, on the fence, and I don't think they should be on the fence.
Jesse Kirshbaum:I think a brand co-sign is almost as big as a remix from Diplo. It means that they've arrived. It means that they're deemed worthy. They're deemed a vehicle. It brings new attention. It brings new marketing energy. It brings new dollars in their pocket. It brings new marketing energy. It brings new dollars in their pocket. It brings new marketing dollars behind their product. It's definitely important for breaking an artist or even like the bigger artists, revenue to do these brand partnerships. It's actually not seen as selling out. If it's done right it's selling in and it's almost like a co-sign.
Marc Matthews:I like that it's selling in. That's a nice soundbite for the episode. I do like that and this kind of echoes. I think the conversation we had last time and I remember asking the question with regards to approaching brands and I think, if I remember rightly because it's been a while you mentioned about when posting to, when creating content and posting it, because I do this myself, if I put something on Instagram, for example, I'm in the studio working away and I've got a coffee there, we have a company called Greg's here in the UK which is where it's like, basically like savory food, let's say, sausage rolls and that sort of thing. It's a very British company, but I'll tag that particular company when I'm working in the studio and occasionally they'll respond or a local supermarket, for example.
Marc Matthews:And that because that conversation we had got me thinking. Actually I I shouldn't just be targeting maybe the wrong word I shouldn't just be trying to build links with music related brands, but also brands outside of the music sphere as well. Um is. Does that still stand up today? I hope, hopefully, what I said that does make some sort of sense yeah, it's actually more than ever.
Jesse Kirshbaum:This is just working with music brands is kind of helpful. An endemic brand like fender they want to definitely support artists and that's their audience. But the world is your oasis. You're bigger than just music in terms of what you stand for and what you potentially can reach. Music is definitely your art and a vehicle and a door opener, but in a lot of ways, it's interesting to know more about you as an artist, as a producer, as a podcaster, for what you stand for and what you're about and what you connect to. So I would definitely be reaching out beyond.
Jesse Kirshbaum:The endemic music brands have the budgets, like the bigger food chains, the bigger CPG products, the bigger alcohol products or even look, it's not all about budget. It's also about other places that you connect that are less trafficked by what you do. You don't want to be in a room full of 10,000 musicians all trying to get the attention of a guitar business. You want to be in new highways and new roads where you stand out and people appreciate your value, but see you for what you can do with them instead of in just a sea of a lot of other concentrated competition. Think differently, think out of the box. Think new frontiers, but think organically. What do you resonate with? If you love this place, gregory's, and you've got a great idea for them and you're there all the time, I would try my luck on connecting with them, on a jingle, on a project, on a promotion, on an in-store, on a performance, on a social piece of content. There's so many ways that musicians can add value to a brand. That could be interesting.
Jesse Kirshbaum:And again, it's a sales game. It's a numbers game. You're going to have to kiss a lot of frogs till you find your prince. You're going to, you know, knock on a thousand doors, maybe have a hundred interested, maybe get 10 offers, maybe close one, but still that is. As you build out an infrastructure, more and more brands will start to see you become safe. With you, it becomes easier to do these partnerships. So it's definitely a process of sales and a lot of rejection. But anybody that's playing the game on a high level knows it's not about what didn't happen, it's about what does happen. And you know what's that famous Wayne Gretzky quote I miss 100% of the shots I don't take.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, I do vaguely remember that quote actually. Yeah, audience, if you're a UK listener, wayne Gretzky is a very famous ice hockey player. I'm correct with that, aren't I? I think I am, yes. Yeah, there we go. He's one of the ice hockey player, but I'm correct with that, aren't I?
Jesse Kirshbaum:I think I am. Yeah, there we go. He's one of the most from back in the day Canadian.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, yeah, yeah, indeed, man, yeah. So I've got a quick question here with regards to, let's say, brand deals. We've got a brand deal in place, maybe a couple of brand deals in place Taken from your halftime report. Maybe you could talk a bit about how affiliate links and performance-based deals are changing artist income.
Jesse Kirshbaum:Yeah, something new that really got a lot that then they could give a high level percentage and if you do buy you'll take a nice affiliate link percentage on whatever you sell. So it's a little bit more of a kill what you eat mentality. But brands like it because it's safer money and it's guaranteed sales and it's a way to get in business with brands and it's a way to kind of really test the market and show and prove. So there's definitely some hesitation to it because you got to kind of be willing to dive in. But brands are willing to make that bet more and more on a percentage of sales and so we're seeing more influencers and creators taking a royalty, getting an affiliate payout on their fan base or products that they're able to sell through their posting.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, with regards to sort of affiliate links, because obviously if you're posting on social media you do need to reference the links, etc. Have you got any advice on sort of like striking a happy balance between promoting your own music as well as sort of affiliate links? Because obviously we've got these brand, you've got a brand deal in place. You want to be promoting that but at the same time I guess you want to be promoting your own music and remaining authentic at the same time. That makes sense. What sort of approach would be best for that? Listen to your audience.
Jesse Kirshbaum:Hear what your audience has to say. See the comments, see where you're getting most traction. Look at the percentage of people that are checking one thing out versus another. I think you've got to be giving your audience as much value as possible, so it usually will be through your music. I would be talking about your music. It's not about just releasing one version of a song anymore. It's multiple versions. There's music videos, there's behind the scenes, there's in front of the scenes, there's the lyric video, then there's the official video.
Jesse Kirshbaum:I think you've got to give a lot of content and context to your fan base and audience about your art and really put it out there and let people understand it. And, along the way, hopefully you're partnering with brands that aren't shelling necessarily products that isn't going to help them right. A good partnership would be products that isn't going to help them right. A good partnership would be hey, audience of this amazing artist. Here's a product that I love. I really enjoy using.
Jesse Kirshbaum:You know athletic greens in the morning. I'm a big fan of. You know Jack Daniels at night, like I'm having a Jack Daniels listening party. Why don't you bring a bottle and we can all listen to some new music tonight on Instagram live. You know all of those options. You just got to be a little creative with it. I wouldn't just be, you know, all of a sudden, a brand board. You know where you're selling your audience, just whatever comes in. I think you want to treat your feed and your partnerships with the same level of high touch and curation as you always have as you built this audience up.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, so it's sort of like what you mentioned. I love the idea of a Jack Daniels listening party, by the way, but yeah, it sounds great, but it's got to naturally flow with what it is that you're what you do. It's got to be authentic, hasn't it? Ultimately? I think that's what we're getting down to here, not just a random post suddenly about something that is totally left field of what it is that you usually represent or do.
Jesse Kirshbaum:And use your skills to storytell and to connect the dots and help people understand why, like on podcasts, we know that those live reads and actually promoting products that they care about makes a difference in selling through. It's the same situation when it comes to artists and creators. Know what products you believe in. Try to work with those, try to give a new story and context to it. Don't just copy and paste. You know, pay for posts. Don't have your manager, just do it all the time. Like, be involved if you want this to resonate, because, like you're saying, authentic. Yeah, it's got to feel like a fit. It doesn't. People can smell out just being sold to and they don't want that, and brands don't want to be in that business either. There's enough brands and enough artists out there to find fits that at least make sense on all levels, and those are the best partnerships. Those make the biggest impact and that's why we're seeing more and more growth in this space is because the marketplace is ripe for this, especially using social media.
Marc Matthews:Indeed, touching on social media and circling back to something you mentioned in my first line of questioning, which was about virality and also about followers numbers, and that your actual social media account and brands aren't looking for those. I suppose they are in a way, but can you talk about real-world connections now, because in the halftime report you mentioned that malls are back shopping centres, as we call them here in the UK. But why follow account is less important than it used to be now to brands, because you touched on it a tiny bit earlier. But maybe if you could talk a little bit more about that and what you mean by the real world connection, people are starving to connect in real life again and people want an experience.
Jesse Kirshbaum:There's a little bit of fatigue of online shopping. If you're going to go buy something, you want to be able to feel it and to touch it. We see vinyl sales are on the. We see vinyl sales are on the rise. We see that sales are on the rise. See physical, tangible media more and more. Events, communities in person, even meetings are at a premium if you can do them in person right now, because we're exhausted from just looking at our screens all the time. And malls are seeing that growth.
Jesse Kirshbaum:People are wanting to go in the stores and what the stores are doing are creating an understanding. They need to create experiences Instagramable moments, reasons to be in the store, all exclusive sales, product drops, fun hangs with other like-minded people in your store's community. It's about creating more than just a transactional experience. These stores have an advantage because they've got these physical retail layouts, so people want to be there and stores understand that that's happening and are more and more catering to these events and these live experiences, which is an exciting thing because, yeah, shopping at Amazon is a great convenience and it's got its innovations and it's a big opportunity but also the fact that we're going back to stores and want to try things on and want to. You know, shop with friends and you know lids, the hat stores making customized hats now that you can only get in stores and patches. People want that. People want to use the expression.
Jesse Kirshbaum:In terms of follower count, it's less important about how many followers you have. It's more important about engagement and engagement percentage ratio how many people of your audience are leaned in. They're coming to see what you have to say. They're coming to see what you have to say. They're listening to what you're talking about. They're buying or following or doing what you're asking them to do. They're be bought. They could be for an old experience. They could have been a different account. You could be a different person. It's less about what you've done in the past. It's really about the context and creation of what you're doing right now. And what's really cool is it's about the content.
Jesse Kirshbaum:This world, some of these algorithms. It doesn't even matter how many followers you have. It just matters how relevant your content is for the algorithm to have it take off. You could have a thousand followers. You could have a hundred followers and make an amazing piece of content on TikTok and have 10 million views, because it's not just your followers that are going to see that. The For you page and the algorithm allow it for now, like the most relevant content to reach the people that are out there. So it's more important than ever to be making great content and your next move has got to be your best move. Versus how many followers you have and what you've done a year ago to build those followers, you know what you've done a year ago to build those followers. Yeah, like on a very surface level scan, you could say, oh, that person has a lot of followers, they're a big deal. But savvy marketers are looking deeper and there's a lot more insights that can be told based on quality of content and engagement of audience.
Marc Matthews:Indeed With regards to content, would you? I probably know the answer to this, but would you say it's quality over quantity, right, when it comes to putting out content in general?
Jesse Kirshbaum:The social graph is really all about staying top of mind. So quality is important, but I actually think that quality is less important. You're never going to do it better than the movie studios and the big production houses, and these creators are winning. Like live streamers are just raw uncut, and that's the next big trend is this live stream experience right from your home, right from your laptop, right from your phone. And so this is not about quality, it's about connection, and it's about connection to audience, and so one of the best ways to stay top of mind is to stay top of the social graph.
Jesse Kirshbaum:With constant posting Plus, these platforms reward more of a posting cadence, so you're playing to an algorithm that wants you to post more. So even if you put up an amazing post once a month, it's not going to get the same algorithmic lift or relevance with your audience as three to four shorter stories or other pieces of content or cutting up the content in different ways. Um, like we talked about earlier, that really will be the way to dominate. So I think it's actually a combination of both, but if the world had its way, currently it's more about quantity than it is quality interesting.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, yeah, I went like I thought you might. I thought it was going to go the other way, but then again I get what you're saying about like the big studios having the, the budgets and the teams behind them, or the big artists, let's say, and being able to really refine and hone in and create that really sort of A-star piece of content. But you've got to work with what you have and UGC, I mean, I do that myself and when I'm putting something out I think good is good enough with the tools and the facilities that I have at hand and what wins for you is consistency and being a trusted voice.
Jesse Kirshbaum:That's there every single week. You know, week in, week out. That's what gets people to feel like they're going to continue to tune in. Not that if you did one blockbuster show with Bruce Springsteen and I don't know how that changes. You know, if you've got the Oasis interview, it's a big week for you, but are people going to care six months from now?
Marc Matthews:Yeah.
Jesse Kirshbaum:Yeah, you're not consistently doing what you're doing right now. You've got our attention, we can count on you. You're in our inbox, you're on our podcast feed every single week, and that is actually so important when it comes to audience and connection yeah, agreed, and it's um.
Marc Matthews:Just this year I've been. I've been releasing more music of my own, and I know I noticed that because it's not something I've with the podcast. I've been consistent now for well, I think it's about five years, um, and then with the newsletter as well, but actually releasing music this year I've been. I've released music sporadically over the past decade or so in various guises, but only this year I've been like you know what I'm I'm gonna put the hammer down and I'm gonna be consistent and try and keep a cadence of four to six weeks and I've noticed the difference. Um, I've released five now and the the hockey stick curve in terms of listenership is is now taking effect, which is, which is amazing, and it's just testament to what you're saying there. It is consistency, consistency and just showing up. Basically.
Jesse Kirshbaum:It's a big insight for the audience and it's hard, you know what it takes every single week, no missed weeks, to show up like this.
Jesse Kirshbaum:It's exhausting, but it's what works. It's what works in all facets of life. It's almost like compounding wisdom, compounding audience, compounding health. Like the more a little bit every single day will get you to a much bigger goal than taking time off, putting back in you know, dibble and dabbling in all in for a week, then off for a month, like people aren't going to reward that behavior and you're not going to see growth in. Like what you just explained. Like you just gave them the key, which is hard work and consistency every single day, with passion and honing your craft. Congratulations on five years with this podcast.
Marc Matthews:Thanks very much and a new music coming out.
Jesse Kirshbaum:That's exciting.
Marc Matthews:It is, it is. It's five years of the podcast has gone by like the blink of an eye. It is mad, mad how time flies and in between getting guests like yourself back on the podcast because it doesn't feel like it was episode, because we're on episode, this is going to be episode 205. And it was episode 141. So it's over a year ago but it certainly doesn't seem that long. And it is mad how time progresses.
Marc Matthews:But that's also why I think audience listening you need to like if you're going to do something, it's just do it, because time goes by so quick, right, and if you want to do something, just start today. You know, that's my thought and that's what I did with the podcast. I was like I'm not going to wait to do loads of research into, like honing the perfect podcast and making sure it's it's absolutely perfect. When I dropped that first episode, I was just like you know what? I'm just just gonna invite someone on that, I know, have a chat about some music and then see what happens. And it is just compound effect. Uh, it's just gone on from there, which is amazing. Um, just say, what a way of the time here. So there's one question or topic I just want to cover before we wrap things up. And in the in the halftime report you mentioned there's no single music industry, so maybe you could just touch on that a bit. What do you mean when you say there's no longer one music industry?
Jesse Kirshbaum:It's a world of niches. Now, even the top artists on the pop charts, most people do not know who they are or their song or their songs in general. It's really changed where it's no longer a world where MTV and radio and record labels defined who you could listen to and who you couldn't. Now everybody's got a voice. There's all these different connection points to audience and to fans, and it's really changed from this kind of streaming and podcast world where you're not just listening to a country music station or a rap station. It's really customized and tailored to your taste. The radar release is going to tell you what came out on Spotify, but based on your personal preferences. But based on your personal preferences, the biggest playlists on Spotify aren't the country music playlist or the rock music playlist. It's Pollen, which is a feeling. It's New Music Friday, which is a whole consortium of different artists and genres. The era of the genre has really disappeared. It's no longer about that. It's now really about music and community and experience and vibe. What do you want to feel? If you want to feel good, there's a mix for that and that mix is going to play you songs that make you feel good, depending on the genre. So it's become a lot harder to find these kind of water cooler artists and these water cooler moments, universally beloved songs. It's now an industry of some really might like Fred again and might be ravenous fans and he could sell out a show in Brooklyn in 10 minutes that he announces. And some might want to see the next streaming sensation on TikTok. And some might like an artist's music but not have any idea what they look like or sound like and not be interested in going to their live show. It's really like a whole different consortium of artists and genres and industry. It's multiple different businesses. A TikTok artist is different than a SoundCloud artist is different than an artist that's big on radio. So if you look at the charts and you look at what your friends are listening to and in different regions, what they're listening to and what your parents are listening to, what new music's coming up, it's really like a mixed bag and so it's an opportunity because you could have a true audience or a true fan base and really be able to do a lot with them. The long tail is alive and in many ways thriving, but also it makes it harder to be able to wrap your arms around, like what are the songs of the summer. I just put out a mix for, like, my favorite songs of the summer. It's everyone's got an opinion but nobody actually does. It's really hard to define what is the biggest song this summer Because there aren't really big summer blockbuster music moments anymore. It's just a lot of different. If you went to Glastonbury, you had this artist. If you went to Coachella, you loved this artist. If you watch this movie, you watch the K-pop demon slaying Netflix smash. That's your song of the summer. If you went to Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway, that's your song of the summer. You went to Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway. That's your song of the summer.
Jesse Kirshbaum:It's such a wide-ranging selection of music right now that there's just no breakout. Everybody agrees pop culture moment, except for the Super Bowl, right? That's one of those things that is like become bigger than ever and the stage is bigger than ever and everybody's watching that 10 minute performance and it ripples and it helped Kendrick Lamar, you know, become one of the biggest artists on the planet. That you know. Five-year-olds to 80-year-olds all now know who he is and his music because he played that on that stage. But besides that, it's really hard to define what is mainstream popular music right now, because we're all living in our own kind of curated bubbles yeah, that's exactly what I've got written down in my notes here curated, and that's how I feel it is because I do that.
Marc Matthews:I, I do it unknowingly, every friday. I always listen to release radar and I just it's just a part of my life now and that that curation, um, where it's automatically done for me without me, and it's the same when I go on youtube or any other well, any other platform like that, and I know as soon as I open it up, all the content's been curated for me. But it's going to be different to, for example, my fiance. What's curated for her on youtube is entirely different to what's curated for me, uh, and and the same with spotify as well, which is I can see when you, when you describe it as fragmented markets, and how it really is, um, as you say, apart from that, that super bowl moment, um, which is it's amazing how that transcends, isn't it? And how? Um?
Marc Matthews:Going back to my fiance again, he's got, she's got no interest whatsoever in american football, but she's aware of the halftime show and it's just, it's amazing and how huge, huge that is. Just that halftime, those 10 minutes, like you say, it's absolutely incredible, powerful stuff, man. Jesse, big thanks again for returning and talking this through with me today, because it's incredibly interesting stuff and I always come away with new sort of tactics that I want to employ myself when it comes to promoting music my own music and the podcast as well and helping other people out. So I think it's amazing. So I think, before we wrap things up, um, maybe if you could just chat a little bit about the new agency, about your newsletter, where the audience could find you online as well I'd be be happy to.
Jesse Kirshbaum:So I live at the intersection of entertainment technology and brand partnerships. Really, what we do is help brands make meaningful connections to their consumers by leveraging the power of music. So that could be a original song for a brand, that could be an artist as the face of a campaign, that could be a content partnership where an artist is doing a commercial of some sort for an artist, for a brand. We really are storytellers that help create pop culture moments and every week I chronicle what's happening in the space. It's kind of my love letter to the music business. It's a newsletter called Beats and Bytes and it's got a pretty large influential following and basically I'm telling you everything that I'm seeing that's happening in the music and brand space, with my own POV, different projects or priorities that I'm working on. And it's a curation where every week I'll scour a thousand articles, read a hundred and basically select 10 that I share in my newsletter.
Jesse Kirshbaum:And we obviously love your podcast. We love what you're doing, we know you're a true music head, coming from a really different market in the UK and really care about your craft and just excited to be able to amplify what you're doing. And so when there's relevant conversations. We have a podcast section where we'll highlight one podcast each week that we listen to, and for me I'm just like in the trend gym I'm constantly seeing what's out there, I'm constantly being tapped to kind of chronicle what's going on, and then we're creating our own moments all the time with different campaigns and projects. This week in July, when this comes out, I'll be having two big events in New York one with the wrestling world and wrestling and hip hop and brands, and another is like an exclusive on stage, uh, broadway experience where you know you'll see your favorite Broadway star, uh, you know, and have dinner with them. Uh, while, uh, on the stage of of, of the one of the biggest hits in the history of the genre of theater.
Jesse Kirshbaum:So those are the type of things, whereas on top of that, we're working with constantly brands, ideating around different campaigns, projects, things to think about, artists they should be aligning with tours, they should be sponsoring festivals they should be showing up at. That's what we do all day long. We just try to figure out ways to support artists and the music business through the proud, the power of brand marketing amazing, exciting stuff, man.
Marc Matthews:I love those two events that you got planned. They sound incredibly interesting and, at the same time, incredibly diverse as well. It must be exciting. Every day is going to be for you, I can imagine it's extremely different to the day before, which I think is a very good way to sort of operate within, just if that's your career. You know, something new and different and exciting every day is what we all strive for, I think. But, jesse, again, it's been an absolute pleasure having you back on the podcast today.
Marc Matthews:Everything you mentioned there I'll put notes in the episode description. Rather, I'll put links in the episode description so the audience can go away. Sign up for the newsletter, check out the new agency and what you're up to as well, check out those two events. And again, a huge, huge thank you. Audience listening as well. If you do want to learn more about what Jesse's up to, obviously click the link in the episode description, but also sign up for the newsletter that I send out once a week as well, as I'll be putting links to the halftime report in there. Also. Click the link in the episode description and you can find that too. Basically, you can just find everything in the episode description head there, and you'll find it all. The episode description head there, and you'll find it all.
Jesse Kirshbaum:Uh, jesse, again a big thank you and I will catch up with you soon, mark. It was a pleasure, great seeing you.
Marc Matthews:Have a wonderful rest of your summer and let's do it again soon indeed, until next time, folks stay inspired, keep creating and don't be afraid to experiment inside the mix.
