Bing is now recommending additional search queries to try out and websites to check out based on your activity and what’s popular. I am not sure how new this is but this was pointed out to me by @NFG946 on Twitter.

Ever since Penguin 4.0, we know Google preferred to ignore bad links versus penalize those bad links. Well, that applies to other search spam as well. Google’s John Mueller said the other day on Twitter that “if we can neutralize the effect of bad links, that’s enough; there’s no need to remove the site completely from search then.”

Google is now labeling some businesses that are in coworking office spaces with that label in the local pack search results. I am not 100% if this is new, but Sarah Blocksidge spotted it and posted a screen shot of this in action.

Frequently releasing single songs might be easier than you think. We’re living in the age of singles. As music streaming has grown in popularity over the past decade, it’s taken the single-song format along for the ride. While a full-length album shows you’re serious about your music, the digital single is an indispensable tool in an artist’s belt.  Singles are especially useful for new artists, when potential fans have the choice between a 45-minute album smorgasbord or a 3-minute appetizer. When they just want to find out what you’re all about, they’re going for the bite-size sample nine times out […]

Your guide to maximizing your music revenue everywhere These days, there are more ways for musicians to make money from their work than ever before. In the modern era, downloads and streaming have become the new “traditional” revenue sources; that is, the ones most artists are familiar with and know they can earn money from based on use of their sound recording and composition. But a new term was needed to define the way to collect revenue from even newer, non-traditional sources. That new term is monetization. How is monetization different from other ways of making money from music? This […]

A look back on music in a tough year Look, 2020 sucked. That shouldn’t be a controversial take at the end of a year with a seemingly endless string of challenges, setbacks and generally terrible news almost every day. The global COVID pandemic hit nearly every industry square in the jaw, with workers in numerous fields out of work due to temporary (and in some cases permanent) closures. The music industry didn’t avoid the blow. With touring ceasing entirely for most of 2020 and the foreseeable future, countless venues have closed their doors for good. Artists who have relied upon […]

Optimize your YouTube channel to grow your audience The first big question about promoting your music on YouTube is: why? Why do the work of creating a channel, optimizing it, and building a brand on YouTube? The answer: 2 billion. That’s how many users log into YouTube per month, accumulating billions of video views each day. And that number only counts active accounts, not people who watch videos on the platform without a Google account. According to a 2019 Dataportal study, 79% of Internet users say they have a YouTube account. That makes it the second most popular social media […]

Have you ever heard actors talk about the difference between acting in a play versus acting in a film? Actors will often talk about how they have to exaggerate their movements and facial expressions on stage in order to get their point across. While on the other hand, an actor in a film can use very very subtle changes in their expression to make a connection.  How is singing for live streams different than singing at a concert? If live shows are Broadway, then live streams are film. During live shows naturally you have to project more. But, when you’re […]

Art Tracks on YouTube seem to cause a lot of confusion for musicians. Who can view them? Who owns them? Where do they live? Can I see mine? Do I even need Art Tracks for my music? Let’s dive in. What is a YouTube Art Track? According to YouTube, an Art Track is an automatically generated YouTube version of a sound recording. An Art Track consists of: The sound recording The album art Metadata about the recording, such as its title and artist name What is the purpose of Art Tracks? Excuse us for getting a bit existential there. Art […]

CD Baby artists can access Spotify Canvas to add looping visuals to your songs Spotify Canvas is a feature that allows you to upload 3-8 second looping videos for each of your tracks on Spotify. CD Baby is really excited to get you access to this visual branding tool on Spotify, because it has proven to draw listeners deeper into the music. Spotify claims that beta testing of high-quality Canvases increased: track shares by an average of 145% playlist adds by 20% streams by 5% and profile visits by 9% Given that video can stir a more immediate and high-impact […]

When distributing your music, it’s important to not put all your streaming platform eggs in one basket. While Spotify is a popular streaming platform, there are plenty of other platforms you should be distributing to in order to maximize your revenue. Case in point: Apple Music is often right alongside Spotify as the two major competing streaming giants in the world. That’s because as of 2020, Apple Music is second to Spotify in overall subscribers. The numbers from our friends at MusicAlly break down like this: Spotify: 130 million paid subscribers Apple Music: 60 million paid subscribers So, why would […]

How to monetize all your music on YouTube YouTube monetization is a vital source of money for many musicians — and it’s just ONE of several important forms of music revenue from YouTube.  What are those different revenue sources? How is that money generated on YouTube? And how do you collect it all? Read on! Optimize to monetize Before we get too far into the topic of monetization though, it’s worth mentioning that in order to maximize your revenue opportunities on YouTube, you’ll want to make sure your house is in order. Check out “How to Promote Your Music on YouTube” if […]

How to prepare for your band’s photo shoot Good photos are a key part of your promotional toolkit as a musician.  Whether you’re using these photos for social media, album artwork, your Spotify profile, or getting press, your next band photo shoot should yield a variety of images that are:  High-quality Visually compelling Reflective of your current style Most importantly, your musician photos should feel like YOU! To help you prepare for your next musician photo shoot, I spoke with celebrity photographer Josh Telles. I’ve had the pleasure of being on set for countless shoots with Josh (in addition to […]

Valentin Pletzer noticed Google testing having the related search boxes carousel stick to the top of the mobile search results as you scroll. So those related searches just hang out at the top of the search results even if you scroll past them.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

For the past week or so, for some queries, it seems like Google is hiding the featured snippet label in the search results. A search for [avocado scrub] shows one example of this but there are others. I asked Google about this via Twitter twice but have not heard back. I assumed it was a bug but I am not sure.