Producing music videos during the Covid pandemic was a bit like cooking with half the ingredients missing—you had to get creative, or go hungry. I ended up making three music videos during the Covid pandemic and with each attempt the projects got braver, stranger, and more ambitious. This one might just be my favourite. Not just because of the finished video, but because of the problems I had to solve to make it.

Your videos don’t need to be perfect. In fact, striving for perfection can often make them about as exciting as watching paint dry. When you're making videos as a musician, there's a temptation to tidy everything up. Get the perfect take. Remove the stumbles. Cut out the bit where you forget what you were saying. Edit out anything that makes you look slightly less than completely in control.  Sometimes that's exactly what you shouldn't do. A mistake can be the bit that makes the video feel human.

You've got a new song. You've got a video idea. You've got your phone, your camera, your mate who reckons they're pretty good at filming stuff... You're ready to go.  Except there's one thing you should work out before you hit record.

Nothing to Post? How often have you sat down to post something about your music and thought: “What the hell am I going to post today?” You've got a new single coming. You've already posted the artwork. You've announced the release date. You've shared the pre-save link. You've told everyone it's coming. Twice. And now you're staring at your phone trying to squeeze another piece of content out of thin air. Welcome to Content Creator's Block. Except here's the thing. I don't think most musicians actually have a shortage of things to say. They're just looking in the wrong places.

A musician messaged me recently and said I was wasting my time making music videos. Apparently her manager told her not to bother because “no one watches them anymore.” Which is always a fun thing to hear when a big part of your job is… making music videos. Now, before you think I told her the manager was clueless, I didn’t. Because here’s the thing. He’s kind of right. And also completely wrong.

Let's face the elephant in the room If you’re a musician thinking, “AI is going to make me irrelevant”, pull up a chair. I'm about to drop a few truth bombs - in fact a lot of truth bombs!

It doesn't matter what kind of business you run. If you're using social media to promote what you do, you could be missing something important. Turning followers into fans. Independent musicians, in particular, can be guilty of this. You post the song. You post the video. You post yourself performing it. And then... nothing. There's nothing wrong with posting performance videos. They're an important part of showing people what you do. But if every post is you performing at people, eventually you're just broadcasting. If you want followers to become fans, you need to give them a reason to get involved. Not just watch you.  Here are three simple ways to get your followers talking, rather than just scrolling past.

Ask Yourself This One Question Today 👇 Why are you doing this? No seriously. Why are you posting stuff on social? Because the answer to that will tell you exactly how to create your marketing strategy. It’s that simple. If you don't know why you're posting, you're basically throwing stuff at the internet and hoping something sticks.

I’ve worked in the music industry on and off since I was 16 (which was over 40 years ago). In that time, I’ve seen some massive changes. Formats have come and gone (and come back). Entire genres have been invented. But now, for the first time, it feels like something has properly broken. So… where did the wheels actually fall off?