Ed Sheeran releases Bad Habits. It’s reminiscence of 5 Seconds of Summer’s Youngblood. After one listen, fans won’t be disappointed. He’s one of the few artist that avoids hype and lets the songs do the speaking.

Winston Marshall from the folk rock band Mumford & Sons is leaving the band so he can speak freely about politics. He said that “as long as I am a member of the band, speaking my mind on the evils of political extremism could bring them trouble. My loyalty and love for them cannot permit that.”

Snapchat announced a deal with Universal Music Group that allows users on the platform to use clips songs from in their Snaps and on Spotlight. These deals aren’t exclusive — you can make a video and share on Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram alike.

Britney Spears is in the news cycle again with her 13-year conservatorship. The details are truly explosive and makes you wonder how this is legal in this country. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” said Britney. “I want to end the conservatorship without being evaluated.”

Look out for Linnea Siggelkow aka Ellis and the new track Hell. It took me a few times to get hooked and add it to KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist. I like it because it’s introspective and draws you in. You could feel the same effect if you pay attention. The song would fit nicely on Spotify’s Late Night Vibes Playlist.

The track comes off the ‘nothing is sacred anymore‘ out tomorrow 6/25. The Hamilton based dream pop artist previously released “hospital” and “what if love isn’t enough.”

“What happens to us when we die?” Siggelkow asks. “Obviously I don’t know for sure but I think the concept of hell in a traditional sense is very strange. Thinking about it as a place that exists in the afterlife feels like it discounts all the real and shitty things that people endure in this lifetime. Hell exists on earth, we see it all the time. I like to think that death isn’t the gateway to hell, it’s some kind of freedom from it.”

The four artist that have joined Spotify’s Fresh Program Wallice, Unusual Demont, Julia Wolf and EKKSTACY — all have released singles.

Part 1” by Julia Wolf, produced by Jackson Foote,
“hey!” by Unusual Demont, produced by The Idiot (aka Kieran Watters),
f*ck everything!” by EKKSTACY (feat. The Drums), produced by Jonny Pierce of The Drums,
“Nothing Scares Me” by Wallice, produced by marinelli & Ariel Rechtshaid.

The Spotify Fresh Finds Playlist was launched in 2016 and features up-and-coming artists which used data from music blogs and tastemakers.

Now the playlist has expanded into an “artist program” that will help independent artists by providing education and resources as well as opportunities for collaboration.

Artists selected by Spotify will have access to one-on-one mentorship with members of Spotify and a personalized Masterclass to learn how to best use Spotify for Artists tools (like Canvas and Marquee). There will be collaboration opportunities with songwriters and producers and the artists and producers/songwriters will release an original Spotify Singles track.

The four artists that debuted on the first Fresh Finds program are Wallice, Unusual Demont, Julia Wolfand EKKSTACY— they all just met up this morning in Times Square to see themselves on the FreshFinds billboard.

Spotify is also rolling out new Fresh Finds playlists in the UK, Australia, Brazil, Spain, India, and more.

The sister duo KTJ & CARLY releases Hidden. It’s a bit different and it’s not easy achieving uniqueness today. Blending pop, electronic, and r&b, the pop cites ROZES, JoJo, and PVRIS as influences.

Currently enrolled in the Berklee College of Music’s online program, The Los Angeles based duo released their dynamic debut “Identity EP” in 2020. Features include Rolling Stone, Atwood Magazine, Euphoria, and Flaunt. They scored their first feature film, “God Save The Queen,”.

“We wanted to write a song about hiding our inner-demons and being the one in the relationship that is non-commital or has fears of being vulnerable,” says Katie Haynes. Give it a stream on KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist.

Instagram is losing its popularity. Why? Everybody is on TikTok and people are getting bored of influencer marketing and ads.

Instagram went totally corporate. It’s now geared for the politician and the corporation with deep pockets that will spend hundreds of thousands for top shelf placement. It’s for the online celebrity who wants to sell things to followers.

I wonder if those who spend enormous amount of money on the platform know it’s losing influence.

Too many influencers, not enough eyeballs: Will boredom kill Instagram?

It’s nearly impossible for a instagram user to achieve organic reach. When I mean organic reach I’m talking posting content without paid promotion and people coming across your content in a non-targeted way.

Instagram is killing organic reach just like Facebook. An artist doesn’t create a FB profile expecting to reaching anybody. Instagram is now trailing facebook with its corporate paid algorithm.

“The organic reach on Facebook went from 16% in 2012 to 2.27% in 2015, and it’s only dropping.”

Of course these companies don’t want you to build a reach organically. They want you to pay for it, that’s why they are killing organic reach.