Remember pop rock? I’m talking about acts like Lifehouse, The Fray, One Republic, and Imagine Dragons. They ruled pop radio. Today if they came out they would be labeled adult contemporary. The sounds of soft rock.  Regardless, The Como Brothers are keeping it alive.  They can be found gigging around Hard Rock Café and The Cutting Room in New York City. They’ve had songs featured on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, MTV’s The Real World, and The Oxygen Channel’s Best Ink. Stream the coming of age song Feeling The Night on KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist.

Spotify launched the Noteable Releases Playlist that will highlight the collaborative process of making music for established and emerging artists. The playlist will include releases from songwriters and producers around the world.

Today on the playlist are the usual suspects – Jack Antonoff, Zaytoven, Finneas O’Connell, Madi Yanofsky, and Autumn Rowe.

Finneas O’Connell thoughts on Noteable Releases:
“As a person who has always been curious who played what role behind the scenes on every project I’ve ever listened to and loved, I’m thrilled. Wish this had been around when I was 13, I would have eaten it up!”

Jack Antonoff shares:
“I think any way that people can start to understand more about how these records are made and what goes into them and the process is thrilling – I always used to dig up any information I could so the more readily available it is is cool.”

Watch out for Will hyde and the track boy. You’ll like if you love electro pop. The track would fit perfectly on Spotify’s Bedroom Pop Playlist.

Will shares, “the premise of the song is around accepting change as a good thing. Forgiving yourself for changing. When I was younger I was surrounded by people at that particular time who seemed to resist any attempts I made to change myself – from the way I looked, to the views I had on life. Maturing and growing up can be scary but embracing the human you are becoming makes it a lot easier to be at peace with.”

The Melbourne based artists is the former one half of the duo SŸDE that became the finalist of triple j Unearthed in 2017 and going on to garner over 65 million streams as part of the project.

After venturing on his own he picked up support from Ones To Watch, Clash, NME, Wonderland, and Variance Magazine. His debut “with u in mind” clocked over 4.5 million Spotify streams.

Stream it on KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist.

Check out Holding Back Your Love by Kenyon France.  The track is reminiscence of Bieber’s Lonely but more alternative rock. The mid tempo track could find its way on Spotify’s Rock This and New Noise. The singer songwriter grew up in North Dakota, moved to Arizona and plays in the band Verry Cherry.

Music found a new competitor. It’s called digital distraction. Music has the ability to evoke emotions and it releases Dopamine, the neurotransmitters associated with reward. Social media also releases dopamine. Music can be addicting, but Twitter and Facebook are more addicting. That’s why you’ll get more likes with your photo in a bikini than a song.

Instead of breeding music junkies, the world is birthing social media junkies getting their dopamine fix from cunning engineered platforms.

The Beatles performing in the middle of a casino couldn’t warrant the attention of a gambling addict playing a slot machine. The slots to the addict are far more addicting than a 3 minute song performed by the greatest band of all time.

Today, you’re competing in the world’s largest casino filled with junkies checking their phones every 5 minutes. Likes, clicks, smiley emojis, and hashtags. Nobody is listening. They are not engaged.

You may even find yourself getting sucked in the digital delusion, hence, must create daily distraction-free rituals.

You thought social media was your friend. You were told it was great way to engage with customers, and develop a brand. The jokes on you. We are the customers. You are THEIR brand. You make up the the 2.7 billion monthly active users that drives the stock price. Ed Sheeran generated $775.6 million from touring, not on Twitter.

Stop trying to communicate with a junkie and take your music to the streets. You’ll be better off than hiding in the realm of social media. You have to be passionate about your art. Wait outside of the hotel rooms for the bigger artists that come to your town. Play your music and find your way backstage.

Start busking and street performing, you’ll never know who you will meet. You’ll have the ability to make people fall in love if you have superstar talent. You’ll know it when people stick around by the end of your first song. If you get 100 by the end of your 3rd, it’s even better. If you get shutdown by the police, you’re going Hollywood.

You couldn’t be more wrong if you think street performing is passé. It’s easy to put yourself online, but street performing requires effort. This is how Tones And I made it. Her breakout hit ‘Dance Monkey’ was the biggest song 2020. But you wouldn’t have heard of her had she not danced herself from the streets to the charts.

Serendipity, and the right place and the right time is still the emperor, not algorithms.

Stop communicating with addicts. Take your music to back to the streets.  It’s back to busking.