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Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDiving
Returning guest Darren Hemmings is a music marketing expert and the founder of a creative marketing agency specialising in music called Motive Unknown.
He's also the author of the excellent Network Notes Substack.
How do you break through in 2025? How do you even get your music heard? These problems are as pertinent for acts signed to big labels as it is for people just starting out.
Is streaming a problem? And what is the role of labels today? We address all these things and much more besides in a vital conversation for anyone with even a passing interest in music, the industry, and the development of culture in today’s big tech- dominated world.
This is a great conversation with a returning guest who will definitely be on the show again!
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If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - \"Solidarity\" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And \"Musicality\" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.
Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
Chapters:
02:41 Intro
04:34 Music marketing: constantly changing… or just copycatting?
07:59 The Death of Monoculture
12:30 Why do labels exist anymore?
14:35 Labels as a nexus point
18:05 Big Tech hates teenage girls
20:07 Music is worth… nothing
22:07 Flood the market with crap
26:10 Sorry, but not everyone’s an artist
27:13 Raves without phones
29:55 The “S” word
35:53 The importance of local scenes
39:20 What does change look like
44:46 Déjà Vu: The next music industry collapse
48:23 Oasis, K-Pop, and the price of nostalgia
55:00 Did Indie labels blow their shot?
56:05 Private equity, KKR and boycotting
01:04:21 The role of journalism and criticism
01:08:14 Is Gen Z missing out?
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