More and more it seems like “Direct to Fan” is having a moment in the music industry...but it’s not a new concept and a lot of what you’re hearing about it misses the point entirely... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa set the record straight on what “direct to fan” really means for artists. We unpack the buzz around D2F in the industry, the confusion with D2C models, and how to build a business on your terms with your fans and customers! If you’re building your artist business a...
Jul 01, 2025•37 min•Ep. 381
Going viral and building momentum with your fans online is important but what you do after those moments can make your marketing count... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa unpack what to do once you've started getting attention online, whether it's from a viral video or slow, steady growth over time! Learn how artists get stuck in the murky middle when building a fan base, chasing ideas without direction, and what to focus on instead by testing content variations, building with a...
Jun 24, 2025•30 min•Ep. 380
Want a masterclass in fan engagement? Not everything you see in the music industry is worth copying, but now and then, artists' release strategies really stand out... In this episode of Creative Juice , Jack and Circa break down Jon Bellion’s release strategy for Father Figure and why it’s one of the coolest fan-focused rollouts we’ve seen in a while! Learn about Jon's dedication to his email list and growing an old school style forum, what’s working, why his fans are going crazy over it, and ho...
Jun 17, 2025•25 min•Ep. 379
As artists grow, it’s easy to let the little things slide. It’s the artists who stay locked in on the details who see long-term success... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dig into the small tweaks that lead to big results as your music career grows. Learn about how email and text personalization, fan recognition, and better messaging habits are a superpower that the best artists get growth from! If you’re looking to increase engagement, build real fan loyalty, and stand out, th...
Jun 10, 2025•18 min•Ep. 378
What's up Indies welcome back to Creative Juice, this is the podcast where we cover growing and monetizing your fan base and building your music career with marketing strategies that are working RIGHT NOW based on what we see every day at our music marketing agency and across our community of thousands of artists and bands, I hope you enjoy and subscribe. I'm your host Jack McCarthy and with me as always is my co-captain Circa, what's up dude? Figuring out how to grow in your music career probab...
Jun 03, 2025•37 min•Ep. 377
“How about TikTok?” It’s one of the most common questions we get from artists and their teams when talking about running ads... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dig into how we run TikTok Ads at our music marketing agency IndieX—where they fit, when we use them, and how to get results without burning cash! Learn why we don’t use TikTok Ads for testing, how we rely on organic content first, and how to use viral videos to your advantage! If you’ve been wondering where TikTok Ads f...
May 27, 2025•45 min•Ep. 376
In a noisy music industry, artists often find themselves stuck, spinning their wheels with different advice, and not knowing what steps to take to actually hit their goals. And it's not your fault... In part two of this Creative Juice conversation, Jack sits down with IndieFounder Lead Strategist Jonah McLean to dig deeper into marketing systems that help artists hit their goals! Learn about growing streaming with digital marketing, where to optimize your marketing for chart success, and how to ...
May 20, 2025•31 min•Ep. 375
Can music marketing actually help you hit your goals or is it just more noise in an already distracted industry? In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack is joined by IndieFounder Lead Strategist Jonah McLean to answer that question with real stories from artists who hit their goals and the marketing that helped them! Learn how to stay authentic in your marketing without losing effectiveness, how to engage with your fans as your audience is building, and what systems you need to own your data and...
May 13, 2025•26 min•Ep. 374
Many artists miss a fundamental business truth. Turning one-time buyers into lifelong customers and building your fan base year over year is where real growth happens. In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa share strategies and stories about how to keep your fans coming back for more after they’ve made their first purchase! Learn the three ways to grow a business, why high-ticket offers should have a place in your membership and product lineup, and why your best fans want to buy more ...
May 06, 2025•31 min•Ep. 373
Getting fans to follow you is one thing — getting them to buy from you is another. But when you do it right, it can change everything for your music career... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa share stories of converting fans into first time customers and different ways we've seen it happen! Learn how to expand your playbook with offers that actually fit your brand, use live shows as powerful sales moments, and monetize viral growth the right way! If you’ve been wondering how to ...
Apr 29, 2025•26 min•Ep. 372
Ever feel stuck wondering when (and how) to actually make offers to your fans? Most artists either rush it... or never do it at all! In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa have a candid conversation about timing your calls to action and why so many artists struggle to get it right! Learn about what needs to be in place before you make an offer, why attention alone isn’t enough, and how to shift from content mode to offer mode without losing momentum! If you've been putting off launchi...
Apr 22, 2025•32 min•Ep. 371
Is your marketing starting to feel stale? Not sure how to get better results or break out of a creative rut? It might be time to run some tests... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa break down 3 split tests we’ve run at IndieX so that you can run them to improve your own music marketing with data-driven decisions! Learn how to compare interest targeting groups vs individual ad sets, why open targeting depends on the quality of your content, and how to split test email subject line...
Apr 15, 2025•22 min•Ep. 370
Starting with a small fan base online and want to see that number grow? The right content strategy can be a major unlock for artists... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa are joined by IndieX Strategist and As December Falls guitarist Ande Hunter, who shares the story of their song "Therapy" going viral across social media! Learn about the three-step process that helped triple their Spotify monthly listeners and double their social media following and how to establish a reliable s...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 369
What if music is the attention-getter in your career but not the main value driver? If this seems out of this world, it might deserve a deeper look... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dive into the marketing behind Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco's new album "I Said I Love You First" and unpack the concept of features, benefits, and storytelling to your fans! Learn about her brand Rare Beauty and how it intertwines with her music strategy and revenue streams, as well as how to mak...
Apr 01, 2025•31 min•Ep. 368
The music industry is famous for being extremely litigious. And now in 2025, it's more complex than ever, and knowing the legal ins and outs is critical for artists... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa are joined by music lawyer Ryan Schmidt to dive deep into the music industry's legal landscape in 2025! Ryan shares his unique journey from artist to attorney and discusses why he chose to focus on advocating for artists. Learn about the common legal traps artists fall into, the et...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 367
Ever heard the saying "the fortune is in the follow-up"? It's a core principle in marketing, but applying it to a music career can feel a bit strange for artists... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa talk about how to follow up with fans in automated sequences and our go-to follow up practices that we install for our clients for you to swipe! Learn to build engagement sequences that spark continuous interaction, abandoned cart automations that recover lost sales and post-purchase ...
Mar 18, 2025•43 min•Ep. 366
Are you reaching all your fans effectively or just casting a wide net and hoping for the best? Segmenting and targeting your fans is a tactic everyone LOVES to talk about but rarely gets right... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa demystify fanbase segmentation in digital marketing, how to do it effectively, and what it means for your music career! Learn the real differences between your customers and subscribers, why the music industry often gets it wrong, and the initial fan seg...
Mar 11, 2025•25 min•Ep. 365
Are you crafting your artist brand, or is it unintentionally crafting you? For artists, it's easy to fall into traps that strip away your identity, especially online... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa tackle the tall task of developing a three-dimensional artist brand that's authentic to you! Learn the difference between emotional and visual branding, the risks associated with misaligned branding efforts, how to listen to your fans, and the essential questions that help you bui...
Mar 04, 2025•36 min•Ep. 364
Looking to grow your studio business in today's rapidly evolving music industry? Or maybe you're an artist curious about what you can learn about branding outside the norms of music marketing? In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa sit down with Carl Bahner, a seasoned producer, engineer, drummer, and educator, to dive deep into the world of marketing and branding for studio professionals! typical artist fanbase growth. Learn about marketing that builds familiarity and trust first, ho...
Feb 25, 2025•47 min•Ep. 363
Ready to take your music career to the next level this year? Whether you're an artist just starting out or looking to scale up, understanding where to focus your efforts can make all the difference... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dive into the specific needs of artists at different stages of their careers! Learn how to identify your current needs, and what steps you can take to address them, from speeding up music and content creation to activating fans at scale and making m...
Feb 20, 2025•34 min•Ep. 362
Wondering what products to sell and how to market them to your fans so they ACTUALLY sell? It's one of the most common questions we hear from artists... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa unpack the top-selling offers from our IndieX agency artists last year to give you insights and inspiration for your own offers! Learn about value stacking, the patterns around these offers, creating appealing hooks, and why the story behind your products makes all the difference! If you're puzzl...
Feb 11, 2025•31 min•Ep. 361
Does all the talk around AI and music have you feeling doom and gloom? Is there no hope? You're not alone, so take a deep breath... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa open up a philosophical discussion about AI, the future of creative businesses, and where this whole dang thing might be headed! Learn what Andy Warhol can teach you about processes in your creative work, how to use AI as a tool and playground in 2025, and how art is all about injecting yourself into what you do! If ...
Feb 04, 2025•44 min•Ep. 360
Are you making simple mistakes in your music marketing? Many artists don't even know what to look out for... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa put a magnifying glass on common strategic and tactical mistakes that artists need to avoid in their marketing! Learn about myths around oversaturation, bad targeting choices and trigger cities, missed opportunities for fan engagement, and why automating everything isn't the answer! If you're ready to clean up your marketing and start maki...
Jan 28, 2025•26 min•Ep. 359
Looking to fine tune your online store strategy for 2025? Looking back at insights from other artists last year can give you a head start... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa share a market report from our agency IndieX, highlighting the significant e-commerce sales boost during Q4 of last year! Learn about sales growth at Black Friday this year compared to 2023 and what this surge in sales as we wrapped up 2024 could mean for your 2025 strategy! If you want insight into leveragi...
Jan 21, 2025•19 min•Ep. 358
Want to make sure you hit your music career goals this year but that your marketing will hold you back? Two simple process tweaks could set you up for success... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa outline two crucial processes that you can add into your music marketing right now to see an immediate increase in productivity. Learn how to roadmap and plan your music marketing and keep it on track and mistake free so that you hit your goals faster! If you’re tired of scrambling at th...
Jan 14, 2025•26 min•Ep. 357
We get a ton of questions from artists and bands about the best music marketing practices across YouTube, Instagram, and our IndiePro community group. So today we'll answer a few... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa hand-selected some great music marketing questions for a special Q&A episode! Learn about rebranding in your music career, using livestreams effectively in your marketing, generating follow up sales with your fans online, TikTok strategies, and what's working in m...
Jan 07, 2025•38 min•Ep. 356
What’s in store for the music industry in 2025? While no one can say for sure, we’ve got some predictions and ideas to share... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dive into our predictions related to AI generated music and AI artists, litigation that could shape the industry, the role of tastemakers, privacy concerns in music marketing, and beyond! If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve and start planning for 2025, load up this episode before your end of year planning sessio...
Dec 31, 2024•30 min•Ep. 355
As 2024 wraps up, it’s time to look ahead at what 2025 has in store for music marketing and the music industry! In this episode of Creative Juice, join Jack and Circa for a round of predictions for the new year, diving into the future of AI, social media content strategies, music marketing tools, and more! If you’re ready to make 2025 your best year yet, this episode will inspire and motivate you to set your goals and take your music career to the next level! RESOURCES: Learn The Top Music Marke...
Dec 24, 2024•25 min•Ep. 354
Want to focus your marketing on monetizing your audience and turning your fans into customers? You'll need to get in their heads... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa discuss monetization in music marketing and how to create, ascend, and maximize customers to build revenue as an artist! Learn how to make offers to first time customers, resell to your existing customers, and track the lifetime value of your fans so that you know who your best customers are! If you've cracked the pr...
Dec 17, 2024•36 min•Ep. 353
Stretching creativity into marketing is a huge step artists can take to create a culture and community that keeps fans engaged for the long haul! With more competition than ever for fans' attention, while it sounds great in theory, the practice requires a shift in thinking... In this episode of Creative Juice, Jack and Circa dive into creative marketing, world-building, and fan nurturing that will set you apart and make your fans love you! Learn how to program a path for your fans after discover...
Dec 10, 2024•33 min•Ep. 352
