- How did you get the idea for this new song?
It was the vocalist’s fault. When you work with vocalists, normally they will send you later sometimes recordings of ideas or lyrics that they are working on. Sometimes I listen to something and right away I can imagine in which direction I could make a song. This time it was like that. I loved the pre recorded vocals I listened to and I decided directly to buy them exclusively.
- Have you worked with this vocalist before, haven’t you?
Yes, Bodhi Jones is great. I think most of the people know him as “OMZ”. He has worked with big names and labels already and has been already very high in charts and big playlists. The good think, until now he doesn’t have any problem in working with relative new growing artists like me and the price is even affordable for a producer like me. I can take with him a fast decision, because I have worked with his voice before for other previous songs like “Rescue Me” or “The Good Life”. I know with him, a perfect result is assured. He is a very big professional and all songs I created with his voice/lyrics have worked very good.
- Has anyone else collaborated on this song?
In most cases I finish the final mix and even the mastering of my songs myself. However, sometimes I am a little unsure about the final result or I have difficulties for example with the mixing of certain instruments or to achieve an adequate final record comparing with other commercial songs. For example I see that something is missing (like depth, power, volume… for example). So in this case this happened to me and I decided to consult Andres Mayo. He is the one who helped me identifying problems and making the final master for the song “Rescue Me” that I released under the Blanco y Negro Music label. Andres made me change a couple of things in the final mix of “Maybe It’s Love” and he finished the master. I can’t complain at all, the result is much better than my first own mastering. But of course my ears are not those of Andres who has already won even 2 Grammys.
- How does a not too big producer get to work with big professionals like these?
Good question, because the truth is not that difficult. When you start producing music you think that it is impossible to achieve something like that, however in the end it is the result of contacts and of course money. Nowadays it is easy to contact any famous professional, since they all work on their own and not in exclusivity for some company or label. In the end we are all in a business that means that you do not have to have fear asking and requesting an offer directly. Many offer their services on platforms such as “Soundbetter” although of course, you can write to them directly on Instagram for example (You save money without intermediaries). Many are willing to offer even a suitable price for small producers, it all depends on how many projects they have right now and with whom at the moment. For example, with famous vocalists, the typical thing is that they will offer you a cheap price, but you will not be allowed to feature them in your song. With sound engineers you cannot be very demanding with the schedule, so let’s say they use the free studio time that other projects do not have and they prefer to earn something with you than have the studio stopped completely.
- your new covers follow a very clear defined new structure with you in the foreground. Why the change?
All my songs in the last few years had a fun and casual cover about the theme of the song, however it was always little personalized. When I signed my first song with a major label this year as Blanco y Negro Music, I decided that actually the smart thing to do would be to use my image in a big way, because if one of my songs has a gigantic success, people will see my face often. They will feel more identified with me, the artist and let’s say that seeing you more often will make it easier to create a kind of closer link between fan and artist (I’m not only a name but a normal person like you). So I have decided that in the future all my covers will follow a similar scheme. Me in the foreground intentionally mixed with a complex background relevant to the song. I also try now to put my logo instead of my name in normal font. I have reached a point where I try to make my own personal brand more recognizable.
- On what platforms is your new song available?
I always try that my music is present in the more places the better and the truth is that I cannot complain about my distributor, because he is usually one of the first that always supports new services or platforms. So basically you can find it everywhere. The big typical platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, YouTube Music …) but also some less known or that are just present in small regions (Yandex, Boomplay…). I have recently started using Audiomackas well, I see great potential compared to SoundCloud and for users it is completely free. So there are no more excuses to listen to my music. Actually I’m thinking of not using SoundCloud in the future anymore, the real engagement there is somehow very reduced, at least in my case.
- Will we have the possibility to watch an official music video for this song?
Of course, in the next few days the official video of the song will be available on my artist channel on YouTube. This time it is a very interesting video like an adventure film. If you like Viking stories or something like that, you will like the video. It’s a bit risky, I know, but it seems to me that it fits very well with the style of the song.
- What is your typical promotion plan when releasing a new song like this?
In the past I have worked with some agencies/services that are advertising or trying to place your music on large Spotify lists for example. However, first is difficult to find serious services (yes there are a lot of scams out there) and I see that in the long term you do not generate much real organic growth and you usually spend a lot of money on advertising. If you stop to spend money, the fans decrease a lot. For a few months I have changed my strategy. I am doing many music marketing courses myself and now I am basically in charge of promoting myself with advertising mainly on Instagram / Facebook, Google ads and my own mailing list. Actually I am already seeing the first big results and I am very satisfied, it shows that all my networks grow much more uniformly/constantly and I generate many more big fans (comments, active people searching for me…). I also see that algorithms tend to like this type of growth quite more. For example, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music or Amazon Music tend now to recommend my songs more and more to new audiences and help me grow on their part, which used to happen very little. And in the end, who is going to promote your music better than yourself.
- What goal would you be happier to achieve with this song?
For example, I would love to see my first song that exceeds 100,000 streams on Spotify or that the song is finally added to an official Spotify Playlist. I know I’m a bit obsessed with the platform, but who isn’t?
