Single: the direct-to-fan app for Shopify

Just this past month, I've helped 4 artists move their fan clubs onto Single: the direct-to-fan app for Shopify. We're talking artists ranging from 300K to 3M+ monthly listeners on Spotify. Which got me thinking about a pattern I keep seeing across the music industry: No artist starts fragmented on purpose. It usually starts like this: → You launch a Patreon because it's the first thing that comes to mind for a fan club → You spin up a Discord where your fans hang but you collect zero emails → You build your site on Squarespace, outgrow it, add Shopify, and end up juggling both All moves that make sense in isolation, yes! But over time the whole operation gets split across systems that don't talk to each other. Nothing compounds and it becomes a headache to manage. I have SO MUCH more to say on this lol... so I wrote about it. This week's Single Scoop digs into how bands like My Morning Jacket are fixing it. Link in comments if you want it in your inbox Friday.

Melanie Martinez just dropped HADES and the physical rollout is deep — Victorian Blush vinyl, Dirty Halo Pink, lenticular cover pressing, picture disc, cassette, storybook CD, four different signed box sets. If you're collecting, go direct over at melaniemartinezmusic.com Powered by Single

Thundercat is back for the first time in 6 years on April 3 with Distracted. The record's stacked features, FlyLo and Greg Kurstin production, and a posthumous Mac Miller collab... and we can't wait. Pre-order direct over at theamazingthundercat.com Powered by Single

Austin's about to be a good time! Our founder Tommy's speaking on two panels at SXSW this Sunday — one on what "music's middle class" actually looks like right now, and one at the Take Action x SXSW series at Inn Cahoots on 6th St. If you're in Austin and want to talk discovery, superfans, and what it really looks like to turn attention into a lasting music career — come find us!

Stop trying to get a deal….. start building a business. Back in the day we sold records out the trunk of the car. That was the business….. that was all we had. And we made it work. Now everything is decentralized. You can build a real company around your music. Your catalog….. is an asset. Your community….. is an asset. Your direct-to-fan relationship….. is an asset. All of that adds intrinsic value to what you're building. Here's what most artists miss — every fan you can identify, reach directly, and sell to without a middleman adds real value to your company. Not just revenue….. value. The kind that shows up on a balance sheet. So when you sit across from the A&R….. you're not trying to get a deal. You walk in with a number. "I need $150K for my business." And you can back it up. But you can only have that conversation when you actually know who your fans are. Not followers….. fans. The ones buying, streaming, showing up. When you can put that in front of somebody — that's leverage. I've been preaching this for a long time. This is about artists actually knowing who's in their corner and being able to grow with them. That's the work we're doing at Single: the direct-to-fan app for Shopify….. and we're just getting started.

Excited to support Never Easy's new album I Still Care - out tomorrow. 🖤 Preorders still open at nevereasy.band.