Self-Signed Artist Koby Nelson & Jake Mannix

One full year of Self-Signed Artist! In this episode, we talk about picking and choosing from all of the information we've covered on this podcast, and refocusing your energy on one to three needle-movers.

Education is a hot topic. Some people will pressure you to go to college, other people will pressure you to NOT go to college. Some people are successful in educating themselves, and others are successful just by figuring things out through trial and error.
In this episode, we talk about the three different paths you can take in your music education. You'll hear our personal (and very different) experiences with education, how to choose what is right for you, how to make the most of whatever you choose, and how to continue with education through your career.

We're switching things up for episode 50. In this unplanned, unscripted episode, we talk about burnout and mental health. You'll hear about our own personal experiences and some maybe surprising, maybe not-so-surprising statistics about mental health and independent musicians.

Do you sell merch for your band or artist brand? Do merch sales make up a significant part of your income? In this episode, we talk about strategies you can use to maximize the power of your merch sales.
You'll hear what most people get wrong with their merch table, why high-school-Jake bought a shirt that was two sizes too small, why anybody buys merch in the first place, how merch can connect to your music/lyrics/videos/performances, the psychology of a tiered price structure, and how to drive up demand with limited supply.

If you're listening to a podcast like this one, you are probably obsessed with the question HOW. HOW do I reach more fans? HOW do I get more streams? HOW do I build a successful career with my music? But HOW is the wrong question.
In this episode, we talk about why WHO is a better question than HOW. We cover specific examples of when asking WHO leads to a better solution to a problem. You'll hear the two types of WHO to consider, the traps that HOW can lead you into, and why the question WHO is the reason this podcast exists at all.

We all like to think that we have perfect judgment and we know what the best option is in every situation. But the truth is, there's a lot going on behind the scenes in our minds that can trip us up. These are our cognitive biases.
In this episode, we talk about 6 common forms of cognitive bias and how they make the process of creating music and running your brand more difficult. You'll hear why it's so easy to make excuses for your failures, why some artists write the same thing over and over, why Jake forgets how to walk in public, and why you should listen to your songs as few times as possible while making them.