Indie Music Mastery: Marketing, Email, and AI with Jack McCarthy — Gig Gab 501

Описание: Jack McCarthy joins you on Gig Gab to dig into the real business of music, how to grow attention, capture it, and convert it into lasting fan relationships. You’ll learn why the right material works, how to transform inspiration into your own content, and why audio quality matters less than energy when you’re trying to make fans say, “who is this band?” It’s about creating cultural moments, fueling FOMO, and turning one-time listeners into repeat buyers. This is where “Always Be Performing” extends beyond the stage into every piece of marketing you share.

From building email and SMS lists to flattening the revenue rollercoaster with calendars and consistent outreach, you’ll see how indie artists can move from surviving to thriving. Jack and Dave walk through practical strategies like dissecting viral hits, harnessing UGC, and even using AI to smash blank page syndrome. You’ll hear why you’re probably not being “salesy” enough, and how treating your marketing as another form of performance makes it feel authentic, not forced. If you’re ready to stand out in a noisy world, this episode shows you how.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 501 - Monday, September 29th, 2025
September 29th: National Silent Movie Day
Guest co-host: Jack McCarthy from Indepreneur & their Creative Juice Podcast
00:02:35 Let’s talk Business of music
00:03:04 Indepreneur - Music Marketing Education
Monetizing a fanbase
Coaching artists
IndieX - an agency working 1-on-1 with artists
00:04:42 Start gathering attention
You need to start growing a critical mass
00:05:51 Once you have attention you need to capture that in a number of different ways
00:06:40 Converting attention into a next step
Audience into an email or SMS list
Or getting someone to buy from you the first time (tickets, merch)
Buying from you again (Patreon)
00:08:09 To gain attention: pay attention to the types of videos that capture your attention
Clickbait is effective for a reason!
Apply the same ideas to the stuff that you make
Emulate and morph it into something
00:10:15 Learn other peoples stuff… then learn FROM other people’s stuff
Eventually you have something that is yours
00:12:25 Coaching people through creating their first posts
So much of it involves working to “get the suck out of it”
Learn what makes you… you!
“I would love to make a video like that”
Story of when Dave almost got crushed by a monitor tower
00:15:44 Should we always be filming?
Capture as much as you can while you’re working (performing, songwriting)
00:17:33 Audio quality is better than video quality
But there is the definition of “good enough”
Energy matters most. Make people ask, “who is this band?”
Create FOMO for people to come to your SHOW
00:20:06 Creating cultural moments
Make people ask, “what is that?” “who is that?” “how can I be there next time?”
00:22:52 Creating User Generated Content-style channels for your own band
00:25:29 Dissecting Oasis’s creation of cultural moments
00:27:33 SPONSOR: Square – See what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods, and then visit square.com/go/giggab
00:28:51 SPONSOR: Claude.ai – Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude today and get 50% off Claude Pro, which includes access to Claude Code, when you visit Claude.ai/giggab
00:30:46 Jack McCarthy, the musician
Creatives struggle the idea of marketing themselves. Am I being too salesy or cheesy? What am I sacrificing?
Answer: you’re not being salesy enough!
Always be performing means you can perform with your marketing, too
00:36:19 Digging into the Billboard Hot 100’s Email Marketing
You probably aren’t sending enough email to your list.
Creative Juice Podcast about the Email Marketing of the Billboard Hot 100
00:41:04 You are not competing against your competitors, you’re competing with everything else in the lives of your fans (family, job, etc)
People get distracted by life
00:42:20 Posting one time is not enough – no one sees and digests everything you post
Gig Gab with Jan Hammer goes viral every time
00:44:45 Get the content right first, THEN plug it into the advertising machine
Small Town Titans cover of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” went viral… every time.
Then advertise your viral content!
Be content first, then you have an asset that you can use on different platforms and different places
00:48:32 Start selling to your fans
Give them something for free in exchange for their contact information
00:49:30 Flatten the Revenue Rollercoaster
Build a content calendar
Build a sales promotion calendar
00:51:46 Using AI to come up with ideas…and more?
Copywriting
Brainstorming partner
Using it as a sounding board
AI greatly diminishes blank page syndrome
00:55:09 Using Suno to write songs
00:59:20 Look to the videos that inspire you
01:01:09 Gig Gab 501 Outtro
Follow Jack McCarthy
Indepreneur.io and IndeX
Follow Creative Juice Podcast
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@GigGabPodcast on Instagram
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