It's a brand new year. Compiling stats to watch my growth each month is a little time consuming. But it is also pretty fantastic for plotting statistical growth. I know exactly where I was this time last year. I’m gonna start the show with the usual updates. Then I’ll go into stats and finish up with goals for 2020.
You can subscribe and listen to The Celtfather podcast here.
1:53 – PODCASTS
I published a bonus episode of the Pub Songs Podcast to 2019. I shared my love of the new Frozen 2 movie. The next couple of episodes I’m gonna share thoughts about my next album, Selcouth, as well as talk about individual songs on the album. I think February will move towards promoting St Patrick's Day featuring some top 5 and 10s.
I don’t have any specific Stories from the Road episodes planned. But I hope to get ahead when I get a full work day next week.
The first episode of the 2020 season of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast kicks off next week. I took a much needed break. You can still expect more features of women in the upcoming year. I also want to draw attention to our environment, something close to the heart of the Celts.
The Celtic Christmas Podcast released three episodes last year. I'm already planning to launch an early fundraiser for the show in 2020.
Mikey Mason and I recorded an episode of In the ‘Verse back in December. We did not release it because with the holiday, I think we both had trouble making time to write a song. But I finally sat down with my song.
The episode we wrote songs for was “War Stories”. It's one of my favorites. I had trouble writing a song for the episode though. But right before we left for Christmas vacation, I wrote “My Man”. It's from the perspective of Zoe, and wow, I love it. It kinda helped me understand Wash better than ever. Hopefully, we'll release it soon.
I'll see Andrew McKee at Georgia Filk next weekend. I suspect we will record a Brobdingnagian Bards podcast while we're together. We also have some videos we need to record together to complete our Kickstarter rewards.
4:20 – VIDEOS
Season 5 of Coffee with the Celtfather begins on January 8. The show will continue at 10:30 AM Eastern on Wednesday. However, It will be exclusively available on Facebook.
I made quite a few updates to my YouTube channel. In particular, I deleted many of my most-successful videos. That's because they were episodes of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast… and they were blocked by Facebook. It seems Facebook will only keep podcasts up if it's not primarily a music show.
I'm still debating whether I want to keep episodes of the Pub Songs Podcast up there. I talk in a lot of those so many of those aren't getting blocked. But I think I might just rework the entire channel into a Marc Gunn music channel.
It's wild looking at the most-popular videos now that all the Celtic podcast videos are gone. Bizarre!
My top video is a review of my portable amp. Then comes a “Whiskey in the Jar” video featuring the Bedlam Bards. “Danny Boy for Cat Lovers” is after that. Then just a recording of my version of “Whiskey in the Jar” with just the album cover. And #5 is Funny Irish Pub Songs, a live video I made.
Wild! The channel will see a big change in the days to come.
7:07 – MERCH
I posted a Gunn Runners Card on Patreon. This card gives Heroic Gunn Runners on Patreon a 25% discount on all merch in my store and at shows.
Seems like a lot of Gunn Runners are happy to pay full price to support my music. I am very grateful to all of you. But if you need or want the discount. It's there for you.
Selcouth is the name of my next album. The Kickstarter officially launches on January 27 and goes through February 14. I still have a TON of videos and text to write for this Kickstarter. Heck! I still don't have an album cover. So stay tuned.
Oh! And make sure you subscribe to my mailing list if you're not already. I will let you know when it goes live.
In the middle of that, the Brobdingnagian Bards officially release I Will Not Sing Along, our 10th studio album on February 2, 2020–GROUNDHOG DAY!
9:00 – TRAVEL
I still have space for my Celtic Invasion of Venice. You can listen to the Celtic Invasion Vacations itinerary. To find out how amazing this trip will be. Email me if you have questions. The deadline to sign up is February 15.
9:51 – SHOWS PLANNED FOR JANUARY
JAN 10-12: GaFilk in Atlanta, GA
JAN 16: Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM
JAN 18: The Lost Druid, Decatur, GA @ 7:30 PM
JAN 24: Interstellar Ginger Beer & Exploration Co, Alabaster, AL @ 7:30 PM
JAN 25: Maggie McGuinnes Pub, Huntsville, AL @ 7:00 PM
FEB 1: Tucker Brewing Company @ 6:30 – 9:30
FEB 13: Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM
FEB 15: The Lost Druid, Decatur, GA @ 7:30 PM
MAR 7: The Lost Druid, Decatur, GA @ 7:30 PM
MAR 12: Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM
MAR 20-22: ConCoction, Cleveland, Ohio
Jan 8 and on, Weds 10:30 AM EDT: Coffee with The Celtfather, Facebook (Season 5!)
I will continue to provide audio versions of most shows for Heroic Patrons.
12:45 – STATS
Mailing list subscribers = 1030 is down from 1077
YouTube Subscribers = 4355 is up from 4324
YouTube Watch Time = 32.1K min (535.0 hours) is up from 27.1
YouTube Views = 12.2K is up from 11.6K
Facebook Likes = 3653 is up from 3646
FB Page Views = 447 is up from 434
FB Reach = 10942 is up from 5684
FB Video Views = 6419 is up from 1883
Spotify Latest Single Stats: “Slainte Mhaith Christmas”: 3238 up from 0
Spotify Latest Single Stats: “The Last Jedi Drinking Song”: 539 up from 0
Spotify followers: 1428 is up from 1400
# Number of listens on Spotify: 10184 is up from 4237
Most-popular songs on Spotify: Christmas in the Shire (4.9K), Frosty the Irish Snowman (14.6K), Slainte Mhaith Christmas (3.2K), Celtic Christmas Elf (2.3K), Jingle Bells (2.3K),
Top Irish & Celtic Music: 426 is up from 416
Fun Christmas Songs for Kids & Families: 1858 is up from 1573
Firefly Drinking Songs: 101 is up from 99
Joyful Celtic Christmas Music: 83 is up from 58
Christmas Drinking Songs: 29 is up from 24
18:31 – PATREON
Patreon Subscribers: 152 is down from 158
Patreon Monthly Income: $946 is down from $968
Tier Changes in 2020:
GUNN RUNNERS: Behind-the-Scenes. $5 or more per month. Includes:
- DOWNLOAD new MP3s that are recorded and mixed before they are released. Plus get rough mixes of new songs
- EARLY ACCESS to some publicly available content
- GO BEHIND-THE-SCENES with the Stories from the Road podcast. I share my adventures, thoughts and news exclusively with you.
HERO. $10 or more per month. You'll get everything above, plus
- BOOTLEG audio recordings of coffee shows and some concerts.
- LEARN how to play my songs with PDF sheet music. Make a request for a song you'd like to learn.
- SAVE 25% off everything in my MageRecords.com store!
- ACCESS to over 40 Bootleg Concerts, both audio and video and 7 Full-Length Albums.
SUPERHERO. $25 or more per month. Includes:
- SPECIAL THANKS to you in each new single that is released.
- One-time Physical Copy of “Heroes” CD, autographed at your request, after 3 months of membership at this level
24:17 – GOALS FOR 2020
My success is ultimately defined by how I inspire you. So if you are sharing, enjoying, And creating, then I am successful. And if all that happens, then I should see an increase in everything I do in online.
So many people focus on metrics. But that distracts from the point of what we are trying to do.
Hopefully, this will inspire you to create your own goals for 2020.
I spent a lot of time in December trying to plan my next year. I haven't even thought about that five, ten or twenty year plan. I just needed to get in control of THIS YEAR'S plan. But I feel I did.
BEST WAYS TO GROW MY FANBASE
- Live Shows
- Promote hit songs
- Give away free music
- Irish & Celtic Music Podcast
- Music videos. Covers, keywords or popular songs.
- One evening video concert per month. Second Thursday of the month at 8:30 pm.
- Coffee. At least one newbie concert a month. Create an event. Last
BEST WAY TO SUPPORT EXISTING FANS
- Live Shows
- Marc’s Musings. Should I go monthly? or bi-monthly?
- Irish & Celtic Music Podcast
- Pub Songs Podcast
- Stories from the Road
- In the Verse
- Teach fans to play/sing along. Monthly tutorial.
- Video Singles
- New music
- Build Community
- One evening video concert per month. Second Thursday of the month at 8:30 pm.
- Coffee. At least one newbie concert a month. Create an event. Last
30:35 – BEST STRATEGIES
- Perform live
- Increase mailing list. With free Lead generator.
- Promote top videos and songs
33:40 – MUSIC
- Release Selcouth
- Release 3 singles with other musicians
- Hero of Christmas
- Hobbit tune with Samantha Gillogly
- Molly Malone with Jesse Ferguson
- Write 10 new songs
- Hit #1 on reverbnation in March.
- Teach online how to sing and play 10 songs. Also videos.
- Release 10 sheet music pieces
38:35 – GIGGING
- Play 6 new venues
- Play 8 monthly internet concerts
- Play 24 coffee shows. 12 episodes over two seasons.
- Play 2 house concerts
- Contact 20 conventions
40:18 – PODCASTS
- Pub Songs Podcast. 2 podcasts per month. 20.
- Commit to one more year of the pub Songs Podcast. And I see if it has done me any good. Or should I do just monthly? What if I plan each episode in advance to do about songs? For new album? Or classic song?
- 12 about a song episodes. 2nd episode of the month.
- 10 episodes custom to promote stories
- Stories from the Road. Weekly. 45
- Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Weekly. 48
- Brobdingnagian Bards Podcast. Monthly. 11
- In the ‘Verse. Monthly. 10
43:03 – VIDEO
- 1 Official music video for a CD.
- 3 travel videos to promote Celtic invasion vacations
- 8 videos of me singing live some of my most-popular songs
- 1 videos of me singing along with myself on a song
- 1 official off-the-wall music video. Fun and silly. Unrelated to the music played.
- update YouTube channel to reflect Celtic Geek
46:26 – SALES
- Bandcamp sales. $300 per month. $3600 for the year.
- Social = 10000 followers on YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, mailing list
Thanks as always for supporting my music. Remember. You can help me create and release more music. Join the Gunn Runners Club to step behind-the-scenes with bonus podcasts, new music, videos, and live concerts.
Slainte!
#CFMonthly
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