Greetings Gunn Runner
And farewell February. Things might've run a little behind. But I made big progress this month. Especially with the release of my Kickstarter for Selcouth. I conquered my $5000 goal just a few days after it launched. It still has two weeks to go. So I'm feeling pretty good about it so far. But before we talk more about that, let's talk about…
0:40 – PODCASTS
The Pub Songs Podcast is back with a vengeance. I am a podcaster at heart. I figured it'd be fairly easy to knock out completely live episodes of the Pub Songs Podcast to my Kickstarter every week. And I was correct. I recorded four new episodes so far. Which is good because in addition to promoting the podcast, it also allows me to keep to my initial schedule of how many episodes I want to release this year.
Plus, I love the format. I'm fine tuning it still. But it starts with a song. I go into some news, add a stories from the road, and a couple more songs. It feels good. Like something I COULD keep up every week. Though I don't plan to at present.
Stories from the Road is not getting ahead. But I have a lot of new content. So I'm staying on top of it. That's good because this is my Patron-only podcast.
I got ahead for the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. But I already feel like I'm losing that lead I got. I want to try and knock out a bunch of summer episodes. But I'm stalling for St Patrick's Day. Sooooo we shall see.
The In the ‘Verse podcast is coming. I apologize for the delay. But it's been crazy.
Course, that doesn't mean I didn't go ahead and setup the Cat Music Lovers podcast. The first podcast I ever published was the Cat Lovers Podcast. I created it to promote my Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers. But I ran out of time and had less interest in keeping it going. But I was still proud of that show. I was happy it was still available. Until I realized it was No Longer available. So I did a bunch of maintenance on the show. It should be back up on Apple Podcasts soon.
2:54 – VIDEOS
My voice is back. Which means Coffee with the Celtfather is back as well. I feel like I've had some good shows. Though the attendance still seems a little lower than I'd like. Maybe I need to promote the show more.
That said, I am posting new videos on YouTube. And I'm working on a new strategy for the site.
My views have dropped dramatically since I deleted all of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast videos. Now each video I post gets about 50 views. That's not too good. But it allows me to start over and decide what this channel will be.
So what will it be?
- Family videos set to my music. I like doing videos of my family. It's extra cool when I can add in my own music to spice up the video. I haven't figured out how to name the videos yet. But these videos help me learn a lot about shooting and editing videos.I have a new one featuring Inara. We went for a hike the other day. It was't too bad a video. My editing still needs work though
- Travel videos. I recorded a lot of video these past couple o'years going on my Celtic Invasion Vacations. These are a great way to promote my trips. So I'm gonna keep editing these videos.The sucky thing is that as I edit them, I realize I should've done this or that… Like in the latest video from The Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye. I did a poor job filming. But there was enough footage that it's not too bad.
- Song Performance videos. I thought I had recorded a lot of these videos. After reviewing my site, I realize I haven't. So I'm gonna keep recording me singing individual songs.This is a great way to attract new followers of my site. So hopefully, you'll see more.
- Celtic Geek Thoughts. I'm not yet sure how to do these videos or what content to put on them, aside from the Celtic Top 40 videos I wanna do. But I'll have to tell you when I figure that out.
10:26 – MERCH
My free CD offer went over GREAT last month. If you ever want to find out how many of your fans listen to physical CDs. Give one away. LOL. I had over a hundred that went out into the world. And of course, all you have to do is pay the shipping cost. You'll find a link in the shownotes if you want one.
Again the Kickstarter for Selcouth is going great. I'm $700 over my initial goal. Yes. My actual goal is to earn $7500. But at least my base expenses are covered. I CAN create a new CD. And I still have two weeks to go to hit my first stretch goal.
I ran into one interesting problem as the goal has started to stall out. That is, how do I keep up momentum. Seems like every time I post something fun or interesting, I get a spike. But I'm not the best storyteller I think. So that's making it tough.
I discussed this challenge with Andrew. He suggested that I bring people in on video to chat about it. I'm gonna try and do that the next couple o'weeks. Stay tuned…
12:06 – TRAVEL
The Celtic Invasion of Venice closed up. We have a very small group this year. And I can start planning for Scotland in 2021. But I'm excited to see what happens next…
12:56 – WEBSITES
With St Patrick's Day just around the corner, I started updating my Irish Song Lyrics website. I started this site years ago to promote my Celtic songs. Admittedly, I've done little with it the past few years, Except around St Patrick's Day.
But I decided to update it for two reasons. One, it's that time of year. And two because I want to get back to helping people learn these songs.
You see, the reason I started the site was to offer an incredible resource. How to play songs the way I learn them, by ear. There are just lyrics, chords, and music to listen to on the site. You can play along with me over and over again if you so desire. This makes it a lot easier.
I'm also trying to make it entirely about the user. I removed much of the advertising that was on the website. Now it's just the stuff you really want. It's an amazing, free resource. So go along with me.
14:15 – PROMOTION
I also had a new promotion idea I thought up recently using Facebook groups… Well, actually any online community.
I have two groups that I actively share to on Facebook: Celtic Geeks and Irish & Celtic Music Club. Most everything really goes to the Celtic Geeks group. If I find something I love, unless it's hardcore Celtic, I share it to the Celtic Geeks group.
That makes it easy. I don't use my personal profile. I share to an interactive community. It's awesome.
And that's the tip I came up with.
Instead of trying to share my music to your friends who may or may not share you interests, share to a group, where your interests definitely align.
I haven't seen many Gunn Runners doing that yet, well aside from Sarah, who sort of inspired this idea when she shared Selcouth to a Firefly fan group.
16:04 – SHOWS PLANNED FOR MARCH
I updated the gig calendar on my website. I'm using Google Calendars again. This is going GREAT for listing shows. You can see everywhere I'll be this year. And yes, it is fully up-to-date.
MAR 7: The Lost Druid, Decatur, GA @ 7:30 PM
MAR 12: St Patrick's Day Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM
MAR 13: Interstellar Ginger Beer & Exploration Co, Alabaster, AL
MAR 14: St Patrick’s Day at 5 Points, Birmingham, AL
MAR 20-22: ConCoction, Cleveland, Ohio
MAR 26: Tucker Brewing Company, Tucker, GA @ 6:30 PM
APR 4-5: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX
APR 9: Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM
APR 11-12: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX
APR 17-19: JordanCon, Atlanta, GA
Weds 10:30 AM EDT: Coffee with The Celtfather, Facebook (Season 5!)
17:24 – STATS
Mailing list subscribers = 1038 is up from 1024
Celtic Music Magazine = 3963 is up from 3859 at the beginning of the year
YouTube Subscribers = 4441 is up 53 from 4388
YouTube Watch Time = 314.8K is up from 19.0K and 32.1K min from the month before
YouTube Views = 8.5K is down from 8.8K
Facebook Likes = 3667 is up from 3666
FB Page Views = 501 is up from 392
FB Reach = 9214 is up from 8839
FB Video Views = 9485 is up from 8466
Spotify Latest Single Stats: “Slainte Mhaith Christmas”: 3347 is up from 3310 is up from 3238
Spotify Latest Single Stats: “The Last Jedi Drinking Song”: 832 is up from 696
Spotify Latest Album Stats: I Will Not Sing Along: 1.4k streams, “One Note Concerto in G” has the most streams
Spotify followers: 1476 is up 31 from 1445
# Number of listens on Spotify: 3266 is up from 2224
Most-popular songs on Spotify: Wild Kitty (1.6K), The Widow and the Devil (1.2K), Doctor of Gallifrey (567), When Kitty Eyes Are Smiling (331), Furagone's Wake (320), Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster (289), Reavers, Malcolm Reavers (264), Hero of Canton (224) Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits (162)
Top Irish & Celtic Music: 431 is up from 426
Firefly Drinking Songs: 103 is up from 101
PATREON
Patreon Subscribers: 155 is up from 151
Patreon Monthly Income: $1050 is up from $977
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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