Greetings Gunn Runner
How can you celebrate St Patrick's Day in 2021 with podcasts, videos, blogs and perhaps even live concerts. Enjoy St Patrick's Day stories. A new Dancing with Hobbits single. Learn about the Brobdingnagian Bards' next single. Save on a St Patrick's Day CD special. And get ready for my birthday.
It's all on my monthly update, Celtfather Music & Travel, show #275.
0:26 – PODCASTS
I am on fire with podcasting. I finally have systems that allow me to complete episodes and plan future ones in a timely fashion. So I'm ahead on all of my podcasts.
I have nearly completed all the March episodes of the Pub Songs Podcast. I also have a new primary feature for that shows. I'm sharing stories from musicians. I love it because it's something solid. It gets other musicians involved. And again it's evergreen.
The first March episode features two stories. One is from na Skylark. The second is from Stout Pounders. The St Patrick's Day show is most like a St Patrick's Day concert. I'm singing a bunch of songs that you requested in that episode.
If you'd like to help out with future shows, there's One thing that would be amazing. Make a song request. You can suggest either a song I know or one I don't. Maybe I'll learn it. I'd like to learn some new songs for the podcast. To keep it interesting.
The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast has several St Patrick's Day episodes. My 17 for St Patrick's Day show comes out on March 4. All of the songs in that episode will be available for free download three days before St Patrick's Day.
Then my BIG St Pat's show is also the 500th episode of the podcast. It was supposed to JUST be a 3-hour special. But when I remembered that my graphic artist, Miranda Nelson, had asked musicians to submit audio feedback. It became quite a bit longer. In fact, it's still being edited as I record this. Because there were over 60 songs in that show. That should be nearly 5 hours long… in one podcast.
Yeah. I think this will officially be my longest podcast episode yet.
Thankfully, I have Mitchell editing it. [Sorry Mitchell.] And I have a plan for recording and releasing it.
Pro tip for anyone creating podcasts… or anything. Create a system to complete your projects. It helps!
Finally, I created a system for releasing Brobdingnagian Bards Podcast episodes on a more regular basis. Andrew's been swamped. But I got him to record a February show. And I'm recording a simple music show for March. After that, I hope to stay on top of monthly episodes.
The show will come out in the middle of each month.
4:04 – VIDEOS
I started creating Canvases for Spotify. Basically, artists can share a 3-8 second video that plays on loop when you listen to a song on Spotify. I'd love to add that to as many of my songs as I can. I just need to figure out what kind of videos to add to each song. I haven't figured out WHAT to add yet. But there are a few that now have them.
I just realized last week that Coffee with The Celtfather is doing exceptionally well. There are about 20 people watching the show every week. That's much higher than the 5-10 that used to. Facebook was really hit and miss and unreliable. So this is fantastic. My viewership is growing.
I planned out themes for the rest of the season. Theming shows seems to help attendance. But boy it is tough coming up with themes. If you have any cool show titles, let me know.
The next Celtfather Live concert is scheduled for Thursday, March 11. It is a St Patrick's Day show.
I am theming my Celtfather Live shows once again. So for this show, I will play fun Celtic songs for St Patrick's Day. Then I will take your song requests. And I'll play for another 30-60 minutes depending on how many requests I get.
So if you have any song requests, let me know.
This show is a ticketed event. Tickets are $8. You can get them in my MageRecords.com store. Spend $15 or more in the store, you'll also get access.
And of course, if you are a Heroic member of the Gunn Runners Club, pledging $10+ per month, you will get free access.
I haven't released any new video singles as I mentioned last month. But I am planning the next Travel Music Video. Stay tuned.
6:40 – IN THE STUDIO
All of my tracks for Selcouth are done. Songs are sent to guest musicians. Now I am waiting on the final tracks so we can finish mixing the album. It's looking very good that I'll have the album done by April or May for Patrons. So I should have an official release by Gen Con or possibly Dragon Con. I also hope to release a bunch of singles in the lead up the official release.
A new single from Dancing With Hobbits with Sam Gillogly will come out the day after St Patrick's Day. That's March 18. The track is called “Proudfoot Shuffle”. I need to figure out what my next single will be.
I'm also hoping to have a Brobdingnagian Bards single… or two, released in the coming months. We have a couple instrumental track we recorded for the release of I Will Not Sing Along. Andrew also recorded on my song “By Amazing Grace”. So I plan to release that as a single at some point too.
8:03 – MERCH
St Patrick's Day CDs are not selling phenomenally well. It's not selling bad. I mean, it IS SELLING. But I see it was a good idea not to do a serious reprint of that album. I'm hopeful that I'll sell out the copies I have before March 17.
You can now buy the album in my MageRecords.com store on Bandcamp. They are $20. And you can still get the 4 CD Celtic Collection for just $40. These offers good from now until March 17, St Patrick's Day.
Subscribe to my mailing list, you get a discount code to save 15%.
I am putting together some new special offers for the coming months. Details.
The Firefly Celtic Heartstring was really well received. I made a couple more. But again, I can't say they're selling spectacularly. About as well as I expected though. You can find them and my other Celtic Heartstrings in my store.
9:26 – CELTIC TRAVEL
I finally canceled my castle booking in Scotland. The Celtic Invasion of Scotland is officially delayed until next year.
Sign up at CelticInvasion.com if you want to be one of the first on the list.
9:42 – WEBSITES
I updated lyrics for the Irish Song Lyrics website, including:
10:15 – SHOWS PLANNED FOR MARCH
THURS: Coffee with The Celtfather, YouTube (Season 8) @ 12:00 PM EST
MAR 11: “St Patrick's Day Party” Celtfather Live on YouTube @ 8:00 – 9 PM EDT. Tickets $8.
MAR 13: Ironshield Brewing in Lawrenceville, GA @ 7:00 – 10:00 PM.
MAR 14: Tucker Brewing Company in Tucker, GA @ 3:30-6:30 PM
MAR 17: The Lost Druid Brewery in Avondale Estates, GA @ 4:30-7:00 PM
11:23 – STATS
Mailing list subscribers = 1219 is up from 1201
Celtic Music Magazine = 4026 is down from 4030
YouTube Subscribers = 5009 is up from 4961
Facebook Likes = 3746 is down from 3752 for the second month in a row
Instagram = 1867 is down from 1869
Spotify followers: 1737 is up from 1712
# Number of listens on Spotify: 3395 is down from 3929 BIG ST PATS SPIKE
Latest Spotify Single Stats:
“Hobbit Hornpipe” released Aug 26: 458 is up from 441
“Tough Times” released Oct 21: 35 is up from 14
“The Hero of Christmas” released on Nov 17: 119 is down from 178
Latest Spotify Album Stats:
Browncoat Christmas: 136 is down from 200 (last month)
St Patrick's Day: 1K is down from 1.7K
Most-popular songs on Spotify: “The Widow and the Devil” (1.7K), “Doctor of Gallifrey” (523), “Hobbit Hornpipe” (458), “Danny Boy” (400), “A-Working in the Garden” (368)
Most-popular songs on Amazon Music: “Hero of Canton” (1269), “Doctor of Gallifrey” (446), “The Widow and the Devil” (107), “A Drop of Nelson's Blood” (93), “Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster” (63)
Top albums: As Long As I'm Flyin (1526), Sci Fi Drinking Songs (839), Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion (420), Kilted For Her Pleasure (296), Going for Brogue (284)
Fun Christmas Songs for Kids & Families = 1983 is down from 1991 (Last until next season)
Last year's playlists from this time last year:
Top Irish & Celtic Music: 564 is up from 556
Sci F'Irish Music: 12 (same)
Nagians Only: 21 (same)
Celtfather Experience: 29 is down 30
Hobbit Drinking Songs: 6 is up from 5
Firefly Drinking Songs: 122 (same)
Christmas Drinking Songs: 39 (same, last of Season)
Joyful Celtic Christmas Music: 108 is down from 109 (last of the season)
Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers: 61 is up from 59
Jedi Drinking Songs: 31 (same)
16:27 – PATREON
Patreon Subscribers: 156 is down from 158
Patreon Monthly Income: $1194 is up from $1184
I ran Special Offer last month. I got a couple new subscribers. But I can't say it was a rousing success.
Thanks as always for supporting my music. Streaming music gives you a quick and easy way to sample all of my music. Digital sales keep my business running. Tips and CD sales allow me to tour. Kickstarter funds physical products like CDs, shirts and other merch. And Patreon funds my songwriting!
Join the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon to support my songwriting. You will step behind-the-scenes with new music, bonus podcasts, videos, and live concerts.
Thank you for supporting Sci F'Irish music at Celtfather.com!
#CFMonthly
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