Today, I review the success of the Pub Songs & Stories changes. I offer tips on promoting your podcast. And I tell you about two new songs coming soon.
It's all on my monthly update, Celtfather Music & Travel, show #286.
The podcast is brought to you by my amazing Patrons in the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon. I have some new subscribers, and I hope to make this an even more important part of my general promotion in the weeks ahead.
0:33 – SHOWS PLANNED FOR THE COMING MONTH
NOV 3: Playing Favorites on Coffee with The Celtfather @ 11 AM EST
NOV 5-7: CONjuration, Atlanta, GA
NOV 10: Coffee with The Celtfather @ 11 AM EST
NOV 12: Interstellar Ginger Beer & Exploration Co., Alabaster, AL @ 8-10 PM
NOV 13: Haeuser House Concert, Robert, LA
NOV 17: Coffee with The Celtfather @ 11 AM EST
WEDS: Coffee with The Celtfather, YouTube (Season 9) @ 11:00 AM EST
CELTFATHER MONTHLY UPDATES
1:30 – PODCASTS
Pub Songs & Stories is coming along. I'm getting more interest in the show from musicians. I feel like I should be good for stories for a while. Though I will continue to need to hunt down more stories.
In fact, if you'd like to help me to do that, I'd love to have Pub Stories producer.
I'm changing the logo a tiny bit more for the podcast too. I'm redoing my business cards. I found some cool marketing ideas. But I feel like the current logo is a bit of a distraction… well, the title is.
PUB Songs & Stories. Pub in the title is ultimately irrelevant. It's about the Songs & Stories. But I'm not gonna rename it. If nothing else, PUB differentiated it from other shows.
So I'm making some minor changes before I add that logo to my new business cards. I've decided my next business card design will return to being a billboard for my music and the podcast.
Finally, I'm moving the release date to Tuesdays. That's so I can hopefully release it early to Patrons (ideally on Thursday, but worst case Monday) before it goes out to the public.
5:31 – PUB SONGS & STORIES CHANGES SUCCESS OR FAILURE?
7:26 – 3 PODCAST PROMOTION TIPS
- Create intros for each episode. Find something intriguing tidbits from the show to use as a teaser to make people really want to listen.
- Share those teasers along with unique graphics (or Video) BEFORE the show comes out. That gets people to actually subscribe to the podcast.
- Use a unique URL to get mailing list subscribers AS WELL AS podcast subscribers to the show.
11:59 – PODCAST UPDATE CONT.
I got ahead with the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. As always happens, I lose that lead with each month as I make room for other things I need to work on. So it's time to produce more podcasts before the next big holiday.
The In The ‘Verse podcast launches the first episode of season 2 this Saturday. Mikey and I wrote songs inspired by the Doctor Who episode “Blink”. I LOVE my new song. It's another that makes me feel like I'm becoming a better songwriter. I still need to write more songs. But this is a great start.
The Celtic Christmas Podcast will release a new episode soon. Well, sort of new. I'm actually fundraising for a fully new episode. At this rate, I won't get it. But if nothing else, I'm gonna add the Celtic Christmas episode of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast to the feed as a promo for the podcast. Admittedly, I've had ZERO new patrons for that podcast. I'll post again next month. But it's looking like that podcast may not get a new episode this year. We shall see…
Brobdingnagian Bards put out a new Bards podcast this month too. I actually had to re-release it. I was informed that the first version I released was actually an earlier Bards podcast. Not sure what Andrew did when he mixed it. But he sent it to me. I uploaded it without checking. So about two weeks later, the actual episode came out.
I feel like this was a REALLY good month for the Gunn Runners on Patreon. I started releasing all of the MP3s that I record for Pub Songs & Stories exclusively to Patrons. So that means there are three new recordings PLUS the ones I've been releasing from the Virtual Public House CD.
I debating how. But my current plan is to compile ALL of the Pub Songs recordings onto a USB that will be released next year, along with maybe my new CD, Selcouth.
18:46 – VIDEOS
I made a big decision at the beginning of October. I decided to move the date of Coffee with The Celtfather mid-season. I hate doing that. But I kept having problems attending the Thursday show. Either work-related, family-related, whatever. Thursdays just seemed to be problematic.
So starting in November, Coffee with The Celtfather will be on Wednesdays at 11 AM Eastern. Mark your calendar.
There are no new public videos available. But I did record a first version of my song “Blink” for Patrons.
I am hoping to do a bit of promotion for my Genetic Counseling Song for Genetic Counseling Awareness Day in November. I WANTED to release a single, but oh well. At least…
20:34 – IN THE STUDIO
Selcouth is finally done!
It took far too long. But Mitchell and I finally finished it up. I sent it to the printers. It should arrive by the start of November.
I did finally sit down to start tracking two new songs this week: “Blink” and “Yuletide”.
“Blink” is my new Doctor Who song. I'm gonna try to track all of my songs in the future. That means, I'll record individual tracks for better editing.
“Yuletide” is some lyrics I got from Nancy Flynn about the same time as I got “Christmas in the Shire” from her. I hope to have it ready for the holiday. The autoharp is done for both so far.
21:23 – MERCH
I worked out a new merch strategy at MultiVerse this month. It needs some testing. But it involves selling more than just CDs at my merch table.
There will be CDs, lapel pins, download stickers and songbooks. All have digital downloads attached to them. I'm not sure if this is a good strategy or not. But I'm gonna give it a shot.
Remember, subscribe to my mailing list, you get a discount code to save 15%. Patrons save 25%!
24:23 – WEBSITES
I made a special page for people who take my business card and use the QR code. It'll be interesting to see if this works. But the basic idea is the card will give you a quick link to listen to music, subscribe to my podcast and mailing list. It's similar to what you'll find at Celtfather.net but even more focused.
I updated lyrics for the Irish Song Lyrics website, including:
25:08 – STATS
Mailing list subscribers = 1151 is up from 1142
Celtic Music Magazine = 4087 is up from 4072
YouTube Subscribers = 5552 is up 29 from 5533
Facebook Likes = 3817 is down from 3824
Instagram = 1900 is up from 1896
Spotify followers: 1869 is up from 1854
# Number of listens on Spotify: 3153 is up from 3120
Latest Spotify Single Stats:
Latest Spotify Album Stats:
Most-popular songs on Spotify: “The Widow and the Devil” (2.5K), “Doctor of Gallifrey” (610), “Hobbit Hornpipe” (577), “A Working in the Garden” (353), “Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits” (234), “Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster” (194), “Hero of Canton” (184), “Reavers Malcolm Reavers” (148), , “O’er the Way” (140), “The Hobbit Journey Home” (101)
Most-popular songs on Amazon Music: “Doctor of Gallifrey” (468), “Hero of Canton” (332), “The Widow and the Devil” (125), “I’m a Rover, Seldom Sober” (61), “St Patrick Never Drank” (46)
Top albums on Amazon: Sci Fi Drinking Songs (752), As Long As I'm Flyin (549), Kilted For Her Pleasure (357), Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion (326), Don’t Go Drinking with Hobbits (223)
Last year's playlists from this time last year:
Top Irish & Celtic Music: 602 is up from 600
Sci F'Irish Music: 13 is down 14
Nagians Only: 21 is down 1
Celtfather Experience: 31 (same)
Hobbit Drinking Songs: 5 (same)
Firefly Drinking Songs: 138 up 1
Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers: 80 (same)
Jedi Drinking Songs: 33 (same)
Marc Gunn Songwriting: 3 down 2
Joyful Celtic Christmas Music: 110 up 1
Fun Christmas Songs for Kids & Families: 1941 is down 6
30:08 – PATREON
Patreon Subscribers: 165 down 2
Patreon Monthly Income: $1286 down from $1305
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, pin 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.
31:31 – NEW PODCAST TITLE. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Thank you for supporting Sci F'Irish music at Celtfather.com!
#CFMonthly
div data-pm-slice=”0 0 []” data-en-clipboard=”true”>
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
