Welcome back to The Club List, a newsletter about making a business out of what you love.

If you’re going to A2IM’s holiday party tomorrow (members only!), it will be a joy to host you. Yes, host. I’m working with them as my newest client, acting as their internal project lead for developing their local chapter events program in 2025, as well as organizing their Panel of Experts for voting on the 2025 Libera Awards. The work I’m doing to grow other creative businesses remains ongoing, including with artist and corporate clients building their presence into SXSW 2025 and other spaces. (It will be a thrill to tell you more about who I’m supporting onsite in March, and I still have plenty of capacity to help others - do be in touch in you need marketing help there!)

One of the great joys of what I do as Me In The Club is practicing what I promise in the phrase itself. If you’re a creative business in need of cleaner access to the music industry (or other entertainment spaces!) and customers you want, that’s what I work with you to establish. And if you’re a business that needs me to run alongside you as part of your team fractionally, then I can join the club and take a seat at your table, while bringing my expertise as an outside pro to help everything you do run vastly more smoothly.

I firmly believe that what separates traditional freelancing from fractional work is that ability to show up as an executive-level force multiplier for the organizations you’re supporting. For A2IM in particular, it’s a community I’ve known and supported for nearly my entire career; in fact, my previous agency Marauder famously launched at A2IM Indie Week in 2015, and I’m proud to see Moose and the crew we built there continue in their work alongside all of this. Independent music in the US is stronger for the work A2IM does, as it gears up for its 20th anniversary - and that is precisely aligned with what I strive to achieve for those I work with, every day.

Today, we’re going to talk about a familiar, yet new way to celebrate your yearly favorites in music, and how it dovetails with a core concept in marketing.

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One Click Away

I’m not about to scold anyone for posting a streaming recap on their social media, or whatever the mode of recap is in a given year. But what I will do is point out the methods through which you engage with the work you love - and ask you to always consider what is in the way, between yourself and the creator you’re supporting.

And if you’re a creator, thinking about this invisible, undefined barrier that’s created by various forms of industry middlemen - from Instagram and streaming services all the way to distributors - is incredibly important.

When I advise corporate clients and budding artists both, there is something I emphasize with them that sums up a marketer’s way of looking at the world:

At all times, you want your audience to be one click away from buying whatever it is that you’re selling. That’s the mantra. One Click Away.

A lot of the work I do with brands is about minimizing how many clicks it takes to make a purchase, because it does make money over time. This is one of a tiny handful of repeatable truths in digital marketing.

What if you apply that also to boosting other people’s work that you love?

No one tells you how to do this upfront, but if you’ve got a little savvy, it’s possible to make it so your favorite artists are one click away from people who can also support them.

Case in point: according to Apple Music Replay, my most-listened-to album of this year is Fontaines D.C.’s Romance. (I listen to music on a lot of different platforms - it might be my album of the year, but it might not. We’ll come back to that when my list is ready.)

If I believe it’s actually my top album this year, how would I tell my friends on social media?

Typical social user behavior: post to my Instagram story. I don’t think to tag the band.

Community-focused social user behavior: post to my Instagram story. I tag the band. Maybe they share it, or maybe they just see it and appreciate it.

One Click Away: post to my Instagram story. I share a direct link to my favorite song from the album on Spotify (because I know more people have that than any other streamer), and I tag the band. While I’m at it, I embed the song as audio.

Linking a song directly on Spotify causes it to autoplay when someone opens it in the app, which linking the album does not. So, if you clicked, I just hit play for you. And even if you didn’t, the audio is embedded, so you’ll hear the song if your phone audio is on. That is insanely powerful, from a marketing perspective! This used to be something only radio (and for a while, MySpace) could do dependably. Even great press can’t hit play for a reader.

Community-focused behavior, by itself, does matter a whole lot. It makes sure a person seeing your post has the chance to interact with what you like. But One Click Away effectively hits play for them - and literally, if you use a link that triggers autoplay in your streaming app of choice.

If money is in the way of supporting creators you love, sharing matters. Tag them. Tell people about a thing they did that’s great. 

And remember: One Click Away is where the real money is. If you can do that kind of thing for your friends, bands you love, your business…that is how doors get opened.

When you share one of the streaming replay aggregates, you only sorta-kinda help the artists mentioned, and help the streaming company a lot. Those companies, for the most part, are doing great! The artists could probably use some help, though.

And an uncomfortable truth here: that also applies to when a press outlet shares a band performance, including in-studio stuff like NPR’s famous Tiny Desk series. That’s not on them, or any company like them. (Artists benefit from this massively in other ways, and this is not a critique of that system.)

The surest way for a creative business to have the fewest obstacles possible to payment for their work, and to support one, is to internalize One Click Away thinking.

So, remember:

Tag an artist in anything they’re in.

If you can share a link to a song while you’re at it, do it.

And as for embedding audio, if you’re an Instagram poster: you’d be surprised how much mechanical royalties pay on in-story and Reels shares through Meta’s platforms compared to traditional streaming. If you have a couple hundred people see your story for even a brief moment, you’re basically tipping the band 50 cents or more just from mechanical royalties.

So now you’ve pushed people to look up the artist you love in one click, and because about half of Instagram users watch with their phone volume up, some of them heard a snippet of the artist’s song before even clicking. That’s how you tell your friends about something you think is awesome and also get the artist a little extra cash, in an incredibly low-effort way.

Remember that every positive action has a compounding effect. This is just another example worth underlining.

One Thing You Can Use Today

If you can count down from 5, a lot more becomes doable.

I have a technique I picked up along the way, which I know I am not the inventor of, that I have internalized so thoroughly that it works over and over again.

If I’m procrastinating on something I know needs done - including getting out of bed, putting on a pair of socks, cleaning, you name it - I count down from 5 and then make myself do whatever that thing is after 1.

Why does this work so well?

To be honest, I’m not totally clear. It’s an obvious trick for the brain, which seems to operate even in instances of dopamine-drain and overwhelm. I find it can even short-circuit bad habits. Perhaps it’s because counting down to 1 and then immediately doing something hits right in the brain’s reward centers, even if I’m the one doing the counting.

It’s a touch mysterious, but it has become one of my greatest weapons, and I know it works for other people too.

Just try it.

Picture what you need to do.

Count 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 out loud to yourself. (You won’t have to do it out loud, once you’ve picked up the habit.)

And then just do it.

An easy, incredibly versatile habit that does worlds to break unhelpful patterns.

Track of the Week

Professional Extra - “Better Off, Dead”

Professional Extra’s new EP Onto Something… is my favorite self-released record of this year, and since I saw mastermind William Sawikin perform a bunch of his work as an opening act at Alphaville two summers ago, I knew I’d be following his next moves closely. Every Professional Extra song has three clear elements that don’t change, even when Sawikin is jumping between classic maximalist synth-pop and lower-fi modern stylings: his gorgeous malleable voice (just as strong live), cleverly substantial lyrics, and profound songwriting chops. You can’t really pick a wrong song here, but “Better Off, Dead” is a perfect split between Sawikin’s more pop edge and avant-garde creativity.

Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

List of Clubs

These are the kinds of clubs I’d like to be in around NYC! Wherever you might find music, art, or a compelling experience under one roof, that’s a club to me. I only list clubs I’d enjoy going to. If I list a client, you’ll know.

Friday, Dec 13 - SVMMON @ Talon Bar
One of the finest goth nights in the city returns, on the perfect Friday the 13th to do so.

Saturday, Dec 14 - FACETIME @ Bossa Nova Civic Club
Door sales only, with Umfang headlining, starting at 10. If you can’t get there in the first hour, good luck! The most can’t-miss techno thing on deck this weekend that doesn’t have an exorbitant cover attached.

Sunday, Dec 15 - Red Tank!, Nite Music, Eaterlife, The Ritualists @ Our Wicked Lady
Our Wicked Lady put out a notice this week that they’re in imminent danger of having to shut their doors if they don’t find a fresh partner or a buyer. This has been one of the most dependable sources for indie rock in NYC over the last few years, with accessible booking and a stage setup on the roof that’s arguably the best thing like it. They’d leave a major hole if they go, and making a point to be there right now is a good thing to do.

Thanks for reading! And now, an image of me in the club…

The Club List is a newsletter from MeInTheClub.com. All issues are available at TheClubList.net. To inquire about marketing services for your work, contact [email protected] and include "Services” in the subject line.