Welcome [back] to another week of your weekly dose 🎶

Every Tuesday, I’ll be sharing tips, updates, and must-know music marketing insights to help you get your music heard!

By Finch Bergling

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This week's newsletter is sponsored by... me 😀

I would like to introduce you to "More Than Streams 🧩" - the weekly music marketing podcast that will teach you how to get, you guessed it, more than streams.

Listen to the most relevant music marketing tips, case studies, interviews, and everything you need to grow your music career.

LISTEN TO MORE THAN STREAMS 🧩

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Your Weekly Tip

A few days ago I asked my Instagram followers:

"Without thinking, name the first musician that comes to mind when I say:

→ Depressed
→ Queer
→ Ginger

Reply with the first names that pop into your head"

I got dozens of responses. In a sec I'll share why I asked and what the results mean for your career.

But first, I want to clarify today's topic.

TOM.

You might ask, who is TOM? But it's not who, but what.

TOM = Top Of Mind.

And this is something that every brand, including you, should try to achieve. How to be the first name that pops into people's head when they watch, hear, read, or even smell something.
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Coca Cola's secret survey:

I was sworn to secrecy for a few years, and I believe that now I can share it.

When I worked for a market research company in 2022, I was in charge of analyzing survey results for the Coca Cola Company.

The one thing they were truly obsessed with, is how their TOM was perceived.

To get reliable results, we asked every quarter 1000+ people a series of questions about soft drinks, and one section had simple questions:

Which drink pops to your head when you think of:

→ Having dinner with your family
​→ Hanging out with friends at the beach
​→ Watching a movie at the cinema

And 20+ similar scenarios.

What Coca Cola wanted people to answer, every 3 months, is obviously the soda drink Coca Cola, for each of those scenarios.

And if the answer changed, that's when they knew their marketing needed improvement, and specifically in which areas (maybe show more commercials of young people in swimsuits drinking Coca Cola and having fun?)
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Here's how this applies to you:

There are billions of musicians out there - and I say billions, because you are competing with DEAD musicians too. Yes, someone might decide to listen to Mozart instead of your new folk song.

And just like Coca Cola is competing with thousands of drinking options (including water), you are competing for a chance for someone to listen to your music instead of others.

And you can do it with positioning, which is the first step for becoming TOM.
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How do you position yourself in this saturated industry?

Short? Gay? Blonde? Black? Atheist? Liberal? Liverpool fan? Aussie? Furry?

Then, how do you want your music to make your audience feel?

Happy? Depressed? Suicidal? Energized? Horny?

Pushing those things to your audience over and over again, in your music, content, music videos, ads, and whatever, will help you position yourself better than others, and become TOM in some areas.
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When I asked my audience who is the depressed musician who pops to their heads, most of them said Kurt Cobain or Billie Eilish (depending on age and music taste).

When I asked who is a queer musician, the majority said Freddie Mercury or Chappell Roan (Look how Chappell did the unbelievable and overtook Freddie in just 2 years!)

And when I asked about a ginger musician, there was almost no debate. It's Ed Sheeran.

It's not something that happens in a day - People know Billie was depressed from her lyrics. People knew Freddie was queer from his interviews. And people know Ed Sheeran is ginger because he doesn't wear a damn hat.

Now when you see an ad for Coca Cola, ask yourself - how are they trying to position themselves this time?

And when you post your next video, ask yourself - how am I going to be perceived by my audience? Do they know I'm Muslim? Do they know I'm a cancer survivor? Do they know I have 11 toes?

Find what makes you unique, and metaphorically shout it from the rooftop.

That's your secret weapon.

Use it.

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Your Weekly Reel Idea

In this Reel, a musician uses simple b-roll footage with text overlay asking her audience to share where they're from. People love talking about themselves online - you just have to ask.

This type of question usually generates hundreds of comments from followers eager to represent their city or country.

📝 Want to watch this content idea + 300 more? Find this and hundreds of other proven content ideas inside my 'Content Vault'. Click here to unlock lifetime access to the full collection - never run out of content ideas again!

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Let's work together

• ​Submit your music to my Spotify Playlists.
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• Grow your music career with Your First Hit Song 2026.
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• ​Book a 1-1 consultation.
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• Learn how to become a professional playlist curator.

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Discounts & Links 🔗

• Get 10% off on SubmitHub​
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• Get ​7.5% off your first campaign on Playlist Push - use code finch
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• Get 40% off your first month on PlaylistSupply - use code finch40
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• Get 40% off your first month on Booking-Agent.io - use code finch40
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• Get 40% off your first month on RadioPromo.io - use code finch40​
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• Get 7% off on DistroKid​
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• Get 7-day free pro on Hypeddit​

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That’s it for this week! Hope today’s email gave you something useful to work with.

Until next week, Finch 🎶

P.S. Newsletters aren’t social media - I can’t see what you’re enjoying unless you tell me. Hit reply and let me know what you liked (or didn’t) - I’d love to hear from you! 😊

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