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ulyssessklein · 6 years

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How I got on official Spotify playlists as an unknown independent musician…

… using only smart marketing, Show.co, and zero money.

I am an independent songwriter from Halifax, NS and the front man of folk-pop band Braden Lam & The Driftwood People. I have been singing since I could talk and playing guitar since I could walk — but in the eyes of the world, I’m still a relatively “new” artist. Now twenty years old, I juggle being a full-time university student with being a full-time musician.

This past summer, I embarked on the biggest project of my life. Having only the four months of my summer break from school, I needed to record an album, form a marketing plan, and execute all of it within this small window of time. No label, no manager, no team, no budget. I was doing this myself.

For a relatively new independent artist, I ended up with some great results. Especially when you consider that I had no connections and no budget. Just an open mind, consistent effort, a solid plan, and the FREE marketing tools that CD Baby gives to all their clients.

Let’s dive into how I did it.

My #1 goal: Get on an official Spotify playlist.

Fortunately I had a summer job that allowed me to listen to music while I worked. So during the first two months of the summer, I plowed through every single episode of the CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast. Every day my desk would quickly fill up with scribbled sticky notes of what I’d learned.

After assessing my abilities, time restraints, and the little budget I had, some major goals for this project began to form. The top goal was to get a start on my streaming game, and that meant getting on an official Spotify playlist. The streaming world is exploding, and it makes perfect sense to focus my energy on these platforms that will (fingers crossed) be essential to my future music career.

[CD Baby’s DIY Musician Blog is also a great resource to explore the world of music promotion, but you already knew that; you’re here!]

Developing a game plan to get my music onto playlists.

The next question of course was how to go about that.

In case you’re unaware, Spotify’s editorial playlists are the ones curated by people who work for Spotify, the so called “gatekeepers” of Spotify success.

Songs are selected based on:

trends in the data (algorithmic discovery)

pitching

direct submissions

and, of course, editorial taste

For someone like me who had extremely low Spotify traction at the time, and no connection to Spotify editors, it all seemed like a mystery. But, through the DIY Musician Podcast, I realized I do have powerful online marketing tools such as Show.co that can be used to “hack the system” and juice the Spotify algorithm upon the release of my songs. That helps attract the attention of Spotify’s editors. I wanted to find a way to make the Spotify algorithm serve my music on a platter to the right editor.

But I still had to RELEASE the music!

After two months of recording the album in my bedroom studio, I was ready to develop a marketing plan. I decided to release the single “Dawson City” on August 10th and then push out the full 6-track EP “Driftwood People” on September 14th.

By the way, I recommend you always release music on a Friday. Also, when releasing a single first and then a followup single, EP, or album, I would release them within 28 days of each other (Spotify’s monthly listener turnover point) to make the biggest impact in a short amount of time.

Enter Show.co…

I decided to test out two different Show.co marketing plans for each release. Both campaigns lead to playlist successes on Spotify, and I’ll highlight them both below.

The Lead Single

My first goal was to increase my number of Spotify followers.

I had between August 5th and August 10th (the release date of the single) to do it. If I could get a bunch of people to follow me in those five days right before the release happened, it would look really good to the Spotify algorithm. I started out with 144 followers on Spotify before launching a “Social Unlock” Spotify-Follow campaign on Show.co. If you’re a CD Baby client, you can run this kind of campaign for FREE!

I also included the email-list signup option for people who were not Spotify users since my email list consisted of a measly 33 people. After choosing a suitable image that matched the branding of my album and worked well on both the mobile and desktop views of the Show.co campaign page, this is what I came up with:

The “Hook”

The most important component of your campaign is the content that you use as a hook for people to follow you. Think of it as the reward they get for following you on Spotify.

With the Social Unlock campaign, when someone performs the desired action on your campaign, they can unlock a link to anything on the internet…maybe a cool video, sneak peak of a song, unreleased demos, etc. This is where you can get really creative! Overall, your deliverable needs to be fresh content that creates intrigue. Every word in your campaign needs to incentivize a fan to press “Follow” and unlock that reward or experience.

For my campaign, I made a music video for the intro track of my new album and labeled it as the “Official Album Intro.”

My points of intrigue were:

keeping it unlisted on YouTube so it was exclusive to people who unlocked my campaign

conveying that it was an unreleased track

See the wording I used in my campaign above.

Here’s an example of the analytics you can get from your campaign once it’s running. Pay attention to these stats; if you are not getting a great response, change your message, picture, or promotion strategy. Remember, marketing is all about trying new things as you go along and seeing what you get the best response from! Don’t just stick it out if it’s not working. Keep trying new things!

To advertise my campaign, I simply posted natural content on all my social media platforms that would pique someone’s curiosity. I found success in posting screenshots from the secret video and putting intriguing questions in the caption, lyrics from the song, or cool behind-the-scenes info.

You could also use Facebook Ads Manager to run some social media ads on Facebook and Instagram to reach a greater number of people.

The full album launch.

The goal for my second campaign was to take advantage of the Pre-Save option available on Show.co.

Here I used a combination of a couple platforms to execute the campaign I wanted. I didn’t want my fans who are Apple Music users to feel left out again. So this time I hosted my primary landing page on SmartURL with a Spotify pre-save, Apple Music pre-add, and iTunes pre-order options:

To clarify, the Show.co pre-save only works on Spotify, so when someone clicked the Spotify Pre-Save button above, they would land on my Show.co page that looked like this:

[Note: Once the song is released, your Show.co “pre-save” campaign will automatically switch to an “add on Spotify” campaign, as you’ll see above.]

My hook this time was a different unlisted YouTube video of a live recording that didn’t make it on the album.

Again, it was unreleased content that naturally drove curiosity. In addition to promoting this on social media, I also ran a giveaway contest for anyone who pre-saved the album on Spotify to win a signed CD and band t-shirt. I knew that running two similar campaigns within less thnn a month of each other would be tough to get the same response, so the contest incentive gave the campaign that extra push.

The results

After running the single campaign, I had gained 54 new Spotify followers and 81 new additions to my email list.

On the day of my single release, I was featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday Canada playlist which has over 220K followers. I was literally shaking when I first saw my name on that list and I remember shouting “It worked” out loud in the middle of a restaurant where I was eating with friends.

The song was also added to Spotify’s Down Home Country playlist (I guess my folk song had some country vibes), and a week later was also added to the Fresh Finds: Six Strings playlist. So not only was my song noticed on its release day, but it continued to get attention and moved around playlists.

The album pre-save campaign a month later was unlocked 42 times and was also successful in getting the title track of my album onto Spotify’s Folk & Friends playlist which has over 107K followers.

Keep in mind, I also submitted my songs directly to Spotify for playlist consideration. This is especially important to do in the case of an album to identify the song you want featured.

So in summary, I used a combination of creative online tools and content to run a simple, effective, and low-cost marketing campaign that worked. Now it’s your turn to make your own unique campaign. I hope this helps you with your next release!

More Pro Tips (from a total amateur)

Want to make your pre-save/follow campaign even more professional and effective? Here are some quick tips to try and take it to the next level:

Purchase a custom domain (optional, but only $15/year). I used driftwoodpeople.com and adjusted the domain forwarding to land on my Show.co campaign since it looked better then the non-customizable Show.co URL.

Show.co has an option to make your campaign a Spotify pre-save AND follow campaign at once. Try that out; it’s like a 2-for-1 deal.

Don’t give away your secret. If you are using a video for the social unlock, as tempting as it may be, don’t use part of that video to attract people on social media. Keep it exclusive!

The post How I got on official Spotify playlists as an unknown independent musician… appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.

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netunleashed-blog · 6 years

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'Music For Cars' release date and tour dates

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6527 'Music For Cars' release date and tour dates - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6527 The first single has been dropped for the band's new album, set to be released in October. Buckle in, fans. New music from The 1975 is on the way and we’re excited. Not just because we named their last album ‘I like it when you sleep…’ our best of 2016 – but because it looks set to be the record that cements their reputation as the defining pop band of the decade. But that’s not all that’s in the works. Here’s everything we now about The 1975’s new album – and beyond – so far. When is The 1975’s new album going to be released? The band’s third album will be out in October 2018. Not only that, but it will be followed seven months later by another album, due for release in May 2019. What is The 1975’s new album going to be called? That title is now ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’. The title of the second new record is, according to Healy, ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’, which is set to be released in May next year. We thought the third album was going to be called ‘Music For Cars’. Healy even thought that himself for a while. “‘Music For Cars’ was an EP named for our love for Brian Eno,” he told us last year. “We’re using it as the album title now because of how meta and self-referential everything has become in the world of The 1975, and ‘Music For Cars’ was always my favourite title of everything we’d ever done, so it kinda made sense to wrap it up that way.” https://t.co/tmjlHBzB3r pic.twitter.com/LZ6MjQXcNd — The 1975 (@the1975) May 20, 2018 Have we heard any songs from The 1975’s new album? Yes – ‘Give Yourself A Try.’ You can read NME’s verdict of the new track – a return to the band’s pop roots – here. Give Yourself A Try Give Yourself A Try, a song by The 1975 on Spotify // G I V E Y O U R S E L F A T R Y // L O V E https://t.co/tmjlHBzB3r pic.twitter.com/NZ1ELeM8ik — The 1975 (@the1975) May 31, 2018 A second single, titled ‘Love It If We Made It’, is rumoured to be released next week on July 19, reports Dork. The 1975’s label Dirty Hit have revealed that future singles are already in production through a tweet requesting fans to feature in one of the band’s music videos. The tweet reads: “We are looking for fans to take part in The 1975’s new music video. We’re filming in London on 21st July”. The label wants eager fans to email their personal details and a little something about why they want to feature in the music video. Check out the full details below. We are looking for fans to take part in The 1975’s new music video. We’re filming in London on 21st July. Please email your name, address, age, a photo and why you want to get involved to [email protected] — Dirty Hit (@DirtyHit) July 14, 2018 Have we seen the artwork for The 1975’s new album? Not yet. Though it’s entirely possible that the band continue reworking the aesthetic and artwork that were used on debut album, ‘The 1975’ and ‘I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it’. See both of those artworks below. The band also released a series of cryptic tweets in late May referring to the new album title ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’, using different photographs and artworks. https://t.co/tmjlHBzB3r pic.twitter.com/DgrKmORYgA — The 1975 (@the1975) May 27, 2018 What songs will feature on The 1975’s new album? The tracklist hasn’t been announced, so we only know about new single ‘Give Yourself A Try’. It’s the first track to be shared from the record. On his Instagram, Matty has been teasing another couple of songs that could end up on the album – one of which is called ‘jesus christ 2005 god bless america’. The post also said that the current framework for the album is 2 hours and 13 minutes long, but the caption reads “need to start editing”. Speaking to NME, he elaborated on it. “There’s an insane amount of ideas on the table, but that’s just kind of how we work. We’ve always been like magpies. We’re millennials – we don’t have the attention span.” What will The 1975’s new album sound like? The new record has long been referred to by the band as the final installment in a trilogy of albums. “Our first three albums are the story of a person; it’s always kind of been my story. It spanned adolescence to maturity, success and trying to mediate the two, and the third one is where we are now,” Healy told NME. “I haven’t really decided the statement of where we are now yet. It’s sort of difficult to understand the present,” he added. He also revealed that he’s “not really in a good headspace” while writing the album, but maybe that’s not something worry about. “I wasn’t [in a good headspace] in the last one and I wasn’t in the one before it. My creative pursuit doesn’t elicit much happiness because a lot of the time it’s about the darker side of me. That’s the way it should be, if you’re really challenging yourself. But yeah, it’s f**king torture.” Healy also revealed that the pressure is on for album three, and told NME, “it has to be the best thing we’ve ever done.” In March 2017 he said that they need to reach the heights of The Smiths and Radiohead’s finest hours. “If you look at third albums, ‘OK Computer’ or ‘The Queen Is Dead’, that’s what we need to do,” he said. Are The 1975 on tour? Currently no, but manager Jamie Oborne has hinted they will announce new tour dates in August. He’s also confirmed there will be no intimate warm-up shows, as the band “want the first shows to be the biggest live spectacle in the world.” The 1975 will return to playing live in the UK. On stage at Latitude last year, Healy told the crowd the band would next be on tour in October 2018. Did the band really delete their social media accounts? Yes, eagle-eyed fans will have noticed that the band deleted/deactivated their official Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter for a while. The individual members have got rid of their Twitter accounts too Source link

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 6 years

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Ariana Grande, Arctic Monkeys and The 1975 prepare new albums for 2018

Image copyright Getty Images

Musically-speaking, 2017 was a roller coaster.

Ed Sheeran literally broke the charts, a Spanish-language song became the year’s biggest single, and Taylor Swift sampled Right Said Fred.

Short of Rihanna covering Deeply Dippy, 2018 can’t get any weirder. But what do we have to look forward to?

Ariana Grande making the album of her career

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionRemembering One Love Manchester

Pop star Ariana Grande was undoubtedly changed by the terrorist atrocity at her concert in Manchester last May. The 24-year-old shouldered the emotional weight of the tragedy for her fans, and staged a defiantly uplifting benefit for the victims that proved pop had the power to heal.

The US star’s recently gone back into the studio and it will be interesting to see whether those experiences shape the music on her fourth album.

Grande’s long-time manager Scooter Braun hinted at a more mature sound, telling Variety magazine: “She has such an extraordinary voice and it’s time for her to sing the songs that define her.”

Pharrell, who is working on the album, added that her new material was “pretty amazing”.

“The things that she has to say on this album, it’s pretty next-level,” he told the LA times.

The 1975 going for broke

Image copyright Getty Images

Matty Healy has lofty goals for The 1975’s third album, Music For Cars.

“If you look at third albums, OK Computer or The Queen Is Dead, that’s what we need to do,” he told the NME.

“I want people to look back and think our records were the most important pop records that a band put out in this decade.”

The star had previously called the album “the end of an era” for The 1975, to the horror of fans, who panicked the band were splitting up.

Healy assured them that wasn’t the case, telling Apple’s radio station Beats 1: “We were always going to do a trilogy of records. I’m not saying that after this album it’s the end of the 1975, but it’s definitely the end of an era.”

Jack White getting his gardening gloves on

Image copyright Getty Images

“I’m getting somewhere,” said Jack White about the sessions for his third solo album, Boarding House Reach.

“It’s good gardening music or roofing music or, you know, back-alley stabbing music.

“I’m trying to think of some good activities that people haven’t written songs for yet.”

A trailer for the record features a chopped-up sound collage of ragtime piano, distorted digital fuzz, oscillating synths and White’s trademark blues riffs.

In other words, it’s probably best to keep White away from your lawnmower.

Beyonce reforming Destiny’s Child (maybe)

Image copyright Getty Images

OK, this is massively speculative but fans are convinced Beyonce will put Destiny’s Child back together when she headlines Coachella in April.

The evidence is flimsy at best, but let’s pick through it:

2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut album.

Beyonce recently wore an AC/DC t-shirt, covering up everything but the letters “DC”, which are quite clearly the initials of Destiny’s Child.

Michelle Williams, one of the band’s many non-Beyonces, later posted a photo of her Destiny’s Child Super Bowl costume.

Original member LaTavia Roberson tweeted about a secret project she wasn’t allowed to talk about.

Er, that’s it…

As long as they do Bug-A-Boo, we’ll be happy.

A gender swap for Grime

Step aside Stormzy and stand down Skepta – 2018 will be the year where women take over Grime.

Stefflon Don leads the pack, after signing a million pound record deal with Universal earlier this year.

Her quick-fire one-liners and self-directed videos have already earned the Londoner a Mobo award for best female, while the top 10 hit, Hurtin’ Me showed off her singing voice. The stage is perfectly set for her debut album in the opening months of 2018.

Elsewhere, Little Simz, Nadia Rose and Lady Leshurr are also challenging the male-dominated landscape of British rap; while the streetwise soul of Jorja Smith, Ray BLK and Mabel are bringing a fresh female attitude to the charts.

POP coming back

Image copyright Getty Images

Not that it ever really went away – but 2018 is shaping up to be a year of massive pop bangers.

Selena Gomez, who released one of the best, and most-underrated songs of 2017 – Bad Liar – had plans for her album derailed by sickness. But after receiving a kidney transplant over the summer, she’s back to health and pressing ahead with her fourth album.

It’s being co-produced by Julia Michaels, an indispensible backroom writer who turned heads with her confessional solo single Issues earlier this year. The 24-year-old, who can currently be heard on Clean Bandit’s I Miss You, is also preparing an album of her own.

Speaking of Clean Bandit, they’ll presumably get around to finishing the record they’ve been working on since 2015, while Little Mix are dreaming up new music with production duo Electric, who crafted their chart smashes Black Magic and Shout Out To My Ex.

Canadian heart-throb Shawn Mendes says he’s “deep in album three land” and the “vibe is starting to become very clear”.

Chvrches have been working with Adele’s producer Greg Kurstin on their “most pop” album to date.

And following her break-up with Joshua Sasse, Kylie Minogue has recorded a series of “cathartic” and “story-based” tracks in Nashville.

That’s not all: Craig David, Christine and the Queens, Carly Rae Jepsen, Rita Ora, Liam Payne, Charli XCX, Sigrid, Tove Styrke, Zayn, Rae Morris, Billie Eilish and Camila Cabello all have new music lined up.

The Cure hitting middle age

Image copyright Getty Images

For a man who sleeps in a coffin, Robert Smith is surprisingly ageless… Or maybe that’s his secret?

Either way, 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of The Cure’s debut single, Killing An Arab, and the band have a whole raft of celebrations up their sleeve.

They’ll play a one-off show in London’s Hyde Park, supported by similarly moody bands like Interpol, Editors, Goldfrapp and Ride; and director Tim Pope has started work on a career-spanning documentary.

Skip Twitter post by @timpopedirector

The film to which I will bring my own style of jiggery-pokery will use as well as ‘old favourites’ a cornucopia of material from Robert’s collection which has never been seen before: Super-8; interviews; bootlegs; rare performances; behind-the-scenes, blah. Updates ’as and when’.

— Tim Pope (@timpopedirector) December 13, 2017

End of Twitter post by @timpopedirector

Other big anniversaries include The Beatles’ White Album and Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, which both turn 50 in 2018.

Meanwhile, Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back enters its 30s; and Bjork’s Debut celebrates its silver anniversary.

The streaming war heating up

Image copyright Getty Images

Streaming now generates more money for the music industry than sales of CDs and downloads, but the market could be turned on its head next year.

YouTube is expected to launch its own subscription music service, internally known as YouTube Remix, in the first half of the year. If the company manages to convert just 0.45% of its 1.5 billion monthly users to a pay-monthly plan, it will become bigger than Spotify overnight.

Facebook has also been pouring resources into music, poaching several high-profile music executives for its global music team; and Facebook was offering record labels and music publishers “hundreds of millions of dollars” to sort out copyright issues with record labels and publishers.

Expect to see more acquisitions and mergers, too, as the major players seek to solidify their base.

2006 coming around again

Image copyright Getty Images

Remember 2006? Prince performed at the Brits. Top of the Pops was cancelled. Justin Timberlake brought sexy back.

Well, now you can live it all over again, as the year’s best bands have all booked a return trip from the dumper.

Arctic Monkeys bassist Nick O’Malley recently told motorcycling magazine For The Ride that the band’s “new album will be out next year because if it isn’t, we’ve got problems”.

There’s also new music on the way from Lily Allen, whose comeback single Trigger Bang is the dictionary definition of “a pleasant surprise”; while The Streets are reforming for a greatest hits tour.

2006 faves Kate Nash, Fall Out Boy, The Fratellis and Vampire Weekend are also squirrelled away in the studio while Justin Timberlake himself will presumably “drop” new material ahead of his Super Bowl show in February.

Next thing you know, we’ll all be wearing ties as belts and watching High School Musical.

The Biggest Weekend being the festival to end all festivals

With Glastonbury on a gap year, the BBC is stepping into the fray with “The Biggest Weekend” a four-day, four-site mega-festival in May.

There’ll be stages in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, building on the success of Radio 1’s Big Weekend, which has attracted stars like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Katy Perry in recent years.

More than 175,000 tickets will be available for the event – with more details coming early in 2018.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].

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The post Ariana Grande, Arctic Monkeys and The 1975 prepare new albums for 2018 appeared first on dailygate.

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mavwrekmarketing · 7 years

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Image copyright Capitol Records

Image caption The singer started learning violin as a child, but decided to become a singer-songwriter

Beware of Frances: She’s on a one-woman mission to force all the water in your body out through your tear ducts.

Nominated for the Brits critics’ choice award and the BBC Sound of 2016, the singer has a knack for achingly beautiful ballads that tug at the heartstrings.

Songs like Let It Out and Say It Again have earned her more than 50 million streams on Spotify – and top 10 singles around the world (although not at home, thanks to the current state of the UK singles chart).

Born Sophie Frances Cooke in Berkshire, she was an aspiring violinist when her teacher sent her to see a film composer for career advice.

On a whim, she played him a pop song she’d written for fun – and moved him to tears.

“It was a bit awkward,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Are you ok?’ and he said, ‘Yeah. But you need to do that. You have to do that for the rest of your life.”

She took his advice – choosing to attend the pop-focussed Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts instead of her original choice, the Birmingham Conservatoire.

By the time she reached her third year of studies, she’d already been signed by a record label and moved to London.

Her debut album, Things I’ve Never Said, comes out this week. A warm and wistful collection of perfectly-crafted piano pop, it has already won the singer comparisons to Adele and Carole King.

Meanwhile, her single Grow has been selected to soundtrack a new campaign by Refuge, the charity supporting female victims of domestic violence.

The 23-year-old sat down to tell the BBC about that video; the perks of fame; and what it’s like to get school lessons from Paul McCartney.

Media captionFrances plays the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury 2016

Hello Frances… Or should I call you Sophie?

I’m Sophie to my family and friends – but I once thought, “If I’m going to be an artist, my name’s got to look good on a piece of paper”. Sophie is very curly, it looks very young, whereas Frances is a lot more angular. So it just kind of stuck.

But then up until the age of 16, everyone called me Cookie. So anything goes.

It’s been three years since your first single – you must be relieved the album is finally out?

I’m so excited. It’s definitely been a while. I wrote some of these songs when I was 18 or 19, and so they’ve literally been with me for five years.

It’s unusual for people to stay fond of the songs they wrote in their teens.

Actually, at the time, I didn’t think much of them! But they made it through all the label cuts and slashes. They stood the test of time.

What are the oldest ones on there?

I wrote Drifting and Sublime in my room at LIPA – the performing arts school up in Liverpool.

That’s the one that Paul McCartney founded, right? Did he ever show up?

A couple of times. He’d come in to do little Q&As.

He was really nice, if you saw him walking past, you could just say “hi” and he was always really sweet.

What’s the best advice you got from him?

He said that when he and John [Lennon] were writing, they didn’t have anything to record what they were doing Whereas now, if I’m writing in a session, I’ve got my phone there recording everything. And so if I forget something I can go back and find it.

But he said, “We didn’t have that luxury. So if we forgot something, it wasn’t good enough and we didn’t use it.”

I was like, “Oh my God, that’s so true.” Because if you’ve written something and 10 minutes later you don’t remember it, then it’s not good enough.

Do you stick to that advice even now?

No, because my memory’s terrible!

Media captionWatch an excerpt for Frances’ video for Grow

One of the first songs you released was Grow… and that’s now being used in a very powerful video for Refuge.

It’s amazing. It’s about a woman called Melanie Clark, who had a terrible time, a really abusive partner, and she managed to get out of it by seeking help from Refuge.

They’ve animated her story. It’s basically about her feeling invisible until one woman, who represents Refuge, notices her for the first time. It’s a campaign to encourage victims of domestic abuse to seek help. We want people to realise they are not alone.

The original song isn’t about domestic abuse at all. Were you surprised by how well the words and the images complement each other?

It’s weird how the lyrics make so much sense alongside the story. I just hope it will resonate with people all over the world. It’s an amazing animation and everyone’s done it for free.

Image copyright Capitol Records

Image caption The singer has collaborated with Disclosure and Spice Girls writer Biff Stannard – but is keeping those songs for a later record

Would it be fair to say you’ve always wanted to play music?

Absolutely. My best friend’s parents were professional violinists. When I was about eight, I went round to her house, picked one up and fell in love with it. Then her dad taught me all the way up ’til I was about 16 or 17.

What grade did you get?

Eight. I absolutely loved it.

What was your exam piece?

I did a kind of a gypsy piece called Csardas. It’s so fast – and it speeds up towards the end, as well. And then I started the piano when I was 10 – but I only got to grade six. I couldn’t be bothered to do scales any more.

Do you remember your first stage performance?

I was three, dressed as an ice cream in a production of The Hungry Caterpillar at the Royal Festival Hall! And then throughout school, I was always on stage, playing violin or piano. And I played in the Berkshire Youth Orchestra.

Media captionFrances performs Grow at the BBC Introducing SXSW showcase in 2016.

You sound like a high achiever. Were you good academically, too?

I was quite lucky at school. I had this little charm – I could not do my homework and somehow get away with it.

Everyone knew I worked so hard at music. I was doing stuff after school every day, so the teachers were quite lenient.

And then you went to LIPA…

Actually, I didn’t get in the first time. They put me on their foundation course, which cost like 10 grand or something. My parents, bless them, scrambled together every penny we had and I worked at Waitrose trying to get money to go.

How did you get signed?

I put a song called Coming Up For Air on SoundCloud in early 2014. It was quite calculated – because at the time London Grammar were really big, so I thought, “OK, I’m going to write something like that, so all the blogs listen and pick up on it”. Eventually, a few started writing about it and then Tom Robinson from 6 Music played it which was really cool.

After that, we ended up having a meeting with [boutique record label] Kitsun, and released a single.

Don’t Worry About Me was a big breakthrough for you. How did that come about?

One of my friends was quite ill – and I wrote the song to say, “look after yourself and I’ll be here for you”.

I wrote it really quickly. I was just getting off the bus on Kilburn High Road when I came up with the phrase, “I’ll feel the fear for you, I’ll cry the tears for you, don’t worry about me.” I ran home thinking, “I need to get to a piano quickly, I don’t want to lose this.”

It’s a very emotional performance.

I think because I wrote it so quickly. I was thinking about my friend and the lyrics just came out.

Image caption The star has been compared to Adele and Carole King

Don’t Worry About Me has been played nine million times on Spotify. How do you wrap your head around that?

I don’t really. I always said that if I won the lottery, I’d be more excited by 100,000 than I would with 1m because I can’t understand a million pounds. I’ve never seen that. I can’t quantify it. Whereas a hundred grand, I can think, “ah, that’s a really nice car”.

It’s a weird period for music at the moment You can have all those plays, and millions of people know your song, but it hasn’t troubled the charts in the UK.

It’s a really weird time. In Belgium, Don’t Worry About Me was in the top 20 for 10 weeks and that’s mainly because in Belgium the singer-songwriter world is their Radio 1. In Australia, it hung around the chart for ages. In the UK, I’ve just come out at a really funny time. There’s a weird limbo.

But I’m so proud of my album. I know it’s not going to sell 20 million copies but that’s OK. I want to be an artist that’s going to be around for 20 or 30 years.

In a strange way, you’re famous to the people who know you and nobody else.

It’s actually lovely because I can walk down the street and not be bothered. Apart from in John Lewis once, where the manager recognised me while I was buying a sofa.

He was like, “Excuse me, can I ask you a question?” and I thought, “Oh no, my card’s been rejected” but he was like, “Can I get a picture with you?”

And I think he paid for my sofa because I took out finance and I haven’t paid a penny yet.

That’s a proper celebrity discount!

Totally. 100% off!

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