A year ago today Colorshow was released into the streaming wilds…
It was a fun idea: pluck a bunch of original tunes from old laptops, phones, tapes and paper — re-record them with help of talented musicians and stitch them into a modern digital album. It was retro and current from the start. A project that appealed to my musical tastes…but would anyone listen? How does a song or a batch of them find an audience these days?
Here’s what happened.
On the day of the release, I sent texts to family and friends, asking them to pass the word. That gang, without any social media help, generated over a thousand streams in the first hours. And it could have ended there - a tight circle of friends who knew the music and liked the message streaming on their phones — but over the next weeks some good reviews, inclusion in playlists, and a spin on NY’s WFUV radio had tracks like One and Only expanding the bubble of listeners.
In spring we built a little website and launched on social media, not really knowing how to create a meta-network (or sure if we wanted to). For me, that process was clunky — a distraction rather than a channel for the music. However, I saw that whether we posted or not, the streams increased, the range expanded, and the feedback grew, primarily through Spotify, YouTube and Apple.
Playlists, some professionally curated and some compiled by individual music-lovers, moved Colorshow’s songs across the globe. On Spotify-for-Artists” I was able to track geographic and demographic flow. I saw how a media review in Brazil spiked listenership there, and how Germany and Holland launched a wave of European streams. In January, Finland found it. It now streams in over forty countries on six continents! The most popular track is Sand, thanks to the Whiskey and Blues playlist that featured it. The coolest discovery is that the music appeals to people of all genders and cultures. FVMusicBlog called it “a catchy release with driving instrumentation, charming vocals and an inviting vibe.”
Back in autumn we pre-released some songs from an upcoming album, and that gave Colorshow a boost. At year-end monthly streams were climbing nicely. By February, a year after its release, Colorshow’s monthly listeners numbered 5,000. Now, the songs been streamed or downloaded 50,000 times! That’s not rockstar status, but it’s a nice debut.
This is encouraging on the eve of our next release, Enter the Muses! This music has found it’s way and we’ve connected with people the world over who like the sound and the message!
Many many thanks to all the friends behind the flow of music, especially to Eric M. Lichter and Guido Falivene at Dirt Floor, and Claire Marie who will contribute her dulcet vocals again on the next album. Happy Anniversary, Colorshow. We’re only getting started!