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Stay Independent

Stay Independent

By: Kirk Brandenburg
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Welcome to Stay Independent - a space to find tangible and actionable ways to grow your independent artist career. Join us as we deep dive into music industry secrets with independent artists, tastemakers, and industry leaders. Hosted by Kirk Brandenburg, founder and director of Know Name, a music media company based out of Nashville that helps artists all over the country grow independent careers.2025 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Music
Episodes
  • 5 Branding Mistakes That New Artists Make
    Aug 25 2025

    Today we're walking through the top 5 most common branding mistakes made by new artists. Our guest today is James Muriel, a brand consultant who comes from the branding agency world in London and worked on CeCe Winans' Grammy Award Winning Album “Let Them Fall in Love.”

    Timestamps:
    0:00 - Why Branding Matters
    5:03 - Defining Brand and Brand Positioning
    13:26 - Red Bull Branding
    16:37 - Branding Mistake Number 1
    23:59 - Branding Mistake Number 2
    35:05 - Branding Mistake Number 3
    39:05 - Branding Mistake Number 4
    50:05 - Branding Mistake Number 5

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    59 mins
  • How to Make Your First $100,000 on Social Media
    Aug 18 2025

    Today we're walking through how to scale from $0 to $100,000 per year on social media as an artist. To help us navigate this journey, our guest is a talent manager for 30 content creators with a combined 4 million followers. She specializes in managing micro-influencers and turning their platforms into profitable businesses.

    Timestamps:
    0:00 - Intro
    1:44 - Starting from $0 on social media
    10:07 - Making $10k from social media
    23:08 - Making $50k
    31:04 - Making $100k
    40:55 - Revenue streams for creators

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    55 mins
  • Year 1 vs Year 10 of Being an Indie Artist (with Spencer Crandall)
    Aug 11 2025

    Today we're sitting down with Spencer Crandall as he enters his 10th year as an independent artist - currently with over 500 million streams and more than 3 million followers on TikTok. We're walking through Year 1 to Year 10 of his career to learn how he got to where he is now, and how you can use his strategies to level-up your career as an artist today.

    Timestamps:
    0:00 - Intro
    2:17 - Year 1
    14:11 - Year 3
    22:27 - Year 5
    37:50 - Year 10
    49:48 - How Do You Spend Your Time?
    51:22 - Revenue Percentages
    55:07 - Tips for New Artists
    58:58 - Streaming Revenue

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    1 hr and 4 mins
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