SCRATCH TRACK: Build a Fearless Music Career

About SCRATCH TRACK: Build a Fearless Music Career

Welcome to the podcast for grown-up musicians. This is your creative playground — a space for any artist ready to build (or rebuild) a music career on their own terms. If you're balancing your music dreams with a day job, a family, or a full life, consider this your permission slip to ditch the grind-culture gurus, stop chasing algorithms, and start making smarter moves that actually fit your world. Hosted by Chris Robley — veteran music marketer, critically praised songwriter, and award-winning poet — with 18+ years at the forefront of the indie music industry (CD Baby, BandLab, The DIY Musician Podcast, and more). Scratch Track delivers short, sharp episodes packed with practical music promo strategies and no-BS advice. Because you don't have to hustle harder or play by broken rules. Trust your own damn path, and take fearless steps toward the career you deserve. Season 1 (released in 2025) is called "Muting the Noise: what actually works for grown-up musicians." Season 2 (coming in early 2026) is called "Truth Before Tactics: Build your music career from what matters most." Presented by DEMO — a great music marketing resource for indie artists looking to cut through the noise and work smarter, not harder.

Publisher

DEMO

Category

business · music · music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jul 2025

Latest episode

30 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

26 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Jul 2026

   How the biggest label in the world emails its artists' fans

   Universal Music Group emailed me a big, sales-y newsletter pushing a pile of their artists' releases all at once. From where they sit, none of it is a mistake — their whole model runs on aggregate revenue from a massive catalog, with the added reality that a few runaway hits often subsidize everyone else on the roster. But you don't have that cushion. Every message you send has to earn its keep. So this is a screen-share teardown of everything in UMG's email I found wrong, or just plain puzzling, from the perspective of an individual artist actually trying to drive specific results for their career. Because... imagine handing your hard-won email list to a label that messages your fans about 20 different artists. If you're lucky, you're 1 of the 20 ; ) Free guide: 🎧 5 Artist Branding Mistakes (And How to Fix Them) If you want a clearer artistic identity and message, grab the guide here: → https://www.musicdemo.org/branding (https://www.musicdemo.org/branding) Ready to go deeper? My course Unbreakable walks you step-by-step through the process of defining your artist identity, clarifying your message, and turning listeners into lifelong fans with a future-proof brand. Learn more here: → https://www.musicdemo.org/unbreakable (https://www.musicdemo.org/unbreakable) My favorite version of the course is the Workshop, where I work directly with you and three other artists who are serious about their music career. To find out the dates of the next workshop, go to: → https://www.musicdemo.org/workshop (https://www.musicdemo.org/workshop) About to release some new music? 👉 Get the "Music Release Checklist Your Distributor Hopes You'll NEVER Read" → https://www.musicdemo.org/music-release-checklist (https://www.musicdemo.org/music-release-checklist) Want help brainstorming a great lead magnet for YOUR music? 👉 Get the free list: "25 proven list-building ideas for musicians" → https://www.musicdemo.org/list-building (https://www.musicdemo.org/list-building) Thinking of removing your music from Spotify? 👉 Use our decision-tree first: → https://www.musicdemo.org/leave-spotify

2. 

   26 Jun 2026

   It's not your content. It's the arrangement.

   A friend sent me a one-minute video he'd made about one of his musical influences. His delivery was natural. The vibe was cool. Nothing was "wrong" with it. But... it was gonna flop. Not because of anything in it, but because of the order he said things in. So today, let's do a music promo-content makeover! We're not going to rewrite it. We're just going to move the blocks around — and you'll see how much mileage you can get out of simple rearrangement. You'll see how easy it is to make "fine" content go further. This one's for the busy adult musicians promoting their music in those rare minutes on a weekend, or late at night after the kids are tucked in. If that's you, you're probably not gonna be able to engineer a viral hit every time, and you're not going to realistically optimize every post. You shouldn't have to. But your raw material almost always works better with a small reorder — and that's a fix that costs nothing but five minutes, and paying closer attention to... the audience's attention. In this episode: why attention is a hallway, not a room the four questions every viewer is asking in every moment author order vs. audience order a live makeover of the actual video and more Here's the idea: you already have the parts. Putting them in the best order is the work. Free guide: 🎧 5 Artist Branding Mistakes (And How to Fix Them) If you want a clearer artistic identity and message, grab the guide here: → https://www.musicdemo.org/branding (https://www.musicdemo.org/branding) Ready to go deeper? My course Unbreakable walks you step-by-step through the process of defining your artist identity, clarifying your message, and turning listeners into lifelong fans with a future-proof brand. Learn more here: → https://www.musicdemo.org/unbreakable (https://www.musicdemo.org/unbreakable) About to release some new music? 👉 Get the "Music Release Checklist Your Distributor Hopes You'll NEVER Read" → https://www.musicdemo.org/music-release-checklist (https://www.musicdemo.org/music-release-checklist) Want help brainstorming a great lead magnet for YOUR music? 👉 Get the free list: "25 proven list-building ideas for musicians" → https://www.musicdemo.org/list-building (https://www.musicdemo.org/list-building) Thinking of removing your music from Spotify? 👉 Use our decision-tree first → https://www.musicdemo.org/leave-spotify (https://www.musicdemo.org/leave-spotify)

3. 

   12 Jun 2026

   Is It Insane to Still Make Albums?

   Is it insane to release a full album these days? Probably. Smalltown Poets did it anyway — and guitarist Kevin Breuner sat down to explain why. Kevin's band has been putting out records since the 90s: major label, then indie, then EPs and holiday releases, remixes, and more. That's four decades of watching how albums get made, marketed, heard, and measured. So we used that vantage point to ask the bigger question: what is an album even FOR in 2026? We get into how the whole game has changed decade by decade, and then into the real stuff — finishing a record when life shows up hard (distance, loss, a kid in a car accident, a band scattered across the country), the strange job of speaking for a whole band when you're the one person holding the phone, and why he's chosen slower, story-driven promotion over chasing platforms his fans don't actually use. If you've ever wondered whether a real album is still worth the effort — creatively, financially, emotionally — this one's for you. 🎧 Scratch Track is a podcast for busy, middle-aged musicians who still take their music seriously — people still making good work, who don't want to chase trends, go broke, or burn out. 🎧 5 Artist Branding Mistakes (And How to Fix Them) If you want a clearer artistic identity and message, grab the guide here: → https://www.musicdemo.org/branding (https://www.musicdemo.org/branding) Ready to go deeper? My course Unbreakable walks you step-by-step through the process of defining your artist identity, clarifying your message, and turning listeners into lifelong fans with a future-proof brand. Learn more here: → https://www.musicdemo.org/unbreakable (https://www.musicdemo.org/unbreakable) About to release some new music? 👉 Get the "Music Release Checklist Your Distributor Hopes You'll NEVER Read" → https://www.musicdemo.org/music-release-checklist (https://www.musicdemo.org/music-release-checklist) Want help brainstorming a great lead magnet for YOUR music? 👉 Get the free list: "25 proven list-building ideas for musicians" → https://www.musicdemo.org/list-building (https://www.musicdemo.org/list-building) Thinking of removing your music from Spotify? 👉 Use our decision-tree first → https://www.musicdemo.org/leave-spotify (https://www.musicdemo.org/leave-spotify)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

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