Dear Tonemiller, we shall unwillingly admit that we don’t know that much about you. Do you even like it when we call you ‘Tonemiller’ or does it make you cringe? Do you think ‘cringe’ is an annoying word? We know one thing though – that you for some reason or another have an interest in music blogs. Therefore, we can assume that you’ve heard of one of the leading indie-music blogs, Lefuturewave. No? Go check them out and come back. We’ll wait.
*Alexa, play “Spanish Flea”, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.”
You’re back! Rather impressive, correct? Beautiful visual profile, and did you read some of the reviews? Insightful, respectful and expertly written. Who’s behind this? Must be a team of two smoky hipster-chicks and a guy with a bowl-cut from Williamsburg right? No. It is the work of one mastermind genius, and we shall make the introductions for you now. Tonemillers, meet Louis.
On the other side of our Zoom call sits a young gentleman with a charming Dutch accent. Louis greets us with a shy smile. After a few obligatory lines of small-talk we ask him how he decided to start Lefuturewave, and his life before the blog. We interpret he’s answers like there almost wasn’t a time in his life before the blog. And then we have an intense moment of realization:
“Wait a minute, how old are you?!”
We are rather shocked to hear our genius mastermind is only of the tender age of 21, and has been blogging full time since he was 19. The kids these days…it is a generation to watch out for!
Impressed, we ask him how it all began.
“There was this one indie-artist, Una May. I really liked what she did, so I wrote a blog-post about it. From there I just kind of continued, I would do a once-a-week music-share, and eventually it became Lefuturewave. People seemed to like what I was doing, so I just continued.”
We’re itching to know more behind the details of his success -a legendary business plan or a famous mentor perhaps? Louis seems hesitant to reveal too many secrets. Or maybe he is hesitant to analyse what he’s doing in case it would lose its authenticity. But he does tell us that getting on discovery-channels like Submithub really drove a lot more traffic to his blog, and helped him connect with a lot more artists. The blogger adds that to him, quality content and consistency in style has been his main focus. That’s what he believes is the reason people keep coming back to the blog.
We wonder how he makes his whole team follow the same consistency, so we start asking him about how he picks his guest-writers and team-members:
“No, it’s just me actually!”
…WHAT?
“Yeah,” he laughs. “I do all the submissions and communicate with the artists, as well as Instagram, Twitter and curating the playlists.”
…He forgot to mention the numerous write-ups as well as the website-updating. Does he sleep? He laughs and admits it is a 7-day job.
“I keep this in the meadow, I like to keep the mystery. There’s not much information about how it’s founded. It’s just the content and that’s it. The rest is cool, but the content is the most important.”
Sorry, for blowing your cover, Louis. Tonemillers; keep this to yourself.
We ask him a little more about the vision of the blog. It seems to be very female-oriented, is this on purpose?
“Let me ask you something, if you’re on a rap/hip-hop blog, do you ask the owners if they just support men?”
Okay, touché. An unexpected lesson in feminism from a 21-year old guy. Louis’ point is that he mainly covers indie-pop music, which can be a female-driven genre. He does admit that he’s glad to be supporting women as it is needed in the music industry. But emphasizes strongly that everyone is welcome to Lefuturewave, they support all genders from all backgrounds. “Diversity in artists is a key feature in our vision and we are so proud of that!”
He explains that one of his priorities is respectful and effective communication:
“Submitting to Lefuturewave sometimes can be like ordering the Playstation five right now!”
We nod and smile like we take that reference at all, slightly relieved to know that there’s a 21 year old guy in there who must relax and game every now and then.
Lefuturewave: How to get on music blogs
- Make sure your message contains enough info – add a bio and speak substantially about the project.
- Be unique, try to stand out – a personal note is something that definitely works.
- Show blogs your appreciation – read their articles, like their socials, listen to their playlists etc. Let them know you are interested in the content they are making.
- I don’t care about your numbers, but I do care about your brand image. So be artistic on your socials and remember that you have to also fit into our visual profile.
- Remember that feedback and rejection is never personal!
- Always have good quality: Work on the mix and mastering.
Thank you Lefuturewave!