Last week I spoke at The Hub’s OneDayer conference at Cecil Sharp House, which focuses on tech innovation and live music. My brief was to offer five tips for direct-to-fan communication, for artists just starting out. I used notes instead of a slideshow – and was quite rambling and informal – but here are the Top 5 Tips I shared. There is audio, which I’ll link here when they publish it…

Here’s the playlist for episode #45 of Midnight Campfire, first broadcast Wed 1 July 2015 on Brighton’s Juice 107.2. No theme this week but I enjoyed the show a lot, I love the mix. Judy Collins provides the Campfire Songbook entry. LISTEN ONLINE HERE and here’s what I played…

The current debates around gender bias in live music, specifically festival lineups, are important but I think people are focused too closely on big names and headliners. We’d learn a ton more by looking at smaller stages and events aimed at ’emerging artists’. I’ve done two quick bits of number crunching in that area, at The Great Escape and BBC Introducing, to see how they shape up…

Here’s the playlist for Midnight Campfire episode #44, first broadcast Wed 24 June 2015. The Campfire Songbook entry was the John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey version of  ‘Is That All There Is?’. I’ll throw up the ‘listen online’ link as soon as it’s ready – but for now, here’s what I played…

Here’s the playlist for Midnight Campfire episode #43, first broadcast Wed 17 June 2015 on Juice 107.2. The second hour was all songs about bicycles.

You can LISTEN ONLINE HERE. I don’t think this is a prime episode – equipment acted up, I made a bunch of mistakes, plus some songs I thought would be great sounded shonky (and there was no Campfire Songbook entry because it wouldn’t play). Still I really enjoyed the second hour. I loved sticking Katie Melua between Tom Waits and Half Man Half Biscuit. It was also lush that listeners picked so many of the themed songs. Thank you. Here’s the listen online link and here’s what I played…

Here’s the playlist for Chris T-T’s Midnight Campfire episode #42, first broadcast Wed 10 June 2015 on Juice 107.2. No theme this week but it felt like a great show. This week’s Campfire Songbook entry is by Phil Ochs. You can LISTEN ONLINE HERE.

Oh, and I’m looking for contributions to two new theme ideas: hunting and bicycles. If you’ve got songs ideas for those, please visit Midnight Campfire on Facebook and put your suggestions in the pot? Thankyou. Anyway, here’s what I played this week…