Branding Advice for New Musicians from a Former Marketing Professional:

Your music career is a space mission. 🚀 In Episode 1 of the Seasonality series on Marketing for New Musicians, I share how I use time management, rest, and data-driven marketing to stay organized and adaptable—just like 3i/ATLAS navigating the unknown

Authenticity isn’t just about “being yourself” in a vague sense. It’s about showing your creative process, your experiments, your successes—and yes, even your failures. Fans these days crave transparency. They want to see behind the scenes—whether that’s messy practice sessions, writing demos that don’t quite work, or exploring completely new art forms alongside your music.

We are at the edge of something extraordinary. Every choice, every word, every act of creation ripples across the universe. In this slow, meditative talk set to cosmic piano, we explore the power of choosing beauty over hatred, love over indifference, and creation over destruction.

The chilling effect is a legal and psychological term, but in the context of being a creator, it’s that feeling of holding back. It’s when you have a great idea for a social media post, a new song, or a bold lyric, but you stop yourself because you’re worried about the backlash. It’s the fear of trolls, malicious reporting, or false accusations that makes you self-censor.

In this two-minute crash course, Alexander cuts through the noise and tells new musicians why throwing money at ads, playlists, and shady promoters won’t grow a career.

Today’s episode is for the artists, musicians, and creative souls who feel stuck. Maybe you’ve been sitting on a half-finished EP, a folder of voice notes, or an idea for a single that never quite leaves your head.

Today, I want to talk about a powerful tool in a new musician’s marketing arsenal: authenticity. When you’re just starting out, it can be tempting to project an image of perfection, to hide the struggle and only show the success. But in a world of polished content, vulnerability is what truly connects you to your audience.

Let’s be honest: creativity doesn’t cost anything. It starts with a rhythm in your chest, a thought while walking, a lyric you whisper into your sleeve before you forget. It’s free. Natural. But in the music world, creativity alone is never enough. It’s not serious unless you paid for it.

This is for the misjudged, the watched, the doubted. In a world obsessed with labels and suspicion, what happens when you’ve done it all—created, performed, built, endured—and it’s still not enough for them?

When I started livestreaming my neoclassical piano improvisations under The Hollow Vale, I was honestly shocked by how few people saw them. Sometimes I’d have zero impressions, or only a handful of views on a beautiful 18-minute piece. It felt like shouting into the void.

In this bite-sized episode, Alexander Paul Burton dives into the creative power of soundfonts for emerging musicians. From classical harpsichord suites to deep house remixes, here's how soundfonts can transform your workflow—without breaking the bank.

I am not a new musician, but I have been drawing on my background in marketing to rethink how I present my work. The online space is crowded and algorithms change constantly, so standing out requires more than talent. It requires strategy and authenticity in equal measure.

If you are looking for ways to generate fresh music, try approaching your instrument with a simple framework and an open mindset. You do not need a perfect studio or years of training to begin creating something personal.

This is just a quiet reminder really. False reports are not anonymous forever. They leave a trail. And the law does eventually catch up with people who abuse it.

So if someone’s out there making up lies or mass reporting to cause trouble, they might want to consider who’s actually breaking the rules.

Hello, and welcome. As many of you know, my work explores themes of belonging, creating, and the unique experience of growing up in rural spaces. There's immense joy in sharing these stories, in finding connection, and in seeing our narratives reflected in the world. But alongside that joy, there's an unfortunate reality that many LGBTQIA+ creators face: the insidious nature of online hate and targeting.

An LGBT Artist’s Guide to Navigating the Industry is the no-nonsense, slightly sarcastic, but thoroughly researched survival guide you need to turn your passion into a sustainable career.

🌱 Volunteering at Allen Gardens Food Bank in Toronto 📚 Launching a new initiative to donate books to marginalized libraries 🎵 Creating motivational content to uplift /LGBTQ+ musicians 📘 Releasing Marketing for LGBT Musicians – now available on Amazon!