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Two Story Media
United States
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 5 ธ.ค. 2018
Welcome to Two Story Media! My name is Jon, and my goal with this channel is to help indie musicians learn how to build meaningful community around their artistry.
To that end, the plan is to try stuff and tell you what works.
I've been running twostorymelody.com (a music blog) since 2016ish. Over that time, we've interviewed hundreds of artists and written thousands of reviews.
I've been running twostorymedia.com (a music marketing agency) since 2018ish. We started out with a focus on PR (press campaigns), and have since branched out into almost everything - paid ads, social media, Spotify promotion, those wavy-arms guys you see in front of gas stations.
Kidding about the wavy-arms guys.
We've worked with major-label acts with multiple millions of streams, seen our indie clients get on their first "Fresh Finds" playlists, and done consulting with acts that are just starting out.
Wherever you are on the journey, here's wishing you good luck!
Now get out there and make music.
To that end, the plan is to try stuff and tell you what works.
I've been running twostorymelody.com (a music blog) since 2016ish. Over that time, we've interviewed hundreds of artists and written thousands of reviews.
I've been running twostorymedia.com (a music marketing agency) since 2018ish. We started out with a focus on PR (press campaigns), and have since branched out into almost everything - paid ads, social media, Spotify promotion, those wavy-arms guys you see in front of gas stations.
Kidding about the wavy-arms guys.
We've worked with major-label acts with multiple millions of streams, seen our indie clients get on their first "Fresh Finds" playlists, and done consulting with acts that are just starting out.
Wherever you are on the journey, here's wishing you good luck!
Now get out there and make music.
Stop blindly following marketing gurus.
This one's a bit of a rant on a pet peeve of mine. Take it for what it's worth. Or don't. You make your own decisions, you know?
***
Want to grow your fanbase?
Here are three ways we can help:
📚 Free, 5-Day Spotify Marketing Mini Course: tinyurl.com/5n6y7zy5
🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j
📈 Hire us to run Meta ads for Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey
***
Video edited by: Kieran Grossman (tinyurl.com/5e7vxyxt)
***
Want to grow your fanbase?
Here are three ways we can help:
📚 Free, 5-Day Spotify Marketing Mini Course: tinyurl.com/5n6y7zy5
🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j
📈 Hire us to run Meta ads for Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey
***
Video edited by: Kieran Grossman (tinyurl.com/5e7vxyxt)
มุมมอง: 171
วีดีโอ
How I Lost $2,000 in a Meta Ads Hack
มุมมอง 259หลายเดือนก่อน
Tbh I debated sharing about this... but I want to err on the side of transparency, because I think that's probably best for all of us. So here's the story of how hackers stole $2k from my Meta ads agency. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are four ways we can help: 💡 Learn how to run Meta ads yourself: tinyurl.com/2p8m3v25 🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j 📕 Read my book, ...
Spying on music artists' Meta ads
มุมมอง 570หลายเดือนก่อน
Well, this video is kind of a weird one, but hey - sometimes I look through my Instagram feed to see what kind of artist ads show up. I figured I'd let you in on the process. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are three ways we can help: ✅ Download our free song release checklist: tinyurl.com/25b2zk7d 📈 Grow on Spotify with our Meta ad management: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promot...
Are Guaranteed Algorithmic Playlist Placements a Scam? (DaimoonMedia Interview)
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Tom's the founder of DaimoonMedia (daimoon.media) a playlist pitching company that's worked with over 9,500 artists, and one of the options I reviewed (and recommend) on this channel. In this video, we discuss whether the companies that promise algorithmic playlist placements are legit. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are three ways we can help: ✅ Download our free song release checklist: tinyu...
Behind the scenes at a playlist pitching company (DaimoonMedia)
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Tom's the founder of DaimoonMedia (daimoon.media) a playlist pitching company that's worked with over 9,500 artists, and one of the options I reviewed (and recommend) on this channel. In this video, he breaks down how playlist pitching actually works. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are three ways we can help: ✅ Download our free song release checklist: tinyurl.com/25b2zk7d 📈 Grow on Spotify wi...
Watch this before you pay an ad agency for Spotify streams.
มุมมอง 7693 หลายเดือนก่อน
I'm not sure if it's just my viewpoint, but it seems like ad agencies for Spotify promotion have become more prevalent in the past few years. If you're considering working with one, there are a couple of big questions you'll need to answer. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are three ways we can help: ✅ Download our free song release checklist: tinyurl.com/25b2zk7d 📈 Grow on Spotify with our Meta...
Where to Focus Your Spend on Groover (Advice from the Company's Co-Founder)
มุมมอง 2474 หลายเดือนก่อน
Here's how Dorian recommends allocating your budget. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are three ways we can help: ✅ Download our free song release checklist: tinyurl.com/25b2zk7d 📈 Grow on Spotify with our Meta ad management: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promote Indie Music: tinyurl.com/2s3uc68n
Groover's Founder Lays Out the Path to Growing an Artist Career in 4 Minutes
มุมมอง 2924 หลายเดือนก่อน
I asked Dorian how he'd make it as an indie artist today - this was his response. I thought it was pretty good. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are three ways we can help: ✅ Download our free song release checklist: tinyurl.com/25b2zk7d 📈 Grow on Spotify with our Meta ad management: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promote Indie Music: tinyurl.com/2s3uc68n
Meta ads or Spotify playlisting? Here's my take (with real campaign data)
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"Should I use Meta ads or Spotify playlists to grow my streaming numbers?" That's one of the most common questions I get from artists. Here's my two cents. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are three ways we can help: 💡 Learn how to run Meta ads yourself: tinyurl.com/2p8m3v25 📈 Grow on Spotify with our Meta ad management: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promote Indie Music: tinyurl.co...
Spotify bots are getting indie artists banned.
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Here are some links to things I mention in the video: Spotify's Royalty System Changes: artists.spotify.com/en/blog/modernizing-our-royalty-system Spotify's Loud & Clear Report: loudandclear.byspotify.com/ Ari Herstand's newsletter: aristake.com/ Want to grow your fanbase? Here are four ways we can help: 💡 Learn how to run Meta ads yourself: tinyurl.com/2p8m3v25 🤜 Join our Spotify growth commun...
How much should you spend on a Groover campaign?
มุมมอง 7435 หลายเดือนก่อน
Dorian (one of Groover's co-founders) shares his recommendation for an ideal Groover budget. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are four ways we can help: ✅ 5-step plan to get 100k streams on your next release: tinyurl.com/8vjs9c7e 🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j 📈 Hire us to run Meta ads for Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promote Indie Music: tinyur...
The best way to use Groover (tips from the co-founder)
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In this video, Dorian gives a few tips for getting the most out of Groover. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are four ways we can help: ✅ 5-step plan to get 100k streams on your next release: tinyurl.com/8vjs9c7e 🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j 📈 Hire us to run Meta ads for Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promote Indie Music: tinyurl.com/2s3uc68n
How to figure out what genre your music is (Groover interview)
มุมมอง 1135 หลายเดือนก่อน
It's tough to give your own music a genre. Groover's Dorian gives his two cents on how indie artists should tag their music. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are four ways we can help: ✅ 5-step plan to get 100k streams on your next release: tinyurl.com/8vjs9c7e 🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j 📈 Hire us to run Meta ads for Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, Ho...
How I optimize my Meta ad campaigns (for music)
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The moral of the story: It's pretty much all about the ad itself. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are four ways we can help: ✅ 5-step plan to get 100k streams on your next release: tinyurl.com/8vjs9c7e 🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j 📈 Hire us to run Meta ads for Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promote Indie Music: tinyurl.com/2s3uc68n
How to make good Meta ads (with examples)
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Making good ads to drive Spotify streams is hard. Here's what I've seen work. Want to grow your fanbase? Here are four ways we can help: ✅ 5-step plan to get 100k streams on your next release: tinyurl.com/8vjs9c7e 🤜 Join our Spotify growth community: tinyurl.com/m979856j 📈 Hire us to run Meta ads for Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s42kbey 📕 Read my book, How to Promote Indie Music: tinyurl.com/2s3uc68n
How I'm using Meta ads now (campaign details)
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How I'm using Meta ads now (campaign details)
The best music marketing strategy no one is talking about...
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The best music marketing strategy no one is talking about...
You have $500 to market an EP... what do you do?
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You have $500 to market an EP... what do you do?
The first thing to do as an indie artist...
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The first thing to do as an indie artist...
Artists Should Use These 5 Strategies in 2024
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Artists Should Use These 5 Strategies in 2024
What's the Point of Music PR in 2024?
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What's the Point of Music PR in 2024?
How Ariel Hyatt Got Into Music Marketing
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How Ariel Hyatt Got Into Music Marketing
How to Get 1 Million Spotify Streams (as a New Artist)
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How to Get 1 Million Spotify Streams (as a New Artist)
"Spotify Promotion Is A Waste of Money... Not Worth It."
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"Spotify Promotion Is A Waste of Money... Not Worth It."
Ranking Every Music Marketing Tactic I Tried This Year
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Ranking Every Music Marketing Tactic I Tried This Year
How to Get 100k Spotify Streams as a Brand New Artist
มุมมอง 5K8 หลายเดือนก่อน
How to Get 100k Spotify Streams as a Brand New Artist
I Spent $100 on Spotify Showcase... Here's What Happened.
มุมมอง 9K8 หลายเดือนก่อน
I Spent $100 on Spotify Showcase... Here's What Happened.
How Many Streams Can You Expect From Meta Ads?
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How Many Streams Can You Expect From Meta Ads?
How to Get Started as an Artist in 2024 (Omari's Advice)
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How to Get Started as an Artist in 2024 (Omari's Advice)
How to (Actually) Make Money from Spotify
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How to (Actually) Make Money from Spotify
the first one is nashville. did u really say broadway. 😂
this was informative. thanks.
Thank you ❤ interesting. I have 0.17 CPR and 150 streams for 45$. 15 saves, 15 adds. Only 38% conversion through the pre-landing to Spotify for some reason :( 3 stream per listener
I think you hit the nail on the head when it comes to what's required to learn something - doing it yourself. You can have all the theory in the world, watch all these gurus talking about how they've managed to do xyz, but at some point you have to put in the effort. Learning this part of the music business is part of the craft and if you're going to engage in any kind of service to help you with your music marketing, you have to know how things work so that a) you can direct the company in what you want and b) you'll know if they are doing a good job and you're getting value for money. I am not there yet myself but I realise there's a learning curve. Almost the best thing about this industry is there's no linear path to follow. People can help and do have knowledge, but the only way you'll know it works is by trying.
I hate the ones that talk about nothing for 8 - 20 minutes and talk about free strategies to get streams and nobody can get 100,000 - 1,000,000 streams from any of those videos
As always a great and honest video, thank you so much 😊
Thanks for watching, Andreas!
Thanks a lot for these helpful insights! One question that appeared to me when I checked all the different promotion options is: In your experience, where is the tipping point when the promotion cost finally get over to more Spotify revenue than cost? Is this even happening? Or should we see Spotify purely as a promotion tool?
Roger that. I never liked the word "guru" to begin with.
I don't use my original account cuz I'm afraid of bot attacks lol. Anyway, you're one of my fav youtubers, your way of talking and everything is so chill. On topic : I learned the basics from Andrew's videos lol. Damian Keys is very lols btw, Tom Du Puree music's terrible haha. Maybe you're a bit off, what I'm sure about is , all of you running meta ads agencies are a rip off, Andrew's example taking 45% of a budget. Just learn yourself. Or do use an agency, but not with your insane rates! If I ever make a meta ad agency I'll take max 15%.
RE: agency prices: On the one hand, I get where you're coming from ha. On the other hand... I started out running campaigns for $100, flat rate, from artists, and found out that by the time you factor in set up and all the back and forth communication, it comes out to way less than minimum wage. Honestly, even with charging 50% in management (which is what I charge), it's not all that lucrative. You either have to do a ton of scale (30+ clients) or only work with very high ticket clients (i.e., labels) to make it work as a main business model. But from an artist perspective, you're right - I think nearly everyone should learn to do it themselves, anyway.
@@twostorymediamusic Hey man, love your videos and I run an agency as well similar to yours. I completely agree about the pricing model, I started out doing it for about $100 as well and quickly realized it's a LOT of work especially if the artist doesn't make engaging content. The biggest hurdle is managing expectations of clients when the music isn't really properly produced or mixed. What I've decided to do is have one part of my model just focused on giving them brutally honest advice about whether they should even invest into ads at the stage they are in. Great music and content just does better so I've started being more selective and quickly realized the best approach for me was: take on a few clients a month that make dope music, communicate well and don't have unrealistic expectations (advertisers aren't magicians lol). Anyway, apologize for my ramble here. You're the GOAT Jon, love all the newsletters and I personally think your rates make complete sense for the value you provide.
Thanks for sharing (and for the kind words ha). Yeah, I think it makes a ton of sense to have feedback as one part of the model... in terms of expectations / results, I've definitely run into the same thing. What's your agency name / do you have a website? Always enjoy seeing what other people are doing.
@@twostorymediamusic two rip off merchants circle jerking... just stfu and stop charging so much
@@twostorymediamusic Sent you an email btw! Not sure if you got it, but it was a reply to your newsletter :)
Thanks, very insightful
Hi man, thank you. Could you tell us, was it worth it? How do you think?
This is an amazing job! Thank you so much!
this just happened to me today. There wasn't a playlist that was linked to the plays. Only a mystery playlist with no title and no picture that I could not click on to report it or anything. There was just 2 days of botted streams on one song, totaling about 2,000 streams. I saw this two months ago when it happened on my spotify for artists. I reported it to spotify and distrokid with screenshots to no avail. they said everything was fine. then got the message today from distrokid that the song will be removed.
So many curators just take your premium coins listen to a minute of the song and type a generic review that could be given to any song without even listening and rob you its horrible i already lost over 40 euros for these people
Precisely….learnt that lesson, NEVER again
I just started pitching a week ago and spent 45 or so bucks. I've had 10 approvals and 8 rejections. I'd say make sure your song is great quality, and fits the playlist. Either way the results depend on more than just the curators. It can work if you make it.
@@jordanparadisemusic dude r u kidding my voice and quality way better than yours 😂 what u trynna say r u kidding rn
@@jordanparadisemusic the only ones that approve are the non important ones that are full of bots or have no significance all the playlists r fake and the curators dont even listen to us they take our credits and randomly pick a few a day so that their percentage stays up to Reel more ppl in
@@gonemachado don’t get it mistaken I’m not dissing you. I’m saying, quality and the fitting of the song on the playlist is important. Take it as a diss if you want, that’s on you. I’m just saying it works if you make it work. I got 10 placements within 5 days because I took close care of who I was pitching to and the vibe of the playlist. But the insult is much appreciated stay blessed and good luck
We are a decent sized band but have ZERO luck with Spotify...
gooooooooooooooooooood
What is this playlist-Promotion? i cant find it online
Here's the site: playlist-promotion.com/
0.46 100% kings
Tom was preaching ha
Last year, I experienced a similar issue that affected around 20 of my current and past clients' accounts. Hackers spent a significant amount of money across all accounts and we never fully recovered all the funds, even though I spent an insane amount of time and energy giving Meta everything they needed to clearly see it was a hack and stuff. 💀 Isn’t it strange how, when I'm just running music ads and make changes like increasing the daily budget or logging in from a new browser, Meta becomes extremely strict and often temporarily disables the ad account. But, they allow a hacker with a foreign name and location to access an account, create ads wildly different from anything we've ever done (our hacker was advertising bras), and make drastic changes to daily spending without issue. 🤦♀️ It's one of the many frustrating aspects of Meta that leaves me bewildered.
Would be cool to see you going through Meta Ad Library of some artists that are starting to pop off and artists already successful and analyzing like you did in this vid!
Good idea! Noting that down - you'll probably see it pop up in the next few months.
I wonder how much engagement Mark Hamilton is getting on Instagram. 🤔 Seeing that he has songs with a good amount of streams, but only 31 monthly listeners is a pretty good sign he ran a sketch playlist campaign or something like that. So, seeing he has a solid amount of Instagram followers makes me wonder if the engagement isn’t matching that follower number there as well. Which would point to him likely running some sort of sketch insta promo/buying bot followers. 👀
Not seeing your parents post and saying “it’s their anniversary, I guess” 🤣
Definitely should've known that haha
Hi Jon! How can I contact you for a marketing campain, please? Thank you very much. Kindest regards.
Hey, thanks for asking! Twostorymedia.com is the place to go 👍
@@twostorymediamusic thank you very much !!!
frodos eyes ...
I've actually gotten that before. I'll take it as a compliment ha.
It makes you sympathic
Great Video, Thank you!
ive seen the hyedit generated visualisers perform 100x better than visuals i've made
I'm actually about to post a review of Hypeddit! Probably in the next week or two. It's a good platform and it definitely works, but I'm pretty convinced that if you get your visuals right, you can do much better than the auto-generated cover art stuff. The custom ads I made outperformed the cover art stuff by like 20%.
i ran 4 ads across 5 ad sets, some spend well others dont even show some of the ads. i spend time making those 4 ads videos, yet still random which one performs..
.39c usd /cpa, decent but didn't change over a month. this was a 'high performing' campaign
"High performing" is mostly meaningless, imo. But 0.39 CPR is actually pretty good. And yeah, you never know which video will win. I think it helps to view it all as a big testing process. But it can still feel frustrating to put in work and then have 3 videos now get shown ha.
I wonder if they are guaranteeing it in the sense of you will be refunded if you don't get on there?
Good thought, but I know that in this case, that's not the case ha. It was literally someone who said they could guarantee it every time.
Good man 💯💯 thank you 🚀
Did you mess up your pixel? It shows no cost per result?
It's because there were multiple conversions in the campaign ha. At the ad set level it shows the CPR.
I just found your channel and have been watching a lot of these promotional videos for this song. It's kinda funny bc I found old friends, new friends in a Spotify daily mix I'm pretty sure.
That's awesome! I'm biased, but I think it's a pretty sweet song ha. Cool to hear the marketing may have worked!
Thanks for this video. I'm setting up the playlist push account today and setting up the campaign tomorrow. Will document all to hopefully make awesome videos to help others like you. Great job and keep going.
I mean that song to this day has only 19,000 streams though....
Ha, it was only $44! I feel like that's a pretty good return - it's actually ROI positive.
@@twostorymediamusicUsually on a campaign you want more than 1x ROI but okay.
Thanks for this. Bad stuff is happening more and more with these ads. I get a lot of bot attacks every time I run one now.
Maybe the hacker knows something you didn’t with the bikini ads to drive Spotify streams, seems like a 4D chess move to me
Probably a major label tactic. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that's how Noah Kahan first broke
For value, do you recommend only sending to curators that take 2 credits? Or have you found its worth it to send to those who require 3-4? I'm sure the answer is: it depends but wanted to hear your thoughts.
Honestly, I don't even really look at the number of credits when I'm thinking about who to submit to. If it's a good fit for the music, I just go with it.
Great advice and helped me big time in my submissions today. I did about 15 submissions today. Have a great night and rest of the week.
Thanks for watching 🙏 Wishing you good luck on those submissions.
@twostorymediamusic Good afternoon and welcome. Today, I received 3 approvals 2 declines, but even the declines liked the song a lot, just not 100% for the list I submitted to. It was only 80% of what they liked, hahaha. No worries, because I have a very, very strong song, and it is doing well, growing each week. I'll do playlist push next, per your video. Thanks again.
Thanks so much for this, the mixed strategy is what I had in mind and now I know for sure that I will go with that. Do you know whether youtube video campaigns with You Grow may result in better outcomes in terms of subscribers, seeing as people get to actually see you and connect a bit more with you as opposed to a playlist?
Glad to help! Tbh, I don't have a ton of experience with YT campaigns - haven't run one in a couple of years. But in my limited experience, they're slightly better for connection / long-term growth than playlisting. But probably not as much better as you'd expect.
Thanks for this information and clear details. I appreciate you.
The ROI on these are so bad especially when you’re only getting 0.03 per stream. No matter what you do here you’re in the red money wise. However great video for showing who and what companies to avoid, there are so many scammers out there and we as musicians feel scammed enough. Thank you for being dope 😊
Yeah, definitely not the way to go for direct ROI. Glad it was helpful, though!
A sudden and short term boost in streams, only to return to baseline. A waste of money imo.
yeah, that's a fair take. I think it depends what your goals are... but honestly, even if you just want the plain numbers, I think there are better ways than showcase.
@@twostorymediamusic what ways have you found most helpful?
I was able to get on a lot of playlist but most of them where on Spanish Playlist. I have no idea if that is good or bad.
bro I appreciate your videos, just make sure you include a preview of the songs based on which you are trying to run statistics because the quality of the sound is crucial to understanding the results
Yeah, good note. For this one, it was an artist who didn't want their details shared. But imo it was a quality song.
Gordon Hayward
I'll take that as a compliment haha
In your honest opinion, with which promo services have you noticed the most residual streams, saves, followers etc.?
In terms of playlisting, here are some of my favorites: twostorymelody.com/best-spotify-promotion-services/ It really varies from campaign to campaign, but the top four or five companies there would have my vote.
this channel is underrated af I love your videos man
I really appreciate that! Thanks for watching 🙏
Excluding the result a campaign may end up, your review should be included on Google Scholar, and relevant academic journals. Thanks man!
I heard labels use bots and spotify allows them to. But if indie artists do, spotify will banned them.
Eh, that's a bit of a conspiracy theory. I honestly think it's probably overblown. But also... you never know.
i can smell the dutch accent from kilometres away
Your music is dope bra