The two newest episodes of the DIY Musician Podcast are all about getting your music onto Spotify playlists:
Part 1 of the series is an interview with streaming promotions expert Charles Alexander, all about building your Spotify presence, pitching to prominent playlist curators, and getting the attention of Spotify’s algorithm (and in-house editorial team).
Part 2 of the series is a discussion between me and Kevin Breuner (CD Baby’s VP of Marketing) about our own playlisting experiences, some best-practices for creating and promoting playlists, and some common mistakes to avoid.
If you’re just getting into promoting your music on Spotify, these two episodes are a great place to start.
Getting your music onto a popular Spotify playlist is the modern-day equivalent of having a hit song in a local radio market. It’s an important step in reaching a larger following, and it can drive significant revenue. But you don’t just GET a song placed in a curated Spotify playlist. You need to work your way towards that goal. In this episode, digital promotion expert Charles Alexander lays out a clear strategy with achievable steps that will help you get the attention of prominent playlist curators.
ISRO launched the PSLV-C37 rocket on Wednesday with a record-setting 104 satellites on board the craft. The ISRO launch was yet another feather in the Indian space agency’s cap, which has also launched the cheapest mission to Mars, named Mangalyaan. The PSLV-C37, which launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, carried aboard the CartoSat-2D satellite, as well as 103 nano-satellites from various countries. Here’s a list of all the 104 satellites aboard ISRO’s PSLV-C37 rocket.
CartoSat-2D – ISRO, India (1)
CartoSat-2D
is fifth in the series of CartoSat-2 remote-sensing satellites that
capture
and send panchromatic and multispectral images of India from space.
These images can be used to monitor the coastal land use, urban and
rural planning, road networks and water distribution, and to identify
natural and man-made features. Weighing 714 kilograms,
ISRO’s CartoSat-2D is the heaviest satellite onboard the PSLV-C37 and
accounts for more than half the 1,377 kilogram payload of the rocket.
INS-1A – ISRO, India (1)
ISRO
Nano Satellite-1A
is an 8.4-kilogram research satellite that will stay operational for
six months, and carry two science payloads. One is the Surface BRDF
Radiometer (SBR) payload that can be used measure the Bidirectional
Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of targets
on the Earth's surface and will be able to take readings of the
sunlight reflected off different surface features. The other is the
Single Event Upset Monitor (SEUM), which can be used to track Single
Event Upsets that happen due to high energy radiation in
space environment in Commercial, Off-the-Shelf (COTS) electronic
components.
INS-1B – ISRO, India (1)
ISRO
Nano Satellite-1B aboard the new PSLV-C37 rocket is also a modular
satellite similar
to the INS-1B, but weighs 9.7 kilogram. It is expected to remain
operational for 6-12 months and also carries two science payloads: the
Earth Exosphere Lyman Alpha Analyser (EELA) and Origami Camera payload
from ISRO's Space Application Centre (SAC). EELA
keeps track of terrestrial exospheric line-of-sight neutral atomic
hydrogen Lyman Alpha flux and can give an estimate for the
interplanetary hydrogen Lyman Alpha background flux by means of deep
space observations. The Origami Camera, on the other hand, is
a remote sensing colour camera that can take high-resolution pictures
of the Earth with a small package.
Flock-3p – Plant Labs, United States of America (88)
ISRO’s
PSLV-C37 will take Planet
Labs’ 88 Flock-3p nano-satellites to space, bringing the total number
of Dove satellites in space to 100. The satellites will be able to
capture images of the entire Earth surface once a day and take pictures
in line-scanner formation at mid-morning
pass times to minimise shadows in the images they capture.
Lemur-2 – Spire Global, United States of America (8)
Eight
Lemur-2 nano-satellites operated by Spire Global of the USA, each of
which
carries a meteorological payload that can determine the atmospheric
pressure, humidity and temperature using signals from GPS satellites in
Earth’s atmosphere. These nano-satellites also carry a payload that
allows them to monitor and send forward tracking
data from seafaring vessels.
Al-Farabi-1 – Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan (1)
The
Al-Farabi-1 is a nano-satellite developed by students of the
Kazakhstan’s Al-Farabi
Kazakh National University. It weighs 1.7 kilograms and will work on
calculating uplink/downlink and ADCS Mission algorithms and testing of
self-made components.
BGUSat – Ben Gurion University, Israel (1)
A
3U CubeSat nano-satellite developed by Israel’s Ben Gurion University,
BGUSat carries two imaging payloads, an experimental GPS receiver and an
optical communication experiment. It measures 10x10x30 centimetres and
weighs 5 kilograms. The BGUSat’s
cameras can track climate phenomena and its guidance system enables the
operators choose the areas to shoot and research through a dedicated
ground station at BGU.
Nayif-1 – Emirates Institution for Advanced
Science and Technology (EIAST), UAE (1)
Students at UAE’s
Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST)
developed the Nayif-1 nano-satellite and will be used for educational
purposes.
DIDO-2
– SpacePharma, Israel and Switzerland (1)
DIDO-2 is a
microgravity research nano-satellite that can be used to conduct
biochemical and physical experiments in micro-gravity. It will serve
pharmaceutical companies, as well as other
organisations, and will be able to send back data to Earth-based
researchers via the on-board microscope.
PEASS – PEASS Consortium, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Israel (1)
PiezoElectric
Assisted Smart Satellite Structure or PEASS is a nano-satellite that
can be used to evaluate and qualify ‘smart structures’ which combine
composite panels, piezoelectric materials, and next-generation sensors.
The PSLV-C37 rocket launched by ISRO carries satellites from many different countries as part of Antrix Corporation Limited’s deals with the operators of these satellites. Antrix is ISRO’s commercial division and provides entities the option to get their satellites in space onboard the ISRO rockets.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi immediately congratulated the ISRO scientists
for the successful launch of 104 satellites, which smashes a record
previously held by Russia.
"This remarkable feat ... is yet
another proud moment for our space scientific community and the nation.
India salutes our scientists," PM Modi wrote on Twitter.
President
Pranab Mukherjee wrote in a series of tweets that "this day shall
go down as a landmark in the history of our space programme," and the
"nation is proud of the achievement, which has demonstrated, yet again,
India's increasing space capabilities."
Vice President Hamid Ali
Ansari also congratulated the ISRO team
on the successful PSLV-C37 launch, saying, "I offer my congratulations
to the Scientists, Engineers and Technicians of the Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) for the successful launch of the PSLV-C37
rocket that placed 104 satellites including Cartosat
2 Series from India and 7 other counties in their designated orbits.
This has been a history scripting effort of launching 104 satellites in a
single launch. The flawless launch has once again demonstrated India’s
capabilities in the space sector and
underlined our efforts to make the use and exploration of space more
accessible and affordable."