Hannah runs Amplify, an independent music blog championing the smaller artists that the rest of the internet walks straight past. She found music through JLS on a CD player as a kid and has never really stopped looking for that feeling since. We asked her everything we’ve wanted to know since the last time we spoke.
Introducing: Amplify
There is a specific kind of music person who builds their taste around community rather than algorithms. Who finds artists through the friends they made in online fan forums at 14, still shares music with those same people now, and measures a platform's value by whether it makes listeners feel part of something rather than just adjacent to it.
Hannah is that person. She runs Amplify, an independent music blog built around smaller artists and honest storytelling, and she has been quietly doing the work since before it was fashionable to talk about independent music discovery. She started with JLS on a CD player, stayed for the pop-indie artists nobody else was writing about, and built a community around the kind of genuine passion that you cannot fake and cannot manufacture.
We sat down with her because we wanted to know how someone who genuinely loves music thinks about the state of it right now. She did not disappoint.
What was the magic moment that made you fall in love with music?
The magic moment that made me fall in love with music would have to be when I
was a child, and had the CDs my parents would buy with a compilation of different
artists, and would play it on my CD player. Most notably my first favourite was JLS. I remember loving how it sounded, and I had competed in dance for several years, so the element of that played into the love of music and different genres as I grew
older.
@amplifyblog result is finding your new favourite artists from it! (i know i have)✨ #fyp #music #concerts #smallartists #livemusic ♬ Supercut - Lorde
How would you describe the 'sonic DNA' of your page/blog? What is the common thread in the music you choose to champion?
The sonic DNA in my blog is most definitely a pop indie side, a genre I am more
drawn to. However, what ties it all together is my focus on smaller artists and using
my platform to further review and promote their work.
In an era of endless uploads, what is the one thing, beyond the music itself, that makes an artist impossible for you to ignore?
Beyond the music, one thing that draws me to an artist is how they interact with
their audience regarding connecting with fans through art. When artists such as
Olivia Rodrigo let fans decode her new single title before she announced it herself
through finding lockets in different cities, it allowed for people to feel a part of
something and the art itself. It is a really good way to market to your audience
without it overstepping and music still being at the forefront.
What originally drew you to music curation, and what keeps you hunting for new sounds every day?
Initially, what drew me into finding new sounds was the community that connects it
altogether. In the process, you usually see artists recommended for you from that
one singular sound, and the fanbase and communities often share that making it a
collective effort. It is also always something new which links to the excitement of
music curation in how people are so creative.
Which streaming service do you use, and why?
I mainly use Spotify, having the premium service and my playlists on there, I have
kept the songs on there from when I was 14 so I like to see almost a musical diary of my tastes.
Walk us through your discovery process. Do you prefer the 'wild' of SoundCloud/Socials, or do you rely on specific communities?
Through discovery, it now mainly comes from TikTok, being a place where it can
come up on your algorithm quickly and it is easy to access their Spotify pages and
follow them further. The music is also then being fed to you straight away to get an
understanding of their sound. Sometimes, I also discover music through my friends
who I met through online fan communities in years prior. They are always willing to
share the music that they love and we usually like a similar genre of music, so it
always fits what I am looking for.
What is one trend in the music scene right now that you think more listeners (and artists) should be paying attention to?
A trend I believe in the music scene right now is more so that need for the
community connection through fan events hosted and ran by artists’ teams.
Although it has always been a trend per say, but a spike in it recently. A good example is Sabrina and her team pairing up with Airbnb to send a few dedicated fans to Coachella, giving them a place to stay for the experience as well, and to see her performance. This is clearly a big scale example, but fans find that very inclusive and as if they are a part of something bigger in the community.
It can be done in small ways, such as hosting secret sessions or sending fans clues towards something music related such as Gracie Abrams did when announcing the Secret Of Us track list, sending handwritten letters to various fans across the globe with the track list title on.
Fans are willing to promote you further just for their love, and I believe fans should get involved with posting fan related content on TikTok, as it does create a community and opportunities are coming from it increasingly.
If our readers could only listen to three artists you’ve discovered recently, who should they be?
Three artists I have discovered recently that I think everyone should listen to are:
Erin LeCount, Gabe James and Eve Christina.
With all three of them, they put songwriting at the forefront and are honest and talented songwriters, with an authentic passion for what they are creating, sometimes more on the folk and acoustic side or on a higher production level.
Erin is also producing her own work, which I always find incredible, and they all have a strong sense of their own sound that they are curating. I also like how they have built their audience so organically and so well, having people watch their TikTok, and lives where they would just sing to them playing venues that are sold out and the connection is there with the audience.
Thanks to Hannah from Amplify Blog for joining us in the Q&A series.
