We had the chance to catch up with Mike Papadatos aka Solven. The deep house producer from Greece manages to continuously release new innovative singles in the electronic music sphere. Find out what Solven had to say about streaming services, social media, his latest single “Paradise” and much more.
Can you give us a little background story on your latest single “Paradise” with Lena Luisa?
Paradise, for us, was an escape from all this pandemic reality. Everyone is stuck in this situation and everyone wants to escape from it. We tried to imagine what it will be like of being finally free again. We all want to escape to our paradise, with a loved one, friends or family, and get lost in the moment. After coming up with the chords on my guitar, Lena got inspirational and she wrote the lyrics pretty fast. We actually performed the song live on Krone Hit Austria, where Lena was singing live for the festival they had called Life is Live, and we got a really positive feedback!
How do you feel about the evolution of digital music streaming services?
It’s surely a helpful for every kind of artist, as we all benefit from potentially reaching new listeners daily. Everyone has the ability to upload their music via a distributor without the need of a label. Lil Nas X is a perfect example that even new artists can become huge stars overnight releasing their songs DIY.
When you start a new track – what are the first steps?
The first thing I do are the chords. When I write music I immediately connect it with images, places, moods. Chords are the most important step for me since the whole song will be based on them. After that, I always use my guitar and try to figure out something like a melody, arp that will bring the ear-candy to the song.
I like to have everything organized. Once I’m done from the writing phase, I launch my daw and record my ideas and instantly route them to mix-channels. It’s really helpful and easier for changes.
Where do you see electronic music in 10 years from now?
The good thing about music is that it’s always evolving. Nowadays everyone can have access to a DAW with synths, instruments, drum kits etc. I more and more people will discover music production in the future. As Skrillex said in one of his interviews “In 10 years babies will make good music”.
How do you follow a specific strategy on social media?
Social media is a major key to your success. TikTok made hits and everyone should know how to use these platforms for their own good.
In my case I always try to connect with Influencers that can make something good out of my music. I am a person who wants music to be accompanied by a visual.
Name 3 major mistakes you made and other musicians could learn from.
That’s easy haha,
Number 1: I was producing without knowing basic stuff like scales, mixing, mastering and arrangement. You need to spend time on this as it really rewards your production quality. There are a lot of tutorials for free on YouTube, Instagram etc that can help you understand the basic stuff and improve!
Number 2: Spamming labels with Demos,
Everyone wants to get an approval for their songs but constantly spamming labels with unfinished songs, will have a negative impact on your image. Keep it simple, produce more and be patient.
Number 3: Focusing on numbers
Let’s be real, everyone is a bit obsessed with their numbers on YouTube, Spotify etc.
But that’s the most negative impact on your career. Everyone has their own story. No one will post a failure, everyone will post the good stuff and success! Instead of focusing on streams, focus on your fans. Big artists started with 100 fans and got to millions.
It’s better to have 1000 active fans rather than 100k streams on a song from people who shuffled a playlist on Spotify and they didn’t even check who you are.
How important are data insights for Solven?
Data insights are really useful to see who’s supporting you. For me it’s really important to see how people interact with my socials, what they like, what they don’t and which countries support me and my work. It’s a crucial for everyone’s success!
FOLLOW SOLVEN:
Instagram
Spotify
Facebook
YouTube
Soundcloud
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2 join the family and show some love for this!