122. April Recap

Originally Published on April 30th, 2025

I have enjoyed writing, reacting, and speaking through Fifteen Minutes of Fame since I started doing this thing officially in July of last year. The music I’ve heard, the people I’ve met. The connections. The community. I cherish every bit of it.

That being said, I think this last month has been my favorite to date. Having the website up and running has been a real vision realized experience for me. It has also made the networking between FMOF and CAN! a seamless one. Long story short, the blurred vision I once had of this community of artists is starting to come to focus! 

Let’s talk about what happened in April!

What Happened in April?

April was the first full month of operations working directly through the Fifteen Minutes of Fame Website. In its first month, it did not disappoint! There has been a significant amount of traffic as well as interaction on the website.

CAN! Reviews are starting to take form of how this might look in the collaboration between Fifteen Minutes of Fame and Collaborative Artists Network. The interaction is very positive so far, but we want to build! As the old adage goes, “word of mouth” is the quickest form of advertising and it’s free! So, spread the word!

April was the most active month for reviews since the start of Fifteen Minutes of Fame - that includes a 6-day vacation!

April launched the Fifteen Minutes of Fame Recaps: which are essentially reviews of artists who’ve already been reviewed before. These are typically going to look like normal reviews but the “about the artist” section will be a little different. In some instances, it may be a little shorter; highlighting events that occurred between the reviews, or there might be a little twist to them; like an interview or something fresh to see what works. At any rate they’re here!

Also, blind reactions have continued as well as all of our social media campaigns. 

April Campaign

In the month of April, Fifteen Minutes of Fame published 14 NEW REVIEWS, including 4 recaps and we published 5 new blind reactions! Again, that is WITH a break in the middle of the month!

Fifteen Minutes of Fame featured nearly twenty artists around the globe from the US and Canada to the UK and Germany. Amongst these locations were two US states where we have yet to feature new artists; Oregon and Vermont. 

As of today, Fifteen Minutes of Fame have featured artists in 29 states across the United States of America - nearly 60% of the country, 16 countries, and 4 continents.

How We Have Grown

With the increase in activity, social media platforms continue to increase in activity as well. There was a steady amount of traffic across all platforms with notable increases in some places. Followers in both Threads and Instagram grew by 3%, where Facebook saw an increase of nearly 5% and BlueSky saw an increase of 9%!

While the reach slightly decreased for Facebook and Threads, the reach on Instagram more than tripled with FMOF content reaching nearly 20,000 viewers. This was reflected in engagement, where Instagram more than doubled in engaged content with more than 1,200 engagements! 

YouTube doubled in the amount of views on that platform with our most active month to date with nearly 500 views!

Overall, our social media platforms grew to providing content to more than 3,500 across all social media platforms, while reaching 27,000 viewers with nearly 2,000 engagements! I love all of this focus coming back to independent artists!

The Reviews

I am so excited to be reporting on visits to the Fifteen Minutes of Fame website! I am even more excited at how well we did with our soft launch! In the first full month, we did nearly 1,000 views and with the week prior to April included, our total views have officially broke the 1,000 views mark with nearly 1,300 total views to date! That stems from more than 750 total visitors! As we near the end of our first full month, we have had more than 30 engagements on our reviews. 

The new website is very easy to engage with. So, even if it’s just quickly clicking the “like” button, make sure you’re engaging! Remember, the more you engage, the more attention theae artists receive. I encourage you to be as involved as you like; I love reading comments on the artists’ work and I like to try to spark conversations about music. So, don’t hesitate to interact! But, if you are just popping by for a quick read, remember to click the like button. Also, don’t forget to share articles you enjoy! Please feel free to interact with your own reviews as well!

Blind Reactions and Reels

Being a dude in my mid 40’s, I’m not ashamed to admit that some things are coming to me a little bit late with regards to comprehending the best ways to get involvement on social media. I fit right into the generation that first experienced social media through MySpace, and Facebook (I actually created my Facebook profile when it was required that you had to have a college email address in order to join) but it also means I’m the generation that is late to the party with things like Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms. 

In trying to rectify that situation, I am discovering some “ideas” would have been great 5 years ago, and others are ok but could use a bit of polishing.

With that being said, I have found a happy marriage with the blind reactions where I am posting the FULL videos on YouTube and just the video clips on Instagram. In the first month of doing this, there was an increase in traffic on both platforms.

If anybody has any more feedback, I would love your input!

CAN! Triumphs!!!

The CAN! platform is a vision that is really starting to come together. I have even met a few people through interactions that I haven’t had the chance to yet. To really see this vision, I am really hoping for more people to join the community. If you haven’t yet, click here and, on the left menu, click on “START HERE!” It is so simple to join and memberships are FREE! There are paid subscription options for additional features but nearly ALL of the platform is available with a free membership. These guys really do have it all. 

There are platforms to share your work, there is the Reviews section hosted by yours truly! There is a chat forum, a new releases section, a forum that talks about gear and tech, a collaboration forum where you can place a pseudo “wanted” ad or respond to somebody who’s looking for a collaboration where you think you might fit! There is even a section that is one of my favorites, that is dedicated to mental health awareness. 

I want to make this perfectly clear: it is FREE to get a membership with the CAN! community. There is NOTHING stopping you and it is an 100% positive and supportive platform!

What’s Next?

May Campaign

As always, the priority with Fifteen Minutes of Fame will be artist support and promotion. The main focal point will be the reviews, recaps, and Blind Reactions.

The May Campaign will be standard to the campaign format. We will be accepting submissions for any work that has been released on April 1st or later. Any singles, EP’s, or LP’s are welcome! We are accepting submissions for ALL artists, whether you’ve received a review already or not, it’s fair game for all! To submit music for the May campaign, please visit the FMOF website and click the menu option How to Submit Music or a Video. 

With the Blind Reaction videos, there are some restrictions. We are accepting video submissions for any music video that has been released in the calendar year of 2025. Additionally, there are three requirements:

1. No AI video submissions will be reviewed. This is a hard rule.

2. No video demos or just videos of a live performance. Video demos would be you playing a song in a studio, living room, etc. for the camera. Live performances meaning a video recording of a show you performed. Blind Reactions are for the purposes of the “traditional music video.” Yes, you can be performing in your video if it fits in with the storyline of the song. Yes, there can be segments of you performing, if there is a storyline incorporated into the video.

3. No lyric videos. If you submit a traditional music video that has lyrics within the video, I will do those. I’m simply talking about the videos of lyrics just playing in front of a screensaver to the audio of a song.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame Spotlights

This is an idea I am going to be rolling out this month to try to engage more independent artists. These will not quite be reviews but they will be short narratives addressing an artist and their release. This can be ANYBODY. So be on the lookout for them!

Guest Reviewer

Due to the launch of two platforms, there has been a bit of a delay in coordinating this review but, rest assured, Neccos for Breakfast will be writing a guest review!

Interviews

So, there are many interviews in the works now. Some are on hold as we are trying to coordinate deadlines with releases. One will be involving more than one guest so coordinating is a little bit tricky. 

And also…

We are planning on doing a number of Live Interviews, which is incredibly exciting but also a little difficult to coordinate with locations, tour schedules, other conflicts. 

AT ANY RATE, there are many in the works so STAY tuned!

Full Website Launch

The objective was to have the site fully launched on May 1st. I have realized over the course of the month that this wasn’t a very realistic goal. A more realistic goal is quite serendipitous…

The new launch date will be on July 1st. The official One Year Anniversary of Fifteen Minutes of Fame! Now, that is how we should blow out some birthday candles! There are going to be a plethora of fun and entertaining features to go along with this launch, so make sure you stay up to date on all of the news! This will be so much fun!

FMOF Vinyl Collection

This month, I started collecting vinyl recording of artists whom I’ve reviewed. If I missed you and you have a record, let me know! As you can see from the picture, two have come in so far and there are probably around a half dozen more in the mail that I’m expecting in the upcoming weeks! I am so PUMPED!!!

EP Announcement and Jeff Thomas and FMOF have joined Band Camp!

In an effort to promote my upcoming EP release, I’ve joined the band camp platform! Please feel free to give me a follow here.

My new EP, Frost EP, will be releasing on all streaming platforms on 5/16/2025, but my hope is to participate in my first Band Camp Friday prior to that! But, in order to do that, I need people to know I am there!!!! So please follow and share the news!

Here’s some info about the EP. Two of the songs have been released as singles already; Sunny Side and Beattyville. These two songs and the third song, We Evaporate, will be 3 of the 9 songs that are going to be on the forthcoming album, Evaporate. The album is looking like it will be a late summer/early fall release.

Here is the album work and track listing for Frost EP. The photograph was taken by my wife, Naomi Thomas. There will be a pre-save event and I will let you know when that is up!

Final Thoughts

I want to say how proud of these artists I am. Every month, I meet new artists. I hear new music. I also get to build on the relationships I’ve established with artists over these last 10 months. I get to listen to where they’ve been, what they’re working on. I get to hear their growth as musicians. I get to hear their growth as people. 

The Fifteen Minutes of Fame Community is every bit of the definition of that word: community. Some engage more than others. Sometimes it might be a week or a month between conversations. Sometimes it’s just a simple little “comment” or “like.” 

But I want you all to know. I see you. I watch you. I am listening. You all are killing it out there. You all are inspiring with the lengths you are willing to go to have your voices heard. I think I smile every time I see a post, see a video, or hear a clip of a song. You’re who I listen to every single day. I hope that Fifteen Minutes of Fame gives you all a fraction of what you all have given me.

Because it has never been about me. I almost feel guilty at what you’ve given me. It’s the most beautiful paradox. I became “patient zero” of what I wanted to give you all. The benefits of being your fan have given me limitless joy. 

Being a fan of your music is one compromise I’m willing to accept.

If you made it this far, please leave the words “April Showers bring May Flowers” in the comments!