The Real Ways to Support Indie Artists Today

By Braden Davis

In an industry dominated by algorithms, viral moments, and major-label budgets, independent artists are building their careers in a completely different way. They fund their own recordings, market their own releases, book their own shows, and rely heavily on the community of their listeners rather than a corporation. Besides just buying tickets or adding to a playlist, there are so many helpful actions listeners and fans can take that greatly benefit our beloved smaller artist. It’s about understanding how the artist’s ecosystem works and recognizing that even small yet intentional actions from fans can have a big impact. In a landscape where sustainability is fragile, thoughtful support can be the difference between a passion project and a lasting career.

Supporting independent artists isn’t hard, it just takes intent. Here’s a non exhaustive list of things you can do to help:

• Save their songs to your streaming library instead of just playing them once

• Add their tracks to mixed playlists with other artists so the algorithm pushes them to new listeners

• Let songs play all the way through to ensure engagement is properly registered

• Share their music to your Instagram story with the sound on

• Use their songs in TikToks or Reels and tag them to expand their reach

• Comment something thoughtful within the first hour of a post going live to boost visibility

• Purchase a digital download or merch item if you can

• Buy on Bandcamp Fridays when artists keep a larger percentage of the sale

• Join their email list and actually open the emails and click the links

• Tell your friends about them in real life and in group chats

• Add their songs to party or road trip playlists

• Recommend them when someone asks what you have been listening to lately

• Stay consistent in your support instead of only engaging during release week

At the end of it all, supporting indie artists is about choosing to be an active part of someone’s creative journey. Independent music thrives off of community and consistency. Small actions that only take a few seconds, saving a song, sharing a post, telling a friend, can build in ways that genuinely change the trajectory of an Independent artist’s career. Visibility is hard-earned and sustainability isn’t guaranteed, support from fans is more powerful than it can seem. When fans show up thoughtfully and consistently, they are not just consuming the music, they are helping grow something that lasts.

Introducing Our Most-Streamed Tracks (So Far)

By: Brandon Carman

Often times the greatest metric we see in the music industry to rank, compare, and measure the success of a song is by the song’s number of streams. At Olivia Management, a Nashville-based folk and Americana artist management company, we’re proud to represent a roster of artists whose work has not only connected with listeners, but also earned meaningful achievements across streaming platforms.

Each of these songs represents a blend of craft, emotion, and persistence—and we’ve gathered the most-streamed tracks from every artist on our roster into one playlist: Olivia Management Essentials.

These songs are more than just numbers — they represent the connection between artist and audience, and the work we’re proud to support at Olivia Management. Whether you’re discovering someone new or returning to an old favorite, we hope this playlist gives you a deeper appreciation for the voices we’re honored to champion.

Listen, follow, and share Olivia Management Essentials — and stay tuned for what’s next.

My Favorite Music in TV & Movies

by Kaila Divak

1.     “Tiny Dancer” – Elton John – Almost Famous

I honestly think this song has to be at the top of my list, because it is tattooed on my wrist for the rest of my life. When “Tiny Dancer” plays in Almost Famous, the whole band is singing together on the bus. Sir Elton John himself said that this song became as famous as it is today because of this movie. It came at such a pivotal part of the film, right after a huge fight, where nobody was speaking. One of the men in the band begins to sing along with the song, playing on the radio, and everyone else just follows suit.

2.     “Epilogue” – Justin Hurwitz – La La Land

This one really pulls at the heart strings for me. I think I’ve always loved this song, but the idea that it was in the most frustrating part of the movie for me really made me overlook it for a long time. Once I watched La La Land a few times and understood that not every movie needs to end on a happy note, I realized how amazing this song was. It brings you along on a seven-and-a-half-minute story, and you don’t even need the video to picture what is going on, in my opinion. I also love how the end of the song is so simple, yet so heartbreaking. If you really listen to the end of the song, Sebastian doesn’t play the last note on the piano. I always thought that that was symbolism for him not wanting him and Mia’s relationship to end.

 3.     “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” – Jim Croce – Stranger Things

This one was awesome to me. I remember watching this part of the episode in season three of Stranger Things and immediately wanting to be a music supervisor. It obviously fit perfectly because the title is “Don’t Mess Around with Jim” and the scene was focused on Jim Hopper. He just successfully managed to get his step-daughter and her boyfriend to break up, and he is over the moon about it. It cuts from his initial satisfaction about the breakup to him screaming along to the song in his Bronco truck. The transition to this was unbelievable and could not have been placed better.

 4.     “Joshua Tree” – Ruthie Collins – The Ranch

I love the way this Ruthie Collins song was placed in the Netflix series, The Ranch. The song has a pretty melancholy sound to it, and in this case, it is playing in the background at the bar where Mary meets Heather and Luke to pick up the things that they saved for her when she was evicted from her house while in jail. It is a very powerful scene, as she refuses all help from them. “Joshua Tree” is super powerful in this part of the show, and I think that the music supervisors did a great job at placing Ruthie’s song here.

 (This one’s on Netflix… Part 7, Episode 5 of The Ranch)

5.     “Between the Bars” – Elliott Smith – Stuck in Love

I love the music in this movie. This song is played as Louis and Samantha sit in his car and share their favorite songs. Louis asks Samantha to close her eyes and listen, and she starts to cry because she’s scared of committing to having feelings for someone. I think that this song was a very indie choice, and it fits so well. It became sort of mainstream because of this moment in the movie. And I will always think of this moment in this movie when I hear this song.