15 Minute Music Marketing

We recently had a tweet go viral at 15MMM reaching over 1 million people! Part of that success was due to the fact that a ‘creed’ was employed as part of the overall social media strategy.  

In today’s 15MMM, Sheldon and Greg explain what a creed is, how you can go about creating one and how you can put it into practice for your marketing. Essential viewing for independent musicians who want to build and grow an online community of shared values.

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In the second of our short series we dip back into the topic of making and selling merch if you’re a musician who has never sold merch before.

In this episode you’ll get our advice on what to sell if you’re starting out, how much to sell it for and other great start up tips from a musician that’s been successfully selling merch for more than 15 years.

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As an indie musician if you’ve built yourself even a modest engaged audience and you’re not making any merch then you’re leaving money on the table.

In this first of two merch themed 15MMM episodes we’ll tell you why DIY musicians should have a merch strategy, what ‘level’ you should be at before you start selling merch plus some logistics you need to think about before you start thinking about making ANY merch.

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Download this episode as an audio podcast from Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts 

A lot of music fans are financially challenged at the moment and they might not be in a position to come to your current shows or buy your latest item of merch.

On today’s 15MMM we’re going to give you seven suggestions where your audience can still help your music career and they won’t need to spend any money in the process!

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Download this episode as an audio podcast from anchor.fm/30minutemusicmarketing Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

We’re back after a break and with a new mission: All you need to know about marketing your music, now in just 15 minutes!

Want more Spotify streams?  Music marketing experts will probably suggest you need to run social media ads to your Spotify page.  In this episode we’ll give you two big reasons why that’s a BAD idea and suggest what you might want to do instead for a better long term marketing strategy.

A production of www.elusivecountry.club

Download this episode as an audio podcast from anchor.fm/15minutemusicmarketing Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

After being a reluctant TikTok user, we finally embraced the platform and as a result we have tens of thousands of followers and videos with millions of views.  On today’s 30MMM, Sheldon and Greg share their experiences on TikTokto give you a blueprint in all the ways that musicians can get the best out of the platform.

As DIY musicians we’re expected to do it all ourselves: writing, often the recording of our music, artwork and every single aspect of our marketing.  There are times where it can be all too much, especially if you have things going on IRL. On today’s 30MMM, Sheldon and Greg share five tips  to help you avoid music marketing burnout.   

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As a DIY musician, you’re always creating content to push on your socials but have you noticed how your music content ften operforms worse than the rest of your content.  Why is that?  On today’s 30MMM Sheldon and Greg look at the reasons why that is and offer some solutions to help you try and create the music content which will perform better on your socials.  

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Are you a musician who has avoided TikTok?  Isn’t it just videos of people dancing?  Can it really help your music career?  In the latest episode, Sheldon and Greg look at TikTok from the perspective of the reluctant musician who really DOESN’T want to use it. We’ll tell you how it works, how to grow on the platform and how Sheldon went viral with a video with 1.5 million views. We may be able to change your mind!

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It’s the start of a new year and there’s no better time to try new strategies to get your music out there. On today’s show Greg and Sheldon discuss five marketing ideas and strategies that you might want to try too to bring your music and shows to new people in 2022.  What are YOU doing that’s new in 2022?

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It goes without saying that you probably have a Facebook page for your music but have you thought about creating a Facebook group? In this episode of 30MMM Sheldon and Greg examine the ways that a Facebook group might benefit your music career, how to get people to join, what to post and how you can use it to make money too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Pandemics aside, gigging and playing live shows is where a musician is supposed to earn a large amount of their income.  So why do some ‘mid tier’ artists with record deals and modest fanbases claim that they lose money from touring?  In this episode of 30MMM Sheldon and Greg look at the reasons why larger artists often fare worse than smaller DIY artists and give you tips to make sure you can tour and play gigs at a profit.

Running paid traffic ads on social media is a great way to tempt people to listen to your music on streaming services but you can make a lot of mistakes in the process.  In today’s episode Sheldon and Greg look at the three most common mistakes they see on Instagram when musicians advertise their music and offer some handy hints and tips when running ads of your own.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Getting countless people to share your content without you asking so you reach a bigger audience is the dream of every DIY musician. On today’s 30MMM Sheldon and Greg look at the science of sharing and what makes people share content online.  They’ll also examine if it’s possible to reverse-engineer your content to ‘bake in’ that virability.  

Sheldon and Greg also discuss The KLF’s manual which can be read here

https://freshonthenet.co.uk/the-manual-by-the-klf/

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

After something of a hiatus...we're back! You need every little help to market your music right?  What if I told you you could use the world around you to help your music reach a bigger audience.  Welcome to the world of trendjacking.  In today’s show we’ll tell you what it is and give you examples on how you can use it to get people more interested in what you do.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

There are many paid services out there that offer to boost the number of your Spotify plays.  You might think it’s an easy way to boost your profile and standing on the platform but Sheldon and Greg are here to give your four very good reasons why paying for Spotify plays is a BAD idea for your music career!  

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Bandcamp has been in the news of late, dropping all artist fees once per month due to the lockdown.  With that in mind, should you give up on streaming services such as Spotify and put all your eggs in the Bandcamp basket?  In this week’s show Sheldon and Greg are here to discuss the reasons music fans use each platform and give you suggestions on how to create a marketing and sales strategy to get the most out of both.

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We’re heavily into lockdown now and it may well be that DIY musicians are starting to think more about ways they can make money whilst in isolation.  Greg and Sheldon are here with six ways musicians can make money during this period though you can use them at any time!

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We’ve been on lockdown for a fair few weeks now and from speaking to other musicians, looking at industry and social media trends we’ve come to a few conclusions that might affect your music releases, your socials and social media content and your merch.  Give the show a listen to make sure you get the most out of this lockdown period.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

We’re all still in lockdown but what have we been up to this past week from the confinement of our homes.  Sheldon has been investigating Zoom and has seen how it has been used to host a ‘virtual’ comedy gig and Greg has been investigating how a plug-in can enable remote mixing sessions as if you were sat in the control room.

The free Zoom e-book for musicians mentioned by Sheldon can be found at  musictechexplained.com

Feel free to let us know what you have been getting up to during lockdown. Stay safe everyone!

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The world is on lockdown due to the current health crisis. Greg and Sheldon get together ‘virtually’ to discuss the implications on this for your music marketing (surprisingly there are more benefits than you might realise!) and Greg looks at ways that you might still be able to collaborate with your fellow musicians without leaving your house.  Stay safe everyone!

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So you’ve released a track and maybe you didn’t have the right (or any) marketing plan in place.  As a result it’s getting there on you Spotify page with ‘

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Successful DIY musicians have a lot of tasks to undertake.  Branding, social media strategies, merchandise as well as trying to be a musician! With that in mind should independent artists ‘cut out the middleman’ and promote their own shows?  In this Deep Dive Sheldon and Greg discuss the benefits as well as the pitfalls for trying to promote your own local shows to see if the benefits outweigh the risks.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Writing a good band or artist biography is a tricky task.  Musicians often get bogged down in unnecessary detail, pointless trivia or needless hyperbole.  In this week’s 30MMM, Sheldon and Greg give you tips on how to craft a better bio looking at storytelling, interesting ways of citing your musical influences and whether or not you need to be 100% accurate with the truth!

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If you’re a DIY musician releasing an album in 2020 it can seem a little daunting.  It’s all about singles and streaming these days isn’t it? In this week’s episode of 30MMM, Sheldon and Greg look at how the landscape for albums has changed over the past few years, we look at the reasons why people will still buy your album as well as the differing marketing strategies you need to take depending which stage you are at within your DIY musician career.  The episode rounds off with seven essential album marketing rules.  You won’t want to miss this one.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

As a DIY musician, how do you track how well you are doing?  You might try and gauge your progress against the performance of other musicians, some of which might be signed to a label. In today’s 30MMM Deep Dive Sheldon and Greg tell you why this isn’t a good idea because if you scratch the surface, all might not be as it seems!

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Have you played a gig or show recently that seemed to have more people on the stage than in the audience? It’s definitely a common occurrence for DIY musicians. In today’s 30MMM episode Sheldon and Greg look at eight possible reasons why there are so few people at the show and how to go about addressing those issues so you get more people turning up!.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Did you know that if people are hating on your music you’re might not doing anything wrong, more likely you’re probably doing something RIGHT! It’s all to do with branding.

In today’s Deep Dive, Sheldon and Greg discuss how successful branding of your music will have unexpected consequences!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

It’s a simple fact that before you can tell someone how good you music is...you need to attract their attention first. In the last 30 Minute Music Marketing of 2019, Sheldon and Greg look at the basic ways you can do just that.  Once you think about your music marketing as methods of attracting attention...it could just change the way you look at the whole process!

Want us to give our advice about a particular marketing topic? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Christmas is nearly upon us.  We think Christmas is a great opportunity to connect with people and let the ‘calendar’ help market your music.  With that in mind are there other events within the calendar or other scenarios that could introduce or remind people of your musical offerings.  Of course there are.  Sheldon and Greg  take a deep dive and give you some examples.

Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Releasing new music is great for any artist because it engages your old audience and gives you an opportunity to find new fans. It’s exciting and it’s your best opportunity to grow but many musicians musicians fall short because they haven’t given the marketing of that single enough thought.  

In today’s 30MMM episode Sheldon and Greg look at eight things you need to do before you release your next single.  Is this a marketing plan? It doesn’t cover everything but do these eight things you’re well on the way to a successful single release!  Want us to give our advice about a particular marketing topic? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

So you’ve been booked to play a gig.  That’s great but maybe you don’t want to do any marketing for the show because that’s the responsibility of the promoter, right?  In today’s 30MMM Deep Dive Sheldon and Greg look at all the parties that are often involved in promoting a gig (venue, promoter and artist) with a view to finding out whose job it really is to market that show.

At 30MMM we always like to give you the benefit of our real life music industry experience. Sheldon’s bands ticket sales are up and some shows are selling out faster than ever. We think we know the reason why and it’s a strategy that can be replicated by everyone...including YOU!

If you’re struggling as a DIY musician getting little to no attention, no traction, and no audience growth what should you do?  Well, you need to reflect because chances are you might be sabotaging your own career in some way.  In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing, we look at five possible ways where you could be going wrong and give you strategies as to how to get things back on track.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Do you ever feel like giving up? It can be disheartening at times as a DIY musician given that your growth and progression is often slower than you’d like.  On today’s deep dive we look at how you might need to ‘reframe’ your outlook, especially when if you are comparing yourself with to a major artist.

Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Being a fan of a musician or artist can be a somewhat passive affair.  Ideally we want our fans to be engaged with ourselves and our music.  The more engaged they are, the more likely they will be to consume it and buy whatever else we are selling.  In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing, Sheldon and Greg look at ten easy ways to get your fans engaging and interacting with your music career. They are:

1) Keep them up to date with your projects
2) Take Cover Song Requests.
3) Get Them To Write Your Setlist  
4) Let them Contribute To A Music Video
5) Run Contests.
6) Ask Questions
7) Run Polls
8) Give Your Community A Name.
9) Get Them To Choose Your Artwork
10) Get Them In The Studio

Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Streaming is dominating the musical landscape and singles seem to be the basis to build your musical career.  But where does that leave EPs?  Should you even bother looking at albums these days if people aren’t buying them?   In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing Deep Dive Sheldon and Greg look at all the options and offer some advice for the DIY musician on what to release and how often!

Found these tips useful? Want us to give our advice about a particular marketing topic? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Being a DIY Musician is a busy occupation or pastime, or at least it should be if you’re doing it right!. What happens when you can’t find the time to spend on all the aspects of being a DIY artist? What services should you be looking at taking on. In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing Deep Dive Sheldon and Greg look at the reasons why you should be ‘hiring in’ and who you should be looking at taking on.

Found these tips useful? Want us to give our advice about a particular marketing topic? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Musicians make a LOT of excuses as to why they don’t market their music.  In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing, Sheldon and Greg look at five reasons why musicians resist marketing with suggestions as to how to get around those issues.

Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Festivals are a great opportunity for musicians to play in front of a new audience and establish yourself on the live circuit. However if you don’t have a booking agent and you don;t know who to contact at a festival how on earth do you get yourself on the bill?  In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing Deep Dive Sheldon and Greg explore the research steps you can take to find festivals to play, how to find the person to contact and how best to ask them for a slot.

Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Apple recently released Apple Music For Artists giving musicians stats on their music streams.  We already have Spotify for Artists and have access to data from YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and of course Facebook.  But what should musicians do with all this data and how can they use it to actually advance their career? . In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing Deep Dive Sheldon and Greg give you three things you can action to help push your career forward.

Don’t forget to share this episode with your musician friends about the show too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

If you’re a DIY musician a well stocked merch table is essential to help you make the most money from your gigs and shows.  In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing episode Sheldon and Greg give you fifteen essential merch tips which have been gained from years of merch table experience. Get ready to dive in!

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Today’s Deep Dive was suggested by our audience and looks at release strategy for your music in today's busy streaming environment. As an independent musician how often should you be releasing new music?  We also look at whether there is a best/worst time to release new material.

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You’re a musician not a salesperson, right?  As an independent artist you probably find it hard to convince people to come to your shows and to buy your physical merchandise.  Fear not because help is at hand.  In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing episode Sheldon and Greg discuss the psychology of selling and the hidden techniques, triggers and influences that can help you in your quest to make that all important sale.  

Found these tips useful? Want us to give our advice about a particular marketing topic? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your musician friends about the show too!

A production of www.elusivecountry.club
Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com 

 Today’s Deep Dive follows on from our last episode which looked at how you can execute a 365 music marketing plan. In today’s show Sheldon and Greg look at the concept of the ‘fan bank’ and the benefits you can be achieve when you create content and ‘bank’ with your fans.

Don't forget to rate and review the show on your podcast platform.  Don’t forget to subscribe too so you know when new episodes come online.

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 Today’s Deep Dive takes a look at an often asked question: How often should you be playing gigs in your hometown? Sheldon and Greg examine this topic from the perspective of a developing artist and Sheldon and discuss his own band’s experiences and how he uses the frequency of shows to help sell tickets.  

Plus, tips on how to make your shows more of a unique ‘one off’ event.

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

Relationship building is one of the best ways to turn a casual music  listener into a raging superfan. In today’s 30 Minute Music Marketing  episode Sheldon and Greg offer four practical tips to help DIY musicians  build a strong relationship between themselves and their audience.  And  they won't cost you a penny!  

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Today’s Deep Dive follows on in some respects from our very first Deep Dive (Should you pull your music from streaming).  We’re looking at how one performer (albeit in a different field) is using free content to build an online audience and what he’s been able to achieve ‘in the real world’ once he has established an audience online.  It’s pretty impressive and we think it’s the model that everyone should be practicing in 2019.

Do you agree with us?  Should you have all your stuff available online for free? Don’t forget to subscribe too so you know when new episodes come online.

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Sheldon and Greg continue their foray into Facebook ads for musicians.  Today we’ll be looking at how to create an audience (a group of Facebook users to advertise to) and how you can turn an existing post into an advert.

Make sure you catch our earlier episode ‘Facebook Ads: What Musicians Need To Know’ before consuming this episode.  

Watch this episode on YouTube here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjGWZRRLkFg

 As a musician at sometime or another, you’re bound to run into people online who take a dislike to what you do and create mischief and mayhem posting things which aren’t to your liking on your YouTube videos and social channels.  How should you  deal with it?

Sheldon and Greg discuss some tactic you might want to use when dealing with these online haters.

Have you had any issues with negative online comments on your music?  How did you handle them? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe too!

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Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com

 Facebook ads are one of the best ways for a musician to grow their audience and introduce their music to new fans but for the uninitiated they can be a difficult thing to understand.  Help is at hand 

In the first of a multipart series Sheldon and Greg bring you up to speed with all the things you need to know BEFORE you start running a Facebook ad campaign; audience size, the best type of text to use, how the format of the video with affect ad success and the difference between cold and warm audiences.

Why is it so hard to get paid the money you’d like for playing shows? In today’s Deep Dive, Sheldon and Greg examine at the ‘value’ or worth of live music looking at both its commercial value and artistic value.  We’ll also throw in a couple of tips as to how to increase your value so you can maybe start to get paid more for shows!

Don’t forget to subscribe  to ourpodcast so you don't miss an episode!

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Reflections are an essential part of the learning process.  In today’s Deep Dive, Sheldon and Greg look back over Sheldon’s recent tour looking for takeaways to carry forward to improve the promotion and marketing of future shows. Someone also has ‘tour lurgy’ so there may be coughing!

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 Every independent musician has a LOT of roles to undertake: songwriter, social media marketer, entrepreneur, bookkeeper, graphic designer….chances are you have a day job too! How on earth does a DIY musician have time to do them all and more importantly, do them well? 

In today’s Deep Dive, Sheldon and Greg look at some strategies and tips for DIY musicians to help them get more stuff done each and every day.

 It’s 2019 and pay to play gigs seem to be as popular as ever.  In the current DIY climate for musicians, why do pay to play gigs even exist?  Is it ever worth doing them and if not what is the alternative?   Sheldon and Greg take a ‘deep dive’ and give us some of their views.   

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Crowdfunding is in trouble. Pledgemusic is broke (and has spent the money pledged to artists!).  Patreon says it’s current business model is “unsustainable”.  Yikes.

With that in mind, should DIY artists still be turning to crowdfunding and if not, how should they be looking to finance their releases? Is the old method of ‘saving up’ still the best way to do it?  

Sheldon and Greg take a ‘deep dive’ and give their own personal take.  

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Musicians often struggle with content ideas for their social media channels.  Here are twenty great ideas from Sheldon and Greg to get your audience engaged and entertained, whatever the platform.  Which things work on YOUR social media channels?  Let us know.

A production of www.elusivecountry.club 

Visit Our Website www.30minutemusicmarketing.com  to watch this episode on YouTube.

In Episode 1 of the Deep Dives section of our podcast we take a look at streaming.  With low per stream revenues should DIY musicians and independent musicians be embracing streaming or should you be pulling all your music from the likes of Spotify? Greg and Sheldon look at all evidence and offer some practical advice.

It's hard being an independent musician knowing how best to market your music.  In this inaugural episode Greg and Sheldon discuss the top 5 mistakes that DIY musicians regularly make.  Do these ring any bells?

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