todd mccarty heat on the street press photo music marketing www.heatonthestreet.com

About Heat On The Street

Thanks for visiting Heat On The Street. This is a resource, community, and blog for new and working musicians. Created by Todd McCarty,  an industry leader, former Sony Music VP, and GM of Fearless Records, and owner of Band Builder Academy. Heat On The Street will give you tips on how to build and maintain success in the music business. I believe musicians should have more resources, more happiness, and the financial rewards to sustain a long career. Furthermore, musicians should be able to support a family and live a lifestyle that defies the “poor artist” image.

What Can I Do Here?

  • Read blog posts and get tons of step by step advice and actionable tips about streaming, music marketing, music promotion, and building a fanbase.
  • I launched an online academy called Band Builder Academy in January (2020), where I am actively coaching students in the community and have over 80 hours e-learning courses on fanbuilding, Spotify, and making money in the music industry. 
  • The banners on the right side offer free downloadable PDFs, infographics, and cheatsheets. If you’ve already subscribed to my list, just email to request additional PDFs. todd@heatonthestreet.com 
  • Submit a track for one of my Spotify playlists SUBMIT and get exposure! If you’re already a newsletter subscriber, you can email your submission directly – todd@heatonthestreet.com
  • Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

About Me

I’m Todd McCarty. My home base is in Los Angeles, but i’m currently living in Japan for the next couple years. I’m passionate about music, baseball (Go Nats!), education, and traveling to new places with my wife and daughter. I left my salary record label jobs to build a consultant business and educate a large audience of musicians (Band Builder Academy). I’ve served musicians and fans my entire career. From time to time, I consult for record labels and independent musicians getting placement for music on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon.

In 2016 & 2017 I was at Sony Music USA as Senior Vice President. Previously I was General Manager for Fearless Records where I worked for 13 years (2002 – 2015) helping artists like Portugal. The Man, I Prevail, Motionless In White, Mayday Parade, Pierce The Veil, The Maine, and Plain White T’s create heat on the street. I was awarded a 5x Platinum single, 3 Platinum singles, 5 Gold Albums, and many Gold singles for RIAA certified sales achievements. 

Aside from the artists I’ve worked with many might recognize the “Punk Goes Pop” compilations released on Fearless Records. You can love me or hate me for those, but they’ve streamed in the billions now, and sold tens of millions of tracks and continue to grow, even beyond the official compilations.

Consequently I‘ve also been in your shoes. I was a working musician, tour manager, released my own albums as an unsigned artist, and booked and promoted national tours.

What Does “Heat on the Street” Mean ?

It’s an expression I picked up along the way that refers to an artist creating an organic fan base. Ideally “heat on the street” happens prior to engaging in mainstream promotion (like radio, TV, movies, brand partnerships, etc.). Having “heat on the street” is the ultimate sign that things are about to get exciting. It means there is a groundswell of word of mouth buzz happening that nobody can deny. When you have it, it’s time to double down on promotion. Heat on the street has been my north star every time things get challenging in artist development, and I hope the concept serves my readers well.

Best,