Running Document — Add As You Find
Swipe File & Inspiration Bank

A living collection of content, visuals, and strategies worth studying. Every entry includes what it is, why it matters, and exactly how to apply it to MCA. Add new swipes as you find them — drop them in the chat and they'll be formatted and added here.

Swipe #001 — @lindi_ortega / Instagram Long-Form Essay
  • What it is: Blog-style essay titled "The Slow Burn Return of A Middle-aged Musician" shared via Instagram with a link to the full piece.
  • Why it matters: "Slow burn return" paired with midlife is honest and specific. Midlife dreamers are a core MCA audience — speaking directly to returning to music in midlife builds champions, not just followers.
  • Framework: Lead with a headline that names the specific experience, not a vague emotion. "Middle-aged" is not a liability — it's the hook. The caption opens with vulnerability first ("I don't consider myself a writer really") which lowers the reader's guard before the essay lands.
  • Title framework to borrow: "The [adjective] [noun] of a [specific identity]"
  • KB Application: A blog or Substack series around returning to music as a core content pillar. This is an audience magnet for people who will champion her story, not just stream her songs. The hired gun → artist journey is this story.
Swipe #002 — Kacey Musgraves / Instagram Studio Shoot (12-Photo Carousel)
  • What it is: Behind-the-scenes studio photography series mixing black and white film-style shots with warm analog-toned color photos documenting a full recording session.
  • Why it matters: Visual reference for Nashville. Intimate, artistic, real. Not posed press shots — actual moments from inside the session.
  • Visual Brief for Nashville Photographer:
  • Black and white film grain for control room shots. Warm amber/rust tones for live room and tracking shots.
  • Shoot THROUGH things — glass, mic stands, door frames, guitar necks.
  • Capture in-between moments: laughing with players, eyes closed listening, hands on a guitar on a couch.
  • Include collaborators as characters — players mid-take, producers leaning in.
  • Detail shots: hands on instruments, gear closeups, cable mess.
  • Artist in both modes: working hard AND in joy.
  • Hats and headphones are a signature look — make sure those shots are in the set.
  • Natural light where possible, warm practical lighting everywhere else.
  • KB Application: Brief Nashville photographer with this carousel as the visual target. Ask for both color and B&W edits. These become content for the entire album rollout.
Swipe #003 — Ashley McBryde / Wild Album Pre-Release on Spotify
  • What it is: Spotify pre-save page with live countdown timer and greyed-out tracklist visible but unplayable until release date.
  • Why it matters: The countdown creates urgency and anticipation. The visible-but-locked tracklist is smart — fans can see what's coming, get curious about song titles, and feel like they're already inside the album before it drops.
  • Tasks to apply:
  • Submit album metadata 4–6 weeks before drop to enable Spotify pre-save with countdown.
  • MCA song titles are strong enough to tease on their own — Midnight Church Aftermath, Fireproof, Dark Horse Prayer will all stop thumbs just as titles.
  • Decide disc sequencing before tracklist is revealed — lock track order before this goes live.
  • KB Application: Screenshot your own countdown and post it weekly — "21 days" becomes a content moment. Let the titles do the teasing.
Swipe #004 — Lainey Wilson / TikTok — Burnout & The Still Small Voice
  • What it is: Lainey speaking candidly about burnout, having to be "on" all the time, and not listening to her still small voice.
  • Why it matters: The themes she's naming — burnout, masking, ignoring the still small voice — are the exact spine of the MCA record. Potential stitch AND a content framework. Lainey is giving KB permission to enter that same conversation as a peer.
  • Option 1 — Stitch it: Pull her exact lines, cut hard to KB: "I wrote a whole album about that." Drop one MCA lyric that mirrors what Lainey said. No long explanation — the contrast does the work.
  • Option 2 — Original video: KB tells her own version unprompted. Opens with: "I didn't know burnout had a sound until I couldn't hear anything else."
  • KB Application: High-priority content piece to shoot in Nashville or right before. Lainey's audience overlaps directly with KB's. A well-timed stitch while that video is still circulating could be a real reach moment. Go back and grab exact quotes to sharpen the stitch script.
Swipe #005 — @officialbethhart / Instagram Reel — "Mean Old Man" Release Announcement
  • What it is: Short-form studio reel announcing a new release, cut from live session footage with mixed color grading.
  • Why it matters: The footage style, assembly, and color grading. This is the vibe for Nashville video content — not polished, not staged, just real moments from inside the session cut together well.
  • Visual/Editing Notes for Videographer:
  • Color grade shifts between scenes — dark moody desaturated for vocal close-ups, warmer natural tones for room shots.
  • Heavy use of intentional blur and soft focus — works even when subject is out of focus.
  • Shoot from behind, from the side, through glass — never straight-on.
  • Capture vocalist mid-phrase, mouth open, fully in it — not posed, not between takes.
  • Caption is simple: "A new release is coming" — footage does the heavy lifting.
  • How this differs from Kacey reference: Kacey = cinematic, still photography energy, composed. Beth Hart = raw, moving, kinetic, fly-on-the-wall. You want both.
  • KB Application: Kacey-style stills for press and carousels. Beth Hart-style reel footage for announcements and release content. Brief your videographer with both references.
Swipe #006 — Noah Kahan / Rolling Stone Instagram Carousel — Pregaming The Great Divide
  • What it is: 5-slide carousel using screenshots of Noah's own unfiltered tweets overlaid on press/live photos as a pre-release content strategy.
  • Why it matters: The self-deprecating humor, the honesty, using his own raw tweets as the content, and the audience targeting language. Funny, real, builds anticipation with zero "pre-save now" energy.
  • Frameworks at work: Self-deprecating pre-release humor disarms the hype cycle — fans root harder. Audience targeting through identity: one sentence and fans self-select instantly. Lyric fragments dropped raw with no context — fans screenshot and share before the song exists.
  • KB Applications:
  • Write KB's version: "This album is for anyone who..." — MCA has a very specific person it's for. Name her.
  • Drop raw MCA lyric lines on social before singles drop — no explanation, just the line.
  • Pre-Nashville self-deprecating content: "About to go record a 26-song double album. Completely normal behavior."
  • Screenshot format easy to replicate in Canva: artist photo background, tweet card overlay.
Swipe #007 — Hustle Culture Speakers / TikTok Stitch Format (Content Concept)
  • What it is: A content format — not a specific video. Source: any clip of a high-energy hustle culture speaker (Alex Hormozi, Tony Robbins, Gary Vee, etc.) going hard on grind, hustle, work-your-fingers-to-the-bone messaging.
  • The format: Open with their clip (5–10 seconds of the most intense hustle take). KB makes a face at the camera — "...are you okay?" — then pivots into the song. No long explanation. The contrast does the work.
  • Why it works: The hustle culture backlash audience is enormous and deeply engaged. This format is instantly relatable to anyone who tried the grind-til-you-break approach and paid for it. It's also funny — which makes it shareable even to people who haven't burned out yet.
  • Version 1 — Fireproof pivot: After the face, KB says something like "Yeah... I tried that. It burned me down to the ground. So I wrote a song about it." Drop into Fireproof — bridge lyric or chorus. Speaks to the person who's still in the hustle and doesn't know they're burning yet. Empathetic, warm, a little wry.
  • Version 2 — Ready to Lose pivot: After the face, KB says "Or... you could just refuse to play the game entirely." Drop into Ready to Lose. Speaks to the person who's already done with it and wants permission to stop. More defiant. Liberation energy rather than recovery energy.
  • Smart play: Run both versions in the same week — same source clip, different pivot, different song. Let the audience self-select which version of themselves they're in. Track which performs better and which song gets more saves/streams as a result.
  • Source targets: Search TikTok and YouTube for highest-performing clips of Hormozi, Gary Vee, Robbins on hustle/grind specifically. Clip should be earnest and intense — the more sincere the hustle take, the funnier and more effective the contrast.
  • Caption angle: "I did everything they said. Here's what happened." or "No notes. Just this song." or simply nothing — let the face and the pivot do the talking.
Swipe #014 — Yuusic / Top 100+ Music Ad Text Hook Templates
  • Source: Yuusic — John (@its21master). Full PDF uploaded to project files. 100+ proven ad text hooks from real campaigns with CPCs under $0.20.
  • How to use this resource: The full list is in the project files. The MCA-specific adaptations are curated and added to the Hook Library — don't use the generic versions, use the KB-specific versions below.
  • Hooks to AVOID (from this doc — confirms what we already knew): "Out now." / "New music out everywhere." / "My new single just dropped." / "Available on all platforms." / "Go stream my song." / "Listen now." / "Check out the link in bio." — these are white noise. Zero value proposition. Sound like a bot. Never use them.
  • Playlist strategy — new idea not yet in SOP: Create a Spotify playlist featuring similar artists in your niche (Brandi Carlile, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, etc.) with your own songs included. Run Meta Ads promoting the playlist. Cold audience discovers your music while streaming artists they already love. Can also monetize through Submithub/Groover as a curator to fund ad spend. Log as a Phase 3 tactic.
  • MCA-adapted hooks from this resource: See Hook Library — Yuusic Adapted section.
Swipe #013 — Instagram Reel / Long-Form Fan Perspective Post (Noah Kahan Reference)
  • Source: Instagram Reel — https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZUoXnvRAqG/
  • What it is: A creator made a long-form post about Noah Kahan's record from a fan perspective — specifically the angle of "I could've used this record when I was a kid." Got significant views. Fan-written, not press, not industry.
  • Why KB dropped it: Long-form fan perspective content performs when it's genuinely personal and specific. The "I could've used this record" frame is powerful — it's not a review, it's about what the music does to a real person's real life. That's the content that travels.
  • The MCA equivalent: "I could've used this record three years ago when I was burning out and didn't know why yet." That comment is coming. When it does — screenshot it, respond publicly, let it live. The fan becomes the marketing.
  • KB's own version: Not a fan letter — the artist reflecting on who needed this record and when. "I wrote this for the version of me that didn't have these songs yet." Long-form post. No song attached. Just truth.
  • When to deploy: Post-release, once real audience responses are coming in. The long-form fan angle requires real fans first. But KB's own "I wrote this for the version of me" version can go up at any time — it doesn't require external validation.
  • Format note: Long-form caption or slide carousel. The length is part of the signal — it tells the reader this matters enough to say slowly.
Swipe #012 — Instagram Reel / Don't Chase Trends — Be the Dark Horse
  • Source: Instagram Reel — https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZN_rPoSjqx/
  • What it is: Creator talking about not chasing trends, being unique, staying the course as a dark horse artist.
  • Why KB dropped it: Direct alignment with the MCA brand positioning — the anti-trend, anti-algorithm, make-it-for-yourself manifesto. Also connects directly to Dark Horse Prayer as a song and the "dark horse" identity thread that runs through the whole record.
  • Two ways to use:
  • Stitch it: Open with his clip on not chasing trends → KB: "I made a 26-song double album in 432hz with real musicians and a theremin that used to belong to Nine Inch Nails. I was never chasing trends." Cut to the record.
  • Original version: KB's own take on being the dark horse — the hired gun who went to Nashville and made the record nobody greenlit. The person who was never in the room where it happened and made her own room. Ties directly into Dark Horse Prayer content when that single releases.
  • Connection to Dark Horse Prayer song sheet: Flag this swipe when that sheet is built — the dark horse identity is the emotional center of that song and this content angle runs all the way through the album release.
  • Hook options:
  • "I was never the frontrunner. I was always the dark horse. I made a record about it."
  • "Nobody was waiting for this record. That's exactly why I made it."
  • "The dark horse doesn't chase the race. She runs her own."
Swipe #010 — Handmade Album Magazine / Newspaper Physical Marketing
  • Source: Instagram Reel — https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYqUBljAhRK/ — artist handmade a magazine about his album for fans who came to listen. A second artist did a similar concept with a newspaper format.
  • Why KB dropped it: Tactile, intentional, completely on-brand for MCA. The MCA visual system is already print-ready — cream, rust, ink, Playfair Display, vintage paper texture. The Pre-Pro Book is essentially already a magazine. The physical artifact rewards the people who show up and photographs beautifully for social content.
  • Option 1 — The MCA Zine: Limited physical zine — stories behind the songs, lyrics, Easter egg map, artist manifesto, Nashville photos. Designed in the MCA visual system. Not sold — discovered. Handed out at live shows, tucked into vinyl orders, left at coffee shops and record stores in Maui and Nashville.
  • Option 2 — The Midnight Church Aftermath Newspaper (strongest option): Broadsheet-style newspaper — one page per song, the album story told as headlines and columns. Headline already written: "WOMAN RECORDS 26-SONG DOUBLE ALBUM. NOBODY STOPPED HER." Newspapers photograph flat — every person who gets one creates content. The format is inherently shareable.
  • Option 3 — The Pre-Show Insert: A single folded sheet like a church bulletin or theater program — handed to every person who walks into a show. Song titles, a quote, the octopus somewhere subtle. Simple. Costs almost nothing. Feels like an artifact.
  • The strongest headline: "WOMAN RECORDS 26-SONG DOUBLE ALBUM. NOBODY STOPPED HER." — already written, already perfect.
  • Why the newspaper format wins: It photographs flat, it's inherently shareable, it ties into the manifesto content, and the MCA visual system translates perfectly to newsprint. The newspaper becomes the content when people photograph it and post it.
  • Timing: Phase 3+ — album launch, first live shows, vinyl release. Not day one but worth designing in advance so it's ready when the moment comes.
  • Connection to site: The newspaper/zine design should mirror midnightchurchaftermath.com — same visual world, same fonts, same palette. Cowork can help with layout when the time comes.
Content Format #001 — The Medley Origin Story (Ready to Lose)
  • What it is: Original KB content format — not borrowed from anyone. Short clips of the iconic rock songs that live in the DNA of Ready to Lose (Jukebox Hero, Purple Haze, Running With the Devil, etc.) each cutting to the matching moment in Ready to Lose where you can hear the influence living. The song becomes a love letter to everything that built it.
  • Why it works: It's a flex and it's humble simultaneously. Not claiming to be better than those songs — showing you're made of them. Every classic rock fan who loves any one of those references is a potential new listener. You're not borrowing their audience. You're showing them the door.
  • Format: Iconic riff or moment from each source song (5–10 seconds each) → hard cut to the matching moment in Ready to Lose. Let the listener hear the connection in real time. No over-explanation — the audio does the work.
  • Songs to source: Jukebox Hero (Foreigner), Purple Haze (Hendrix), The Wind Cries Mary (Hendrix), Running With the Devil (Van Halen) — plus whatever else lives in the DNA of Ready to Lose. KB knows the full list.
  • Hook options:
  • "Every song I ever loved is in this one."
  • "I didn't write this song. Jukebox Hero, Purple Haze, and Running With the Devil wrote it. I just showed up."
  • "This song has a lot of parents."
  • "Classic rock didn't disappear. It just moved into a 43-year-old woman's record." ⭐ — connects to the nobody wants to hear format AND the manifesto simultaneously
  • "I've been listening to these songs my whole life. Then I wrote one."
  • Discovery upside: Every classic rock community that loves any of those reference songs is a potential entry point. Tag the original artists where appropriate. This is organic multi-community reach without trying.
  • Note: This format is reusable for other songs on the record that have clear sonic DNA from iconic sources. File it as a content format, not a one-off idea.
Swipe #009 — Instagram Reel / "You Can't Sit With Us" Arc Format
  • Source: Instagram Reel — https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYctukoCz3u/
  • What it is: Photos of creator when younger with text "you can't sit with us" cycling through. As she gets older and gets on stage the text changes to "wanna hang out." The outsider-becomes-the-one-people-find arc. Mean Girls reference.
  • Why KB dropped it: Maps perfectly onto multiple MCA story threads — hired gun to artist, the neurodivergent outsider narrative, the late bloomer arc, the genre mutt who built her own lane. The receipts exist. The photos exist.
  • KB Version 1 — Neurodivergent Outsider (Walking Contradiction): Photos of younger KB → text cycles: "too much" / "too intense" / "too weird" → current KB on stage or in studio → "wanna hang out." Walking Contradiction in one piece of content.
  • KB Version 2 — Music Industry Arc: Photos of KB in the background, hired gun years, producer role → "you can't sit with us" → Nashville, Dark Horse, the record → "actually... can we sit with you?"
  • KB Version 3 — Genre Mutt Arc: Photos of KB playing everything, fitting nowhere → "pick a lane" → MCA studio footage → "I made my own lane."
  • KB Version 4 — Burnout Arc (Fireproof): Photos from PLAB years, the grind, the hustle → "you don't belong here" → Nashville footage → "I built my own table."
  • Strongest closing line across all versions: "I built my own table." — works as caption, hook, and mission statement.
  • What you need: Younger photos of KB — the more the better. Pull from personal archives. The contrast is the whole piece.
  • Song pairings: Walking Contradiction (V1), Fireproof (V4), manifesto content (V2), genre mutt content (V3).
How to add new swipes: Drop the link or describe the content in the chat. It'll be formatted in the same structure and added here. Include: source, what it is, why you dropped it, and any immediate application ideas — even rough ones.
Kris Bradley / Boomfox Productions Midnight Church Aftermath — Confidential Marketing SOP