Djo – the musical project of actor / producer / songwriter Joe Keery known for his work in blockbuster projects as Stranger Things and Fargo – released his new album The Crux earlier this year and hasn’t slowed down since then.
The record has already been named to Best of 2025 lists by Rolling Stone, SPIN Entertainment Weekly, and more, and since its release Djo has been on an entirely sold-out international tour, made his Coachella and Glastonbury debuts, performed on both Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “End of Beginning” has gone 3x Platinum, and the album has been streamed almost 100 million times. During his global tour, Djo stopped by Australia’s Triple J for a “Like A Version” session, and today he releases his cover of Haim’s “Gasoline.”
Broadway has already turned albums like American Idiot and Jagged Little Pill into full-blown stage sensations, proving that great records can tell stories just as vividly as any script. Here are six more albums begging for the bright lights, big voices, and emotional chaos of the stage.
‘Born to Run’ – Bruce Springsteen Every note is cinematic, every lyric a scene. Born to Run is the musical waiting to happen — a gritty love letter to small-town dreams, escape routes, and the open highway. Picture a stage lit by headlights and heartbreak.
‘Currents’ – Tame Impala A psychedelic breakup journey swirling with synths and self-discovery. Currents could be a dazzling modern musical about identity, growth, and learning to dance through emotional static — neon lights and all.
‘Lemonade’ – Beyoncé Already cinematic, Lemonade has every act, arc, and anthem a musical could want. Heartbreak, redemption, and power all tied together with a visual feast of movement and emotion — pure Broadway gold.
‘Purple Rain’ – Prince A love story, a rock opera, a cultural revolution — Purple Rain is already halfway to the stage. Imagine an orchestra swelling under Prince’s guitar solos and the entire theatre glowing purple by the final chorus.
‘Rumours’ – Fleetwood Mac One of the most emotionally charged albums ever made. The drama behind the music alone could fill theatres — breakups, reconciliations, and timeless harmonies. It’s basically Shakespeare with tambourines.
‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ – Lauryn Hill Part confessional, part classroom, all soul. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill could shine as a musical about love, faith, and self-worth — where every lesson comes with a melody that stays long after the curtain falls.
Broadway, the stage is set. These albums already feel like musicals — all they need now is a curtain call and a standing ovation.
Money and music have one thing in common, both have gone digital. Where artists once guarded their vinyl masters and fans queued for tickets, everything now flows through servers, apps, and blockchains. That same shift that changed how we listen has also changed how we protect what we own.
For decades, traditional banks stood guard over people’s savings, promising stability through insurance and regulation. Today, crypto does the same job through code and decentralization, using math instead of middlemen. Both systems claim to keep us safe from hackers and fraud, but both are learning that the digital age comes with new vulnerabilities.
Security in Cryptocurrency
Crypto doesn’t rely on any single vault or institution. Every transaction is confirmed across a decentralized network, making it nearly impossible to falsify records. This is the same underlying technology now being used by innovators in entertainment, including gaming platforms. For example, the best crypto casino, blockchain ensures transparent transactions, fair play, and instant payouts across multiple digital coins. It’s the foundation of the platform’s credibility. Every spin, wager, and withdrawal is recorded on a transparent public ledger that anyone can verify, cutting out the need to blindly trust the operator.
It’s a model that reflects the broader promise of cryptocurrency, where transparency replaces institutional assurance, and where users can see, track, and verify their money’s journey in real time. This sis so different from fiat systems, where users depend on intermediaries to uphold that same security behind closed digital doors.
For artists and music businesses, that same transparency is becoming gold. Labels and streaming platforms are testing smart contracts to pay royalties instantly, cutting through the delays that once plagued the industry. In theory, every stream, download, or merch sale could be logged on a blockchain, clear, auditable, and tamper-proof.
However, the crypto world isn’t without flaws. Security depends heavily on how users handle their private keys and how platforms build their protections. A single weak password can undo the brilliance of an entire network.
How Secure Is Fiat Currency?
Traditional money lives inside a different fortress. Banks, credit card processors, and payment apps pour huge budgets into encryption, fraud detection, and compliance. When something goes wrong, customers often get reimbursed. That safety net is why most people never think twice before tapping their phone or card.
The trade-off is centralization. A major breach at one institution can expose millions. Yet, the same system can recover quickly because the structure is coordinated. It’s a trust-based model, one that relies on institutions rather than algorithms.
In the music economy, fiat still dominates. Artists get paid through banks, platforms process ticket sales through card networks, and promoters depend on payment processors that follow financial rules. It’s stable, but slow, with middlemen taking cuts and adding bureaucracy that blockchain is already trying to eliminate.
Trust, Transparency, and the Music Connection
This is where crypto’s philosophy resonates deeply with music. Fiat systems depend on institutional trust, governments, banks, and platforms that promise to play fair. Crypto builds mathematical trust, no gatekeepers, no waiting, just proof coded into every transaction.
For musicians, that’s more than a tech detail. It’s the promise of self-custody, owning your work outright, tracking royalties directly, and getting paid without an intermediary. Just as a fan can verify a crypto transaction, an artist can verify every cent earned from a song.
This also means that responsibility shifts, too. Forget a password or lose a private key, and your earnings vanish. Technology gives freedom, but it also expects discipline.
Privacy, Regulation, and Real-World Balance
Blockchains are public ledgers. They make transactions traceable, good for accountability, tricky for privacy. Privacy-focused coins like Monero or Zcash aim to give users more control. Fiat systems take the opposite approach: your bank guards your data but monitors your activity under financial crime laws.
Regulation also plays out differently. Fiat currencies operate under long-standing legal structures with clear procedures for fraud. Crypto still sits in a patchwork of global laws. But as adoption grows, so does pressure to define consistent standards, in both finance and the creative economy.
Two Systems, One Future
Fiat and crypto protect value in different ways. Fiat leans on trust in institutions and human oversight; crypto leans on transparency and math. One promises insurance; the other promises independence.
For the music world, both matter. Artists and fans are already living between these two systems, paying in fiat, experimenting in crypto, and trying to figure out which one truly respects their time, talent, and data.
Money, like music, only works when people believe in it. Whether that belief comes from a government guarantee or a blockchain ledger, the goal is the same: to keep the beat going safely, without missing a note.
Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.
Nigerian DJ and Afrobeats producer extraordinaire SPINALL delivers his newest single, “Kerosene,” featuring a guest performance from heralded Nigerian singer-songwriter Young Jonn.
The powerful new anthem is taken from SPINALL’s sixth studio album, ÈKÓ Groove, which he recently announced to his loyal audience. The new set, which will feature the singles “Kerosene,” “One Call,” and “Want You,” is set to arrive this year.
SPINALL, who made live performance history earlier this year, continues to elevate his momentum toward the release of his new album, his first full-length offering since 2023’s “Top Boy”. A steady stream of singles, including the recently-released “Want You,” featuring JayO and Destin Conrad, has whet his clamoring audience for what is sure to be another 360-degree musical affair, with tunes that will prompt reflection, dance, and romance.
“Kerosene” falls right in line with this thematic vortex, pacing a quietly stormy Afrobeats instrumental with piano keys and basslines that come storming in from the peripheral to at times be the main event. Singer-songwriter Young Jonn, a veteran and star of Nigeria’s music scene-he is a former winner of Nigeria Entertainment Awards’ ‘Producer of the Year’ honors-is right at home with the new production, chanting and singing his way through the gallivanting melody.
SPINALL’s influence has sustained time on multiple continents, which plays into the confidence he leverages to make international headlines year over year. In the spring of 2024, he made history as the first Afrobeats DJ to play his own set at the famed Coachella Festival and followed that with scene-stealing appearances at Chicago’s Lollapalooza and the Jazz Cafe in London. This global authority is reflected in his music; ÈKÓ Groove’s lead single, “One Call,” featured the superstar TYLA, for whom the South African genre of Amapiano is a driving musical force, and Destin Conrad, the Los Angeles-based rising R&B star.
His follow-up, the romantic ballad “Want You,” was celebrated by fans and critics alike, earning acclaim from Okayplayer, which complimented SPINALL’s ‘lush and urgent soundscape,’ and Billboard, which named the song to its coveted ‘African Fresh Picks’ list. Across social media, fans praised SPINALL’s ability to fuse artists from varying genres with a unified sonic vision.
Animal Collective celebrate the 20th anniversary of their landmark sixth studio album Feels with two new limited edition formats out today via Domino – almost 20 years to the date after the record’s original release on October 18th 2005. Ahead of the anniversary releases, the band today share a live video of Avey Tare, Deakin, and Geologist performing Feels track “Flesh Canoe” in 2023 at Eulogy in Asheville, North Carolina.
Feels 20th Anniversary is a reissue of the original album with a bonus disc featuring nine B-sides and previously unreleased demos and will be available on 3xLP, 2xCD, and digitally this Friday. FEELSLive 04/05 is a collection of audio recorded live to MiniDisc at shows from the era in 2004 and 2005 and will be available on cassette, MiniDisc, and digitally also this Friday. The band previously previewed Feels 20th Anniversary by releasing one of its bonus tracks, the recently unearthed demo version of “Grass.”
Avey Tare, Deakin, and Geologist will appear at Sonic Boom Records in Seattle – the city where Feels was recorded – for a Q&A alongside its mixer Scott Colburn; they will also be screening the short film Mixing Feels. The event starts at 5pm PT and admission is free. Additional film screenings will be held at Down In The Valley in Minneapolis, Harvest Records in Asheville, Park Ave in Orlando, Vinyl Veritas in Brooklyn, and Repo Records in Philadelphia. Full details on all events are available HERE. Feels fell in the middle of Animal Collective’s extraordinary ascent in the early 2000s from indie experimentalists to one of contemporary music’s most original and influential artists; it followed the band’s 2004 breakthrough album Sung Tongsand preceded the records that would propel them to mainstream success, 2007’s Strawberry Jamand 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Recorded in Seattle with engineer Scott Colburn, Feels saw Animal Collective return to a quartet with Josh “Deakin” Dibb and Brian “Geologist” Weitz after Dave “Avey Tare” Portner and Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox recorded Sung Tongs as a duo. Upon its release, Entertainment Weekly called Feels “breathlessly giddy and shamelessly trippy,” adding, “Somewhere up there, John Lennon and Timothy Leary are grinning.” “Feels gives hope to young bands who want to make beautiful noise but refuse to color within the lines,” wrote Rolling Stone. Pitchfork would eventually name the album one of the best of the 2000s, hailing its “sense of exuberance as big and as purposeless as a forest, sometimes joyfully savage and sometimes softly haunting, but always beyond genre or strategy or intention. Above all, it is what Animal Collective do with their voices here that astounds: whispering, shrieking, muttering, pleading, sighing, their sprite-like presence is somehow thoroughly alien and yet unnervingly intimate.”
With just 6 performances remaining on their final tour dates for 2025, GRAMMY-winning, progressive music titans Dream Theater are releasing another live performance from their recently announced live release, Quarantième: Live à Paris. The band comprised of James LaBrie [vocals], John Petrucci [guitar], John Myung [bass], Jordan Rudess [keyboards] and Mike Portnoy’s [drums] are releasing a performance video of “Barstool Warrior” which comes from the band’s 2019 album, Distance Over Time. The video is from the sold-out show in Paris, France on their 40thAnniversary headline tour of Europe.
Quarantième: Live à Paris Is available on November 28th via their longtime label partner Inside Out Music/Sony Music. The release contains a setlist that spans the band’s entire career with classics like “Metropolis Pt. 1,” “Panic Attack,” “Octavarium,” and “Pull Me Under” represented among other fan favorites. The show was recorded in front of a capacity crowd at the Adidas Arena. The band released a video of “Overture 1928 / Strange Déjà Vu” when the album was announced.
Presented in several formats, with artwork by longtime collaborator Hugh Syme, Quarantième: Live à Paris will be available as a Limited Deluxe 3CD+3Blu-ray artbook, including 68-pages of photos and artwork as well as an additional Blu-ray of bonus material. It will also be available as a Special Edition 3CD+2Blu-ray Digipak, Limited Deluxe 180g 4LP boxset & digitally. The Blu-ray includes the full show with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound, & high-resolution stereo audio. Quarantième: Live à Paris is now available for pre-order here: https://dream-theater.lnk.to/Quarantieme-Album.
The tracklisting for Quarantième: Live à Paris:
CD1:
1. Metropolis Pt. 1
2. Overture 1928
3. Strange Déjà Vu
4. The Mirror
5. Panic Attack
6. Barstool Warrior
7. Hollow Years
8. Constant Motion
9. As I Am
CD2:
1. Orchestral Overture
2. Night Terror
3. Under A Glass Moon
4. This Is The Life
5. Vacant
6. Stream of Consciousness
7. Octavarium
CD3:
1. Home
2. The Spirit Carries On
3. Pull Me Under
Blu-ray 1:
1. Metropolis Pt. 1
2. Overture 1928
3. Strange Déjà Vu
4. The Mirror
5. Panic Attack
6. Barstool Warrior
7. Hollow Years
8. Constant Motion
9. As I Am
Blu-ray 2:
1. Orchestral Overture
2. Night Terror
3. Under A Glass Moon
4. This Is The Life
5. Vacant
6. Stream of Consciousness
7. Octavarium
8. Home
9. The Spirit Carries On
10. Pull Me Under
Dream Theater is currently on tour in the United States continuing their An Evening With Dream Theater run that will celebrate the band’s recent chart-topping 16th studio album, Parasomnia. Dream Theater will be performing their latest album in its entirety, as well as performing the entire 7-movement masterpiece “A Change of Seasons” for the first time since Mike Portnoy’s return as well as other classics and fan favorites from their catalog. The tour is scheduled for 30 cities across the United States, kicked off September 5th in Reading, PA and runs through October 25th where it wraps in Long Island, NY. The tour promises to be an unforgettable evening of music.More information on all tickets and VIP packages can be found at: https://dreamtheater.net/tour/.
An Evening With Dream Theater 2025 Tour
October 17 – Hammond, IN – The Venue at Horseshoe Hammond
October 18 – Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre
October 20 – Syracuse, NY – Landmark Theatre
October 22 – Providence, RI – Veterans Memorial Auditorium
October 23 – Schenectady, NY – Proctor’s Theatre
October 25 – Long Island, NY – Nassau Coliseum
An album that was fifteen years in the making, Dream Theater released their sixteenth studio album, Parasomnia on February 7, 2025, via their longtime label home, Inside Out Music/Sony Music. From the opening track “In The Arms Of Morpheus” to the closer of “The Shadow Man Incident,” Dream Theater returned with a collection of songs that showcased what has earned the band a loyal following for four decades. Clocking in at 71 minutes, Parasomnia debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums, the Hard Music Albums and Current Rock Albums chart selling over 18,000 combined units the first week. It also debuted at #41 on the Billboard 200 which is notable for a progressive metal band and shows the bands devout fanbase. The album has spawned music videos for the tracks “Night Terror,” “Midnight Messiah,” “A Broken Man,” and most-recently, “Bend The Clock.” Parasomnia is a term for disruptive, sleep-related disturbances including sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, and night terrors. The album was produced by Petrucci, engineered by James ‘Jimmy T’ Meslin, and mixed by Andy Sneap. Hugh Syme returns once again to lend his creative vision to the cover art.
Beyond selling millions of records worldwide and gathering a billion-plus streams, Dream Theater have quietly evolved into progressive metal trailblazers over the course of an unprecedented journey earmarked by one unforgettable milestone after another. The career-launching Images & Words graced Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All-Time,” while Awake claimed #1 on Guitar World’s“Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994.” In addition to emerging as Classic Rock’s “15th Greatest Concept Album,” Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory toppled a fan-voted Rolling Stone poll asthe “Number One All-Time Progressive Rock Album.” They shook the charts with three Top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200 and headlined sold out shows everywhere from Radio City Music Hall to Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The band garnered a GRAMMY Award in the category of “Best Metal Performance” for “The Alien” from 2021’s A View From The Top of the World. Of the latter, PROG raved, “Not justproperDream Theater, then, but something ever-so-slightly bigger and better,” and Consequence attested, “A View From the Top of the World shows that the quintet is still offering music that is easily on par with their earlier efforts.” Now, Dream Theater have returned to their roots as James LaBrie [vocals], John Petrucci [guitar], John Myung [bass], and Jordan Rudess [keyboards] reunite with Mike Portnoy [drums] during their fortieth anniversary. Simultaneously, these five old friends enter a bold new era fueled by some of the most focused, formidable, and fiery music of their career. They’re harnessing the memories of the past and the promise of the future in order to make the most of the present. Ultimately, the group’s sixteenth full-length album, Parasomnia [Inside Out Music/Sony Music], represents both where they came from and where they’re going as not only bandmates, but as brothers.
Artist, producer, songwriter and guitarist Cortney Dixon is magnetic. Hot off the back of 3 sets at Glastonbury and 9 gigs at SXSW in Austin, Texas, the South Shields musicianchannels her post-industrial upbringing into a bold, genre-defying sound that deftly blends her down to earth punky DIY roots with a well crafted aspirational pop glamour.
DIY to the core, Cortney produced and recorded six-track EP Hazard A Guess by herself in her studio in Newcastle, with a helping hand on the mix from her best friend, Rob Irish. “I wanted something that felt totally me”, she says. Moments of raw energy mix with hedonistic highs of imagination as the soundtrack to her unfolding adventures. Carefully crafted, the EP cuts with ease through garage rock, fuzzy indie and fizzy pop with a hook filled charm and high energy verve. It’s no wonder that Cortney has sold out 2 EP launch shows in Newcastle followed by a vinyl signing and stripped back show in HMV.
Thematically, Hazard A Guess dances around a range of topics. From empowering messages surrounding body confidence and embracing femininity, inspired by her first venture to a strip club in ‘You Look Good Naked’, giving a middle finger to jobs that “try to dull you down, suck the life from you and shake the dreamer out of you” in ‘Cry About It’, to heartfelt promise made to a grieving friend who lost their partner that things will feel better eventually in ‘Life Goes On’, and a familial love song admiring her sister’s strength after defying medical expectations to live a full, joyful life, despite disabilities in ‘Big Little Sister‘. “I call Toni my little big sister because she is 2 years older than me, but due to her brain condition, she will mentally remain around 9-12 years old… It’s no where near a sob story, and more an energetic, uplifting, fierce, groovy bop to match Toni’s infectious sense of humour and lust for life.”
Additionally, she shares that ‘Love Love Love’, an ode song to Glastonbury Festival, was made in collaboration with Jonny “Itch” Fox (The King Blues) and Sophie Bokor-Ingram(So Good) simply to see how many times they could say love in a song and still make it interesting.
Cortney’s style doesn’t stop at sound, it oozes through every visual – from forward thinking DIY fashion, inspired by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper & Vivienne Westwood, to fast paced and self-produced music videos.
A fiercely creative and original artist, her charm shines on stage amongst gritty guitar licks and irresistible vocals which has seen her support the likes of Johnny Marr, Ashnikko, Republica, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, LEAP as well as performing at festivals such as Glastonbury, SXSW, Reeperbahn, Kendal Calling, Deer Shed and more. She’s also set to support Master Peace in Nottingham on the 28th October, and tour Europe and the UK supporting Du Blonde, with whom she recently started a band.
Her songwriting reach is plentiful, having written for the likes of Elkie Brooks, Thai YouTube sensation Zom Marie and collaborated with BRIT Award-winner Jack Garratt, internationally renowned producer Richard Craker (Liam Gallagher, Dagny, Jolin Tsai) and Warner Music Asia star Valentina Ploy, amongst others.
A promising artist, make sure you keep your eyes locked on Cortney.
Rising artist Sofia Ly releases her debut EP Are You Bored Yet, marking a major moment for the 20-year-old singer and songwriter. The project captures Sofia’s unique blend of emotional storytelling, soulful vocals, and genre-fluid sound, offering a collection of songs that reflect her journey of heartbreak, growth, and self-discovery.
Anchored by fan favorites like “Ain’t Right”, the EP delivers sleek production and honest, vulnerable lyrics, showcasing the vulnerability and authenticity that have quickly made Sofia a name to watch. From empowering anthems to raw, intimate moments, Are You Bored Yet positions Sofia as a fresh voice in the pop and R&B space.
Sofia first captured attention with her viral run on The Voice, building a loyal fanbase drawn to her magnetic presence and distinct tone. Influenced by artists like Ariana Grande, Rihanna, and SZA, she channels their spirit while carving out her own lane with music that feels current yet deeply personal.
Now signed to LiveHelpLive/Pulse, Sofia is stepping confidently into the next chapter of her career with a project that speaks to heartbreak, independence, and finding your voice in a world full of noise.
Remember when opening the mailbox was an exciting experience? That mix of curiosity and anticipation — before everything became email, apps, and notifications. Now, that feeling is back.
Direct mail is experiencing a renaissance, this time driven by automation, data, and creativity. Brands that once lived exclusively online are rediscovering the impact of tangible, personalised mail that cuts through the digital noise.
The tools below aren’t your grandparents’ mail merges — they’re software-driven platforms helping marketers deliver physical experiences at digital speed. Here are 10 of the most innovative direct mail platforms redefining how brands connect with audiences in 2025.
1. Postalytics
Best for: Data-driven marketers who want automation with creative control.
Postalytics bridges digital and physical marketing with an intuitive platform for creating, sending, and tracking personalised campaigns. It connects directly with CRMs and automation systems, letting you trigger mail pieces just like an email workflow — perfectly timed and fully measurable.
It’s ideal for companies that want to make direct mail marketing campaigns as smart and scalable as their digital ones. Real-time analytics show when each postcard or letter is delivered and when responses start rolling in — something traditional direct mail never offered.
Standout features:
CRM and workflow automation
Real-time delivery and ROI tracking
Personalised design templates
Seamless scaling for recurring campaigns
2. PebblePost
Best for: Turning online intent into offline action.
PebblePost pioneered what it calls “Programmatic Direct Mail” — connecting digital behaviour with physical engagement. When a visitor browses your site and leaves without purchasing, PebblePost automatically sends them a relevant piece of mail.
It’s a perfect mix of retargeting and human touch, driving conversion rates that outperform digital-only follow-ups.
Why it works: Because the timing is right — and the experience feels personal, not pushy.
3. Poplar
Best for: Brands that want automation with personality.
Poplar makes sending direct mail as simple as running a social media campaign. You can design creatives online, upload your audience, and send everything with a few clicks. Its print partners handle the heavy lifting — and its creative templates keep your brand looking sharp.
Poplar is popular among eCommerce and subscription-based brands that want to reactivate old customers or boost referrals with postcards that pop.
4. Sendoso
Best for: Relationship-driven marketing.
Sendoso helps companies turn appreciation into ROI. It’s less about traditional mail and more about creating meaningful offline moments — from handwritten notes to branded gifts.
Marketers love it for ABM (account-based marketing) and client retention, but sales teams also use it to break the ice with hard-to-reach prospects. In a world of digital sameness, a real package gets attention.
5. Stannp
Best for: Businesses that want speed without complexity.
Stannp strips direct mail down to the essentials: upload your design, import your contact list, and click send. Within days, your mail hits doorsteps. Its pricing model is transparent, and campaigns can be launched with minimal setup — perfect for small businesses or agencies managing multiple clients.
If you’ve ever run a Mailchimp campaign, Stannp will feel instantly familiar.
6. Simply Noted
Best for: Handwritten marketing at scale.
Simply Noted combines robotics and real pen technology to create handwritten notes that look authentically human. You can send thousands of cards that feel genuinely personal, not printed.
It’s become a favourite for event follow-ups, loyalty campaigns, and holiday greetings — where personal touch makes the biggest difference.
7. ClickSend
Best for: Multi-channel marketing simplicity.
ClickSend lets you manage physical and digital messaging from one place — including SMS, email, and postcards. Its integrations with tools like HubSpot and Zapier make it a practical choice for teams who already use digital automation and want to extend it into real-world engagement.
It’s not flashy, but it’s efficient — a true “Swiss Army knife” for omnichannel communication.
8. Direct Mail Manager
Best for: SMBs that want automation on a budget.
Direct Mail Manager offers a no-frills but highly reliable solution for bulk mail. It verifies addresses automatically (saving money on misdirected mail) and integrates with most CRMs. Its analytics dashboard keeps campaigns accountable, even for small teams running their first tests with physical outreach.
Think of it as the “Mailchimp for postcards.”
9. Inkit
Best for: Regulated industries and enterprise security.
When compliance matters, Inkit shines. It’s used by healthcare, finance, and government organisations to automate print and digital delivery securely. Every document is encrypted, verified, and logged — meeting SOC 2 and HIPAA standards.
While it’s built for security, Inkit’s design tools and automation still make it marketer-friendly.
10. Thanks.io
Best for: Local businesses that thrive on loyalty.
Thanks.io focuses on personalised communication. Whether you’re a real estate agent sending thank-you cards or a gym re-engaging members, it makes it easy to send thoughtful, handwritten-style postcards that build trust.
It’s simple, affordable, and effective — the kind of tool that reminds customers you’re not just another brand, but a human they can connect with.
Why Direct Mail Still Works — Even in a Digital-First World
Despite its analog nature, direct mail remains one of the most effective channels for engagement. According to the ANA/DMA, physical mail response rates can reach up to nine times higher than digital ads. It taps into psychology — people remember what they can touch.
Today’s generation of direct mail tech doesn’t just send envelopes; it sends experiences. These tools merge automation with artistry — personal, tactile marketing that lands right where your customers live.
Here’s why the channel is thriving again:
Tangibility builds trust: People value what feels real.
Less competition: Your mailbox is emptier than your inbox.
Omnichannel synergy: Direct mail now fits seamlessly into digital workflows.
The future of marketing isn’t about choosing digital or physical — it’s about blending both.
How to Choose the Right Direct Mail Platform
If you’re new to this space, here’s a quick cheat sheet to help you compare your options:
Goal
Recommended Tools
Automating at scale
Postalytics, Lob, PostGrid
Building brand loyalty
Thanks.io, Simply Noted
Omnichannel workflows
ClickSend, Stannp
Enterprise compliance
Inkit
ABM and gifting
Sendoso
Real-time retargeting
PebblePost
Your best bet? Start small. Test a single audience segment with one postcard or letter campaign, track results, and refine. Most of these platforms make it easy to scale once you see traction.
Final Thoughts
Marketing trends change fast — but genuine human connection never goes out of style.
Today’s direct mail tools let brands combine automation with authenticity, turning data into tangible experiences that stand out in a digital world. Whether you’re nurturing leads, saying thanks, or launching creative campaigns, direct mail is back in the spotlight — smarter and more measurable than ever.
And for marketers ready to bridge the physical and digital worlds seamlessly, platforms like Postalytics are leading the charge toward truly intelligent automation.
Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.
Since stepping into the music space with her debut Glorious, Kate Hudson has quickly established herself as a tastemaker’s tastemaker in her eclectic approach to the songs that she covers as well as writes. Having delivered seminal versions of ‘Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry,” Stone Temple Pilots’ “Vaseline,” Patty Griffin’s “When It Don’t Come Easy,” and Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the California/Colorado-raised Hudson delivers an incandescent version of one of rock’s most powerful holiday songs, The Band’s “Christmas Must Be Tonight.”
“When you speak of The Band, you are speaking directly to the heart, soul and backbone of rock’s roots,” Hudson explains. “Before there was roots rock, The Band was creating a sound that brought it all together into something that was so organic, breathtaking, real. When the opportunity to record ‘Christmas Must Be Tonight’ came to me, I absolutely had to do it. So iconic, it’s a song I knew growing up with during our Colorado Christmases. It was an honor to re-record it.”
Recorded at Village Recorders, Robbie Robertson’s creative home, with an esteemed group of musicians and producers – David Baron on piano, organ and celesta, Kevin Kadish on bass, electric and acoustic guitar, and Graham Hawthorne on drums and percussion – they sought to evoke The Band’s signature transcendence, while channeling Robertson’s wonder at the birth of Jesus. Inspired by the birth of his son Sebastian, the lyrics come from the perspective of a lowly shepherd who followed the star to the manger and looked on with awe.
“I love all the hope in this song, and the joy,” Hudson enthuses. “And I love that it’s a shepherd and a carpenter’s son, very regular people are having this moment that brings so much happiness to the world. I’ve loved The Band’s version, and Robbie Robertson’s solo version as well. But I had no idea how many great people have recorded ‘Christmas Must Be Tonight,’ though it’s such an amazing song, I understand why.”
Indeed, the roots rock holiday staple, which first appeared on The Band’s 1997 album Islands, has gone on to be a modern classic and recorded every decade since its first release. Among the notable – and genre-spanning — versions are Hall & Oates, Darlene Love, My Morning Jacket, Bahamas, Joan Osborne, Blue Rodeo, Richie Furay, Amy Helm & the Wood Brothers and Train.
Beyond the vocal, which shimmers with the warmth and verve that’s made Hudson such a beguiling presence in today’s music scene, there’s an atmospheric presence to that track that practically glistens. Staying true to the notion of a Christmas carol, there’s also a texture to the track that wraps around the listener, leaving room for the song’s essence to be absorbed.
“Kate Hudson brings a timeless sincerity and incredible singing talent to ‘Christmas Must Be Tonight,’ proving that great songs never truly age,” said Olivier Chastan, Founder and CEO of Iconoclast.
“We’re honored to see The Band’s sound continue to inspire new interpretations, like Kate’s wonderful rendition, that honor and introduce their music to new generations,” added Eli Wolf, head of catalog development at Iconoclast.
Rolling Stone has hailed “Hudson’s big, slightly husky voice” and SPIN agreed, saying, “Hudson’s (voice) is husky-voiced bar crooner and lullaby whispering mother all at once, while her sound is part rock chick, part down-home country, with a strong sense of melody rooted firmly in guitar riffs.” In all those ways, “Christmas Must Be Tonight” – available on October 17– brings all of those aspects into one place for what will, no doubt, be a treasured gem on playlists, for holiday lovers, music afficionados and sentimentalists of all generations.
