Failure is an option

I left a long comment on this post at The DIY Musician yesterday - in which I said that if your attempts to build a fanbase by giving away music for free weren't working, the most likely reason is that your music isn't good enough.

Yet.

I mean it, but I don't mean that you should therefore give up.

But, rather than pushing all the time to get people to like what you have already done, reflect on why they might not be biting.

And, if you decide that I'm right, and it's because you're not good enough (yet), then go back to the drawing board, learn some more skills, hone your talent and come back for round 2 and round 3 and round 1005, just like Colonel Sanders did with his fried chicken recipe.

If you want it bad enough and you are prepared to work hard at it, those failures are what will drive you to improve until you are good enough to achieve your aim.

And that's what this post on BitRebels wants to point out. That failure is an essential component of eventual success.

It's well worth looking at the videos in the piece and getting encouragement from them, like the one at the end of this piece.

Everyone in life faces failures ever now and then. It’s part of being alive and being human. However, I know from experience, when we are actually going through the trying times, it’s no fun. The hardest battles we face in life are with ourselves, and there is nothing more challenging than going out into the world each day with a smile when you want to give up on the inside.

However, I want to promise you that whatever failures in your life you might be going through right now, with tenacity and perseverance, you will either eventually succeed or they will lead you to another opportunity and a different door will open.

Read the whole piece here.

And here's why Michael Jordan was a huge success - watch the video here.

 

The ecosystem approach to breaking your band

This is a brilliant post - don't gloss over it and miss the real message.

Bas Grasmeyer has been studying the new music business for his degree thesis and really gets the big picture. In fact you can download a brilliant pdf he has written from our site here - music promotion pdf.

But this post talks about an overall approach to being discovered, engaging and retaining fans and letting the relationship flourish.

My favourite bits:

...the basic formula for defining your story is that you have to be able to complete the sentence "[Artist-/bandname] is the [artist/band] that…" (eg. "Lady Gaga is the singer that always shows up in the most fantastic outfits")

and from the comments:

"Be remarkable, be easy to discover, turn your fanbase into a party, connect, listen." That's it right there. Awesome.

Please read it and let it sink in!

Facebook Questions - a new level of Fan Page engagement

I said the other day that I was getting freaked out by the pace of change at Facebook and then they go and slide out another new feature on the quiet!

Facebook Questions is the new way to poll your Fan page friends - and it's ace.

Accessed from the same place as the status bar, it's incredibly easy to set up and poll your fans.

Great to use for asking for suggestions for your set-list, or where and when to play or a myriad of other things, this is a cracking new tool for musicians to use on Facebook.

Yes, you could run polls before but the way that this has been made so easy and shows up in the feeds of all your fans' friends is new.

I think it might end up suffering from overuse, but, use it wisely and when there's a real reason to do so and it's another little tool for your promotional kit.

The virality of questions and the prominence Facebook is placing within newsfeeds and notifications should capture the attention of brands with fan pages.  Questions are a utility specifically built not just to facilitate a fan page to ask a question to a base of their fans, but for that question to go a network beyond, and further if possible. This is an exciting engagement opportunity for branded pages to utilize.

Read this great review from Ignite.

What is that a manager or A&R is looking for?

This is a piece of a panel from SXSW where the topics include what an artist needs to do to get recognition and interest from the A&R community and a manager.

i.e. what does it take to get noticed?

Watch the video here.

Don't give everything away for free!

I am passionately pro you giving your music away for free.

There's a great article on that on Mic Control here. You should definitely be doing it.

But, I love this other piece about a new company that will allow you to stream shows to your fans, but get paid for them!

It says that the experience of engaging with your band, for the fan, is the one part of you as a musician that can't be replicated - so don't give it away for free.

Not sure that I agree completely as you can do some for free and some paid, but the mindset is important.

Yet this presents us with a potential dilemma.  Many of us have fully embraced giving away our fixed content as a way to promote our real revenue generating events: touring and appearances.  But what happens when we're given the ability to literally tour the world from our laptops?  Should our 'shows' be free because it's the internet?

My message is that it should not and cannot be free.  If you utilize an online broadcasting website that doesn't offer you the ability to get paid, you will be effectively devaluing the only asset we have left.  The only asset that is not replicable and cannot be saved to a hard drive: yourself.

Read it here.

And check out the StageIt service here.

Why you should use Bandcamp....

...even if it's not the main way that you choose to promote & sell your music!

This is an interesting article by Ty White (his blog is full of great stuff - have a rummage).

In essence, he says that music bloggers (and early adopter fans aren't far behind) are using Bandcamp as a sort of new MySpace and are searching for new music to write about on Bandcamp, using the tags that musicians use to describe their music.

So, just by being on Bandcamp, you may get noticed.

But there's more than that to being on Bandcamp - there's a certain section of people who prefer to buy any commodity from one place - lots prefer iTunes for all their music, but some love supporting artists on Bandcamp.

In selling music 'direct to fan', it's no secret that I am coming down heavily in favour of Topspin. But, even if I was using that as a diy musician as my main sales and email system, I'd spend the time to have a Bandcamp profile and store, just for discovery and 'completeness'

A discovery phenomenon has been creeping up amongst music bloggers lately: they’re digging through Bandcamp pages by clicking tags and exploring other artists with those tags. It’s a little bit like the MySpace phenomenon of a few years ago, where bloggers would discover new music by clicking through other bands’ Top 8 friends, but even less efficient (the Top 8 is almost an explicit introduction from the artist).

Read Ty's post here.

And if you've never seen Bandcamp in action, watch their video here.

 

How to succeed in the music business today

Two posts from Bob Lefsetz.

The first is about lessons that we can all learn from Rebecca Black.

I know that it isn't really a success as so much of the attention on her record is negative, but am I in the minority when it comes to accepting why?

Yes, in many ways it's a god-awful song (the lyrics in the middle eight are beyond redemption), but doesn't it fit rule number one of a pop song? That chorus refrain is hooky as hell and you do not forget it once you've heard it.

I'm not defending it and not saying that she'll build a music career out of it - there's way too much hate for that. But, I do think that if people gave it their own honest judgement rather than the 'follow the herd' abuse, they might grudgingly admit that there's something about the hook that deserves at least a footnote in pop's songwriting annals.

Maybe I'm just wrong!

Either way, there is a LOT to learn from the success of her release and Bob Lefstez has set out a list:

1. Selling recorded music is not the only way to make money in music.  Ark Factory came up with a new way, ripping off the parents of little kids.  Let this be a lesson to you, rather than complain that the old model is dead, innovate.

8. YouTube hosts videos for free.  Too much emphasis is being put on how much Rebecca Black is getting paid.  More important is the mechanism that led to her fame.  Used to be you had to pay independent promoters to get your track on radio, hoping to have it heard and discovered.  Today airplay is free.

18. You do not need radio or record stores to make it.  There is no physical product, airplay didn’t break "Friday".  Anyone telling you you need a label is sorely mistaken.

I picked those three at random, but go and read the whole list here.  

And then he followed that post up with one entitled 'Credibility' in which he sets out another list which has great insight for every musician trying to build a long-term sustainable career in the modern music business.

He begins by decrying why a self-published author, Ammanda Hocking, would now sign to a traditional publisher, and concludes with a long list of reasons why you don't need to.

Brilliant stuff.

1. Focus on the product, the art.  Every career needs an engine.  Which fans can point to and believe in. And that’s not "Friday", which is why Rebecca Black got noticed but she’s got no real fans and no real traction, she’s still waiting for her first hit.  "Friday" is a train-wreck, not a hit.

2. Gain fans.  You do this by allowing them to partake of your art for free.  And giving them tools to spread the word.  Know where to charge in the food chain. At first you pay your fans, then they pay you, it’s not the other way around anymore.

3. Continue to reward the core with product and access.  If you aren’t reachable by your fans, you’re too big in the head.

4. Don’t try to blow it up too soon!  If you’re not willing to wait, you’re not willing to have a career.

Read that post here.

 

 

Music success comes from marketability

Well, sort of!

Robin Davey's post on Music Think Tank states that all your success will come down to your marketability, and that, in turn, will rest on your talent, songs and image.

To a very great degree, I agree.

Some of the comments - which you should read as well - say that he is stating the obvious. And, maybe he is. But, as we say in our free eBook, it's the truth that 99% of people who try to succeed as a musician (whether that's becoming a global star on a major label or self sustaining a DIY career) will fail. And they'll fail because they were never able to realise that they simply weren't good enough. Add to that the fact that you need a lot of drive.

Roll it all together and you do have your marketability - and that starts with being good!

Read it all here.

Social Networking for musicians - Quality counts

New guest post on our main site - 'Social Networking for Musicians'.

Simple guidelines for what to do to make your use of social media as a musician effective.

Monetize the thing around the thing you used to sell!

This is a great post about how one of the Nimbit guys got a deeper connection with a band that he saw at SXSW than he thought he would, simply becuase they went the extra mile.

The title is something that Martin Atkins said about how you need to surprise your fans with that little thing extra that they didn't necessarily espect.

Read the piece on the Nimbit blog.

Facebook and how the music industry still doesn't see it!

I'm working on a lot of Facebook stuff at the moment - for blog posts that are coming up on the main blog, but also with client campaigns.

And, it's gob-smacking how the music industry still doesn't get it.

All the marketers that I read and listen to (not from the music industry) who understand recipriocity (giving free stuff away) and engagement and authenticity can see the power of Facebook.

And it should be obvious. It's much easier to promote and sell stuff to pople where they already are. Join in with them there rather than trying all the time to drive them off somewhere else.

Your band website has a very special place but not being on Facebook as a musician today is just stupid.

More than 100 musicians have over 1 million fans on their Facebook pages. One quarter of the top 400 pages on Facebook are owned by musicians. There is another large group of musicians who have over 50,000 fans. These pages represent a huge opportunity. By simply taking control of your fan page with authentic messaging, direct-response marketing, and exclusive merchandising, you can create a significant direct-to-fan revenue channel, multiply the depth of your customer database, and cut your marketing costs – all in one fell swoop. And, did I mention that YOU control the sales channel? Facebook organizes more fans than you ever could on your own fan club, no matter how hard you tried. Why fight it? Use it!

Read the whole piece here.

How to turn a TV synch into real fans

Great article from Ariel Hyatt that sets out steps that you should take if you have a track licensed for use in a TV series, commercial or a movie.

People will go looking for it and if you follow these steps, you will be far more likely to convert the people that hear it and look you up because they liked it.

I have been guilty of not following this through myself and reading this struck a chord!

If you get lucky enough for this to happen for you - be prepared!

A few weeks ago I got a tweet from Mr. Robotic, asking if I could include him in my In Defense of 1,000 True Fans series.  I love meeting people via social media, and what follows is the first artist who has approached me to tell his own story.  It’s the perfect roadmap of how to take full advantage precious TV placements.  Instead of the usual interview, I’m combining my “How To” article format (Sound Advice) with this In Defense of 1,000 True Fans piece, giving you an action plan.

Read the whole piece here.

Diane Warren tells all her songwriting secrets

This might not be of help to all - you need to get Sky and you need to live in the UK to see it.

Well, maybe not, as someone is bound to stick it on a torrent, but then I couldn't advocate that could I?!

Next Monday Sky are screening an interview with Diane Warren, pretty much the world's most succesful contemporary pop songwriter, in their SUPERB Songbook series. It's on 28/3/11 on Sky Arts 1 at 9pm.

I always watch these as you learn something every time. Try and find a way to watch if you can - this one and any of the others in the series.

 

16 tips for posting on your Facebook page

Weird.

We posted a great guest post on the main site yesterday from @musicmarketingX called '10 tips to make your Facebook Music page work better'.

Please check it out if you didn't already as it's really good stuff.

But then, literally an hour later I saw this post on Mashable that has a very simliar theme. In fact, 4 of the points are pretty much covering the same things, but that means that the other 6 make it a great companion piece to our post!

Read them together and you've got 16 different tips on how best to post on your Facebook page to get the best interaction from your fans.

How you engage those fans and sustain a meaningful online dialogue with your customers. Facebook fans will only want to engage with us if we serve up relevant content and truly participate. We also forget about EdgeRank — Facebook’s News Feed algorithm that helps display “relevant” stories. The News Feed only displays a small subset of stories generated by the friends and brands users engage with the most. The more popular your story, the more likely it is to show up in people’s News Feed. News Feed optimization becomes as important as your content strategy.

Let’s explore ways we can create updates that are optimized for the News Feed and engagement. Below are some dos and don’ts to remember each time you tackle that all-important question, “What should we post to our Facebook Page today?”

Read Mashable's 10 tips here.

All you need to know about SEO for musicians

OK, maybe not all, but I've seen a bunch of articles over the last few weeks, which, when grouped together, will give you a very solid training in what SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is and why you need to do at least some to further your music career.

I'll let the articles do most of the talking, but, in short, you need to learn what things you should aim to have your music website rank for in Google (and other) searches and some basic techniques that will help you do that.

Start with this article on Musician Wages for a great overview:

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is process of organizing the content of a website in a way that will be most easily understood and indexed by search engines. If you do it right, you will be closer to the top of the list when strangers search for terms relating to your website. For instance, if you are a punk bluegrass accordion trio, you should be at the top of the listings whenever anybody searches for that genre of music.

Read it here.

Then their follow up article talks about how to apply your new found SEO knowledge to other online sites that can point people (and search engines) back to your main website:

Musicians needn’t be overly concerned with SEO on their own website if it’s for mostly promotional and informational purposes. This is very true, and the last thing a working musician needs is one more distraction from their instrument. However, the concepts are important to understand as you expand your internet presence because better optimization helps more people find your music. In this article, we’ll apply these concepts outside the musician’s website and into other online communities.

Read that here.

Then I'd recommend moving on to this article on Music Think Tank that goes into some specific but very basic and simple methods that you ought to know:

Search engine optimization (SEO) often gets passed off as a sort of snake oil — some gimmicky trick that people do to manipulate search results in their favor.

SEO is really about one thing: making what your website is about clear to people and bots alike. There’s no tricks or gimmicks, and if you can make a website or manage a wordpress installation, you can do some very simple things to make your website more search engine and people friendly.

Read that one here.

Then, last but obviously not least, there's our post and video on Band Website SEO which covers a lot of the same stuff but you get to hear my dulcet tones to boot!

Band Website SEO post and video.

Really - do take some time to read and digest this info. It's a good basic training that will help you in ways that you can't really understand until you try them. It won't break your career instantly but it will, with luck, bring in some new fans and may create opportunities out of the blue!

Which music sale makes you the most?

Image by steffenz

This post is written from the point of view of the fan buying music and advising them which way will return the most cash to the artist.

But, as a basic primer for you, the artist, it works just as well.

And, in short, what it tells you is that the direct sale to the fan is the one that will make you the most cash. Sort of obvious, but it reminds me that Ian Rogers of Topspin says that you're not in the business of selling 79 pence / cents single track downloads. It just doesn't work.

You're in the business of selling the music experience of your band to the core element of your fanbase - and that starts with selling CD's or album downloads to them. Learn about the direct to fan model from Topspin, Nimbit (this link is their direct to fan training) or Bandcamp.

Say your favorite band is putting out a new album and you've decided to buy it. You want to make sure that when you do, the band gets as much of your money as possible. Where do you shop? Best Buy? Your local record store? iTunes?

Read it here.

A Direct-To-Fan Campaign in detail

On the exceptional We All Make Music blog there is a review of the competition for a grant from Topspin to use in a forthcoming Direct To Fan campaign.

It's a good piece of itself, but it also links to one of the proposals that ended up winning the grant, and that's interesting, because it has all of the ideas of a real world band that you know the experts from Topspin have rated as likely to succeed.

There ought to be some ideas in there that you can use!

Read the WAM piece here.

And go direct to the D2F campaign outline here.

5 ways to find more time to write songs

Image by alancleaver_2000

If your material sucks, you haven't got a hope in hell.

We're very fond of telling you to improve your songwriting and performance so that your material doesn't suck, but that all takes time - and where are you going to get more of that?

Unless you’re an established working songwriter, chances are good that songwriting is something you do in your spare time. Whether you’re doing it for fun, to complete an album or EP project, or you hope to win a Grammy one day, it’s important to establish a regular writing routine. But how can you do it in the midst of a day job, band, family responsibilities and walking the dog? In this post I’ll give you five strategies to help you block out distractions so you can effectively focus on following your dream.

Get all 5 tips here.

6 tips for fan funding success

This is a great primer for anyone thinking about trying to fan fund a music release - taken from the DIY Musician blog.
When undertaking a crowdfunding project of your own, be sure to avoid these common pitfalls:

•   Setting unrealistic fundraising goals: “Internet Angels” (wealthy strangers trolling the internet looking to give away large sums of money) are the exception, not the rule.

•   Underestimating the importance of marketing your project: The assumption that “If You Build It, They Will Come” (simply posting to a crowdfunding platform and expecting contributions) is a conviction best left to Kevin Costner movies.

Crowdfunding is WORK, but it is smart work.

Here are 6 Tips for Crowdfunding Success:

Read the 6 tips here.

What is an Album now anyway?

Image by kevindooley

When someone who's worked at a major label with superstar acts wants to tell you something about how to succeed as a musician, you can bet that you should be listening.

That's the case here in this great piece on Hypebot about how the Album is dying and what it will become.

I don't agree necessarily with the overall view of the piece, as the format showcases music and great music is at the heart of what we all do, but there are two sections that are required reading for artists.

One in the middle of the post where Ethan 'defines the Album':

• Branding: an album serves as a tent pole around which to rebrand a band. Logos, type faces, color, visual identites. This also applies to non-visual things such as: message, statement, platform, etc.
• Visuals: both with and without music, related closely to branding
• The Hook: something that serves as the tweet worthy summation of what this Album is aiming at
• The Angle: a unique method or action which serves as an easy method for someone to write about the record
• The Timeline: the sequence of events and windowing of releases culminating to…
• The Release: Not the end game, but rather a stop along the way
• The Music: Can’t forget about this? Or can you?

And at the end, where he sets out rules for a release:

• Announce the release when it is ready to ship. Lead times should be at most 4 weeks from announcement to “in hands”
• Self-direct all publicity and promotion. Own the visual language/identity, own the messaging.
• Fans matter more than radio stations, website exclusives, etc. Giving a video to the NY Times ahead of your own YouTube won’t get you a good review: don’t do it.
• Hear it and buy it: don’t put anything up to hear, watch or experience if it can’t be purchased. Reward loyalty for your fans through exclusives.
• Make your fans product evangelists. Everyone wants an iPad because everyone they know wants one or has one. Make your release so amazing that you want to tell the world about it.
• Own your press: disintermediate, be selective with interviews and use the channels at your disposal (video, twitter, etc)
• Make it an event. Time it properly, make all messaging unified and coordinated.
• Let the Release define itself: if you can’t summarize it in one sentence, keep winnowing it down until you can. It might be an app, a collection of songs, a video album, etc

These are both critical things to understand and why 'just having good music' is never enough!

You can read the whole post here.

 

 

 

Premier your album online

I like this.

As far as I can see this new app from Soundcloud has only just been launched and isn't in wide use yet, but it looks like a great way to get an album online prior to release and get some feedback and viral discussion happening.

Watch the video below and go and read the post on Soundcloud's blog about it.

It's a bit techy to use but worth checking out.

 

SoundCloud-Premiere from Lee Martin on Vimeo.

5 reasons why your band isn't signed

You may well not want to be signed to a label - either you want to stay fiercely independent or a music career isn't why you're making music.

But, it's still the holy grail for many artists.

We repeatedly point out that if a sustainable career as a musician is your goal, you need to be doing the same things whether you want to be signed or want to be a diy artist - make music, promote it, build a fanbase and build a community of fans that will pay to support you. That's what labels want to see these days - that you've done something to start the ball rolling. And, if they don't sign you (or you don't want to be signed) that same foundation is what you build on to take your diy career to whatever level you want.

So, take this article from Music Globalization in that spirit.

As an entertainment attorney my job is simple – help musicians. Sometimes helping involves revealing the bitter truth. Some bands want to gauge their industry success based on label partnerships. This is unrealistic. If you’re not signed with a label it means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but unfortunately many musicians equate a lack of label backing as failure. Instead of harping on the disappointment, groups need to understand the harsh realty at hand - labels pass for a reason. It’s these reasons which bands must understand, analyze, and apply towards their career advancement. The worst thing to do, yet the most common, is to begin blaming the surrounding cast. “Had our manager only done this……. Had our booking agent only booked us larger shows, etc…” Wrong. Listen to what the label executives tell you.

Read the whole post here.

Songkick cracks easy gig listing

Songkick is rapidly becoming my favourite gig listing site and it's automated features have a huge amount to offer the diy musician.

Firstly, although you can log-in and create an account to list your own shows, Songkick is constantly scouring the web for live show data and may well import this info automatically - it will do this if you have reached any significant size.

And then, they are rolling out loads of partners who will use the data that they have to populate their own sites - so far including Facebook and Soundcloud.

See this on Facebook - where you can have a tab auto-populated with gigs and links to buy tickets.

And this on Soundcloud.

It will also auto-import into Bandcamp and your own site (especailly easy if that is running on Wordpress).

Well worth a look and something that we'd recommend any band with a few hundred following to check out. It's only going to get better.

Task checklist for promoting your band

Don't know what you should be doing to promote your music on any given day?

Live Unsigned do:

It’s really easy to spend lots of time online and not actually get anything done to grow your audience. A simple daily check list can keep you motivated and stop you spending three hours staring at a twitter #catjokes hashtag. Better to spend an hour a day getting stuff done for your career than a whole day achieving nothing.

The following is an example of things you can do regularly to make things happen (and it goes without saying your music has to be brilliant and remarkable for it to work). Some bands may do things at different times (i.e. only blog once a week or post videos more often) but this is a general example of a social media tasking sheet for a band:

Get the checklist here.

Facebook - learn from the big dogs!

I read this article and thought that it's content was good enough - if fairly obvious.

But, reading it made me go and check out the Facebook Fan Page of all 10 people that it cites - Eminem, Gaga, Bieber etc.

And, that's where I learnt some stuff.

If these people and their major label team are doing something, using specific apps, selling vs not selling on Facebook, then I'm watching and learning. I'd recommend you have a look see too.

What have I learned?

Well, the iFrame is BIG news - you can make a tab do whatever you want and these people that have coders and designers on hand are doing just that. We'll look at iFrame's on the main site next week.

They mostly like a streaming application - such as UStream - and they're up for having discussions and polls on their pages - all driving engagement and interaction.

Have look and see what apps they're using and see how much of their game you can transpose to your Fan Page.

Check the 10 examples here.

Making the most of your Facebook Fan Page

This article on Amp Music Marketing give a really good overview on best practice for your Facebook Fan Page.

Although, don't follow their link to Mashable for the photo strip as it's misleadingly for personal profiles!

What you'll need for that part is our post on the Facebook photo strip here.

The piece is good though, and if you do everything that they cover you'll have a very effective band presence on Facebook working for you.

It’s 2011 and every artist worth their salt has a Facebook fan page. But keeping yours up to date can sometimes feel like a chore. And how do you know if you’re really making the most of your page? Could you do things better to encourage your existing connections to share your page with their social networks? Here we describe some helpful ways to make the most of your Facebook page.

Read their tips here.

5 pre-production tips for bands

Actually, at least 6 now that I have added my comment to the bottom!

Good stuff here on things you should do BEFORE you get to the studio to record demos or tracks for release.

Even for the most well-prepared band, going into the studio can be a stressful, expensive, and frustrating experience. Thankfully, it can also be one of the most rewarding. One way of keeping the cost, stress, and frustration to the bare minimum is to know exactly what you want to achieve before setting foot in a studio. You don’t want any last minute surprises unless they’re of the “magic studio grace” variety. Here are five practice tips to include in your pre-production preparations:

Read them here.

The image is by me. It's a band I use to manage, Chikinki, doing a session at BBC Maida Vale.

10 strategies for fan engagement in social media

Image by Rosaura Ochoa

This a really handy 10 point list on how to approach social media as a musician.

It's not so much a 'how to', more of a 'why for', if that makes sense.

Still, it's really good and I'd go as far as to say that the thinking behind it should inform your social media use.

But for many artists, social media remains something they choose not to fully delve into. Some find it too overwhelming; with the constant posting of content onto the countless platforms and would much rather spend their time creating music.

Others may even be ready to actively engage in social media, but have no idea how to properly utilize each platform. 

Nancy Baym, a professor of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas recently wrote a fantastic piece entitled "Engaging Fans Through Social Media."

In it, she explains how musicians and audiences can build symbiotic relationships that can nurture and sustain one another over the long haul.

The following 10 points summarize Baym's key ideas on how to maximize your social media effectiveness:

Read the post and get the much more in depth pdf here.

 

Fan Page vs Personal Profile on Facebook

Here's a new video from social-media-for-artists expert Ariel Hyatt.

Simple stuff looking at why you need both a personal profile and a Fan Page, but worth watching for her view on having 2 personal profiles.

What she doesn't talk about is those people who advocate using your personal profile for music promotion since you can get your messages in to people's mail inboxes - Facebook notifications which you do from a Fan Page are universally ignored!

Obviously Facebook are not happy to see individuals using a personal profile to promote anything (music or some other business) but it is done by many solo artists and some frontmen - the limit of 5000 friends comes in to play but it can work for some people.

Check the video on her site here or below.

 

I've also just been reading their book on Twitter and Facebook - and it's great. Thoroughly recommended.

You can get a copy here.

Social Networking No-No's!

2 great posts from Laura Marie and her refreshingly honest site - Nerd Alert 4 Musicians.

What you shouldn't be doing in your social networking efforts.

Part 1

Part 2

The key point - why do you want to add all those people on Facebook and Twitter if they aren't going to be a fan? What's the point?

Topspin is Open!

Last post for a while about this - which I genuinely believe will turn out to be a milestone.

So, go and have a look at the site and see what you think.

Hypebot has a good rundown of the costs and features here - Hypebot on Topspin.

And I got sent this link from Topspin today - I think it's meant for existing users, so shhhhh!

Worth having a look at it as it shows you around inside Topspin at all the functionality.

Be ready to hit pause though as it has six videos on a single page that all start at once!

See Inside Topspin here.

What's broken in A&R?

A&R rightly get a lot of grief from everyone else in the music industry.

All too many simply don't have the talent to do the job and it becomes the parody that the video below pokes fun at (Don't watch if you're easily offended!).

But, there are some good A&R people - who can bring improvement, direction and clarity to an artist's work.

This article on Wired is well worth a read.

A&R scouts, the workers of the music industry entrusted with finding and developing new talent, have come in for much criticism over the past decade. Most people don't know what they do, and those that do, disagree with most of their decisions. Disgruntled, overlooked bands hate them for not signing them, and the record-buying public hate them for feeding them bland, intelligence-insulting music, or incomprehensible hipster nonsense which no-one living outside the E1 postcode will like.

But is the A&R-bashing justified, and, if so, what can be done about it?

Read the piece here.

Oh, and it really is like this:

 

 

Direct to Fan for all - Topspin for everybody

I've been using Topspin for a little over a year and have learnt a huge amount about the platform and also the methods that work when you are trying to build a two-way relationship with your fans.

Let's just say that DTF is going to work for you if you already have some momentum and, crucially, if you, the artist, get involved and want to see it work.

If you leave it to the 'manangement' or the 'office', you might as well not bother!

That said, Topspin looks set to be 'the Daddy' when it becomes available to all artists this month.

Eric Hebert has written a great piece about the opportunities that this presents to all artists.

Well it looks like Topspin’s up coming public release just might be the real solution I’m looking for. Now, I’ve been keeping an eye on Topspin for years now, and have a kind of love/hate relationship with the service. I LOVE the widgets and overall look of the tools they have, they are very well designed, fast loading, look very customizable, have no branding whatsoever, etc.

The HATE part comes from simply not being allowed to use the service, as I’ve never had a client with an established fan base to meet the Topspin requirement. For years Topspin seemed to only cater their service to somewhat established acts. In a way I guess I was always just jealous that I wasn’t established enough to be in the cool kids club.

Read the whole piece here.

Is Topspin that good?

Yes!

But, I'm still waiting for the killer platform. Topspin is not as good as an email system as the best (such as Aweber). It needs better automated follow-ups (known as autoresponders) and better segmentation so that you can follow up with people who do or don't open your emails. Plus, you have to enter much of your music's metadata to use Topspin so it would make sense if it could distribute to iTunes and other digital stores as well. And thirdly, it doesn't auto-integrate with Facebook like RootMusic or DamntheRadio. It would be great if it did!

I reckon Topspin knows about these three things and will maybe bring them in.

If not, then that's the killer platform that we're waiting for - Topspin plus those three!

Why I love Direct-to-Fan

This article is written by Michael Fiebach, whose posts on how he implemented DTF for DJ Shadow were fantastic.

Read them here:

Shadow part 1

Shadow part 2

Shadow part 3

This one is possibly even better!

You could read this article and dip into the ones on DJ Shadow above and you'd have a pretty thorough understanding of what a direct-to-fan campaign consists of.

And, like Michael, I love the opportunity presented to the DIY musician by direct-to-fan platforms. Building your fanbase by bringing them closer to you and then giving them what they want.

What's not to like!

We captured over 5,000 email addresses in 3 days, and they are still rolling in. We doubled up on our goal of 2,500 emails, and Team OCD certainly has the beginning of a viable business. The bulk of the emails came from the Topspin “Email for Media” widget embedded at Teamocd.com and The Facebook tab, but we also had a nice rush of emails that came into Bandcamp. I thought it was important to have both assets (Topspin and Bandcamp) available, because it gave us the ability to promote both links at separate times, and also gives people who like or prefer bandcamp, the opportunity to use that portal… The more assets to promote, the more of a chance that someone will click that button.

Please go and read the whole post here!

And here's the band he's working with in this article.

 

A guide to affordable and effective websites for musicians

Following on from the previous post which highlighted how many artists don't have their own band website, is this great post from Ariel Hyatt.

Astonished by the number of artists that she met on a trip to Australia who had no web presence of their own, she put together this great guide on how to get a Wordpress based site up and working in no time and at very little cost.

It's well worth checking out the older post on Music Think Tank that she links to in the first few lines as well - it proves the need for multiple online presences.

I got a slap in the face in Perth, Australia two weeks ago.  I went there to talk about Apps, Foursquare, and advanced web marketing strategies.

I had many one-on-one sessions with artists and a vast majority had a big problem:

They didn’t have web sites.

When I say they don’t have web sites, I mean they’re only using MySpace and Facebook.  Which is a critical mistake. See here why: http://bit.ly/musicadiumpaper

I’m not saying this to make anyone wrong or to be righteous.   Websites, as I soon found out in Australia, are very expensive to build with local web designers. A few artists showed me quotes of $5,000 for a website. It’s not 1997 anymore and those quotes are not OK.

An effective website can be created $20 or less a month with no upfront costs

Read the whole post here.

And, if you do go the Wordpress route (which we think you should) it might well be worth your while investing $47 in this great Wordpress Theme that makes building your band website very easy. Specifically designed for musicians, it is very easy to use.

Learn more about it here.

10 observations from watching 200 bands play live in one day!

Marcus Taylor of The Musicians Guide writes on Mic Control about his experience of seeing 200 bands play live in the course of one day and what he learned by seeing so many in such quick succession.

There are some great tips as well as a few things that ought to worry bands that 'aren't with the programme'!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being on a judging panel at Live & Unsigned at the Birmingham NEC in the UK, which was an amazing opportunity to gain some insight into what makes a band stand out from the crowd as I had to watch over two hundred auditions in a single day - a very, very long day.

Here are ten observations I made whilst watching the 200 bands audition, and some tips on how you can stand out from the crowd of mediocrity at your auditions and gigs.

Read them all here.

Music marketing case studies

Image by Hryck

This is a great post from Music Think Tank that I had missed.

6 case studies of memorable marketing efforts by musicians that will hopefully inspire you.

I particularly like the band that gave out personalised fortune cookies directing fans to their web address for a free download. This is well worth copying - or, don't be as literal, but think how you can use the same tactic to engage fans at gigs and get them to your site later.

Connecting with fans is imperative in today’s music industry. It’s that connection that can give them a reason to buy and support your music. Utilizing social media and having a strong online presence makes connecting with fans much more achievable. Below are some good case studies of bands that found success through an online campaign. I encourage musicians to review these examples and pay attention to the elements that made them successful. Then think about how to implement those strategies into your own marketing plans.

Read them all here.

10 reasons to rewrite a song

Image by Adrian F

You're probably aware that one of the points in our free eBook for musicians talks about how you should work at a song rtaher than just knocking it out and thinking it's done.

So, when I saw this post it really struck a chord with me.

Rewriting a song means accepting that the beautiful inspiration you just poured out of your soul might need some extra work. It takes courage, humility and patience to rewrite a song effectively. Here are 10 reasons why rewriting your latest song is a good idea.

1. New, Better Ideas Are Waiting To Be Discovered

It’s a wonderful feeling when you’ve just written a brand new song. There’s really nothing else like it. But have you ever noticed that you need to take time to learn it, just like when you’re adding a cover song to your set list? Rehearsing your new song often gives you an opportunity to make improvements and polish it further by making the lyrics more singable or the music more fluid.

Read the 10 resons here.

 

Facebook Photo Strip = Free Ads

Just a pointer over to the main site.

No Dailies today as I was working on this post.

How to use the Facebook Photo Strip as free ads to get your fans listening to your music and buying your stuff!

Facebook Photo Strip article here.

Ultimate guide to music promotion and marketing

Chris Rockett is building a great resource at his blog - Promote Your Music.

And, I have to recommend this article as it really is a run through most of the major things that you can do to promote and market your music.

And it's good.

He promises to go into more detail on each over time, but, as an overview it ought to tell you a few new things to try.

If you do a simple Google search on “how to get more music fans” you will come up with hundreds of thousands of pages packed with ideas for the best way to get people listening to your stuff.

What we must keep in mind is that not all these methods are created equal, and though most of them have some basis in reality there is a good chance that you can focus on the gold rather than just trying to do everything.

Then you will have a much better chance of success.

One thing I have found while learning music marketing information is that even though a tactic is sound and makes sense, there are certain things that suit me better and that I just understand right away. I think if you see the whole picture in your mind it’s much easier to stay focused.

So try a bunch of stuff for a few weeks and see what works best for you.

Read it here.

Analytics makes the heart grow stronger!

I'm getting very freaked out by Facebook!

In the last three weeks, it has moved the game on so much that if I was a competitor (but who is there, other than Google?) I would be very worried.

It is looking like it's going to rule the internet in so many spaces that you, as a musician, just cannot afford to be left out!

The latest thing that I was gobsmacked by was the extension of Insights - their analytics - to your own site, not just Facebook.

Why does this matter to you? Well, it tells you what people like about what you're doing so that you can give them more of it and tailor your approach to promoting music based on FACTS!

This post on AllFacebook tells you what this is and how to put it on your site.

And this is Facebook's own post about it.

This is serious stuff and you should be implementing this on your site as soon as possible.

And, whilst we're talking about analytics, Hootsuite just upped their game in a big way too with analytics for social media with a very cool customisable tool.

Check that out here or in the video.

 

HootSuite Social Analytics from HootSuite on Vimeo.

Some fans are worth a fortune - even if they never buy from you!

Image by MoneyBlogNewz

I liked this article because it forced me to stop and think.

Not every fan is going to buy your music and other stuff - merch, tickets etc.

But they can still be very valuable in monetary terms - because their social network spreads your music.

Once upon a time, being a "diehard fan" meant buying a band's album, show ticket, T-shirt, limited edition signed LP — anything your earnings would allow. Today the term can have a very different meaning. You can be a "diehard" by blogging about everything the band puts out, posting links to your Facebook wall, re-Tweeting the band's messages, and commenting on its Soundcloud page, all without paying a dime.

Engaging with music in this way doesn't mean you're hurting your favorite band, either. Recent studies suggest quite the opposite: they show that fans who actively engage in social media bring more cash to the artists they love. Liking something on Facebook or re-Tweeting a favorite song can generate real world dollars.

Read the whole piece here.

 

New App creates a Fan Club connected by mobiles

There are a bunch of people making apps for mobiles for artists - most notably Mobile Roadie.

But, Fantrail seems to be that bit different.

Firstly, it's free, which most other app creators aren't (Get-Ctrl being another notable exception - check them out!), but it also seems to be coming up with a bunch of new ideas on how to engage your fans more directly - such as voice messages to selected fans - even to one individual fan.

It's a promising way to build your fanbase - and with it being free, it's well worth a look.

Mashable did an overview earlier today:

Enter FanTrail. The service is basically a method by which artists can easily create an iPhone app (Android is on the way) for their fans — for free. Every app has the same elements, which let fans garner rewards for their devotion.

Artists simply sign up for the service via the website (provided they have an Apple ID), after which it creates an app that is placed in the App Store. In the app, artists are outfitted with a dashboard that they can use to post news and events, update Twitter, Facebook, etc. all at once, push announcements, see where fans are located on a map using geolocation and send personally recorded messages to followers. Right now, one must do all of this within the app, as there will be no web version until the next iteration of the service.

Read the whole piece here.

And here's a link to the Fantrail site and their demo video.

 

FanTrail Introduction from FanTrail on Vimeo.

Facebook iFrame solution

Pesky Facebook!

Making it super difficult for all the non-techy musicians to make it do what they want with this new iFrame thingy!

And it's TODAY that they switch off new FBML tabs - existing FBML tabs will work but they aren't going to support it, so, eventually, you're going to need to deal with iFrames.

@cbracco has a great post if you want to see how to build an iFrame Facebook Canvas app for yourself.

But, if you want to keep it simple, Involver have just released the 'Static HTML for Pages' app which is free to use and pretty clever.

It'll let you do pretty much anything you want in HTML, including a reveal tab, and just slot it straight in to Facebook using their app.

You still need to deal with the HTML coding of what you want your tabs to look like and do (time to unleash your inner geek, or find one to do it for you), but the app/iFrame end of the issue is dealt with for you.

If you just want to upload a static image (520px wide) as a welcome tab, it is beyond easy.

The only downside that I can see is that you have a small orange 'edit page' tab at the top of the page when it's been installed - at least I did on mine when I tried it, whether I was logged in to Facebook or not.

Nonetheless it's a great quick solution and I recommend that you check it out.

This is what they have to say about it:

The Static HTML app from Involver is the simplest way to customize your Page, and it’s free to use!

If you’re using FBML now, or just want to add new content in the new Facebook iFrame environment, Involver’s Static HTML app is a great way to incorporate your HTML images and designs to Facebook without any hosting or investment. Here are some great ways to use this new application:

• Add a customized image on your Facebook fan page

• Render static HTML code, within the framework of Facebook’s current guidelines

• Customize your tab name

• “Fan gate” your page, requiring users to Like your page in order to see other content

Check it out here.

How to get a lot of Facebook likes - fast

Only one today as I am looking after an ill daughter at home! She's OK - a bit of a virus that won't clear up but is miraculously unaffected once we get past 9AM!

But, wanted to get this to you, as it's important info.

I follow Jon Oszajca and his Music Marketing Manifesto site. He peddles a great product that teaches some less well-know ways for musicians to get their music to a fanbase.

So, when he ran an experiment to see how many 'likes' he could get on Facebook in a week, I kept an eye on it. Over 3000. Not bad!

Sure, Facebook Ads are involved, but read his post for all the details.

A twist on free music for email

Just go and read this post because it fits with the one earlier about using iTunes playlists to promote your music. Sort of.

It simply made me think that you don't need to always trade an email address for a free track.

I am a big fan of giving away a lot more than one track anyway, but the little twist here is that you club together with a load of bands and give away a mixtape or live recordings featuring all of you.

Great - it gives your music context and you can all promote for each other.

And give the mixtape away for free when you can - not even for an email - and test out how it does!

One way an artist can enhance the free download is to provide context and package it with free downloads from other popular artists that are related in style or aesthetic. We do this with free roster-wide Family mixtapes and playlists. One of the most satisfying aspects of what we do is seeing people come into our store through one particular artist they’re a fan of, and then come back a few weeks later to pick up an album by another artist they learned about through the free mixtape that came with their previous order.

Read the piece here.

Musician's Social Media pyramid

You may well have heard of Ariel Hyatt and her company, Cyber PR - she's been a leader in musician advice for some time and has some great detailed ideas.

In her latest blog post she looks again at a graphic tool that she has used to teach people best practice to follow in their use of social media to promote their music.

Obviouly, we have covered a lot of this in our guide to twitter music promotion as well, but I do like the graphical representation to remind you to mix it up.

You can also check out all her other training and well respected courses here.

Watch her video here or below.

 

How to use iTunes to promote your music and get sales

I just saw this article on the DIY musician and I realised that I'd never posted about it before.

But it's a killer little technique for getting your music genuinely heard and purchased. It's something that you should be doing to promote your music.

As Cameron Mizell says in that post:

I’ve stumbled across a way to sell my music on iTunes to hundreds of people that otherwise have never heard of me without getting any page space or paying for advertising. This has become quite successful for me, and I hope it can help you, and we can all help each other. All you need is an iTunes account. Here’s the deal:

iTunes allows you to publish playlists that you create (on the left side of iTunes). The playlists can be rated from 1-5 stars by other customers, and top rated playlists appear on the page for every album that has a song in the playlist.

Read the whole post here.

However, Cameron had already gone into lots more detail when this function of iTunes was called the 'iMix', on his own blog.

Read this post for the full 'how to'

And, that reminded me that the first time I read about this technique was on Ariel Hyatt's blog - and you should definitely check this out too.

Pull them in. Pushing won't work!

Great little video post from @thornybleeder.

It speaks for itself, but you can see more of Brian's tips at his blog here.

 

Facebook comments step by step

We looked at how important to musicians the introduction of Facebook comments on third party sites is going to be in this post on Friday.

You really ought to check it out.

I just read up a bit more and found this post by Mari Smith - a real FB expert.

It shows you step by step how it works with screenshots like that one above.

BUT, she also has two little tips that made this post worthwhile.

1. If you comment as your Page on Facebook, always sign off in your name - that makes it much less spammy.

2. Add or change your employer in your personal profile to your Fan Page. This is right at the bottom of her piece but don't miss it. I hadn't done this but it's well worth doing to drive traffic to your Page. If you're in a band, make the band the employer and it'll be shown in all off-site comments that you make with your personal profile (as opposed to Page) and on your profile on the new Faecbook layout. Well worth doing.

Read her in depth post here.

What happens for musicians when radio dies?

Image by C.P.Storm

I'm not sure that I have any idea!

Bob Lefsetz has been saying for ages that radio doesn't break acts - but he's wrong, or maybe just speaking too soon! It and TV still have that reach that creates the 'water cooler effect' even if the water cooler is now Facebook or somesuch.

But it will happen and this great article on Hypebot looks at some of the ways that it will unfold.

What does it mean for musicians? - well, hopefully, the lessening of the power of radio means that not everyone will want to listen to the same homogenous sound and so opportunity for niche artists will increase.

Whether it does or not, we shall have to wait and see, but being au fait with what's happening, as it happens, and seeing how listeners' behaviour is changing is going to be something all aspiring musicians are going to need to be right on top of!

In the next five to ten years, the "what" of radio is going to be flipped on its head and transformed into something that's fundamentally different. The young and the digital are going to live through the greatest transformation that traditional radio and in-car music have ever seen. In this post, we'll talk about the democratization of radio, the app revolution, the personalized music experience, e-commerce on wheels, real-time station analytics, and the creative destruction that will ensue.

Read the whole piece (and comments) here.

5 top reasons that your Facebook fans actually hate you

Image by cambodia4kidsorg

Is the way that you're using your Facebook Fan page making you real fans or are you just pissing people off?

Loren Weisman writes on all sorts of issues affecting aspiring artists and his style is unflinchingly direct and honest. I really like it.

You know that facebook page you always check in on?

The one that has interesting updates, good videos, great blogs and cool pictures?

You know that one that even if you don’t see an update on your main page, you will still type in that page just to check in?

Now how about this for another set of questions….

You know that page you can’t stand?

The one that puts up the worst stuff, over posts, has those multiple repeat posts of the same updated two to four times, spams you with show schedules, invites to groups over and over again, excess hype and other annoying updates?

And for whatever reason, you have you have not unfriended them.  Whether it is being nice or feeling guilty or maybe you have unfriended them and they added you again and you accepted them. Maybe you keep them as a friend but you block them and honestly have no idea what they are up to.

Now the real question.

Which one are you?

Go and read the whole piece here.

4 rules to make a video 'go viral'

I hate that phrase and I hate the idea that you can make something with the intent that it 'go viral'.

I can't tell you how many marketing meetings at record companies I've sat in and someone comes up with the blindingly brilliant idea that we should make 'a viral'.

Really?

'Cos if it's that easy, we'd all do it, all the time.

I think it's pretty much undisputed that most things that go viral do just that - and without that necesarily being the plan or the intention. They go viral because they capture people's imagination. I think that is probably the case with the Dave Carroll video below.

That said, if you've decided that you fancy trying because you know the massive exposure that it could give you, then this is a very short recap of a few pointers given by an expert in a talk at Music Tank the other day.

1. Strong Creative:

focus on doing what you do being the best...sweat the content to make it as good as it can possibly be

make it fun to watch and easy to share – think about building in cues that work: stop motion, slo mo, tempo...even cute kittens (yes really!)...

2. Influencer Endorsement:

Seed the video to influencers – bloggers, twitterati etc – introduce the artist/band and the video, then ‘walk away’...playing to their strengths by leaving it to them and trusting their judgement is far preferable to having a great video ignored because you’ve been too ‘in yer face’.  If you want to kill a video’s viral chances at birth, pester, cajole and otherwise irritate said influencer...So having asked them to post/comment/tweet & poke, leave it!!

Read the whole thing here.

And here's the Dave Carroll video that he references.