A YouTube case study

OK, last thing on YouTube for a while. I know I'm hammering the point, perhaps a little too much! Point 8 in this post - Build your fanbase - didn't get the message across enough!

The Midnight Beast is a trio doing what most would call comedy pop - a bit electro and a bit rap.

I am in awe of the following that they have built pretty much using YouTube alone.

I'm not saying that you have to be a comedy act - although I accept that their particular style is VERY suited to video, YouTube, covers/parodies etc - but what they have across all the platforms that they use is well worth looking at.

Their official site is all about video (I'd add an email sign up too, but you can't get everything right!), and their other social media profiles are all spot on too - regular Twitter and Facebook updates, although they use personal Twitter far better than the band feed.

And, they are unsigned. And, don't want to be signed. They just sold out their first UK tour and are selling loads of merchandise - follow their links to see what they do using Big Cartel.

They have over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and I'm sure that's a Partner channel, so they'll be earning more that way.

OK, their kick-off was a Kesha parody that got people following them in their droves, and they can write very catchy songs or parodies (some of the material is original), but there is nothing stopping you making your band very focused on YouTube and getting a massive boost from people finding you there.

Learn how to stand out by studying what The Midnight Beast do.......and apply it.

The Midnight Beast channel on YouTube.

The Guardian view.

Wikipedia tell all on the Midnight Beast.

The official Midnight Beast site.

An example of their highbrow work!

YouTube Channel tips...and so much more

Whilst I've been on this YouTube theme I've been doing a LOT of research, and found the site that this post came from.

I am trying to shift a large proportion of my client's attention to YouTube and video marketing - i.e. taking my own advice! And this site is giving me a HUGE amount of ideas.

The link below is to one article that talks about channels and helps to clear up some of the confusion we were discussing over on the main blog about Branded channels in this post - Artist YouTube Channel.

BUT, go over there and root around for other stuff - like how to put a 'Subscribe to our YouTube channel' widget on the side bar of your site, or how to make a link to your channel actually a link to subscribe to your channel.

Endless great articles that you can use to learn more about making YouTube the social network that brings you fans. Remember that it is a social newtork just like Facebook but it is the other place that people go to find music (after your domain and, yes, still, MySpace). So be there.

Click here to read 'How to make the most of your YouTube channel'.

Video is dead.....long live Video

Following on rather perfectly from my post yesterday - What's the best way to get noticed? - comes this from the Midem blog.

Adrian Pope - a master digital marketer at Europe's largets indie label / distributor - gives his thoughts on the death of the traditional promo video and the rise of cheaply created content.

It has some great ideas that you can apply to your band.

How many music promo videos really jump out as memorable? Radiohead’s Street Spirit? Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice? Yep, it’s subjective and I guess you can think of lots if you really put your mind to it, but for years the music business has been commissioning and producing promo videos in an often formulaic fashion whilst treating it a as a key tool in any marketing campaign.

Read the post here.

Freeconomics - free white paper study on giving your music away for free

I urge you to download and read this paper, primarily for the case study of Canadian band Mister Valaire's rise over 4 years to solid profitable working indie band - all through the use of 'freemium'.

Bob Lefsetz has recently been banging on about how the album is now just a marketing tool for the act (and their live performances) but adding the twist that chasing the hit and the record deal to provide it is a short term strategy doomed to failure.

For most independent acts, I agree.

Mister Valaire is a flagship testimonial that the modern paradigm is primarily about taking years to develop the craft, and the fanbase to sustain you through a lengthy career. This is the future music business model for most.

Virginie Berger's second report for Midem is well thought out and provides proof not just theory. I loved it.

Read it - you have to sign up to get it - but it's worth it.

 

Songwriting Tips from Wendy & Lisa and ASCAP - series to follow

ASCAP's 'We Create Music' advice blog is starting a series of lessons on songwriting and the first is from legends Wendy & Lisa.

It's good but it's worth bookmarking the site or their YouTube channel and coming back in the future and see what else they put out.

I beleive that you can't get too many songwriting tips and the more you can learn about the craft the better.

Watch it on the ASCAP blog here.

That link is being very schlonky right now, so here's the video from YouTube.

20 steps to music success...

....or what to do while you're hanging around waiting for your fans to show up!

Image courtesy of Chikinki - best live band ever, fact. But, here doing very impressive hanging around by the van!

This is a reat article that's three years old (so a couple of points are obsolete) on steps to take to build your fanbase.

I can't remember how I came across this piece but despite it's age it is uncommonly great advice.

I particularly like points 8, 11 & 15.

As per point 15, building backlinks to your site that draws in fans of a similar band in your genre is such an obvious and brilliant tactic, I can't believe that I hadn't written about it. Damn!

We looked at backlinking to get your site ranked in the search engines for your chosen terms in this post - Band website SEO - and you could take this approach to backlinks in conjunction with point 15 of the article.

Give it a go.

Most of the things on this list are the result of observation – APU is like a petri dish for watching the launch of music careers. We have around 50 people at any given time who are trying to become viable artists in the commercial music world. They range in success from those who are signed and touring in support of great projects, to those who can’t even get a pay-to-play booking with 300 other bands at Chain Reaction, and I get a front row seat to their process. They come talk to me about what works, what doesn’t, and I get to listen to their experiences and cull from that data.

So here you go – 20 things to do while you’re waiting for your fans to show up. The first 4 are in order of importance, but everything after that is in wild brainstorm mode.

Read the whole list of 20 steps here.

The Future of Music - Free Gerd Leonhard books

Do NOT miss this.

Every artist should read Gerd Leonhard's definitve take on the future of the music business.....and he is now giving it away for free.

It's a few years old, sure, but it is brilliant.

He's also offering two other books that I've not read yet, but I've downloaded them too!

Get the free eBooks here.