SONG CONTEST BLOG

Yesterday, I received a newsletter for which I didn’t opt-in to from an artist I have never heard of.

To make matters worse, he used “Vote for me, promote my stuff!” as the subject line.  The message was in two languages, only one of which I can understand, and it read:

Promote my music, post links in the web, send my reverbnation ploayer to other people, you can copy the player and paste it in mails or comments on other websites like myspace. If you want to buy my musik just click the shops, or the links that I will post on myspace during the day! ; )

I accept that, as an occupational hazard, I am added to artists’ email lists without my permission on a daily basis.  Not a problem.  When I receive their group messages, I swiftly click on Spam or Unsubscribe, depending on my mood.

This guy, though, failed [himself] on all fronts:

1. No permission from me
2. Pompous subject line followed by a…
3. Conceited message that’s…
4. Irrelevant to me

Don’t do this.

3 Music Marketing Success Stories:
$10,000 In 48 Hours (Without A Label)
How To Get 200 New Fans A Week
How To Raise $10,000

I have a long list of contacts.  That is, I have thousands of email addresses.

When I import my list to Flowtown (from Gmail for example), I get:

1. A demographic analysis of my contacts (name, gender, location etc.)

2. A snapshot of their whereabouts on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.)

3. A simple tool which delivers my group message to their email inboxes (perhaps their social network inboxes in the future!)

Simply brilliant!

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Tomorrow, MySpace Music will open its gates to TuneCore artists, Wired.com reported.  TuneCore’s artists will be able to distribute their music through MySpace and benefit from streaming royalties, though the company has not commented on how much.  Probably very little.

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25-year old female singer, Hind, completed her fund raising project on SellaBand, the foremost fan-funds-artist platform.  In just 11 days, Hind, a former Pop Idol from the Netherlands, raised €40,000 ($60,000) to record a new studio album.  Almost 1,000 Believers (fans) from over 50 countries invested an average of $5,500 per day, a new artist fund raising record!

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I just discovered that anyone can create their own custom M&Ms!

Just imagine:  Every bite with your message, artwork, logo or face on it.  How cool is that?

You can also choose from a variety of personalized color schemes and packaging.

It’s so awesome you have to check it out.  Yum!

Music marketing is hard. Really hard.

I have made all the rookie mistakes and then some.

From building websites to building an email list, I have spent a small fortune creating my business. Had I known then what I know today, I could have saved thousands of dollars, spared myself countless sleepless nights, and achieved the success I enjoy today much sooner.

If you’re already enjoying the success you deserve, read no further.

But if you’re feeling disgruntled with the music industry, frustrated with the promise of a multitude of internet services, and darn right pissed off that all the work you’re doing isn’t paying off, please read on. I’ll make it short.

Secret #1: Email Is The Holy Grail
Whether you’re tricking out your MySpace page or performing at your local venue, always think about what you can do to collect more email addresses. Believe me, there is nothing of greater importance than your email list. If you’re not using a professional email service, start now.

Secret #2: Passive Radio Is Passé
Massive online radio sites get your music in front of targeted music fans. They are not your average passive radio listeners, they are music fanatics feverishly searching for music just like yours. Yeah, you have to pay for the privilege, but the exposure you get in return is guaranteed and trackable. In the music biz, it’s hard to find that kind of bang-for-your-buck value. Jango Airplay is the largest online radio promotion service I know of. Are you on it?

Secret #3: Get Professional Help
Whether it’s your songwriting or your marketing (or anything else), never underestimate the value of expert advice. We Are Listening provides professional assessments for songs and lyrics. It’s what we know and what we’re good at. But you can find a service, coach or consultant for any project you wish to fast track to success. The humility required to ask for help and receive critical feedback is the mark of an independent artist and entrepreneur that people want to listen to and associate with. Personally, I can use all the help I can get!

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1. Follow Trent Reznor
Nine Inch Nails
In May 2008, Nine Inch Nails released the The Slip as a free digital download accompanied by a note from Trent Reznor, “This one’s on me”, as a courtesy to NIN’s loyal following.  The album was downloaded over a million times before the end of May 2008.  Many of the music industry’s most disruptive paradigms, including the “Free” and “Direct-To-Fan” concepts, can be traced back to Trent Reznor’s independent marketing activities.

2. Follow Don Passman
Author and Entertainment Lawyer
One of America’s top entertainment attorneys, Don Passman is the author of the non-fiction bestseller “All You Need to Know About the Music Business”, which has sold more than 300,000 hardcover copies in print.

» Continue…

ReverbNation, now home to more than 500,000 artists, labels, managers and venues, has partnered with an expert faculty of music marketing experts to provide its users with a selection of marketing services, such as PR, radio outreach, street team development, and Twitter or Google optimization.

Any ReverbNation member with a free ReverbNation account can automate an enquiry with an ‘expert’ in the Resources section of his or her account in a couple of clicks.  The listed ‘expert’ has committed to respond in a timely manner.

“The goal here is to efficiently match an Artist’s needs with the right service provider for them,” said Jed Carlson, Co-Founder and COO of ReverbNation.com.  “Finding credible help in the music business can be a significant challenge for Artists.  Our goal is to simplify the process greatly.”

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This is a guest post by Brian Mazzaferri

Brian Mazzaferri here, Lead Singer / Songwriter / NES-Player from Chicago NES-Rock band I Fight Dragons.  You may remember me from “How To Get 200 New Fans A Week“.

Well, it’s been a good while, and our mailing list has continued to grow.  In fact, it’s more than doubled in size since then, and we’re also in the midst of our first national tour!  However, I wanted to write to answer one of the biggest questions that has arisen from my previous post.  Gaining fans is well and good, but at what point can one expect to actually turn a fanbase into a living?

Well, we took our first stab at answering that question 2 weeks ago.  We decided to offer this:

They’re Lifetime Membership USB Drives!

They come preloaded with all of the music we’ve ever released (including email-list only tracks), and they guarantee the owner a free digital copy of anything we ever release, as well as free admission to any live show of ours now and forever.  And there will only be 100 ever made.

We posted the link, sent an email to our mailing list, and within 48 hours all 100 were sold.

So why were we able to sell 100 of these $100 drives, being only 9 months old as a band, having never had a label supporting us, and only being part way through our first tour?  It wasn’t a terribly original concept.  Plenty of bands have tried to raise funds by offering limited run, high price items, and usually they will succeed if they’re already well established (Nine Inch Nails, major label acts), and fail if they’re not (the rest of us).  I believe there are 3 main reasons we succeeded:

1. We give a lot of free stuff away.  A LOT.

As I discussed in my last article, we regularly send out free, high quality mp3 files to our mailing list.  In fact, in the 9 months we’ve been a band, we’ve released over 15 free tracks to our subscribers (in addition to the 5 free songs they got for signing up!).  We’ve also gone out of our way to create new kinds of free stuff for them.  For example, when we reached 1000 subscribers, we offered them all free personalized signed wallet cards that certified them as one of our first 1000 fans.  We made and mailed them out ourselves, and fans really appreciated them.

My point is this:  we started our relationship with our fans by giving.  And then giving more.  Then more.  This is the first time we’ve really tried to sell anything to our mailing list, and it’s been 9 months!  Fans jumped at the chance to support us, and many many more were disappointed that we sold out so quickly, because they didn’t get a chance to buy.  We’ve shown our fans that we respect them and support them, and now they want to do the same for us.

2. The upside is infinite.

With a limited edition box set or super-deluxe package, you know exactly what you’re paying for and what you’re going to get.  However, with a Lifetime Membership, you will continue to receive value for the rest of your life!  Believe it or not many of our fans actually apologized to us for buying the membership, feeling guilty because they knew they would get more than $100 value out of the cards and they didn’t want to cheat us!

At the same time, the downside for us is very minimal.  Digital copies are free to make, and 100 fans spread across the world are easy enough to get free tickets for.  It’s a win-win.

3. We’re selling Memberships, not Products.

Instead of selling a deluxe, signed, limited edition box set or product, we decided to sell memberships.  The 100 people that own these cards are part of an elite club, and one whose membership will never expand, no matter how successful or well known the band becomes.  We’ve promised there will only be 100 of these drives, and we will stick to that promise.  It has become a matter of identity, not one of mere property.

So what does all of this mean?  Well, we’ve taken the first step in turning our music into a living, and we’re incredibly happy with the results.  Our fans are happier than ever too, especially the 100 who ended up with the Lifetime Memberships.  Many of them have even reassured us that they’ll continue to buy merchandise and physical versions of our music in the future!

So what’s next?  Well, we’ve still got to figure that part out.  I’ll keep you posted!

- Brian (I Fight Dragons)

Tweet My Song is an easy to use Twitter tool for song distribution and promotion on Twitter.  Simply upload a song on TweetMySong and tweet the link.  When you do, the link will direct to a hosted player where the song can be streamed in full, shared, and downloaded at the artist’s discretion.

The service provides reporting on trends, clicks and viral distribution.

Free and simple.

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