MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

::1:: How To Increase Your Fan Base

Jango’s Basic Geo-Targeting feature allows you to hone in on those regions where Jango listeners love your music most.  If you’ve already run a Jango Airplay campaign, simply check your Geographic Reports in your dashboard for this data.  Then, select the cities and states where you have the strongest following before you run your next campaign.  Not only will you turn passive listeners into loyal fans, you will also establish a local presence, leading to more requests for regional showcases and festival appearances.  And the best part… Basic Geo-Targeting is FREE!

::2:: How To Get Free Jango Airplay Credit

Every Jango Airplay artist has a PopScore.  Each week, artists with the highest PopScores receive free credit.  The PopScore reveals how well your music is resonating with Jango listeners based on your campaign targeting. The more precise your targeting, the higher your PopScore.  Obviously, if you are a Scandinavian Black Metal band targeting Dolly Parton fans, your PopScore will be gasping for air, so make sure you target the artists whose fans are most likely to identify with your music.  Remember, free credit means more plays.  And more plays equals more fans.

::3:: How To Get A Live Showcase

Top Jango PopScore artists get booked at the Wakarusa Festival, The Moondance Jam, The Viper Room in LA and more.  If you climb the PopScore charts, you might find yourself juggling phone calls and trying to decide which event is best for your band.

::4:: How To Make A Lasting Impression

Want to get listener attention, lightning fast?  Make an audio intro and attach it to the front of your song before uploading the MP3 to Jango Airplay.  A quick message, five seconds or less, telling the listener who you are and what they’re about to hear.  This is a simple way for you and your music to get cemented in the listener’s memory.

::5:: How To Rise Above The Noise

For artists looking for additional promotion, Jango Airplay offers robust packages though ‘Airplay PRO’.  These promotions include banner ads on Jango.com as well as customized overlay ad units that appear every time your song plays.  Give away an MP3, promote an album or tour; even run a contest, bouncing the listener directly to your own website.  Here’s a 60 second video demo of how the overlay ad units are served:

In addition, you can get a banner placed in Jango’s listener newsletter, sent to over 3 Million registered users each week.  For more info on these packages email: airplay-premium@jango.com

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The internet has made it dead simple to test anything and everything when it comes to your music.  Six music analytics startups are aiming to help you make informed decisions – rooted in data, not a hunch – about who you should market your music to, where, when and how:

Band Metrics

RockDex

Next Big Sound

GigsWiz

Musicmetric

SoundOut

Video is not an option these days, it’s a necessity.  You need to be able to promote your music with video on your website, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and dozens of other social media sites.

Your success depends on it.

You’re probably nodding your head and thinking: “That’s great, but how am I going to make a video?” After all, videos traditionally cost thousands of dollars to make and you most likely don’t have the equipment or know-how to make one yourself.

I’ve found the solution to your problem!

Animoto is a cheap and easy way to make a one of a kind video.  For just three dollars, ANYONE can make a high quality MTV caliber video… and it only takes minutes.  So dead simple and intuitive ─ if you can use Facebook, Animoto will be a breeze.

Try Animoto For Free >>

Not every songwriter and recording artist out there succeeds in licensing his songs for film and television.

And I’d be lying if I told you every music licensing opportunity pays big bucks.

But I can tell you that the music licensing business is the most lucrative and accessible business for independent artists.  Songwriters and performing artists make more money by licensing their songs than performing live, signing a record deal and getting commercial radio airplay combined.

Music Supervisors spend all of their time searching for great music to place in film, television shows and advertisements.  They have big budgets, and are always willing to open their wallets for fresh material.

These are the people you want to get your music to, hard and fast.

Best of all, unlike record labels and publishers, Music Supervisors love to receive unsolicited submissions from artists.  They even advertise for it.

But you need to know where to look.

Fortunately, a bright young mind (and good friend of mine) decided to create a marketplace for Music Supervisors.  It’s a single hot spot where industry leaders come together to advertise their projects and access independent music from artists just like you.

That place is called YouLicense.

Don’t see the video?

Flavors.me allows anyone to create an elegant and dynamic website using personal content from around the web for only $20 a year.

Try It Free >>

The Internet has made it possible for us to test everything.  We can put our songs online, gather feedback from music fans in an instant, and use that valuable insight to improve the quality of our songwriting.

Before you spend thousands of dollars recording your album, wouldn’t you like to know how music fans think you can improve each song?  Wouldn’t you like to know which of your songs has the greatest chance at climbing the charts?

Every label, publisher and promoter would love to have this information.

SoundOut offers musicians the immediate insight they need to write better songs and promote them effectively.  Click here to review a sample report.

Go To SoundOut >>

Whether you’re tricking out your MySpace page or performing at your local venue, you should always consider the things you can do to collect more email addresses.

Believe me, there is nothing more important than your email list…

…Except what you do with it!

Using an online newsletter service allows you to create gorgeous newsletter designs yourself, turn new fans into subscribers, track how many of your readers are actually reading your message, and schedule promotional campaigns.

It’s powerful marketing on autopilot, simpler than you thought possible and more potent than you probably realize.

Of all the newsletter services I’ve used, Mad Mimi is the friendliest.

But for good measure, here is a list of some other newsletter tools, some that I’ve tried and some that I haven’t:

Campaigner
ConstantContact
Emma
FanBridge
FanReach
Graphicmail
iContact
LetterPop
MailChimp
MyNewsletterBuilder
Newsberry

You’re probably not having any luck getting your songs on the radio, right?

That’s because terrestrial radio doesn’t want you.

You see, record labels have a full staff of professional radio pluggers whose full-time job is to pitch their clients’ record catalog to station managers, playlist programmers, DJs and program producers.

They are insiders − they know all the politics and all the rules.  Their rolodexes are packed with every name, number and email in the industry.

So how are you supposed to compete?

Almost 70 million Americans tune into online radio each month.  Overall listenership exploded by more than a third last year alone.  Online radio has become the single most powerful source of music discovery, which is why up-and-coming artists are falling over themselves to land even a few minutes of airplay on music services such as Jango.

Share your thoughts >>

Click here and here for inspiration.

Is your MySpace profile still important to you?

What are your thoughts on MySpace Friend Adders?

Would you pay for this?

Leave me your comments please.