Live Music Blog

In the days before the Web, when the major record labels had the music market sewn up tight, it was all but impossible to break into the music business in the traditional sense without having a recording contract with one of them. This often led to musicians turning into broke before their album ever actually hit the music store shelves.

The long established “standard recording contract” that has been used by the industry, heavily favored the company, at the expense of the star. Advances had to be recouped, recording and manufacturing and distribution costs repaid before the artist saw nickel number one.

Now all that has vary d, and for the independent recording musician or performer these days, it’s definitely a blessing in disguise, although some might not see it that way. The “lure” of the large label contract is still a desirable thing for the majority young artists, just because they have never been exposed to the potential of the Internet as a sales and marketing medium.

More seasoned musicians have realized, in the past ten years or so, that the Web is definitely the way to go if you want to meaningful ly pursue a career in music. Mainly because it is virtually open to anyone, regardless of budget constraints. A lot of bands and solo musicians are, as I write this, creating small empires for themselves solely by means of the electronic information highway.

Online music promotion, while still in it’s infancy, is becoming a force to be reckoned with by not only the major record businesses, but other Online artist. The competition, while not yet fierce, is significantly stiff enough to raise the caution flag for many. Add to that the externally incomprehensible way that advertising and marketing works on the web, and it’s no wonder that many would-be Internet superstars give up before the fight even starts.

But it doesn’t have to end there. There are resources available for struggling performers to take advantage of when it comes to learning the in’s and out’s of Web music marketing and promotion. On-line courses dealing with web site creation and search engine marketing and optimization are too numerous to count.

If your eyes glazed over as you read that last sentence, do not feel alone. The vast possibilities that exist for creating a buzz, and establishing a fan base for your music are unending. There has actually never been a better time to get started in Online music promotion than right now. And the fact that so a lot of established artists are currently using this means as their primary marketing and distribution system only lends weight to the argument.

Ever hear of a guy called Jimmy Buffett? Well, following numerous successful years of feeding the record companies coffers, Jimmy decided that he’d had enough. Do you blame him? After all is said and done, a major label artist could end up actually being in the hole following everything is paid for on a major CD release. Don’t believe me? The evidence is everywhere. Do a search on Google for the term ” performers royalties“, what you get back will look prefer some type of horror story. But it’s all true.

Jimmy Buffett decided to form his own record company “Mailboat Records“, and he is doing quite fine now, and actually has been able to steal a lot of skill from the likes of Island Records to come over to his new label.

When you think about that a major recording performer has to sell somewhere around 3 million compact discs just to break even, and an independent label could sell about 10,000 and the performer makes just as much, well, the choice really is not that much of a choice anymore now is it?

Add to all this the newest thing, digital downloads, and you’ve a brand new market ready to explode for the independent musician out there who has enough get up and go to take a crack at it.

The future is yours independent artist. Let us make the the majority of it.

In Internet music promotion, word of mouth, or more precisely, viral marketing is an extremely compelling tool. Who wouldn’t want to be one of the lucky few people to capture notoriety, just by creating something people contemplate cool?

You could furthermore create fun digital gifts for your music marketing campaign.

Whether, the materials you create go viral or not does not really matter. What matters is that your audiences have something that makes them benefit you more. The stuff you’re about to learn contains things they may make part of their everyday lives.

Let us do this.

1) Mp3s – the obvious choice – a lot of performers are exceedingly resistant to giving away songs. However, if you want your music to spread out you need to give your fans your best, all the time! Do not forget “garbage in – garbage out”.

If listeners like your tunes they will put them on their iPods and on their phones. And they will share with their companions.

Plus they will come back for more. That’s when you make your sale.

2) Ringtones – Most phones now guide mp3 ring tones. You may efficiently use the perfect parts of your tunes to make cool ring tones. Make clips about 15 to 30 seconds long and you’ve ring tones ready to go!

You might download Audacity free sound editing software from audacity.sourceforge.net/

3) Wallpapers – These can be made for both your listeners ‘ phones and their PC’s. You may make them using free software prefer Gimp. If you may afford Adobe Photoshop, that’s wonderful too.

You can likewise visit mytinyphone.com to produce and even upload your wallpaper. Who knows, it can just end up developing into a top download!

This is it for now. Watch out for the second part where I will demonstrate for you more ways to produce viral marketing gifts for your Internet music promotion.

For a few years now I’ve embraced the changes and the new social media tools that the Internet has provide d to elevate music marketing techniques. Not withstanding the obvious prefer MySpace, YouTube, Imeem, Revver, FaceBook and so on, one of the the majority necessary forms of marketing I teach is the Internet live performance.
For me, it started with Stickam.com. This is a web site where you can open an account and stream live video feeds right from your PC and laptop. Just plus in a Web cam and have DSL or better connection to the Internet and you’re nice to go.
But something I did a few years ago has become a staple in my music marketing teachings. I did a test back in 2004 and just opened a profile on Stickam and started to just randomly play guitar and sing covers. Within a few weeks, I had around 200 friends and audiences. And just to think, I has been not even serious about it.
Funny thing is that even though I’ve been preaching this, many are slow to get on it. I’m thinking because there can be a fear factor that some don’t sound as nice live as they do recorded. Or perhaps they just can be a solo performer and not have tracks to sing to. Either way, it is a HUGE mistake if you’re an performer and don’t do live streaming events.
Another amazing thing about the streaming live portals prefer Stickam, Ustream, BlogTV (all dot coms) is that you have the ability to embed the live streaming video player on your own web site ; even other social web sites prefer MySpace.com and the others.
And even as a random act of opportunity a profile and starting to play, while you’re streaming live, people click in and out of your show to see what you’re all about. This is better than playing at a coffee house or patio Club. Plus, it is in the comfort of your space.
Yet another decidedly cool factor about live streaming shows is that you get to interact with your fan base live in a chat room. I’ve guide ed many though this process and all have been blown away at the fact that they can chat with their audiences between singing songs.
This is additionally an extremely cool way to get new kinds of music exposed to the public. can you imagine that you play upright bass, your friend plays the kazoo and your other friend plays a mandolin? Just by the shear uniqueness, people will stop by and listen. Hopefully you don’t suck. It’s an open forum of opportunity so take it!
To me that’s the the majority necessary thing about blowing up and marinating your fan base. Today’s marketing had jumped into hyper relationship building. That fact that you can chat with your audiences means that you get to reach out.
At the end of the day it is sociology before technology. In this case, technology is help ing access sociology. Oh yea, it is all for free too!

The Internet has revolutionized the way  we  do business. You can start  an Web business for less than $100.00 and start earning a decent amount of income off of it. Because of this, there has been an explosion in the ‘ Internet Marketing’ world. I don’t contemplate myself an Internet marketer, but I’ve studied many of them and have learned some ‘out of the box’ techniques that you can simply apply towards bands. Here are just a few of the many pointers I can give you:

* Give first One way to get something from other is to give to them first. In music, one way to build a fan base is to play at Clubs that do not charge a cover and invite people to come as your guest. You definately don’t want to play a lot of Clubs for free, so you need to somehow communicate that you’re doing this for your audiences in the absence of  saying it outright. You can say, “Hey guys, just to show you’re appreciation, Flaming Onions would prefer to personal ly invite you to this special performance just for you! It’s totally free, so bring your friends and we’ll see you there!” They will come, because they believe that this is a gift from you and the won’t want to miss out!

Another way to give first is through our products. Giving away products has gotten a lot easier since the development of the Internet. Digital music is HUGE! Better yet, it expenses nothing to duplicate.

Have you thought about giving away one or two songs from your new album? What do you think would happen if you did, and left your fan’s favorites available only if they purchased it? first of all, they are going to love the fact that you gave them part of your album for free! It’s al the majority prefer a free trial that they get to keep. Because you were willing to do this for them, they will be more prefer ly to buy it from you. Give first, and they will give back to you!

* Cross-selling/Up-selling Have you ever gone to McDonalds, ordered a burger and received the question, “Would you prefer fries with that?” Have you ever ordered one of their worth meals and received the question “Would you prefer to Super-Size that?” What you heard, while innocent enough, has been an amazing marketing idea that has been used by Web merchants everywhere !

It’s a way to increase sales to the same customer (who has bought a product) by introducing other products in your product range. If customers buy a Flaming Onions CD, you can ask If the y want to buy a Flaming Onions t-shirt as well.

Seems simple enough, but let’s think a little more out of the box. Let’s say the Flaming Onions’ CD  sells for $15 and brings in a profit of $10 per album. Let’s additionally assume that their t-shirts sell for $10 and bring in a profit of $6 per shirt.

What If the Flaming Onions Value Pack (consisting of 1 autographed CD, 1 t-shirt, and  the album emailed to them in MP3 format with bonus track for their iPod and a desktop background pic for their PC ) sells for $25? I’m willing to bet that this approach sells more. The digital products, as I mentioned above, fee nothing to duplicate.

You profit would be the same, but I guarantee you would sell more!

* Email List This is probably the the majority necessary tool that’s used by Web businesses. Internet Marketers swear by email lists and base many, if not all, of their systems around them. The idea is simple, you provide a list for audiences to keep track of your band and all they have to do is give you their Name and email address.

You now have a way to directly communicate to them, and better yet, they wanted it! You can  promote  upcoming shows and album releases. You can create contests and drawings for those that are signed up. You can give those who are signed up a special discount on merchandise. The possibilities are unlimited. One thing to remember is to only send them things they would want to know. They signed up to hear more about you, so they don’t want to receive any forwards stating that If the y sign up for this provide, they can receive a free laptop, blah, blah, blah! Don’t abuse your list. Take care of them. This is an elite group of people who wanted to be a part of your success, so treat them that way.

Less than four months ago, Lee Douglas began to translate his love for the music of the 50’s and 60’s lovingly called Oldies, into a new medium, the podcast. Together with the folks at Talkshoe.com, he began his venture into the new medium.
His new show, which he called “Old Time Rock, would be divergent in the way it has been presented.
The usual playlists that are the hall mark of the Oldies AM radio stations were out the window. His own collection of 12,000 songs would be digitized onto his PC to lay the groundwork for the show. Instead of playing those songs which the oldies lovers had grown tired of, he opened his collection and played the songs that haven’t been heard for many years. Then he would have a spotlight for each show, Novelties on one, doo wops on another, rockabilly on yet another. Each one with a dose of rock history and reminiscing.
He researches each singer and each song to provide background for each show. So in November he went on the air on talkshoe.com. The first week he had 8 audiences. Obviously his friends had at least listened. By the third week he managed 80 audiences, still quite a jump. Still, he has been un prepared for the next week when out of nowhere 800 people listened in.
Since then with advertising on a few classified web site s, the show has continued to grow and grow, breaking all types of records on the Internet and the web site itself.
Now just 4 months later, an impressive 25,000 audiences have logged in to his show, in one month.
His gateway web site http://www.wrestlingwrap.com, which used to serve as his flagship wrestling show web site and portals to his own promotion, now is the host to Old Time Rock n Roll.
His Brooklyn bred voice can still be heard even though he has been a Floridian for many years. He actually still takes requests and dedications just prefer in the old days through his e mail address -Oldtimernr@hotmail.com-
Where does he go from here? His plans are to as he puts it, “take it the next level.”
He demonstrates he would prefer to garner an even larger audiences and eventually try his hand at bringing some live oldies and doo wop shows around the country. But that’s a long way off.
His focus is to make Old Time Rock n Roll even bigger and better with each passing week. With his success additionally means success to his pod casting network called Talkshoe.com. Douglas predicts that Talkshoe will be the biggest thing in podcasting in 2007 and beyond.