A good read for anybody working on indie flims..
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Showing posts with label Artist Help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artist Help. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Sunday, June 9, 2013
11 Reasons Why Your Music Self-Promotion Isn’t Working
Self-promotion in the music industry is a topic that has been explored extensively over the past 20 years. Most people in the industry, however, bands included, don’t know a whole lot about it. Here is a list of harsh truths about the music industry and blogosphere.
Self-promotion in the music industry is a topic that has been explored extensively over the past 20 years. Some of the basic ground rules are the same that apply to any business or freelancer. Most people in the industry, however, bands included, don’t know a whole lot about it. Many prefer to hover around the topic of social media because it’s all they know. After all, once you call yourself a “social media coach”, there’s really not much room for expansion besides posting an analysis of every new Twitter or Facebook development/etc. Artists flock to new music technologies, discovery platforms, unsigned networks, indie authorities, and crowd funding platforms looking for the answer, and yet, the message generally being sent
to the artists tends to do them a disservice. Promises, promises. Even the term “submit your music” can be very misleading. Submit it where? Well…the junk folder, to be blunt.
Just as people starting businesses often under-estimate the amount of work
necessary, so do unsigned musicians and bands. A quick disclaimer: it IS possible to be very successful as a musician in 2013. You can do it. It’s helpful, though, to do away
with some of the lies that we typically accept from today’s music authorities, and I’ll go over some of those here. The intention isn’t to be overly blunt. Just to tell the truth.
Below are some reasons why your music self-promotion may not be working.
1) You’re waiting in line.
It’s wonderful that there are so many services for artists to use to send their music to either industry professionals, festivals, blogs, magazines, and radio promoters such as Sonicbids and Music XRay. Mixed feelings abound about these sites, but to call them positive or negative would be a snap judgement. Does it suck that it costs $40 to simply apply for X music festival given that this is a digital submission we’re talking about, and chances are your music will not receive a fair listen? It sure does. Would it possibly be a life-changing experience if you were chosen? It certainly would. Musicians today are accustomed to waiting in line for just about everything. After all, it’s busy as hell out there. While it’s necessary to wait in some lines, and good results can come of that, if you merely play by the rules and wait in lines you’ll get stagnancy, and that isn’t a very fun gift to open up for Christmas.
Artists need to think as creatively in their promotions as in their songwriting. Outsource your duties. Get momentum by getting freelancers on your side. Promote outside of the music blog arena. Hire people to promote your music; preferably a lot of them. Get the forums buzzing. Get people requesting your music. Get people writing about your music. Donate to blogs you like. Use Fiverr and similar micro-job sites. Read Tim Ferriss. Read business books. Get out of the “band” mentality. Ignore the music authorities and start infiltrating.
2) You’re only promoting on social media.
Don’t get me wrong. Social media, when used correctly, can have a massive effect on your success. The only problem is, since most industry guru’s and music marketing publications tend to focus on social media exclusively, the current generation of artists are spending all of their time posting, pinning, tweeting, hashtagging, reblogging, liking, sharing, tagging, stumbling, digging, and cultivating the perfect “reddiquette”, but in the end, without the proper balance, the result is something close to a Warcraft or Angry Birds addiction. Time down the memory hole.
It’s easy to forget that not everyone hangs around on these networks, and even if they do, they’re often tuned into only what their personal perceptual filters will allow; not something new. It’s important to keep your communication skills in tip-top shape, to send actual, conversational emails, make phone calls, and speak with promoters in person. The worst faux pas is messaging companies or industry people through networks such as Facebook. These often go unanswered, as these networks are riddled with spam, and real messages get lost in the shuffle. Send a real, personalized email and notice the difference.
3) You’re on automation.
Thought it might be a good idea to outsource your music marketing to a robot? Some of the most heavily advertised automated services such as Beatwire and Musicsubmit look very attractive to most artists. They promise to send your music to X number of journalists, radio hosts, and industry professionals, and charge a flat rate for doing so. The rates are often less than what most publicists charge, making it even more enticing. But how are these emails received? For one, most journalists and bloggers receive dozens, if not hundreds, of real emails daily from promoters, labels and artists who either wrote the message personally or at least prepared a proper email and clicked the “send” button. How much respect do you think they have for the “easy way out”, an automated press release, or possibly a Reverbnation profile delivered to their inbox? If your music submissions say anything along the lines of “powered by…”, you can expect little to no results. I’ve been added to lists by companies like these without so much of a “Hello” or “Would you like to be added to our recipient list?” You know what that’s called? Spam.
4) You’re not “showing them the money”.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve submitted an artist to X Magazine or blog and received enthusiastic response back from their sales department, who conveniently request that I pay an exorbitant rate for an online or print advertisement. When I mention that I’m unable to advertise but would still appreciate editorial consideration, I’m told that the sales and editorial departments are separate. For one, this is the public statement of many publications, but it’s simply not true in many cases. If you don’t buy their advertising, which is often over-priced given that you’re at times the only income stream, your submission goes mysteriously missing. Now, most artists can’t afford to advertise on multiple major magazines, nor is it usually worth it if I’m being honest.
This can be the same with music blogs, and any kind of music service, which makes sense to a particular degree. If you think about it, no one really has all the time in the world to sit around listening to and reviewing albums. There needs to be an exchange, whether it’s properly priced advertising, blog donations, paid reviews, crowd funders or anything else. If a paid review scenario is fair, do it. If it’s outrageous, move on. Remember, you can always find freelance writers who may be interested in writing about your music by advertising on Craigslist.
5) You’re not already on their playlist.
The front door appears to be open, but it’s all for appearances. Many music blogs featured in the coveted directories/aggregators (Hype Machine, Elbo.ws) are closer to personal blogs than anything else. Hundreds of artists submit music to them every day, but chances are they’ll never post a single one. The blog owner simply posts their favorite artists periodically. So why all this misleading the public then? Well, blog traffic is always a good thing for the webmaster, leading to advertising and potentially other partnerships, so cultivating an audience of indie musicians to rack up the hits isn’t a bad thing from their perspective. It ends up being wasted time for the artists, though. Some blogs are good enough to post a simple statement such as “Don’t send me your music. I only post my own findings.”
6) You’re not famous or gossip-worthy.
Which brings me to my next point. Many supposed “indie darling” blogs and publications have, over the past 10 years or so, turned into gossip rags, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any content outside of Lana Del Rae and ASAP Rocky (and not their new albums). Take these off your media list and don’t give them your traffic if they’re of no use to you.
7) You have nothing to barter with.
Put yourself in the blogger/editor/etc’s position upon opening your email. Why should they take an hour of their time to promote you? At the very least, you should have built a large network, and offer cross-promotion for the post. This shows respect on your part. The reason good indie labels, radio promoters and PR companies typically get much better results when promoting artists than the artists themselves get is because of leverage. They’ve built up their networks and regularly cross-promote. They may have arranged other partnerships or deals with the publication as well. You scratch my back. I’ll scratch yours.
8) First-time introductions.
If you’re emailing someone for the first time, it’s a lot like making a cold call telemarketing. You can’t expect the results to be overly high. This is another reason why good labels, radio promoters and PR companies get better results. They’ve established those relationships and they’re not saying “hello” for the first time.
9) You didn’t appeal to their ego (in the right way).
There is no one rule. Some bloggers want personal messages while others would blacklist you for attempting chit chat. Some want you to tell them how much you just loved their recent piece on Daft Punk’s new album (the 633rd one you’ve read), while others would see that as a trite move. There’s no way to win here. What I do, myself, is provide absolutely everything the blogger may need in a concise way, so no Googling is required, as well as sending a personal note going over why I connect with the artist being submitted. If you’d like an idea of how to do this, check out my music blog promotion template.
10) There’s no time.
I was horrified when I first learned that many music blogs and publications often receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of submissions a day. Once again, we’re waiting in line in the review queue. You can’t expect time to magically appear for these people. If I were in their position, I’d shut down. I’d take more time offline and leave the disappointed in my wake.
11) You haven’t differentiated yourself.
This is a big one. You’re lost somewhere in the supermarket, and it’s tough for the store manager to find you because you look similar to every other child there. You’re certainly not “the blue child”. If anyone ever told you to “appeal to the industry” or write songs for the radio/etc, it’s time to throw away those silly notions because they’re destroying what your art could be. Often, the reason an artist goes unnoticed isn’t mysterious at all. You may have, in an attempt to be “heard by the masses”, crafted yourself into a generic package. You’re not really yourself. You’re playing to someone…a hypothetical creation. Be yourself, the weirder and more original, the better. If there are two people doing what you do, the odds are already against you. Be the only one.
LINK
Self-promotion in the music industry is a topic that has been explored extensively over the past 20 years. Some of the basic ground rules are the same that apply to any business or freelancer. Most people in the industry, however, bands included, don’t know a whole lot about it. Many prefer to hover around the topic of social media because it’s all they know. After all, once you call yourself a “social media coach”, there’s really not much room for expansion besides posting an analysis of every new Twitter or Facebook development/etc. Artists flock to new music technologies, discovery platforms, unsigned networks, indie authorities, and crowd funding platforms looking for the answer, and yet, the message generally being sent
to the artists tends to do them a disservice. Promises, promises. Even the term “submit your music” can be very misleading. Submit it where? Well…the junk folder, to be blunt.
Just as people starting businesses often under-estimate the amount of work
necessary, so do unsigned musicians and bands. A quick disclaimer: it IS possible to be very successful as a musician in 2013. You can do it. It’s helpful, though, to do away
with some of the lies that we typically accept from today’s music authorities, and I’ll go over some of those here. The intention isn’t to be overly blunt. Just to tell the truth.
Below are some reasons why your music self-promotion may not be working.
1) You’re waiting in line.
It’s wonderful that there are so many services for artists to use to send their music to either industry professionals, festivals, blogs, magazines, and radio promoters such as Sonicbids and Music XRay. Mixed feelings abound about these sites, but to call them positive or negative would be a snap judgement. Does it suck that it costs $40 to simply apply for X music festival given that this is a digital submission we’re talking about, and chances are your music will not receive a fair listen? It sure does. Would it possibly be a life-changing experience if you were chosen? It certainly would. Musicians today are accustomed to waiting in line for just about everything. After all, it’s busy as hell out there. While it’s necessary to wait in some lines, and good results can come of that, if you merely play by the rules and wait in lines you’ll get stagnancy, and that isn’t a very fun gift to open up for Christmas.
Artists need to think as creatively in their promotions as in their songwriting. Outsource your duties. Get momentum by getting freelancers on your side. Promote outside of the music blog arena. Hire people to promote your music; preferably a lot of them. Get the forums buzzing. Get people requesting your music. Get people writing about your music. Donate to blogs you like. Use Fiverr and similar micro-job sites. Read Tim Ferriss. Read business books. Get out of the “band” mentality. Ignore the music authorities and start infiltrating.
2) You’re only promoting on social media.
Don’t get me wrong. Social media, when used correctly, can have a massive effect on your success. The only problem is, since most industry guru’s and music marketing publications tend to focus on social media exclusively, the current generation of artists are spending all of their time posting, pinning, tweeting, hashtagging, reblogging, liking, sharing, tagging, stumbling, digging, and cultivating the perfect “reddiquette”, but in the end, without the proper balance, the result is something close to a Warcraft or Angry Birds addiction. Time down the memory hole.
It’s easy to forget that not everyone hangs around on these networks, and even if they do, they’re often tuned into only what their personal perceptual filters will allow; not something new. It’s important to keep your communication skills in tip-top shape, to send actual, conversational emails, make phone calls, and speak with promoters in person. The worst faux pas is messaging companies or industry people through networks such as Facebook. These often go unanswered, as these networks are riddled with spam, and real messages get lost in the shuffle. Send a real, personalized email and notice the difference.
3) You’re on automation.
Thought it might be a good idea to outsource your music marketing to a robot? Some of the most heavily advertised automated services such as Beatwire and Musicsubmit look very attractive to most artists. They promise to send your music to X number of journalists, radio hosts, and industry professionals, and charge a flat rate for doing so. The rates are often less than what most publicists charge, making it even more enticing. But how are these emails received? For one, most journalists and bloggers receive dozens, if not hundreds, of real emails daily from promoters, labels and artists who either wrote the message personally or at least prepared a proper email and clicked the “send” button. How much respect do you think they have for the “easy way out”, an automated press release, or possibly a Reverbnation profile delivered to their inbox? If your music submissions say anything along the lines of “powered by…”, you can expect little to no results. I’ve been added to lists by companies like these without so much of a “Hello” or “Would you like to be added to our recipient list?” You know what that’s called? Spam.
4) You’re not “showing them the money”.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve submitted an artist to X Magazine or blog and received enthusiastic response back from their sales department, who conveniently request that I pay an exorbitant rate for an online or print advertisement. When I mention that I’m unable to advertise but would still appreciate editorial consideration, I’m told that the sales and editorial departments are separate. For one, this is the public statement of many publications, but it’s simply not true in many cases. If you don’t buy their advertising, which is often over-priced given that you’re at times the only income stream, your submission goes mysteriously missing. Now, most artists can’t afford to advertise on multiple major magazines, nor is it usually worth it if I’m being honest.
This can be the same with music blogs, and any kind of music service, which makes sense to a particular degree. If you think about it, no one really has all the time in the world to sit around listening to and reviewing albums. There needs to be an exchange, whether it’s properly priced advertising, blog donations, paid reviews, crowd funders or anything else. If a paid review scenario is fair, do it. If it’s outrageous, move on. Remember, you can always find freelance writers who may be interested in writing about your music by advertising on Craigslist.
5) You’re not already on their playlist.
The front door appears to be open, but it’s all for appearances. Many music blogs featured in the coveted directories/aggregators (Hype Machine, Elbo.ws) are closer to personal blogs than anything else. Hundreds of artists submit music to them every day, but chances are they’ll never post a single one. The blog owner simply posts their favorite artists periodically. So why all this misleading the public then? Well, blog traffic is always a good thing for the webmaster, leading to advertising and potentially other partnerships, so cultivating an audience of indie musicians to rack up the hits isn’t a bad thing from their perspective. It ends up being wasted time for the artists, though. Some blogs are good enough to post a simple statement such as “Don’t send me your music. I only post my own findings.”
6) You’re not famous or gossip-worthy.
Which brings me to my next point. Many supposed “indie darling” blogs and publications have, over the past 10 years or so, turned into gossip rags, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any content outside of Lana Del Rae and ASAP Rocky (and not their new albums). Take these off your media list and don’t give them your traffic if they’re of no use to you.
7) You have nothing to barter with.
Put yourself in the blogger/editor/etc’s position upon opening your email. Why should they take an hour of their time to promote you? At the very least, you should have built a large network, and offer cross-promotion for the post. This shows respect on your part. The reason good indie labels, radio promoters and PR companies typically get much better results when promoting artists than the artists themselves get is because of leverage. They’ve built up their networks and regularly cross-promote. They may have arranged other partnerships or deals with the publication as well. You scratch my back. I’ll scratch yours.
8) First-time introductions.
If you’re emailing someone for the first time, it’s a lot like making a cold call telemarketing. You can’t expect the results to be overly high. This is another reason why good labels, radio promoters and PR companies get better results. They’ve established those relationships and they’re not saying “hello” for the first time.
9) You didn’t appeal to their ego (in the right way).
There is no one rule. Some bloggers want personal messages while others would blacklist you for attempting chit chat. Some want you to tell them how much you just loved their recent piece on Daft Punk’s new album (the 633rd one you’ve read), while others would see that as a trite move. There’s no way to win here. What I do, myself, is provide absolutely everything the blogger may need in a concise way, so no Googling is required, as well as sending a personal note going over why I connect with the artist being submitted. If you’d like an idea of how to do this, check out my music blog promotion template.
10) There’s no time.
I was horrified when I first learned that many music blogs and publications often receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of submissions a day. Once again, we’re waiting in line in the review queue. You can’t expect time to magically appear for these people. If I were in their position, I’d shut down. I’d take more time offline and leave the disappointed in my wake.
11) You haven’t differentiated yourself.
This is a big one. You’re lost somewhere in the supermarket, and it’s tough for the store manager to find you because you look similar to every other child there. You’re certainly not “the blue child”. If anyone ever told you to “appeal to the industry” or write songs for the radio/etc, it’s time to throw away those silly notions because they’re destroying what your art could be. Often, the reason an artist goes unnoticed isn’t mysterious at all. You may have, in an attempt to be “heard by the masses”, crafted yourself into a generic package. You’re not really yourself. You’re playing to someone…a hypothetical creation. Be yourself, the weirder and more original, the better. If there are two people doing what you do, the odds are already against you. Be the only one.
LINK
Friday, May 24, 2013
The 4 Places You Should Be Entering All Of Your Concert Dates To Increase Concert Attendance
BY: JESSE CANNON |
Entering concert dates is one of the most annoying parts of playing live. It’s both time-consuming and annoying to keep up with. Thankfully, it gets easier and easier each year to do this menial task. Entering dates into the services we have outlined below increases the chance of getting both fans and potential fans to your shows. Some of them can put them in the places where your fans go to hear and discover your music, where as others alert your fans who have liked you on Facebook that you will be in their town. Entering your dates into these services also increases your chance of being added to local concert calendars in local papers and radio stations. Making sure your dates are always up to date in these four services will increase the likelihood of getting fans out to shows and we will explain why.
SongKick - With SongKick fans can enter the acts they want to see into a well designed service and be altered whenever they are playing near them. If that weren’t enough the service offers a way to easily keep your dates up-to-date on your SoundCloud, Artists.MTV and Bandcamp pages. If fans navigate to your music on HypeMachine and YouTube and you are playing near them, the dates will display under your video. If that weren’t enough if you employ the use of widgets you can display your dates on your WordPress, Tumblr and Facebook page. They also employ Spotify App, that will alert fans when the acts they listen to on Spotify are playing near them.
BandsInTown - BandsInTown service alerts those fans who have liked your Facebook page when you’re playing nearby,by flashing an alert on that little globe on Facebook—making the alert hard to ignore. They also have a great looking Facebook concert dates App that lets you show fans when you are playing. Their Spotify App will not only tell fans who’ve listened to you on Spotify, but it will also alert fans who listen to similar acts you, when you are coming by and create a playlist of acts that they may enjoy, which you will be included in.
BandPage - BandPage make some of the best looking widgets for your website in the business, that can easily display your concert dates. They also make a good looking Facebook page to list your music and concert dates. If your music is on Pandora, you can use BandPage to get your concert dates listed while your music is played.
ReverbNation - ReverbNation not only has a great Facebook App to display concert dates but they also display concert dates on their social network interface, which many local concert calendars use for their listings. You can also employ widgets which you can add to your website to shows fans your dates.
Jesse Cannon is the editor of Musformation and author of Get More Fans: The DIY Guide To The New Music Busines, which you can get a free excerpt of by going here.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
9 Things YouTube Recommends Musicians Do, That You're Probably Missing
BY: JESSE CANNON
A few weeks ago, YouTube released a creators guide for musicians who use YouTube—detailing best practices and techniques for musicians using the service. The 40 page guide holds much common knowledge but a few gems of wisdom stuck out to me. Below I rounded up a few key points they made, that you shouldn’t miss.
Put Popular Searched Items In Your Title - If you have famous guests or keywords users will search, be sure to find a way to add them to your title.
Tag As Much As Possible - Tag as many terms that relevant to your video as possible. If you can find real relevance in these tags to the content in your video, there is no penalty for using as many as possible.
Thumbnails Should Invite Curiosity - While you think it’s a good idea to post the picture where your singer looks cute, it’s a better idea to use a thumbnail of a picture where the viewer wants to know what is going on in your video. Seeing a 100 people throwing pies at once is much more compelling than just another pretty face.
Capitalize On Timeliness - Viewers often search for time-relevant items. Making a playlist of all the bands on an upcoming show or festival and adding your music near the top of some bigger acts can really help get you some exposure and concertgoers.
Add Annotations That Direct Fans To Watch Another Video From You - Whenever you put up a new video add an annotation to your old ones directing fans to your latest masterpiece. As well you should guide viewers to another video of yours when you put up a new one, allowing them to get to know you better.
Dedicate One Day A Week Or Month To Interacting With Fans On YouTube - Whether you host a hangout or take questions in your video comments, you can allow fans to interact with you and gain YouTube views all at once.
Crowd source - Ask fans what your song you should use as your next single and what type of videos they want next from you.
You Should Have A Lyric AND Music Video For Every Song - A lyric video is a great way to build some hype for your song while you finish a music video for it. Having both so fans can get to know lyrics and have a visual aid allows fans to get deeper with your music and keep it in the news cycle for longer.
Encourage - Ask fans to remix, cover and create videos with your song involved that will help it to spread. While this tip is often utilized, the difference it can make is often underestimated.
A few weeks ago, YouTube released a creators guide for musicians who use YouTube—detailing best practices and techniques for musicians using the service. The 40 page guide holds much common knowledge but a few gems of wisdom stuck out to me. Below I rounded up a few key points they made, that you shouldn’t miss.
Put Popular Searched Items In Your Title - If you have famous guests or keywords users will search, be sure to find a way to add them to your title.
Tag As Much As Possible - Tag as many terms that relevant to your video as possible. If you can find real relevance in these tags to the content in your video, there is no penalty for using as many as possible.
Thumbnails Should Invite Curiosity - While you think it’s a good idea to post the picture where your singer looks cute, it’s a better idea to use a thumbnail of a picture where the viewer wants to know what is going on in your video. Seeing a 100 people throwing pies at once is much more compelling than just another pretty face.
Capitalize On Timeliness - Viewers often search for time-relevant items. Making a playlist of all the bands on an upcoming show or festival and adding your music near the top of some bigger acts can really help get you some exposure and concertgoers.
Add Annotations That Direct Fans To Watch Another Video From You - Whenever you put up a new video add an annotation to your old ones directing fans to your latest masterpiece. As well you should guide viewers to another video of yours when you put up a new one, allowing them to get to know you better.
Dedicate One Day A Week Or Month To Interacting With Fans On YouTube - Whether you host a hangout or take questions in your video comments, you can allow fans to interact with you and gain YouTube views all at once.
Crowd source - Ask fans what your song you should use as your next single and what type of videos they want next from you.
You Should Have A Lyric AND Music Video For Every Song - A lyric video is a great way to build some hype for your song while you finish a music video for it. Having both so fans can get to know lyrics and have a visual aid allows fans to get deeper with your music and keep it in the news cycle for longer.
Encourage - Ask fans to remix, cover and create videos with your song involved that will help it to spread. While this tip is often utilized, the difference it can make is often underestimated.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
10 Rules for Giving Away Music for Free...
by paul
There is nothing wrong with giving your music away for free. It can increase your fan base and drive even more sales. Remember through that music is not free. It costs money and time to produce, so you should be compensated. Here are 10 rules for giving your music away for free.
1. Keep it simple. Choose one platform to give away your music and direct fans there.
2. Do not forsake your current fans. Free music is not just for new fans. Reward your mailing list with free songs. Do NOT post mp3s within the email. This can eat into people's bandwidth and annoy them. Always make sure you send out a link to download the song.
3. Music is not free, fans should pay in 'social currency'. Get a Facebook like or Tweet, preferably an email address in exchange for your music. If you are sending to your current mailing list make sure they tweet the link out to friends. Here is the twitter goodies page where you can set up a "Retweet" button. You can also use a platform like bit.ly to track click throughs.
4. Social currency is reciprocal. Tag fans on Facebook/Twitter when they buy the album or talk about you.
5. Follow up on social. Send out regular emails to your list, post at least one per day (fb statuses' shelf-life is 3 hours, tw is less).
6. Do not charge too much social currency (20 questions) or fans will go elsewhere. Basic data (name/age/location/how they heard of you) will give you enough to market.
7. Let people listen before they download. No one will spend time downloading music they haven't heard yet.
8. Have a strategy. Once you decide to exchange your music for social currency, make sure you have a strategy for how you WILL make money.
9. Manage your copyrights. If you plan to make money from merchandise instead, make sure no one else can reproduce it and cut you out of the loop.
10. Do not stop promoting. Just because it's 'free' doesn't mean it is promoted any less than a paid release, in fact it gives you the tools to market and engage your fan base and build new ones. Artists promote one album for 1-4 years. Don't stop promoting your music just because it is already available.
There is nothing wrong with giving your music away for free. It can increase your fan base and drive even more sales. Remember through that music is not free. It costs money and time to produce, so you should be compensated. Here are 10 rules for giving your music away for free.
1. Keep it simple. Choose one platform to give away your music and direct fans there.
2. Do not forsake your current fans. Free music is not just for new fans. Reward your mailing list with free songs. Do NOT post mp3s within the email. This can eat into people's bandwidth and annoy them. Always make sure you send out a link to download the song.
3. Music is not free, fans should pay in 'social currency'. Get a Facebook like or Tweet, preferably an email address in exchange for your music. If you are sending to your current mailing list make sure they tweet the link out to friends. Here is the twitter goodies page where you can set up a "Retweet" button. You can also use a platform like bit.ly to track click throughs.
4. Social currency is reciprocal. Tag fans on Facebook/Twitter when they buy the album or talk about you.
5. Follow up on social. Send out regular emails to your list, post at least one per day (fb statuses' shelf-life is 3 hours, tw is less).
6. Do not charge too much social currency (20 questions) or fans will go elsewhere. Basic data (name/age/location/how they heard of you) will give you enough to market.
7. Let people listen before they download. No one will spend time downloading music they haven't heard yet.
8. Have a strategy. Once you decide to exchange your music for social currency, make sure you have a strategy for how you WILL make money.
9. Manage your copyrights. If you plan to make money from merchandise instead, make sure no one else can reproduce it and cut you out of the loop.
10. Do not stop promoting. Just because it's 'free' doesn't mean it is promoted any less than a paid release, in fact it gives you the tools to market and engage your fan base and build new ones. Artists promote one album for 1-4 years. Don't stop promoting your music just because it is already available.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
In 1927, the National Music Publisher's Association established
HFA to act as an information source, clearinghouse and monitoring
service for licensing musical copyrights. Since its founding, HFA has
provided efficient and convenient services for publishers, licensees,
and a broad spectrum of music users.
With its current level of publisher representation, HFA licenses the largest percentage of the mechanical and digital uses of music in the United States on CDs, digital services, records, tapes and imported phonorecords.
With its current level of publisher representation, HFA licenses the largest percentage of the mechanical and digital uses of music in the United States on CDs, digital services, records, tapes and imported phonorecords.
The Harry Fox Agency
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
What is the difference between ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Music Reports?
What is the difference between ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Music Reports?
By: George Howard
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC are United States Performing Rights Organizations (PROs). Effectively, they all do the same thing. PROs issue blanket licenses to music broadcasters, such as television and radio stations, auditoriums, larger restaurants and clubs, hotels, or theme parks. Basically, they are issued to anyone who plays music in a public manner. By paying the blanket license fees to the PROs, these broadcasters are able to use whatever music they want without having to account to each individual songwriter. The blanket license fee’s amount is based on broadcast reach; a large commercial radio station pays a higher blanket license fee than a small bookstore, but both pay.
The PROs keep track of the music that is being used through playlists at radio stations, cue sheets on television, and by sampling, for other types of users—such as polling restaurants and bars to determine what music they are playing. They pay royalties to writers based on the number of times an affiliated songwriter’s music is used.
You affiliate with one (and only one) of the PROs so that they will be able to find you and send you performance royalty checks. The affiliation process is easy. There may be an inexpensive, one-time affiliation fee, but once you’re affiliated, there is no cost to register as many songs as you write at no further cost. Check out each PRO, choose one, and affiliate. They all do the same thing, as far as getting you paid goes, and neither is better than the other two, though their additional benefits and services vary.
Please note that PROs are not publishers. Registering your songs with them does not mean you have a publishing deal. PROs simply monitor the public use of copyrights and facilitate royalty payment for these uses.
Here is the info for the PROs:
ASCAP
One Lincoln Plaza
New York, NY 10023
212-621-6000
www.ascap.com
BMI
320 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019-3790
212-586-2000
www.bmi.com
SESAC
55 Music Square East
Nashville, TN 37203
615-320-0055
www.sesac.com
By: George Howard
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC are United States Performing Rights Organizations (PROs). Effectively, they all do the same thing. PROs issue blanket licenses to music broadcasters, such as television and radio stations, auditoriums, larger restaurants and clubs, hotels, or theme parks. Basically, they are issued to anyone who plays music in a public manner. By paying the blanket license fees to the PROs, these broadcasters are able to use whatever music they want without having to account to each individual songwriter. The blanket license fee’s amount is based on broadcast reach; a large commercial radio station pays a higher blanket license fee than a small bookstore, but both pay.
The PROs keep track of the music that is being used through playlists at radio stations, cue sheets on television, and by sampling, for other types of users—such as polling restaurants and bars to determine what music they are playing. They pay royalties to writers based on the number of times an affiliated songwriter’s music is used.
You affiliate with one (and only one) of the PROs so that they will be able to find you and send you performance royalty checks. The affiliation process is easy. There may be an inexpensive, one-time affiliation fee, but once you’re affiliated, there is no cost to register as many songs as you write at no further cost. Check out each PRO, choose one, and affiliate. They all do the same thing, as far as getting you paid goes, and neither is better than the other two, though their additional benefits and services vary.
Please note that PROs are not publishers. Registering your songs with them does not mean you have a publishing deal. PROs simply monitor the public use of copyrights and facilitate royalty payment for these uses.
Here is the info for the PROs:
ASCAP
One Lincoln Plaza
New York, NY 10023
212-621-6000
www.ascap.com
BMI
320 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019-3790
212-586-2000
www.bmi.com
SESAC
55 Music Square East
Nashville, TN 37203
615-320-0055
www.sesac.com
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Artist / Band Interview Form
Christopher Knab
The following questions are helpful for any artist or band if they are serious about conducting their music careers as a business.
Thoughtful, honest, and detailed answers to these questions will help prepare any artist or band in writing bios, press releases (and EPKS), and fact sheets, as well as marketing plans that are necessary for getting the word out about your new release.
Answering these questions NOW will also help prepare you for any interviews that may come up as you work your music releases.
So, don't cut corners on some of the more detailed questions. THINK about your answers before you write any answers.
Name of Artist/Band? (Include all band members names and instruments played.)Is your stage name trademarked?
Have you registered your songs for copyright protection with the U.S. copyright Office (www.copyright.gov)?
Have any of your songs been published? (If so, by whom?)
Have you affiliated with a performance rights organization? (which one? ASCAP, BMI, SESAC?)
Have you signed up with SoundExchange.com? (Check out what they do!)
What is your music background? 9Tell your story in a short and concise manner.)
Do any band members belong to the Musician’s Union?
Do you have a written ‘band agreement’?
Why do you want to record and release your own music? (Be very honest.)
Who is your fan/customer? (Analyze this question thoroughly.)
What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Who are your musical influences? (Site specific examples.)
How do you describe your music to people? (This is not a short answer.
What image do you think your music conveys? ( Do not avoid the image issue!)
What are your immediate music career goals? (Next 1 to 3 years.)
What are your long-term career goals?
How would you define the word “success”?
Do you have any personal contacts in the music business?
Do you have an entertainment law attorney to consult with?
Are you looking for an independent label deal or a major label deal? (Why?)
What live performance experience have you had? (Any industry showcases?)
How do you rate your live performance ability? (Be very critical. No cliches)
Have you recorded any previous CDs or posted any audio files on the Internet?
What type of recording process did you use? Who produced your recording?)
How did you sell your CD’s/Audio Files? (Consignment? Live sales? iTunes? CD Baby? Amazon.com? Tunecore? Through traditional distributors/stores?)
Have you had any previous print or broadcast media exposure or reviews?
Are you financially able to fund the costs of establishing your career? (Are you in debt?)
Do you have a business license? (City, state, federal?)
What is your current “business form”? (Sole proprietor? Corporation? Partnership?)
Have you set up a system for tracking your financial activities? (Software system?)
Are you aware of the tax deductions available for musicians?
Do you have insurance on your band equipment and vehicles?
Who handles your daily business activities? (Bookings, promotions etc.)
Have you created a career, marketing, or business plan? (Is it in writing?)
Friday, January 6, 2012
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Are We Making Money Yet? ReverbNation Acquires GigMaven...
Gigs are supposed to be where the money is, yet so many bands are struggling to generate live cash. Enter ReverbNation, which just dialed its live performance ambitions further by acquiring GigMaven. ReverbNation - which now counts an impressive 1.7 million bands - is purchasing the GigMaven concert-focused technology and absorbing key executives. "GigMaven has been at the forefront of developing technology that connects artists and venues," ReverbNation CEO Mike Doernberg said. "They have a highly talented team and we are fortunate to have them join our ranks."
This is obviously an area of focus for ReverbNation, though disruptive gigging is now a competitive sport. For its part, ReverbNation has been steadily layering gig-related technologies to its portfolio of artist tools. Just recently, the company launched a venue-focused Facebook service called Venue Profile.
Now, the question is how GigMaven will be integrated into that aggressive expansion. In a nutshell, the New York-based GigMaven helps artists book gigs, sell tickets, and promote booked shows through social networks, a structure that helps venue owners and bands alike. That is also a fertile area for other startups, including GigsWiz.
This is obviously an area of focus for ReverbNation, though disruptive gigging is now a competitive sport. For its part, ReverbNation has been steadily layering gig-related technologies to its portfolio of artist tools. Just recently, the company launched a venue-focused Facebook service called Venue Profile.
Now, the question is how GigMaven will be integrated into that aggressive expansion. In a nutshell, the New York-based GigMaven helps artists book gigs, sell tickets, and promote booked shows through social networks, a structure that helps venue owners and bands alike. That is also a fertile area for other startups, including GigsWiz.
Watch our demo: booking gigs made easy from Howard Han on Vimeo.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
1,000 True Fans
The long tail is famously good news for two classes of people; a few lucky aggregators, such as Amazon and Netflix, and 6 billion consumers. Of those two, I think consumers earn the greater reward from the wealth hidden in infinite niches.
But the long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist's works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales.
Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail?
One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:
A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.
To raise your sales out of the flatline of the long tail you need to connect with your True Fans directly. Another way to state this is, you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans.
Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.
One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.
The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. They are giving you their support directly. Maybe they come to your house concerts, or they are buying your DVDs from your website, or they order your prints from Pictopia. As much as possible you retain the full amount of their support. You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.
The technologies of connection and small-time manufacturing make this circle possible. Blogs and RSS feeds trickle out news, and upcoming appearances or new works. Web sites host galleries of your past work, archives of biographical information, and catalogs of paraphernalia. Diskmakers, Blurb, rapid prototyping shops, twitter, Facebook, and the entire digital domain all conspire to make duplication and dissemination in small quantities fast, cheap and easy. You don't need a million fans to justify producing something new. A mere one thousand is sufficient.
This small circle of diehard fans, which can provide you with a living, is surrounded by concentric circles of Lesser Fans. These folks will not purchase everything you do, and may not seek out direct contact, but they will buy much of what you produce. The processes you develop to feed your True Fans will also nurture Lesser Fans. As you acquire new True Fans, you can also add many more Lesser Fans. If you keep going, you may indeed end up with millions of fans and reach a hit. I don't know of any creator who is not interested in having a million fans.
But the point of this strategy is to say that you don't need a hit to survive. You don't need to aim for the short head of best-sellerdom to escape the long tail. There is a place in the middle, that is not very far away from the tail, where you can at least make a living. That mid-way haven is called 1,000 True Fans. It is an alternate destination for an artist to aim for.
Young artists starting out in this digitally mediated world have another path other than stardom, a path made possible by the very technology that creates the long tail. Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum hits, bestseller blockbusters, and celebrity status, they can aim for direct connection with 1,000 True Fans. It's a much saner destination to hope for. You make a living instead of a fortune. You are surrounded not by fad and fashionable infatuation, but by True Fans. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there.
A few caveats. This formula - one thousand direct True Fans -- is crafted for one person, the solo artist. What happens in a duet, or quartet, or movie crew? Obviously, you'll need more fans. But the additional fans you'll need are in direct geometric proportion to the increase of your creative group. In other words, if you increase your group size by 33%, you need add only 33% more fans. This linear growth is in contrast to the exponential growth by which many things in the digital domain inflate. I would not be surprised to find that the value of your True Fans network follows the standard network effects rule, and increases as the square of the number of Fans. As your True Fans connect with each other, they will more readily increase their average spending on your works. So while increasing the numbers of artists involved in creation increases the number of True Fans needed, the increase does not explode, but rises gently and in proportion.
A more important caution: Not every artist is cut out, or willing, to be a nurturer of fans. Many musicians just want to play music, or photographers just want to shoot, or painters paint, and they temperamentally don't want to deal with fans, especially True Fans. For these creatives, they need a mediator, a manager, a handler, an agent, a galleryist -- someone to manage their fans. Nonetheless, they can still aim for the same middle destination of 1,000 True Fans. They are just working in a duet.
Third distinction. Direct fans are best. The number of True Fans needed to make a living indirectly inflates fast, but not infinitely. Take blogging as an example. Because fan support for a blogger routes through advertising clicks (except in the occasional tip-jar), more fans are needed for a blogger to make a living. But while this moves the destination towards the left on the long tail curve, it is still far short of blockbuster territory. Same is true in book publishing. When you have corporations involved in taking the majority of the revenue for your work, then it takes many times more True Fans to support you. To the degree an author cultivates direct contact with his/her fans, the smaller the number needed.
Lastly, the actual number may vary depending on the media. Maybe it is 500 True Fans for a painter and 5,000 True Fans for a videomaker. The numbers must surely vary around the world. But in fact the actual number is not critical, because it cannot be determined except by attempting it. Once you are in that mode, the actual number will become evident. That will be the True Fan number that works for you. My formula may be off by an order of magnitude, but even so, its far less than a million.
I've been scouring the literature for any references to the True Fan number. Suck.com co-founder Carl Steadman had theory about microcelebrities. By his count, a microcelebrity was someone famous to 1,500 people. So those fifteen hundred would rave about you. As quoted by Danny O'Brien, "One person in every town in Britain likes your dumb online comic. That's enough to keep you in beers (or T-shirt sales) all year."
Others call this microcelebrity support micro-patronage, or distributed patronage.
In 1999 John Kelsey and Bruce Schneier published a model for this in First Monday, an online journal. They called it the Street Performer Protocol.
Using the logic of a street performer, the author goes directly to the readers before the book is published; perhaps even before the book is written. The author bypasses the publisher and makes a public statement on the order of: "When I get $100,000 in donations, I will release the next novel in this series."
Readers can go to the author's Web site, see how much money has already been donated, and donate money to the cause of getting his novel out. Note that the author doesn't care who pays to get the next chapter out; nor does he care how many people read the book that didn't pay for it. He just cares that his $100,000 pot gets filled. When it does, he publishes the next book. In this case "publish" simply means "make available," not "bind and distribute through bookstores." The book is made available, free of charge, to everyone: those who paid for it and those who did not.
In 2004 author Lawrence Watt-Evans used this model to publish his newest novel. He asked his True Fans to collectively pay $100 per month. When he got $100 he posted the next chapter of the novel. The entire book was published online for his True Fans, and then later in paper for all his fans. He is now writing a second novel this way. He gets by on an estimated 200 True Fans because he also publishes in the traditional manner -- with advances from a publisher supported by thousands of Lesser Fans. Other authors who use fans to directly support their work are Diane Duane, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and Don Sakers. Game designer Greg Stolze employed a similar True Fan model to launch two pre-financed games. Fifty of his True Fans contributed seed money for his development costs.
The genius of the True Fan model is that the fans are able to move an artist away from the edges of the long tail to a degree larger than their numbers indicate. They can do this in three ways: by purchasing more per person, by spending directly so the creator keeps more per sale, and by enabling new models of support.
New models of support include micro-patronage. Another model is pre-financing the startup costs. Digital technology enables this fan support to take many shapes. Fundable is a web-based enterprise which allows anyone to raise a fixed amount of money for a project, while reassuring the backers the project will happen. Fundable withholds the money until the full amount is collected. They return the money if the minimum is not reached.
Here's an example from Fundable's site;
Amelia, a twenty-year-old classical soprano singer, pre-sold her first CD before entering a recording studio. "If I get $400 in pre-orders, I will be able to afford the rest [of the studio costs]," she told potential contributors. Fundable's all-or-nothing model ensured that none of her customers would lose money if she fell short of her goal. Amelia sold over $940 in albums.
A thousand dollars won't keep even a starving artist alive long, but with serious attention, a dedicated artist can do better with their True Fans. Jill Sobule, a musician who has nurtured a sizable following over many years of touring and recording, is doing well relying on her True Fans. Recently she decided to go to her fans to finance the $75,000 professional recording fees she needed for her next album. She has raised close to $50,000 so far. By directly supporting her via their patronage, the fans gain intimacy with their artist. According to the Associated Press:
Contributors can choose a level of pledges ranging from the $10 "unpolished rock," which earns them a free digital download of her disc when it's made, to the $10,000 "weapons-grade plutonium level," where she promises "you get to come and sing on my CD. Don't worry if you can't sing - we can fix that on our end." For a $5,000 contribution, Sobule said she'll perform a concert in the donor's house. The lower levels are more popular, where donors can earn things like an advanced copy of the CD, a mention in the liner notes and a T-shirt identifying them as a "junior executive producer" of the CD.
The usual alternative to making a living based on True Fans is poverty. A study as recently as 1995 showed that the accepted price of being an artist was large. Sociologist Ruth Towse surveyed artists in Britian and determined that on average they earned below poverty subsistence levels.
I am suggesting there is a home for creatives in between poverty and stardom. Somewhere lower than stratospheric bestsellerdom, but higher than the obscurity of the long tail. I don't know the actual true number, but I think a dedicated artist could cultivate 1,000 True Fans, and by their direct support using new technology, make an honest living. I'd love to hear from anyone who might have settled on such a path.
But the long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist's works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales.
Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail?
One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:
A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.
To raise your sales out of the flatline of the long tail you need to connect with your True Fans directly. Another way to state this is, you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans.
Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.
One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.
The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. They are giving you their support directly. Maybe they come to your house concerts, or they are buying your DVDs from your website, or they order your prints from Pictopia. As much as possible you retain the full amount of their support. You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.
The technologies of connection and small-time manufacturing make this circle possible. Blogs and RSS feeds trickle out news, and upcoming appearances or new works. Web sites host galleries of your past work, archives of biographical information, and catalogs of paraphernalia. Diskmakers, Blurb, rapid prototyping shops, twitter, Facebook, and the entire digital domain all conspire to make duplication and dissemination in small quantities fast, cheap and easy. You don't need a million fans to justify producing something new. A mere one thousand is sufficient.
This small circle of diehard fans, which can provide you with a living, is surrounded by concentric circles of Lesser Fans. These folks will not purchase everything you do, and may not seek out direct contact, but they will buy much of what you produce. The processes you develop to feed your True Fans will also nurture Lesser Fans. As you acquire new True Fans, you can also add many more Lesser Fans. If you keep going, you may indeed end up with millions of fans and reach a hit. I don't know of any creator who is not interested in having a million fans.
But the point of this strategy is to say that you don't need a hit to survive. You don't need to aim for the short head of best-sellerdom to escape the long tail. There is a place in the middle, that is not very far away from the tail, where you can at least make a living. That mid-way haven is called 1,000 True Fans. It is an alternate destination for an artist to aim for.
Young artists starting out in this digitally mediated world have another path other than stardom, a path made possible by the very technology that creates the long tail. Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum hits, bestseller blockbusters, and celebrity status, they can aim for direct connection with 1,000 True Fans. It's a much saner destination to hope for. You make a living instead of a fortune. You are surrounded not by fad and fashionable infatuation, but by True Fans. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there.
A few caveats. This formula - one thousand direct True Fans -- is crafted for one person, the solo artist. What happens in a duet, or quartet, or movie crew? Obviously, you'll need more fans. But the additional fans you'll need are in direct geometric proportion to the increase of your creative group. In other words, if you increase your group size by 33%, you need add only 33% more fans. This linear growth is in contrast to the exponential growth by which many things in the digital domain inflate. I would not be surprised to find that the value of your True Fans network follows the standard network effects rule, and increases as the square of the number of Fans. As your True Fans connect with each other, they will more readily increase their average spending on your works. So while increasing the numbers of artists involved in creation increases the number of True Fans needed, the increase does not explode, but rises gently and in proportion.
A more important caution: Not every artist is cut out, or willing, to be a nurturer of fans. Many musicians just want to play music, or photographers just want to shoot, or painters paint, and they temperamentally don't want to deal with fans, especially True Fans. For these creatives, they need a mediator, a manager, a handler, an agent, a galleryist -- someone to manage their fans. Nonetheless, they can still aim for the same middle destination of 1,000 True Fans. They are just working in a duet.
Third distinction. Direct fans are best. The number of True Fans needed to make a living indirectly inflates fast, but not infinitely. Take blogging as an example. Because fan support for a blogger routes through advertising clicks (except in the occasional tip-jar), more fans are needed for a blogger to make a living. But while this moves the destination towards the left on the long tail curve, it is still far short of blockbuster territory. Same is true in book publishing. When you have corporations involved in taking the majority of the revenue for your work, then it takes many times more True Fans to support you. To the degree an author cultivates direct contact with his/her fans, the smaller the number needed.
Lastly, the actual number may vary depending on the media. Maybe it is 500 True Fans for a painter and 5,000 True Fans for a videomaker. The numbers must surely vary around the world. But in fact the actual number is not critical, because it cannot be determined except by attempting it. Once you are in that mode, the actual number will become evident. That will be the True Fan number that works for you. My formula may be off by an order of magnitude, but even so, its far less than a million.
I've been scouring the literature for any references to the True Fan number. Suck.com co-founder Carl Steadman had theory about microcelebrities. By his count, a microcelebrity was someone famous to 1,500 people. So those fifteen hundred would rave about you. As quoted by Danny O'Brien, "One person in every town in Britain likes your dumb online comic. That's enough to keep you in beers (or T-shirt sales) all year."
Others call this microcelebrity support micro-patronage, or distributed patronage.
In 1999 John Kelsey and Bruce Schneier published a model for this in First Monday, an online journal. They called it the Street Performer Protocol.
Using the logic of a street performer, the author goes directly to the readers before the book is published; perhaps even before the book is written. The author bypasses the publisher and makes a public statement on the order of: "When I get $100,000 in donations, I will release the next novel in this series."
Readers can go to the author's Web site, see how much money has already been donated, and donate money to the cause of getting his novel out. Note that the author doesn't care who pays to get the next chapter out; nor does he care how many people read the book that didn't pay for it. He just cares that his $100,000 pot gets filled. When it does, he publishes the next book. In this case "publish" simply means "make available," not "bind and distribute through bookstores." The book is made available, free of charge, to everyone: those who paid for it and those who did not.
In 2004 author Lawrence Watt-Evans used this model to publish his newest novel. He asked his True Fans to collectively pay $100 per month. When he got $100 he posted the next chapter of the novel. The entire book was published online for his True Fans, and then later in paper for all his fans. He is now writing a second novel this way. He gets by on an estimated 200 True Fans because he also publishes in the traditional manner -- with advances from a publisher supported by thousands of Lesser Fans. Other authors who use fans to directly support their work are Diane Duane, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and Don Sakers. Game designer Greg Stolze employed a similar True Fan model to launch two pre-financed games. Fifty of his True Fans contributed seed money for his development costs.
The genius of the True Fan model is that the fans are able to move an artist away from the edges of the long tail to a degree larger than their numbers indicate. They can do this in three ways: by purchasing more per person, by spending directly so the creator keeps more per sale, and by enabling new models of support.
New models of support include micro-patronage. Another model is pre-financing the startup costs. Digital technology enables this fan support to take many shapes. Fundable is a web-based enterprise which allows anyone to raise a fixed amount of money for a project, while reassuring the backers the project will happen. Fundable withholds the money until the full amount is collected. They return the money if the minimum is not reached.
Amelia, a twenty-year-old classical soprano singer, pre-sold her first CD before entering a recording studio. "If I get $400 in pre-orders, I will be able to afford the rest [of the studio costs]," she told potential contributors. Fundable's all-or-nothing model ensured that none of her customers would lose money if she fell short of her goal. Amelia sold over $940 in albums.
A thousand dollars won't keep even a starving artist alive long, but with serious attention, a dedicated artist can do better with their True Fans. Jill Sobule, a musician who has nurtured a sizable following over many years of touring and recording, is doing well relying on her True Fans. Recently she decided to go to her fans to finance the $75,000 professional recording fees she needed for her next album. She has raised close to $50,000 so far. By directly supporting her via their patronage, the fans gain intimacy with their artist. According to the Associated Press:
Contributors can choose a level of pledges ranging from the $10 "unpolished rock," which earns them a free digital download of her disc when it's made, to the $10,000 "weapons-grade plutonium level," where she promises "you get to come and sing on my CD. Don't worry if you can't sing - we can fix that on our end." For a $5,000 contribution, Sobule said she'll perform a concert in the donor's house. The lower levels are more popular, where donors can earn things like an advanced copy of the CD, a mention in the liner notes and a T-shirt identifying them as a "junior executive producer" of the CD.
The usual alternative to making a living based on True Fans is poverty. A study as recently as 1995 showed that the accepted price of being an artist was large. Sociologist Ruth Towse surveyed artists in Britian and determined that on average they earned below poverty subsistence levels.
I am suggesting there is a home for creatives in between poverty and stardom. Somewhere lower than stratospheric bestsellerdom, but higher than the obscurity of the long tail. I don't know the actual true number, but I think a dedicated artist could cultivate 1,000 True Fans, and by their direct support using new technology, make an honest living. I'd love to hear from anyone who might have settled on such a path.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Connecting Your Fan Base: Tips From Major Label Bands
by Mike Venti
“Connect With Your Fans!”
If you regularly visit any music industry blogs you likely read this all the time. It’s important advice, but there’s another step that’s just as important: helping the people in your fan base connect to each other.
Once you start to have any sort of success, you won’t be able to create meaningful relationships with each fan. There simply isn’t enough time in the day. Connecting them to each other, however is the next best thing: it uses your music and personality as a foundation for meaningful relationships, which further enhances the meaning of your music amongst your fan base.
This is not a new concept. In fact, major label bands have been doing this rather effectively for years.
When to Start
You should start connecting with your fans the second that you release your first song, but you may want to wait until your following has grown large enough to constitute a community before you really focus on bringing people together.
Fan Clubs
A fan club is an exclusive membership that can create a great sense of community among your fan base if properly maintained. It should not only give fans access to the artist and free goodies, but it should also be an opportunity to connect fans with one another. People who buy into exclusive clubs are already part of your group of super fans. Help establish connections by holding meet-ups, not just at shows, but during touring downtime as well.
For example, the Dave Matthews Band not only gives fan club members access to direct presales, exclusive music and chances to meet the band, but they’ve also created a members-only message board to help super fans connect with each other.
Through the process of keeping things exclusive, the DMB can be sure that their hardcore fans have their very own place to congregate.
Forums
A healthy message board is yet another avenue for dedicated fans to gather and discuss the latest news. Your own branded forums give fans a place to get together and debate lyrics, album releases, and more. Not to mention that it constantly drives more traffic back to your website.
Unlike the DMB’s members-only forum, the benefit of an open forum is that anyone can lurk and explore the community before signing up. Many casual fans can be eventually converted into super fans if they end up engaging on the message boards in any kind of consistent basis.
Other super fans are your greatest influencers for bringing even more people into your fan community. Handpick your most reliable fans to moderate the boards and keep the peace. And make sure to visit the boards yourself, answering questions from fans, and announcing big news from time to time.
One major label act that does this fairly well is the band Billy Talent. Members of the group will post without warning, answering a fan’s question, or giving updates on their next release. By making personal connections with fans and giving them a place to come together, the band is able to build a stronger fan-base as a result.
Collaboration
Have dedicated fans get involved in different aspects of your career. You can have them vote on merch they’d like to see manufactured and sold on the next tour, or even help you promote and book gigs in towns you don’t usually stop at.
Why not open source your shows and allow fans to come together and create their own DVD?
Trent Reznor used this concept to great success when he “leaked” 400 gigabytes of concert footage to his fan-base. The end result was a concert DVD, made by the fans themselves, that rivals any professionally produced concert film. It proved to be both a great way to connect with some super fans, and gave every other fan (casual or not) the opportunity to enjoy the end result.
Social Networks
Social networks usually contain a mix of hardcore fans, casual ones, and the occasional hater, making them great places for sharing updates, yet slightly more difficult to connect with your fan-base. But don’t let that stop you.
A social network can still be a great place to introduce individual fans to the rest of the fan-base. To connect fans, have them email their info and a picture to you with details about their forum name, favourite song, album, show etc. Pick a new person every few days and feature them on your network. Besides being thrilled that they’ve been selected, this is also a great way for fans to get to know each other, and perhaps even recognize each other at shows.
In the late ’90s, before social networks existed, Green Day was already doing this on their website. Every month a new fan would be named “Idiot of the Month” and their picture would be featured on the site.
If you have the means, try to own your social network.
The San Francisco Symphony went the route of creating their own social network in an effort to connect with their fan-base, and more importantly, give people a place to congregate and connect with each other. Besides seeing updates and videos from the musicians, the fans can also create their own posts, upload photos, and connect with other registered members.
By creating spaces where your most dedicated fans can congregate, it is easier to get them involved in different aspects of your career. You can have them vote on merch they’d like to see manufactured and sold on the next tour, or even help you promote and book gigs in towns you don’t usually stop at.
Connecting your fans together is a great way to forge lasting relationships between people who already have common interests… your music.
If you regularly visit any music industry blogs you likely read this all the time. It’s important advice, but there’s another step that’s just as important: helping the people in your fan base connect to each other.
Once you start to have any sort of success, you won’t be able to create meaningful relationships with each fan. There simply isn’t enough time in the day. Connecting them to each other, however is the next best thing: it uses your music and personality as a foundation for meaningful relationships, which further enhances the meaning of your music amongst your fan base.
This is not a new concept. In fact, major label bands have been doing this rather effectively for years.
When to Start
You should start connecting with your fans the second that you release your first song, but you may want to wait until your following has grown large enough to constitute a community before you really focus on bringing people together.
Fan Clubs
A fan club is an exclusive membership that can create a great sense of community among your fan base if properly maintained. It should not only give fans access to the artist and free goodies, but it should also be an opportunity to connect fans with one another. People who buy into exclusive clubs are already part of your group of super fans. Help establish connections by holding meet-ups, not just at shows, but during touring downtime as well.
For example, the Dave Matthews Band not only gives fan club members access to direct presales, exclusive music and chances to meet the band, but they’ve also created a members-only message board to help super fans connect with each other.
Through the process of keeping things exclusive, the DMB can be sure that their hardcore fans have their very own place to congregate.
Forums
A healthy message board is yet another avenue for dedicated fans to gather and discuss the latest news. Your own branded forums give fans a place to get together and debate lyrics, album releases, and more. Not to mention that it constantly drives more traffic back to your website.
Unlike the DMB’s members-only forum, the benefit of an open forum is that anyone can lurk and explore the community before signing up. Many casual fans can be eventually converted into super fans if they end up engaging on the message boards in any kind of consistent basis.
Other super fans are your greatest influencers for bringing even more people into your fan community. Handpick your most reliable fans to moderate the boards and keep the peace. And make sure to visit the boards yourself, answering questions from fans, and announcing big news from time to time.
One major label act that does this fairly well is the band Billy Talent. Members of the group will post without warning, answering a fan’s question, or giving updates on their next release. By making personal connections with fans and giving them a place to come together, the band is able to build a stronger fan-base as a result.
Collaboration
Have dedicated fans get involved in different aspects of your career. You can have them vote on merch they’d like to see manufactured and sold on the next tour, or even help you promote and book gigs in towns you don’t usually stop at.
Why not open source your shows and allow fans to come together and create their own DVD?
Trent Reznor used this concept to great success when he “leaked” 400 gigabytes of concert footage to his fan-base. The end result was a concert DVD, made by the fans themselves, that rivals any professionally produced concert film. It proved to be both a great way to connect with some super fans, and gave every other fan (casual or not) the opportunity to enjoy the end result.
Social Networks
Social networks usually contain a mix of hardcore fans, casual ones, and the occasional hater, making them great places for sharing updates, yet slightly more difficult to connect with your fan-base. But don’t let that stop you.
A social network can still be a great place to introduce individual fans to the rest of the fan-base. To connect fans, have them email their info and a picture to you with details about their forum name, favourite song, album, show etc. Pick a new person every few days and feature them on your network. Besides being thrilled that they’ve been selected, this is also a great way for fans to get to know each other, and perhaps even recognize each other at shows.
In the late ’90s, before social networks existed, Green Day was already doing this on their website. Every month a new fan would be named “Idiot of the Month” and their picture would be featured on the site.
If you have the means, try to own your social network.
The San Francisco Symphony went the route of creating their own social network in an effort to connect with their fan-base, and more importantly, give people a place to congregate and connect with each other. Besides seeing updates and videos from the musicians, the fans can also create their own posts, upload photos, and connect with other registered members.
By creating spaces where your most dedicated fans can congregate, it is easier to get them involved in different aspects of your career. You can have them vote on merch they’d like to see manufactured and sold on the next tour, or even help you promote and book gigs in towns you don’t usually stop at.
Connecting your fans together is a great way to forge lasting relationships between people who already have common interests… your music.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
JUL 28 2011 A More Robust Live Setup in Live, Free on Mac with Automator
In the ongoing struggle to make a laptop into an instrument, there’s inevitably the scramble onstage (or even in a studio) to get everything primed and ready to play. You want to adjust settings, launch certain applications, and generally get your laptop ready for actual music making.
Wouldn’t it be nice to make all of that happen automatically, magically, instantly, and robotically? It is, after all, a machine. (They’re supposed to be working for us, I’m told, assuming they’re following the Three Laws.)
Martin Delaney, London-based Ableton Live trainer, has put together a nice tutorial for production education center Dubspot with one way of accomplishing that using Apple’s free Automator. I was always a fan of Automator, particularly in its use in the workflows for the Soundtrack Pro audio editor from Apple, but it seems like almost no one else (Apple included) seems to remember it’s there. So here’s a way to put it to some free, powerful use.
Of course, there are probably other ways of accomplishing this – shell scripts and the like – if anyone wants to suggest something. Automator has the advantage of some serious ease of use.
Have a look, and download this set of Automator actions free:
Video Tutorial: Simplify Your Ableton Workflow Using Apple’s Automator
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
What To Expect From A Good Music Publicist
A good publicist is always on the lookout for unusual media opportunities for her clients.
There comes a time in every band’s career when they should hire a music publicist. We all know that the main aim of every publicity campaign is to generate as much media coverage as possible. But what else should you expect from him or her? It’s not all about column inches, after all. Every good publicist should:
Help You Create A Strategy
A key part of every successful PR campaign is planning. Your publicist should always develop a PR plan that compliments your marketing efforts. This should cover the following areas:
- Objectives – What are your short, medium and long-term career goals? How can a PR strategy help create a foundation for achieving these goals?
- Timeline – This should outline the timeframe for each PR activity that contributes to the PR strategy.
- Target Media List – This should include all realistic media targets that are relevant to you. The number of targets will depend on your budget, time-frame and touring activities.
- “Perfect Pitch” – Your “perfect pitch” is a summary of your brand offering: who you are, what you sound like, and what your unique selling points are. Your publicist should help you define your perfect pitch and ensure that it is communicated consistently across all your marketing platforms.
Manage Your Expectations
A publicist should always advise you on what can be realistically achieved before you hire them. If you are an unknown artist expecting a review in Spin, your publicist should remind you that a grassroots media buzz usually needs to be built up before approaching national music publications. A publicists should be honest with you about what they can achieve within a certain time frame and budget, and what they feel is realistic for you at this point in your career. Honest feedback at every stage of the PR process is vital.
Work Creatively
All publicists should be willing to explore cross-promotional opportunities and unusual, newsworthy angles to increase your PR potential. Brainstorming sessions should be an integral part of any PR campaign, as media opportunities may be available for you outside of the traditional music world. A particular hobby or unique life story of yours may be of interest to a niche lifestyle publication or website, for example, or there may be a story in a charitable partnership or an innovative album release strategy.
Work With the Rest of Your Team
At the end of the day a successful publicity campaign is all about team work. You need to be able to communicate with your publicist on a regular basis, and feel that she is an integral part of your team. A successful campaign depends on a dynamic, creative and communicative team approach.
Overall, when you hire a publicist you should expect honesty, team work, creativity and strategic thinking as part of their service. And let’s not forget the importance of passion! A passionate publicist is the fuel that drives it all.
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