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Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Album finished? Check. Tour dates? Check. Press photos? Check. Press release? Check. Biography? Urgh!
If you’re not a spectacular storyteller or wondrous wordsmith, then the task of writing or updating your biography can seem like an arduous task. However, a biography is an essential item in any musicians marketing tool kit. It positions your brand identity, communicates your key achievements and provides background info to fans and media alike. Here are a few pointers to help you on your way…..
Interview Yourself
If you’ve not yet put pen to paper, the best thing to do is put yourself in the position of a journalist. Devise a list of questions covering your career and interview yourself. Gain ideas and angles by reading up on blog Q&As, or identify interview questions you would ask a favorite band or artist. This will make the process of gathering your bio content a lot easier. While you are interviewing yourself, write down as much info as possible. You can edit this all later.
Plan Your Structure
Mumford and Sons
Your bio is not your life story. It’s a concise and well structured overview of your music career. This is why planning the format is key. Think carefully about what you want to include in each paragraph and keep the following in mind:
1. Define your key achievements. If you have performed with well-known artists or received awards or accolades, then now is the time to rave about them. List them according to their newsworthiness.
2. Your bio does not need to be chronological. In fact the first couple of paragraphs are often the most important as they’ll determine whether a journalist or fan will read on. Ensure that the beginning of your bio provides an effective summary of your sound. For example, the Mumford and Sons bio conjures an image of their offering from the outset.
3. If you’re in a band, stick to writing about the band’s overall story, rather than each individual member in detail. It’s okay to dedicate some space to each member as long as the bio starts and ends with the band. Don’t kill the reader with detail – keep it focused.
Find Your Narrative Style
Adele
If you’re not a naturally gifted writer, than discovering your “writer’s voice” is one of the most difficult tasks. But don’t panic! If you write with passion and personality, you are halfway there. If you get stuck, utilize press quotes or even quote yourself. Adele’s biography is a good example of this.
Alternatively ask your friends and family to provide descriptors, and get feedback from them on your writing style. If in doubt, keep it short and simple. Balance style with substance.
Create a Work In Progress
Make life easy for yourself and write a biography that is easy to update on a regular basis. Adopt a style and format that is timeless and easy to add additional information to as your career progresses. Keep your bio as concise as possible — make every word count. If you struggle fitting all relevant information into one page, create both a short and long version that can be used accordingly.
Now get cracking….it won’t write itself.
Tags: advice, marketing, Music Industry, musicians, tips
Posted in Music Industry, advice, marketing, music, musicians | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
 It’s easy to forget the importance of good old traditional human contact. With all the hype over Facebook, Twitter, Foursquares and now Google+, most musicians are under pressure to be online 24 hours a day. However, one of the most effective ways to network is still face-to-face. Remind yourself of these following five principles when you go on your next schmoozathon and you’ll be good to go -
Quality Not Quantity
Networking at industry events should never be viewed as a numbers game. Musicians and industry professionals who race around trying to gather as many business cards as possible are forgetting the most important aspect of networking – good conversation. I strongly believe that establishing a genuine connection with a handful of people (even just one) will make you much more memorable than getting into the face of dozens.
Think of it as similar to dating – ask questions, listen and get to know your colleagues or potential fans. You may not gel with everyone. That’s okay. You don’t always have to aggressively target the people you feel you “should” know. Being relaxed, friendly and genuine will make you much more memorable.
Giving Not Getting
When I first moved to the US, I was really touched by a handful of people I met at events who went out of their way to help me for no reason at all. They either introduced me to friends of theirs or sent me information about a topic of conversation we were discussing. They asked for nothing in return, and as a result instantly stuck in my mind. This made me realize that by focusing on what you can give, rather than what you can get will lead to more valuable relationships in the long-run.
Everyone is Equal
We’ve all seen it hundreds of times before – those people whose eyes glaze over when they realize that the person they are talking to is “not important enough”. We all have agendas, and time is money, but mental hierarchies are presumptuous and arrogant. You should always view everyone as equally valuable. Remember the proverb “great oaks from little acorns grow’.
Be Prepared
No one likes a musician who aggressively shoves a CD in your face. However, being prepared with CDs, business cards and flyers is a must. You just need to ensure that your timing is right. Use your judgement, be courteous, humble and realistic. Always remember the basics too – label your CDs with contact details, and ensure that your business cards and flyers are striking, brand-consistent, and readable.
The Art of The Follow Up
We all know how important it is to follow up. You just need to think carefully about how you are going to do it. I hate it when someone tries to friend me on Facebook without as much as a message to say hello again. Try to make it as personal as possible – a chatty email re-introducing yourself or a shout-out on Twitter. Even better, send a hand-written note or put in a phone call. Think it through and make it worthwhile.
With all this in mind, get networking!
*This post was originally published on MicControl.com
Tags: advice, marketing, Music Industry, musicians, networking
Posted in Music Industry, Uncategorized, marketing, music | No Comments »
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of hosting a very animated and informative #DCWEEK panel discussion about how performing artists can use the web to their advantage. On the panel was Sean Glover, Director of Artists Relations at SoundExchange, Dave Sherbow, owner of onefanconsulting.com and musicbizguy.com and Keith Center, frontman of The Dreamscapes Project and owner of Figmental Records.
A number of important points were made during our discussion. For those of you who were unable to attend, here’s a summary:
- In order to maximize your online experience, you need to address the foundational elements of online marketing – define your identity, define who/where you target audience are, and define your attitude towards the web. Ask yourself how do you view the web? How would you google yourself? What is your competition doing? Go to your fans and make it easy for them to identify you. Don’t expect them to come to you.
- Key words in online marketing, via Jeff Pulver, “Listen, Connect, Share, Engage”.
- Emails are golden! Artists should prioritize collecting and owning fan data (such as email addresses, zip codes and cell numbers) and endeavor to collect this information via all their online platforms. Having a fan newsletter is one of the most important e-marketing tools. Email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing avenues as it’s permission-based marketing. You can also be targeted in your marketing.
- MySpace (the grandfather of social networking sites) is not dead. It’s still a very effective promotional tool within the music industry due to its user-base, the familiarity of its lay-out and effective music player. Its power as an interactive platform has decreased, as social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have taken over. Dave Sherbow talks further about this in his blog post “Making Myspace Into a Tool That Matters”
- Artists need to protect their digital assets! Thousands of musicians have still not signed up to SoundExchange.com to collect their digital royalties. SoundExchange is an independent, non-profit performances rights organization which collects statutory royalties from satellite radio (such as SIRIUS XM), internet radio, cable TV music channels and similar platforms for streaming sound recordings. In order to receive these royalties artists MUST sign up to SoundExchange (it’s FREE).
- To stop yourself feeling overwhelmed with online management, choose solutions that are right for you. Two task management solutions recommended were Evernote.com & Rememberthemilk.com.
- Online marketing only works in conjunction with effective offline marketing. If you are not aggressive and proactive with your offline marketing, the impact of your online marketing efforts will be decreased. The two compliment each other.
That’s it. In a nutshell.
Tags: branding, Music Industry, online marketing, Social media
Posted in Music Industry, Social media, marketing | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
 Washington, DC’s greatly anticipated Digital Capital Week (DCWEEK) will be supporting the local music scene with a host of events encouraging collaboration and creativity in the nation’s capital. Key events include the ‘Metro Music Source’ music industry networking party on June 15th, a ‘Performing Artists Clinic’ on June 19th, and a 9:30 Club closing party on June 19th, showcasing the best in local talent in the DC area.
The Metro Music Source (MMS) was founded nearly a year ago by co-hosts Dave Mallen (owner/producer of Innovation Station Music) and Jem Bahaijoub (owner of imaginePR) as a focal point for the thriving and diverse DC area music scene. It offers music creators and industry professionals the opportunity to socialize, share knowledge, and collaborate, while also helping to raise the profile of DC music on a national level. Past MMS events have brought together local musicians, major and indie label executives, artist managers and marketing reps, record store managers, publicists, filmmakers, music publishers, producer/engineers, and more.
As part of #DCWEEK, the Metro Music Source will be hosting a special music industry networking event on Tuesday, June 15th at Bar Louie from 6.30pm-9.30pm. The event will feature several special guests from across the industry, and will be covered by DC Life magazine.
Another key event in the #DCWEEK calendar is the ‘Performing Artists Clinic – How To Use The Web To Your Advantage’ on June 19th from 3.30pm-4.30pm. This panel presentation and Q&A discussion will feature key industry speakers such as Sean Glover, Manager of Artist Relations at SoundExchange, Dave Sherbow, author of ‘One Fan At A Time’, and Keith Center, frontman of DC folk-rock group The Dreamscapes Project. The event will be hosted by Jem Bahaijoub, owner of imaginePR, a DC based music PR and marketing company. The panel discussion will focus on how performing artists can maximize their online experience, key elements of online branding and social media marketing, and various tips, tools and practical advice on online platforms.
#DCWEEK will end in spectacular style with techARTS closing party at the 9:30 Club on the evening of June 19th. In just three weeks 34,000 votes were cast by 10,000+ people across the city for their favorite bands to perform at the legendary venue. techARTS are happy to announce that Amber Dutton, The Very Small, McWorm, 16 Large, Vedet, Stout Cortez, Blankus Larry, Little Big Heart, and East Coast Caravan have all been invited to play.
For further information about #DCWEEK’s schedule visit www.digitalcapitalweek.org
###
Music Metro Source Networking Event
Tuesday, June 15th
6.30pm – 9.30pm
Bar Louie
701 7th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20001
Cost – $20 includes 2 drinks and a shared appetizer
Register – http://metromusicsource.eventbrite.com/
Performing Artists Clinic – How To Use The Web To Your Advantage
Saturday, June 19th
3.30pm – 4.30pm
UMC Conference Facility
900 Massachusetts Ave NW,
Washington DC 20001
Cost – FREE
Register – http://schedule.digitalcapitalweek.org/event/8499852ed01204b92f45fc5618a88b97
9:30 Club Closing Party
Saturday, June 19th
10pm – 3.30am
9:30 Club
815 V Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
Cost – $20
Register – http://techarts930.eventbrite.com/
Tags: #DCWEEK, Music Industry, networking, Washington DC
Posted in DC music, Music Industry, marketing, music | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 7th, 2010
 One Fan At A Time: Building Your Music Biz To The Max
One Fan Consulting (run by industry veteran Dave Sherbow) offer a free 75 page e-book that is full of resources, advice, and guides showing artists how to make money in the ever changing music industry. Go to the One Fan Consulting website HERE to access.
The New RockStar Philosophy
This is a must-read for all artists. A comprehensive step by step guide covering everything from branding, online presence, touring, merchandise, networking and more. Access the e-book HERE. The blog is also a great read too.
Squeezing The Show
If you’re artist trying to figure out how to handle the complex business of tour booking and tour marketing then I highly recommend reading the free e-book called “Squeezing The Show”. It was written by Ben Coe from The Artist Farm, an artist management company, formerly from Red Light, one of the major management firms in the US. Download the PDF HERE.
Posted in Music Industry, Social media, marketing, music | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
I’ve been noticing more and more that some musicians are sticking to their personal Facebook page to promote their music rather than opting for a Facebook fan page. I think it’s extremely important for every musician to have a Facebook fan page for the following reasons:
1. It strengthens your online brand instantly by keeping the personal and professional separate.
2. It’s automatically set as a public page so it’s more effective for search engine indexing and viral marketing.
3. It offers the “insight tools” function which provides information on how fans interact with your page. You can view traffic and fan demographics. You can also export your data into an excel sheet.
4. You can send messages to fans according to their geographical location and demography. Therefore your marketing becomes targeted.
5. You can exploit the power of indirect connections to boost your fan base. For example you can ask your fan base to recommend your page to their friends.
A great book on Facebook marketing is ‘3,000 fans in 30 Days’ by the New Media School. I thoroughly recommend it!
Tags: Facebook, music marketing, musicians, Social media
Posted in Music Industry, Social media, marketing, music | 14 Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
I’m really excited to finally launch my ‘Music Marketing Workshop series’ in Washington DC! I’ve been thinking about it for a long time now and really wanted to offer another service to musicians and music industry pros outside of my usual monthly PR and marketing campaigns.
The first installment entitled ‘Online Marketing For Musicians: Part 1’ is co-hosted with Sisarina, DC’s leading web marketing company. I really wanted to host a workshop that would provide both a music industry and non-music industry perspective. All musicians should see themselves as a small business. Therefore I was keen to combine my knowledge with Melanie Spring from Sisarina, who has successfully helped to launch numerous small businesses in the DC area.
I encourage all musicians and music industry pros to provide as much feedback as possible as to what they would like me to cover in future workshops. I want to cater these workshops around their needs, and make them as interactive as possible.
You can download the flyer for ‘Online Marketing For Musicians’ HERE.
Tags: music marketing workshop, online branding, Social media
Posted in Music Industry, Social media, marketing, music | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
I was very lucky to meet the lovely Mary Adkins, founder of SeeJoeRock, at a monthly music industry networking event that I co-host with two industry colleagues in Washington DC (called the Metro Music Source). I was really keen to find out more about how Mary was helping musicians in the Greater DC area and beyond, and what SeeJoeRock was all about. I quickly signed up as an ‘Industry Pro’ and asked Mary to answer some questions for me regarding the SeeJoeRock philosophy and history.
1. What gave you the inspiration to create www.seejoerock.com?
I’ve owned a Graphic design company for the past 10 years and in that time, have worked with several musicians and bands as well as knew many artists on a personal level, that had basically been doing just about everything they could to promote themselves – by themselves. They were using sites like MySpace and Facebook as their main sources of online presence, but with the over-abundance of musicians as well as everyday people on the sites, viewers noticing them or even finding them for that matter, was far fetched unless they already knew or heard about them or their music.
Most artists also only had a small circle of “people they knew” in the industry, and had the mentality that they needed to live in NY or CA for the “right people”, or any industry pro for that matter, to ‘discover’ them. I wanted to create a way to bridge that gap. With the design and development tools and skills I already had, I decided to develop a website that put these unsigned, DIY, emerging type musicians, bands, solo artists etc in the spotlight – and create a way to directly connect them with music industry pros in any corner of that field that could help them take their music and music career to the next level. (Pros like Agents, Labels, and Promoters to Screen-printers, Photographers, Radio personalities, Booking Agents, T-shirt designers etc). In Jan 2008, www.seejoerock.com was born. The site took about a year to build and it launched in April 2009.
2. How is SeeJoeRock different from other social networking sites?
Its focus audience is for a specific niche group – Musicians who are dedicated to making a career with their music and are serious about taking that next step in making that happen, and industry professionals whose target client base are these indie type of musicians they offer their services to. It’s been often referred as the “LinkedIn” for Musicians.
To keep things user friendly, SJR offers the same familiar structure as most social networking sites as far as a profile goes – you can upload your bio, list your talents & skills and years of experience, to uploading photos, mp3s, videos, status updates and an area to post your events. Much like the other sites, you can add other users to your network, comment on their profiles or send them private messages. You can also add their events to your own “I’m attending” calendar.
But this isn’t your little sister’s social networking playground. The users are other emerging musicians and industry professionals who are all there for the same reason – to connect, network, give-advice, assist and help each other gain exposure. (There’s also an area for Super Fans to just help spread the word!). SJR also offers a place to post Classifieds or “Wanted Postings” – Say if a band is looking for a drummer, they can post an ‘Ad’ up free and any user on the site can respond, which will link back to their profile to allow that connection to begin.
SJR also promotes these musicians (as well as the pros) by featuring a new one every couple of weeks and puts them in the spotlight! These featured users get put right on our homepage. Their videos get posted front and center on the homepage as well as in our header graphics, quick links to their profiles, blasted on all of our other social networking sites, added to our blogs, newsletters, and online press releases. Each week the musician, as well as the pro, gets to plug themselves live on a fast growing internet radio partner (JJDJRadio.com) during our weekly Wednesday night ‘SJR segment’ which also promotes the site as well as the featured users and other events.
We’re also adding several new tools and cool features that will be hitting the site very soon! And more contests are in the works! And to be a part of all of this.. is free.
3. Who are the top 5 artist on SeeJoeRock.com who you believe are going to be hot in 2010?
That’s a tough question. There are many many artists on SJR who are incredibly talented and are very driven to succeed.
A few however that I can name that are well on their way are:
1. Taylor Berrett one of SJR’s first members, we just found out in Nov, was signed with Motown/Universal!!
2. Zack Borer just informed us that his music was selected as a pre-load for the new “Google Nexus One” phone.
3. The Neon Rush was just signed by SJR Pro / Record Label, RYO Records and just launched their new album this past week with them.
4. Power Pirate a hot new and young D.C. area band (as young as 15) hit the ground running! Shortly after winning the SJR Music Video Contest held with SJR Pro, Blue Light Digital Sound, they won a spot in the NAMM SchoolJam Battle of the Bands and will be flying to California to perform.
(You can read here for full info: http://www.power-pirate.com/vote.html)
4. What advice do you have for emerging artists who are trying to establish themselves in an increasingly saturated online world?
- Join SeeJoeRock.com! *wink *wink.
- If you’re serious about becoming successful, treat yourself, your music, your band.. as a business. If you don’t know how, find someone that can help you do this.
- You need to create your brand, be marketable, and market yourself.
- Promote yourself, music and shows non-stop.
- Keep in touch with your fans, give them an incentive – free show or downloads.
- Keep your online profiles updated and fresh.
- You can accomplish a lot on your own, but wearing too many hats can wear anyone out.. know when it’s time to find help and allow them to do what they do best so you can focus on what you do best.
- and last but definitely not least, believe in yourself.. if you don’t invest that in yourself, how can you expect others to invest in you?
Tags: marketing, Music Industry, music industry professionals, social networking, unsigned musicians
Posted in Music Industry, Social media, Uncategorized, marketing, music | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
I had the pleasure of meeting David Sherbow in September and October of this year. Firstly at the Dewey Beach Music Conference where he was a panelist, and then again at the Future of Music Policy Summit and Baltimore Music Conference (where he was also a panelist).
David has worked in the music industry for over 40 years, and has been a major player in the hip-hop music market with his independent record promotions companies. He has worked for artists such as Jay-Z, Ludacris, DMX, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Kanye West, Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, and Pharrell.
David is now busy promoting his latest music industry venture, livemusicmachine.com, which is a pioneering new music booking platform for artists and fans alike. He also runs the insightful music industry blog musicbizguy.com. He kindly answered some quick fire questions for me:
1. What is livemusicmachine.com?
DS: Livemusicmachine is an easy to use online widget which allows every band and artist in the world to be booked simply and easily from virtually anywhere on the Internet, at anytime and by anyone.
LiveMusicMachine’s booking widget can be placed almost anywhere, including an artist’s MySpace page, their Facebook fan page and even directly onto their YouTube videos. LiveMusicMachine has an easy to use feature that gives artists the ability to auction themselves off to the highest bidder. Fans, on the other hand, have the ability to pool their resources to book their favorite band or to make an offer if they can’t handle a band’s price or requirements.
2. Why is livemusicmachine.com so empowering for musicians?
DS: Most artists who look for gigs approach it by looking up the food chain to night clubs and other live music venues. Instead they should be looking down the food chain to their fans, and the thousands of potential house parties, dorm parties, college parties, private concerts, after parties, meet and greets etc. If their fans knew how easy and relatively inexpensive it was to find and book their favorite local, regional and national artists, they would book them all the time.
The LiveMusicMachine booking widget provides bands with a well designed, 3 different view artist calendar from which they can be booked directly by fans and clubs. The widget’s look, ease of use, and utility for artists means it empowers them to be immediately booked by fans and clubs from anywhere online.
I believe that artists will replace their calendars everywhere on the Internet with the LiveMusicMachine widget thereby substantially increasing their opportunities to be booked and make money. Within a few weeks, artist managers and booking agents will be able to manage all of their artists with one user name and password. They will be able to field offers from one place and see all of their artists’ dates individually from a separate calendar or together on an overview calendar.
3. What’s the most inspiring success story you’ve heard recently of an up and coming band breaking through in a creative and original way?
DS: Amanda Palmer. You can read the good and bad things about what she has done but she is very creative. Although she has done some truly inspiring things, she has also managed to shoot herself in the foot too.
4. What advice do you have for emerging artists who are trying to establishing themselves in an increasingly saturated online world?
DS:Everybody who writes music dreams of becoming a successful money making artist. Before they let this dream run away with them, people need to take a deep breath, sit down and really ask themselves what level of time, resources and commitment they are willing to devote to a career in music. Personally assess yourself. Focus on who you really are and ask yourself if your could really be that person that makes it in the music business. Dig deep and then answer the question honestly without pulling any punches. If you decide that you really have the music, the charisma and the drive and focus, then put your nose to the grindstone, and work as hard as you can and go for it!!
Tags: marketing, music booking, Music Industry
Posted in Music Industry, Social media, marketing, music | 24 Comments »
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