Music Marketing in the Digital Age

A recent article on the Digital Media Wire site offered a short list of tips for promoting music in the digital age. Here are my four favorites:

• Utilize MySpace and other web sites to their full potential and don't be afraid to give your music away for free. If one million people listen to your songs online, don't see it as you just lost $1 million in potential sales. See it as you just got radio play in 100 markets.
  
  
• You have to learn new ways of viral marketing, including widgets and blog search engines. And don't be afraid to experiment with putting your music in new places and contexts.
  
  
• Look at what the most progressive record labels are doing with their artists, like Canadian Nettwerk and Barenaked Ladies, and try to copy it.
  
  
• Good music is still good music. Content is still king. True talent will prevail somehow. You just have to keep an open mind about it.

Solid ideas to keep in mind as you find your place on the digital music frontier!

-Bob

Wanna create a music buzz online? Check out my special report 50 Ways to Promote and Sell Your Music on the Internet.

Co-Create With Your Fans

Are your music fans active partners with you in creating your music and promotion? If not, they should be.

In chapter 5 of the new Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook I write about the importance of co-creating with your fans. It's a new, interactive world ... so you'd better embrace it. Gone are the days when consumers were passive absorbers of marketing messages. More and more they're becoming hands-on participants.

Case in point:



Last week I asked subscribers to my Buzz Factor ezine to send me photos, video and/or audio of them endorsing my books. Something more concrete than the traditional text-only "I love Bob's book." -Jane Doe.

Steve Dockendorf took the idea and ran with it. First, he sent me the photo above. Then he recorded a simple video and posted it on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7moUCE56oKU
(Be sure to turn up the volume to hear it.)

Watch it and see how he cleverly plugs his own music and web site and asks for listener feedback. Also note that, by promoting my books, he gets a bonus boost of exposure from me talking about him!

Here's another one -- a digital pic of Scott Macmillan enjoying my Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook:



Scott is a renowned instrumentalist, composer and conductor from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since he took the trouble to pose for this picture and send it, you can bet I'll plug his web site as well.

See how this co-creation thing works? Make this same kind of offer to your fans.

And, if you'd like to see your image and link on these pages, send me your best digital photos or a link to a video of you saying something nice about my books and ideas.

So ... get out there and co-create!

-Bob

Wanna create a music buzz online? Check out my special report 50 Ways to Promote and Sell Your Music on the Internet.

The Power of Face to Face

I was reminded of a powerful principle this past weekend. A principle you can use to further your music career.

I spent five action-packed days in New York City cramming an insane amount of activity into a short time frame. I attended and spoke at PMA's Publishing University, walked the endless aisles of booths at Book Expo America, and spent more than eight hours giving two indie music publicity workshops with PR dynamo Ariel Hyatt.

Yes, it was tiring. And yes, just thinking about airports and shuttle buses and luggage makes me cringe. But the people aspect of all this frenzy made it all worth it. (Check out my Flickr page to see some of the highlights.)

I hope you feel the same way about connecting in person with your fans and music business friends. Face to face interaction is vital!

For several years, my primary connection to the public was online. I spent hours on my computer at home spreading my words and ideas across the Internet. I still do. And that approach was proven to be very effective.

But it will never beat speaking with real, live human beings in person. I traveled more in the past year than I did in the previous five years combined (thanks in large part to the encouragement of my girlfriend, Pooki). And the experiences have been invaluable.

If you attended last weekend's publicity workshop, you know what I mean. We all learned more from each other in a live group setting then we ever could have through any high-tech "virtual" setting. Meeting people I had only known before through email was priceless.

So, make the effort to attend music conferences and workshops. Spend face time with your fans. Introduce yourself to people at networking functions. You know the drill.

Nothing is on the schedule at the moment, but keep an eye on my travel and speaking schedule. Hopefully, I'll get to meet you in person soon at an event near you.

Happy travels!

-Bob


Check out the revised and updated edition of Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, with four new chapters on Internet music promotion. Get more details here.

Music Audio Tips on Snocap

I just opened a Snocap account and loaded it up with some of my best spoken-word tips and advice. You can listen to 30-second samples, then purchase and download individual MP3 tracks.



If there's a demand, I'll add more. Let me know what you think.

-Bob


Check out the revised and updated edition of Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, with four new chapters on Internet music promotion. Get more details here.

Everything You Need to Know About Music Marketing

Confused about music marketing? Read this and you won't be ...

Last month, Mark Cuban posted some thoughts on the changing music industry on his blog. These two sentences really caught my attention:

"Music is not just entertainment, but a tool for people to describe themselves to those around them. We use music in our ring tones, on MySpace pages, blasting through the windows of cars to let people know something about who we are."

It's true. The type of music a person listens to speaks volumes about who they are. In much the same way that hair styles, clothing choices, car models and body piercings indicate who someone is.

So, let's get introspective about this for a moment. Ask yourself: "What does my music say about the people who listen to it?" What kind of socio-economic vibe does your sound plug into?

It is earthy and rugged? Sexy and grooving? Smooth and sophisticated? Hard and heavy? Upbeat and bouncy?

And if we compare music to other shopping choices that people make, where do you fit in: Neiman Marcus, Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Winn-Dixie, Barnes & Noble, Sears, or Dollar General?

Fans are attracted to music that either resonates with who they already are or reflects the type of person they wish they could be.

It's about hopes and dreams and aspirations and finding one's place in the world. It's about using music to support self-image and express your personality to the world.

In other words, music is personal.

When marketing music, we may talk about niche markets and target audiences, blogs and podcasts, radio and TV, retail and online sales, etc.

But all it's ever really been about is one thing: Connecting with real people through your music in a very personal way.

Always remember that and you'll never be confused about marketing again.

-Bob


Check out the revised and updated edition of Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, with four new chapters on Internet music promotion. Get more details here.

June 2 NYC Music PR Workshop, 2nd Session Added

Every seat for the June 2 "Indie Music Publicity Bootcamp" I'll be doing with publicist Ariel Hyatt sold out in just a few days. So we decided to add a second session later the same day, from 3 to 7 PM, at the same midtown Manhattan location.

If you're in the area and interested, secure your seat fast -- because they won't last long. Just go to this page:

www.bob-baker.com/buzz/nyc-music-pr.html

Hope to see you there!

-Bob

11 Reasons Not to Sign With a Major Label

Lefsetz is at it again, this time with his latest blog post, Reasons Not To Sign With The Major Labels. Here are my favorite parts:

3. They don't pay you. Oh, they'll give you an ever-shrinking advance. But royalties? No one sells enough albums to go into royalties anymore. And they own the rights to the recording. Terry McBride's got it right: You want to control all the rights, so you can license INSTANTLY! So you don't have to get someone on the phone to say YES to YOU about YOUR music!

Oh, they'll give you money to get started, but it's like making a deal with the Mafia. They own you, forever.

8. They only want you once you've proven yourself independently. If you've created the base, why give up control now?

11. They specialize in saying no. Music is now about inspiration, made by the seat of one's pants. You have to do business the same way. In this fast, ever-changing world, you need to take risks, you've got to make snap decisions, you've got to be able to say yes, QUICKLY! The major is against innovation, it's hard to get an answer AT ALL, never mind YES!

You want to give your new track away for free? No! They won't even let you SELL IT if it competes with the track they're working at radio/in the marketplace. It's not about artistry, but commerce.

Lefsetz sums it up with this gem:

But, if all you care about is commerce, if you want all your money up front, if you want to whore yourself out to corporations, do whatever it takes to sell your lame, paint by numbers, built by committee music ... then sign with the major label. I hope you achieve your goal and get instantly rich, because after this instant, you'll be done.

Brilliant! Still want a record deal?

-Bob