Online Music Marketing and Artist Promotion

I keep hearing about musicians who have hooked up with retailers as part of a promotion that the retailer is running. This practice is becoming more and more widely utilized among musicians. Recently Bealls Department Stores hooked up with Fabian Hernandez, a former Bealls model to play in stores while people shop. Retailer / musician relationships are not necessarily new. Big name musicians hook up with big retailers all the time to promote their products. Of course musicians have licensed their music to retailers for a particular ad campaign in the past (this was referred to among  musicians as selling out for a long time). Here’s the thing, now you can’t entirely count on CD sales to propel you into riches or even into a comfortable financial position in life. Your audience wants your music for free! That’s what most people are used to at this point. I am not going to bother with the argument about whether this is right or wrong, but I will say that it can be lucrative to go with the flow.

While it used to be considered selling out to license your music to a retailer for use in an ad campaign it doesn’t seem to be anymore. I was listening to NPR the other morning about a company called Agoraphone who provide a service putting music into radio and television ads. This is becoming such a popular revenue stream for musicians that now many will record an instrumental version of a song that is advertiser ready while they are in the studio recording the rest of their album. This reminds me of one of Chris Anderson’s “FREE” models in his newest book entitled FREE. This is the “dump the cost on the advertiser” model. It is the revised dump the cost on the retailer model to be sure. A good example of the old version was radio. You listen to the music and pay nothing but you have to listen to the ads between songs which the advertisers pay dearly for. This new model goes something like this. Your fans download your music for free and you turn around and utilize the notoriety that you’ve gained from giving your music away to land yourself a gig with a retailer who will pay you well for increased exposure for their product.

I have seen this type of musician / retailer relationship elsewhere also. I live about 10 minutes from LL Bean in Freeport Maine. LL Bean puts on a summer concert series every year where they put on a concert in a lawn area right outside their flagship store. Sometimes they have some big names playing and the entire town of Freeport gets even more flooded with people than it already was. Last year Keb Mo was in the series and this year Blues Traveler and The Wallflowers. This is really nice for the residents of the area because the concert is free. We all enjoy the opportunity to see these concerts (even if it isn’t a big name performer) free of charge. But you should see the LL Bean store after the show (LL Bean is open 24 hours so they are able to serve the mad rush of people who all-of-a-sudden decided they needed to buy a fleece at 11:00 at night). This works out well for everyone involved.

After hearing about so many of these relationships popping up, sometimes involving little known artists, I started thinking… Would it not be possible if you are an Independent Musician with a good local following, to perform in a local retailer’s shop one day and draw a bunch of customers into the store and why wouldn’t the store want to pay you for that increased exposure. You would be able to treat it like another gig and a good opportunity to connect with your fans, your fans would enjoy a free concert and the retailer would have a packed store for a day. Everybody wins.

Overall I would encourage you to get creative and try something that not everyone tries. Putamayo developed a small empire marketing their world music compilations in book stores and boutique shops around the country. I would also think that you would have a more captive audience. Think about this… Most people aren’t expecting to hear live music while they are shopping. You would think that they are more likely to notice what you are playing if they weren’t expecting to hear it in the first place. As opposed to the local pub where they expect to hear music and therefore don’t notice it as readily.

Tom Siegel

P.S. – I have a newsletter especially for musicians to keep you posted on the latest products and services available on the internet. Visit www.onlineartistpromotion.com and recieve a free report full of usefull tricks and tips on maintaining an email subscriber list, how to make a music business plan, sales copy tips for musicians, and more. I look forward to connecting with you in the newsletter, Thank You!

In this day and age there are so many tools and resources available to the Independent Musician to assist in marketing their music and promoting their brand. Social media served as a major milestone in this indie artist marketing  revolution. Thousands of artists and bands have taken advantage of the many benefits of social media and web 2.0 and thousands more have not. It seems that music fans were ecstatic at the opportunity to befriend their favorite artists and have access to all sorts of music on demand. MySpace certainly was an eye opener for the world of music marketing and independent musician promotion.

I think the biggest question now is… what’s next? If your marketing model is solely dependent on or social networking websites I think it is time to really consider some possible alternatives. I personally believe that the social networking bubble is poised to pop. I know I’m not alone in that theory but I’m sure that there are those that disagree. Most people I know who used to spend a lot of time on MySpace visiting bands pages and checking out new music are tending to go to their MySpace page and go directly to their inbox and sign out.  Predicting where it is going next is like throwing a dart into a dark room hoping that there is even a dart board in that room at all.

I don’t have a crystal ball so I am not going to attempt to predict the next hot marketing venue for musicians or music as a whole. But here’s a thought that has been a solid investing concept for quite some time… Diversify. I definitely suggest that musicians put some energy into social networking. There are still huge benefits to be realized through social networking websites, I’m just saying its time to get ready for the idea that the boom is over. In that case look for other baskets to put the rest of your eggs in.

Do you have a blog? That’s also a great way for you to connect with your fans. You’ll have to put a bit of energy into driving traffic to your blog but most of the techniques to attract traffic are also good ways to connect with your fans. The more you are doing to connect with your fans the more success you’ll enjoy. Seems to me that things like Pandora or Spotify are heating up (I know I said no predictions but this is really a question mark more than a prediction). How’s this for a sign of the times… MySpace just bought ilike.com. Major companies are starting to advertise on these Internet radio stations. You can too. Check out my post on August 12 about My Music Success teaming up with XL Radio to provide air play and advertising time for Independent Musicians. TuneCore
has a relationship with Jango Radio where they are able to guarantee airplay if you are working with TuneCore.

There are also several really effective creative things you can do. Think about different marketing and promotion avenues you can go down and don’t be afraid to learn something new. You might get it wrong the first couple times you try it, but if you eventually learn how to take advantage of a new resource you will be happy that you tried. Stay tuned for future posts about new marketing and promotion ideas. I will post on anything new I stumble across as well as anything I think of in the meantime.

Tom Siegel

I completely understand that you are a musician, not a salesperson. You’re into creativity, not marketing. In my experience, artists don’t want to take themselves to school on the business end of their creations. Here’s the thing, and I have said this before, but if you don’t make money with your music then its a hobby not a profession. I don’t want to put that down in any way. Keeping your passion as your hobby is sometimes the way to go. You’re a lot less likely to get squeezed into a box. 

Let’s say you are going to go the professional route… you’re going to have to learn something about marketing. There are many ways these days of marketing your music without knowing the first thing about the traditional marketing techniques utilized in print, radio and television. The use of social networking websites is a good example of powerful marketing techniques that don’t necessarily require a professional marketer to be successful at.

Marketing (in its traditional sense) is an art form within itself. There are several aspects of marketing that a marketing professional should be well trained in. Such as the visual affect of the layout of an ad, or the sound or the color and so on. The of marketing that deals with developing a direct relationship with your customers (fans). In my opinion an artist would benefit greatly from studdying copywriting and adapting the tried and true techniques as well as the newer techniques adapted for the Internet to their music or brand.

In my searches I found Aaron Poehler, a professional freelance copywriter, who has a very useful blog post entitled On Music Copywriting and Copywriting for Musicians (Not Copyrighting). I encourage you to check out this post as well as some of what the copywriting experts have to say. Pick up a book on copywriting. There is not a lot of material out there specific to copywriting for musicians but the concepts are adaptable.

I know this is many times exactly what musicians and artists do not want to do, but if you are going to promote yourself in your music career (and I recommend you do), you will need to take yourself to school to learn the ropes of both the new and the old.

Tom Siegel

mymusicsuccess.com is a music promotion company that offers a variety of promotion packages for independent musicians. The stated goal of the company is… “to inspire independent musicians to take control of their music career and take the steps towards true independent music success.” The company offers a range of promotion services from, what they call, an “Indie one shot publicity blast”, where they apparently offer a one time exposure to a number of main stream sources to customized a la carte promotional assistance.

Yesterday mymusicsuccess.com announced a partnership with XL Radio to provide Internet radio play (guaranteed 4 plays per day) and various other promotional services such as a professionally produced radio ad promoting their track or album and a banner ad in the music player allowing the listener to click through to the artists website or to the download store.

I am glad to see the emerging partnerships that focus on creating more effective assistance and opportunity for the independent musician. I will be watching this relationship and will fill you in on my observations as more services develop.

Tom Siegel

As many of you already know Tunecore recently announced a joining of forces with Universal Music Group. The point of this is partnership is that Independent artists that distribute through Tunecore will now be able to purchase ala carte major label services from UMG, such as access to recording studios and the production and promotion resources available through UMG. The announcement hints at many aspects of this partnership but does not entirely spell it out. There seems to be much that would benefit from clarification. There is some language about the services for the Independent Musician to be offered by UMG through Tunecore will be “affordable” but what that exactly means is anyone’s guess at this point. There will also be an opportunity for an Independent Musician working with Tunecore to get officially picked up by the UMG record label “assuming the label is agreeable”.

At this point most of people’s comments on the new partnership are in. While scanning the comments on various articles and blogs I found a healthy mix of comments. There are many who are excited about the partnership as it appears to be a sign that the record industry is finally coming around to meet some of the demand in the musician community. There are equally as many who have responded to the new arrangement between the two companies  not only with skepticism but anger that Tunecore, the innovative online music distribution company, has teemed up with the so called “enemy”. It makes sense to me that musicians are excited at the prospect of a shift in the music industry that could lead to some real changes down the line as well as skepical of major labels of the past playing any part in those changes.

For me personally, I am glad to see something new happen in the industry (even if it is UMG up to more dirty tricks, at least they are needing to find a new tactic and one that appears to give more power to the musician) but I am even more excited to see the conversation coming from the artists themselves about what they want the music industry to look like. My comments on the announcement are below. I wouldn’t say that I am without skepticism but I will say that I am intrigued and looking forward to seeing what happens next…

“This certainly seems like a valid step in the right direction. However, I (like several others) have a difficult time not being cynical. Below are a few questions that immediately come to mind that the announcement did not clarify .

1. Will UMG be utilizing the same marketing formats as they have been historically? It is my opinion that this ballgame has changed and the major labels have, up to this point, been behind the curve. Independent Musicians, given the right tools, are able to market themselves these days with very effective self-promotion techniques. Will UMG do better? I will be interested to find out some specifics.

2. What is considered “affordable” for the provided services?

3. If this is an A&R stunt for UMG (which, in the end that is what it is. Can’t blame them for that, like I said before it appears to be a decent shift in the right direction), how committed will they be to their marketing efforts for artists that they feel “don’t make the cut” to be taken under their Universal wing?

I certainly am excited to see a significant shift in the industry because I have dedicated my efforts to affecting some type of shift myself and we all know that we need it. This seems to me to be somewhat akin to the hybrid and the auto industry. Certainly a day late and possibly a dollar (or maybe fifty cents) short. I am looking forward to getting details before I drink the cool-aid. My biggest hope is that this is the beggining of several changes in direction. It would be a shame not to see more inovation to immediately follow. I find it dificult to believe that the promotion model of the major lables will be more effective than the self-promotion techniques that are employed by Independent Musicians.

I have to commend Tunecore for being at the center of this shift. It is my opinion that the company offers a fantastic service and now appear to have begun a trend that is geared toward servicing the industry. Thank you tunecore for your efforts”.

Tom Siegel
www.onlineartistpromo.com

The Recording Industry Association of America has announced recently that it plans on ceasing lawsuits on those who pirate music through services such as Kazaa, Limewire and others. This decision was made in response to a growing distaste for the RIAA in the eyes of the public due to their John Doe Lawsuit campaign.

However apparently lawsuits already in progress were continued. Recently Joel Tenenbaum, 25, of Providence Rohde Island was sued by four record labels for a total of $675,000. He had admitted to downloading approximately 800 songs, which works out to $22,500 per track. The artists that he admitted to downloading consisted of Nirvana, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins and others. If your band sounds like any of these bands, this kid is a potential fan of yours. This lawsuit is dwarfed by Jamie Thomas-Rasset’s story. A 32-year old woman from Minnesota who was found guilty and ordered to pay $1.92 million in damages for downloading 24 songs. In skimming the comments posted to all of the blogs out there that I reviewed, the response from the general public is nothing short of outrage. There is the occasional moral argument against stealing but the vast majority of the public as far as I can see, is overwhelmingly on the side of the underdog. Whatever your opinion is on the matter it is hard to ignore as an economic observation that the consumer wants to be able to share their music. You don’t have to think this is reasonable or right but you would do well, as an independent musician, to put whatever your opinion is aside and recognize what your potential fans are asking for, or downright demanding as the case may be. 

          The RIAA has clearly viewed piracy as a threat. Does it have to be? There are examples of marketing models that have utilized file sharing as an effective form of promotion. As an independent musician you are going to have to figure out what your view of the piracy issue is as it pertains to your music. Do you want people to share your music for free?

Tom Siegel

P.S. – Look for my upcoming article on piracy “How Does Piracy Affect the Independent Musician” to find out more information and tricks on how to use file sharing to benefit your own promotion model as an independent musician.