Online Music Marketing and Artist Promotion

I recently read this book and my mind has been running a mile-a-minute since. I have been filled with ideas and inspiration. I wanted to let you know about this awesome resource.

Have you ever wondered how the Hip Hop Nation was formed and what are the guiding philosophies behind the movement? Hip Hop has made a huge impact on the music industry and popular culture overall. The music and culture continues to play a major role in trend setting all over the world.

Russell Simmonsis the man that started “Def Jam Records” in the 1980’s and went on to create “Def  Comedy Jam” and “Def Poetry Jam”. I found it extremely interesting to find out how this music industry mogul operates in his day-to-day life. One thing I learned about Russell Simmons, is that he has found success in so many of his business ventures. In this book he shares the life philosophies that guide him through each and every business venture.

It doesn’t matter if you’re into hip hop, folk, punk or polka music. This book will give you a window into how to succeed and operate in this world. If you have any appreciation for Hip Hop’s contribution to today’s music industry.You will love this book. Its called: Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success and I totally recommend that you check it out.

Tom Siegel

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Most of the comments at the recent Digital Music Forum West in Hollywood, CA painted a nasty-ugly picture of the state of the music industry. There were statistics spewed demonstrating the drastic decline in music purchases via digital downloads, CD sales and the like. This is no surprise to me, the old music industry model is not long for this world. Music appreciators no longer feel that they need to pay for music. People who had been paying for music are now paying less due to the continued decline in the industry coupled with the continued decline in the economy at large.

There was at least one optimistic voice of note at the event. I am generally an optimist and am usually interested in the negative point of view for the sole reason of trying to find the silver lining in the situation. I didn’t have to try hard this time. The comments of James Lamberti gave me just what I was looking for.

James Lambertiis the Vice President of marketing & Artist Services at the company Topspin. Topspin is a music marketing firm that specializes in helping artists promote and sell their products online. Lamberti insisted that all was not lost. Sure musicians aren’t making the kind of money that they used to from digital downloads or CD sales, but there are other ways for musicians to generate revenue. According to Lamberti Topspin Musicians are finding some success by offering bundles of goods and premium-priced packages with high profit margins. Lamberti went on to say that Topspin artists are seeing average revenue of $18 per transaction. This is more than what the average album sells for digitally or even in a physical CD format.

I can’t say for sure at this time that Topspin is a good company. I have not conducted a formal review. Therefore, I am going to need to know more about what Lamberti and Topspin are doing. I will be investigating further if Topspin artists are really finding ways to monetize their brand and what exactly Topspin is doing to assist them.

Tom Siegel

P.S - Sign up for free reviews of products and services available online for independent musicians @ http://www.onlineartistpromotion.com. Sign up for my FREE reviews RIGHT NOW and get a FREE BONUS REPORT full of great helpful tips for independent musicians.

P.P.S. – By signing up for my free reviews you will be automatically notified when I have completed my investigation/review of Topspin.

Recently I had the good fortune of speaking with Kevin Rivers. Kevin is the founder and CEO of WaTunes an online digital media distribution company. At the time, WaTunes was getting ready to launch the next generation of services that they are calling the WaTunes New Experience. I had Kevin walk me through the particulars of the upcoming program. I picked his brain on how the service will work and how it will benefit musicians. He was willing to explain to me, step-by-step, everything about the upcoming WaTunes service and its marketing arm Music Expand. Below is an overview of the company. For a full detailed review click here .

Overview

There are really three parts to the WaTunes experience within two companies. There is WaTunes, which includes both digital distribution and social networking for musicians, music fans, record labels and the like and Music Expand, which handles marketing and promotion. WaTunes describes itself this way:

“WaTunes is a social media distribution service that enables artists, groups, and record labels to sell music, music videos, and audio books through leading online entertainment retailers, including iTunes, ShockHound, and eMusic. Artists and labels can sell unlimited music and earn 100% of their profits – ALL FOR FREE!”

WaTunes was established in 2006. The original concept of WaTunes was as a community forum for music artists to meet together and share their music. This eventually grew into a record label under the name Xeinge (pronounced gee-en-gee). In 2006 Rivers decided to offer distribution to Itunes. Xeinge began to add stores and other distributors to their service, and started to find flaws in the distribution models that they were utilizing. So they decided to handle the distribution themselves. This is when the company WaTunes was created under the parent company Xeinge. In an effort to broaden the services offered by the company Rivers will be adding a social networking concept with a number of innovative features. The hope is that through this addition WaTunes will be able to better cater to musicians and music fans alike. Rivers has also developed services in music marketing and promotion. Music Expand, launched early February of 2009, is a marketing and promotion service that is set up to benefit musicians and musical groups (however, they are reportedly capable of marketing and promoting any business or service through their marketing and promotion specialists). Music Expand offers a wide variety of services that can be chosen individually, and combined to ones specific preference.

Be sure to check out the full review at: http://onlineartistpromotion.com/watunes.