Creating a Music Community #2
Creating a music community is vital to sustaining the life of your music career. Here are a few ways to begin opening up the conversation between yourself and your audience. And check out this previous post on Creating a Music Community #1. On-stage Banter I went to a concert last year where the headliner didn’t speak to [...]
It’s All In the Packaging
I watched this commercial the other day and said “That is SO stupid! Why would Orbitz spend thousands of dollars of airtime to talk about the colorful boxes their gum comes in?!” And then, when I was in Rite-Aid today I decided to buy a pack of Orbitz because I liked the packaging. It wasnt [...]
Statistics Rule the World
Its true. Mass media is governed by statistics. Why are commercials for electronic devices and video games more likely to run during sports games? Why do so many grocery and makeup product commercials run during Oprah? How come a network like BET is more likely to show a black family in a car commercial than CMT? [...]
3 Big Mistakes That Artists Make
The below suggestions have probably appeared on Grassrootsy in various posts, but last week I thought I’d loosely keep tabs on artist emails and FB messages and tweets just to see what people are still doing these days. Here are a few… 1. Falling off the map What!? Who are you? Oh…I almost forgot because [...]
The Artist and The Image
I’m currently watching Independence Day and realizing that Will Smith really isn’t the greatest actor in the world…at least not back in the 90′s and probably not even now. Truthfully, there are much better male actors BUT everyone seems to love him. And here’s why. As an artists, we don’t necessarily have an obligation to [...]
Are You A Brand Name?
Yesterday, a friend of mine says I was a brand name. First I was confused, then I laughed a bit, and then I started to put two-and-two together. Now…by no means do I think that my music and image have reached brand name status, but i started thinking about what it really means to be [...]
Ode to Steve Jobs and The Job of Music-Making
Who hasn’t been affected by the death of Steve Jobs? I’m actually not an iPhone user (or a user of any Mac products), but i have alot of respect for this guy. My genuine interest in him began rather late in the game. In fact, I was on the road this past August and came [...]
An Interview with Amanda Duncan
New Jersey artist, Amanda Duncan, is an artist who steals the show even before she gets on stage. She has a knack for grabbing the attention of music lovers because she really stands out! She’s a a funny chick with a knack for transfering her comical personality into her online representation. Just like Allison Weiss, [...]
Good Marketing for an Upcoming CD Release
A couple independent artists are releasing CD’s next month and have some great self promotion to go along with it. So I thought I’d highlight the efforts of a full time independent artist named TJ Cornwall. Hopefully this information will help a few of you who might be putting out new projects or just need some good marketing ideas from a [...]
"Distribution Follows Marketing"
“Distribution follows Marketing.” Its a very popular saying in the music industry. Many artists wonder why they still have 5 boxes of CDs sitting in their basement or why no one’s buying their music on iTunes. Don’t be deceived, getting your music on iTunes or Napster does make it accessible, but it does not generate [...]
Incredible Resources You’ve Never Heard About #4
I especially love writing this series b/c it tends to get the most feedback from artists. To see other posts in the “Incredible Resources” series, click here. Kickstarter Ok, I ran into Kickstarter last month, and I LOVE the concept. Chances are that you fall into the same category as most aspiring artist - lotta passion, [...]
Creating a Killer Marketing Plan for Your Music
While visiting Artist House Music (and incredible music business site) today, I came across a really rock-solid marketing plan by Boston-based Band Convey. It prompted me to put up this post. Make sure to check out Convey’s Marketing Plan when you have a chance. The key to having a killer marketing plan is being practical. Yea…you’re [...]
CDBaby vs. Paypal
Ok, perhaps this posting will only be relevant if you have a CD… If you’re like most independent artists, you’re either working with Discmakers or Oasis to mass produce your CD and line up digital distribution via iTunes, Napster, PayPlay…etc. Discmakers tends to be the most popular and the avenue I’m most familiar with. Dismakers [...]
Drawing Traffic to your Website – Part 1
There are so many ways to draw traffic to your website(s)…and they all work. The basic rule is to update your website as often as you want people to visit. Don’t expect people to visit your site regularly if there’s nothing new to keep them engaged. DEFAULT IMAGE Change your default image (facebook) regularly. Weekly. [...]
Perception is Reality
It took me a while to figure out what my first write-up for this blog would be. But I’m going to start with something that will probably tie together any subject matter covered in this blog. Perception is Reality. I should preface this by saying that you wont be reading anything extremely profound but just some things [...]
