Insight into Retaining your Fans

Brian Mansfield of USATODAY wrote a great piece in Friday's edition about different ways artists are retaining their fans through interaction. Here's a snippet: "As CD sales decline, advances from record labels dwindle and audience demographics break up into smaller niches, more and more artists from all levels of popularity are seeking to retain fans by including them in the creative process."

The article may give you some ideas, and the comment thread is interesting as well.

SoundCloud on Indie Music Tech

For several months now I've been meaning to add a SoundCloud DropBox for artists to share their music with the IMT community. Well, tonight I had some time, so if you'd like to have the opportunity to have your music highlighted on IMT, all you have to do is send one track to my DropBox in the right sidebar. About once a month, I'll pick a track and highlight it here on IMT. It won't be reviewed; rather, I'll just share it with the IMT community.

I'll start with a track called Damn Love by the Dirt Drifters, a song I mentioned on Twitter a few months ago. This band is doing a great job sharing their demos on SoundCloud. Check it out, you may get some ideas.

BTW, I think SoundCloud is one of the top music tech companies out there; not to mention Alex is a great guy!

Submit Your News

For your convenience, you can now submit your news directly onto IMT. Just fill out the form and I'll review. To increase your chances of getting it posted, please make sure it's music tech related and newsworthy.

ArtistDish Releases Podcast #5

The ArtistDish released its 5th podcast today about some of the shifts and trends in print and digital media, gatekeepers, fandom, the gaming industry and more. It's our longest episode to date (1 full hour), and we are joined by music industry veteran, Barney Kilpatrick of Rattlesby Records, and one of our advisors, who provides a great deal of insight and sage advice, so if you’re an artist, you definitely want to listen to this episode.

Special thanks to Montana Skies for providing the intro music with their song, Gringo Flamenco.

Guest Bloggers Welcome

If you'd like to be a guest writer on IMT like Greg did yesterday, just send me an email with your proposal. It's a great way for you to promote your music, company, blog, etc., while sharing your thoughts with a larger community as well.

Guest Post: Do Bands and Musicians Understand What is Happening Online Right Now?

The guest post below was written by my friend, Greg Rollett of Endagon Innovations. Greg writes regularly on Gen-Y Rock Stars, a Social Music Marketing Blog and Resource for indie musicians. To get a free copy of his Social Media Sites for Musicians and the Rock Star Tool Kit, go here. If you'd like to reach Greg directly, please send him an email (rollettmarketing [at] gmail [dot] com).

(confused music photo by Adam Schilling)

Do Bands and Musicians Understand What is Happening Online Right Now?
I ask myself this question everyday when I see all of the small companies, corporations, brands and innovators taking advantage of tools, resources and conversations that are happening every second of every day online. I get scared when I see musicians still parking their homepage on Myspace, blasting out self promotions with no regards to getting real fans to have conversations with and not accepting feedback from that promotion.

We can start with Twitter, since everyone from the president to late night newbie Jimmy Fallon to, even, Facebook is taking notice of what is happening on this platform. Every second, there are thousands of links being shared, videos being passed, questions being asked and answered and music being streamed directly because of Twitter. In the music world there has been uproar of music related services and platforms devoted to heighten the music experience of Twitter. Roll call please:

Twisten
TinySong
Blip.fm
Tweettj
Song.ly
playTwitter
Twiturm
TwittyTunes (FireFox Plugin)

Then there are the Music Marketing people providing resources for how musicians can leverage twitter:

• Bob Baker’s Music Twitter Resources
• Ariel’s Publicity Twitter Roadmap

And don’t forget the ridiculously long crowd-sourced list of musicians on Twitter

• Musicians On Twitter – (Google spreadsheet)

But did you know that? Do bands see what is going on here?
Technology shrank physical sales and transformed us into a digital world. If you are willing to accept that fact, and embrace the tools, tactics and hard work that it takes to make these things work, there is a great chance that your music can be in more iPods, more YouTube channels, more blogs, more playlists, more countries, more options that ever before.

The key to getting the word out to musicians is to prove that this stuff we are preaching actually works. The reason Myspace friend adders/blasters/spammers were extremely popular and ultimately helped to ruin the site was because they worked. It was a numbers game, reach enough people and a few become fans.

The reality is that numbers were inflated, play counts skyrocketed and bands felt like the king of the mountain. Then you booked a show off your Myspace stats, invited the local music industry players who were also impressed, and you played an unrehearsed live show to the bartenders, wait staff and your frat buddies.

The reality is that developing fan relationships is the key to all the tools and websites out there today. The name of the game has become, how many people can I connect with, on a personal level?

• Can you broadcast your show via UStream and connect with fans that may never get to see you live?
• Can you throw a Meebo widget on your blog and talk to fans every Monday night for an hour about life, music, hobbies and pet peeves?
• Can you take photos at your shows with real fans, post them on Flickr, Facebook and Myspace, tag them and get the fans excited to tell their friends about the night? Can you do it the next morning and not wait 3 weeks to get around to it?
• Can you write a blog post so inspiring that 20 of your fans retweet it, their friends see it and pass it on and all of a sudden you get new traffic from new fans?
• Can you remember to send your monthly newsletter out every month? Can you use Champion Sound or FanBridge to collect emails on your websites and at your shows to grow your fan base?
• Can you look at your band's analytics to see how popular your music is, with whom, in what social networks, gauge where your fans are coming from, etc.?
• Can you create products on demand? Special shirts for special shows? Audiolife can do this for you, instantly. What about a lyrics book or a tour journal? Can you publish that as an eBook or physical book that someone can print on demand (think Lulu)?

The idea that musicians can now create content, have their fans talk about it directly to the band, and then have the band comment back while measuring the process and results is something that is so inspiring, it’s hard to find a reason to argue against it. Yes, it takes time, it might take some money, but this is your life, your business and your future.

Do you understand what is happening? Bands, do you get it?

The Atlanta Braves are Looking for Bands

Have you wanted to play at Turner Field in front of thousands of music fans like a few bands did in last year's competition, but you didn't know how to apply, or you missed the application process? Then go to www.braves.com/bravesbands and submit your information, as The Atlanta Braves are looking for a few bands to energize and entertain fans at Turner Field before some home games in 2009.  All genres are welcome to apply, but they seem to be focused on country, rock, pop, cover, and/or original indie bands. If selected, it's a great opportunity for exposure to a large audience, and who knows, maybe you'll get some airtime when they cut to/from a commercial break - good luck!

Rumblefish Agreement with YouTube is Most Significant Music Tech Deal of 2008

This afternoon I reflected a little bit on the last 12 months of news from the music tech industry, and I would submit that the Rumblefish Agreement with YouTube is the most significant music tech deal of 2008. A bold claim? Maybe, but hundreds of millions of people are watching billions of videos each month when you consider the entire global Internet population. That's a ton of potential revenue for artists and labels working with Rumblefish, and the deal will surely bring thousands of new artists to Rumblefish.

Another way to look at this deal is to conduct a simple search for videos on YouTube. It seems there are are currently about 360 million videos on YouTube. Even if you cut that number in half to account for duplicates, vlogs, channels, removed videos, erroneous search results etc., you're still talking about 120 million plus videos, and growing every minute, a trajectory that seems to be in line with Kansas State University's YouTube statistics from January through March of 2008.

It's easy to see that these numbers represent substantial revenue opportunities for the music industry, and I'm excited for artists, as this agreement will become an easy way for individuals to incorporate legal music into their videos.

So hats off to Rumblefish!

ArtistDish Looking for Music and Topics

If you're looking to get some exposure for your music, than contact ArtistDish as they're looking for music for the intro and outro of their shows. A new artist will be highlighted each show with a clip of their music (about 40 seconds total). The next ArtistDish broadcast is in about two weeks so you'll need to contact them by July 25. ArtistDish is also looking for suggestions for future shows. If your topic is selected, you'll receive props during the show.

MoFuse: Wicked Powerful Mobilization Tools for Musicians

Yesterday Hypebot announced you can now receive their feed to your mobile device via MoFuse. Curious about this startup which launched last fall, I set-up an account and was immediately impressed with their features and ease-of-use. Not to mention, it's Free!  For indie artists, this means you could use MoFuse as a Free tool to connect with your fans anytime, anywhere by allowing them to receive your blog feed on their iPhone, or via SMS to many types of mobile devices. All you have to do is register for a free account and provide your fans your mobile address (mine is http://m.mofuse.com/indiemusictech). Your fans will then receive links to your band's latest news (e.g. show updates). It will look similar to this on your iPhone:

 

You may also want to notify your fan community that you're now providing a mobile feed, as well as add a badge to your mobile landing page (mine is to the right of this post), which will display either a standard web enabled interface like this one or an iPhone interface. MoFuse has several additional tools like automatic mobile redirect, click 2 call and a tool to test your mobile display. I see lots of artist uses for this app, especially when you start combining it with other services like GrandCentral. What are you ideas for MoFuse as a tool to build your fan community?

Second Life, More than a Promotional Tool for Artists: Interview with Grace Buford (A.K.A. Cylindrian)

For several months I've wanted to interview an artist or band successfully using Second Life. A couple of weeks ago, Timothy Moenk sent me a link about a podcast that Rusty Tanton and Amber Rhea recently created on the Georgia Podcast Network with Grace Buford, an Atlanta based singer/songwriter. During this artist interview, Grace, A.K.A. Cylindrian, talks about her experience as a musician using Second Life to market her music. Her insight on how Second Life is helping her connect with new fans and promote her music is helpful, and so, I edited the original podcast and distilled it down to 10 minutes of her comments about Second Life, which you can  listen to here.

Not only is Second Life providing a global, real-time platform for showcasing her music, but Grace is also building a world-wide virtual following. This virtual audience interaction is also convenient and profitable, as Grace can perform on-line as much or as little as she wants, and when she wants, without travel expenses like food, lodging and gas.

Grace is primarily using Second Life as a way to build her brand, get new gigs and for broadcasting, like her IRL live shows and rehearsals. When Grace mentioned this, it occurred to me that Second Life is a great way to publish content to a potential fan community, as well as engage in one-to-one relationships with your existing fans, deepening your fans' loyalty to you. It's also a great way to get feedback on your new songs before you even release them. Who knows, one of your fans may just give you some feedback that's the difference between your song being average, and becoming a hit.

Second Life could also be a good avenue for artists to connect with one another in different parts of the country, helping each other with gigs in geographic areas where they have not yet played. You could also use Second Life to tap into fans that have never heard of your band by visiting the existing virtual communities in Second Life where people gather to listen, see and chat about other artists in your genre.

Towards the end of  this interview, Grace raises a great question... If Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Second Life, etc. are not increasing an artist's fan base or revenue, is it worth it to spend the time managing these promotional tactics? My response is that good music always finds a way to rise to the top, and if one is spending a ton of time marketing their music with little return, than it might be time to pursue another career, because if people don't like your music than marketing it is not going to help you sell it.

If you're an artist and have Second Life successes you would like to share on this blog, please contact me as I would like to post your experiences.

indieSOLO: get your band showcased

I just got an email from Johnny Ioannou, the founder of indieSOLO, a web site aimed at finding the best independent bands and musicians, and then showcasing them one artist at a time, each day. To have your band showcased, you must apply. If they like what they hear, then your band and music will be featured without any other bands for 24 hours, including your band's promo pic, a couple of songs and a brief bio. The site seems to be another tool to market your music, as on MySpace they say "it’s a destination for industry professionals, a place where they can uncover, book, and sign new talent." I don't know what their traffic numbers are nor who their audience is, or where their viewers are coming from, so it's hard to gauge how much value they can bring to your music. But the idea of presenting one band per day has promotional opportunities for you because it allows your music to be marketed without any other artists.

Broadcast your music in real time with Synchronicity Live

Looking for a way to broadcast your live shows in real time to your fans for free? Synchronicity Live can help you do just that and then some...  Synchronicity Live is a new music startup (about 9 weeks old) based out of Jacksonville Beach, Florida that is providing a way for bands and musicians to stream their live performances for free to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Here's how it works:

1) create a free account with Synchronicity Live
2) schedule your live performance and select on demand viewing
3) set-up your own video camera at your show's location and connect it to a computer with a high speed connection (at least a 300Kbps upstream) - it will also need to have the Flash Media Encoder installed with a few adjustments that allow it to communicate with Synchronicity Live
4) make sure your computer's internal clock and time zone are set to the location from which you are broadcasting from and
5) a few minutes before you take the stage activate your stream via the FME and your show will immediately be broadcast in real time on Synchronicity Live for anyone to watch.

Once the show is over you can archive it on Synchronicity Live for free, allowing your fans and lurkers who missed the show to view it when they can. Here's an example of an archived show from Sovus Radio.

I caught up with the founder of Synchronicity Live, Aric Berquist at the Atlantis Music Conference last week and he said that they make their money from forthcoming content distribution deals as well as advertising, but the ads are not intrusive and are barely noticeable. Right now there are about 3,000 people that have registered for a free account with Synchronicity Live, about 1,000 more than last week so the excitement is spreading.

Synchronicity Live is a very cool service.  Not to mention there are lots of ways you could use it beyond just broadcasting your live shows. For example, you could broadcast your studio sessions. This kind of real time streaming video will help you connect with your existing fans and tap into other music enthusiasts that may have never heard your music before.... what are you waiting for?

As always, I welcome your comments.

Peace

100 Places to Promote Your Music Online

I was just reading the Secret Music Life of Kat and stumbled upon this article, Marketing for Musicians: 100 Places to Promote Your Music Online by Laura Milligan on the Bootstrapper. It is just too good not to share so here it is.

Peace.

PayPerPost for Indie Musicians and Bands

Here's a promotional idea for you that you may or may not be aware of. When you release your next single or CD, have bloggers write about it by hiring them through PayPerPost. Not only will you receive reviews about your music, but you will also generate awareness about your band and gain traffic back to your site, increasing your changes that people who have never heard about you will like what they hear and purchase your music.

Here's how it works:

1) go to the PayPerPost web site and create an advertising account
2) deposit money into your new account via your credit or debit card - the amount is up to you, but typically you will need to pay each blogger at least $5.00 for them to take the time to write a blog review of your music, so 20 reviews will cost you $100.00
3) provide the details and settings for your music promotion, including providing the picture of your band you want bloggers to display in their blog posts, links to your music, the audience you want to target, the amount you wish to pay each blogger, etc., and then release it into the blogosphere. Once people begin blogging about your music you can see the statistics and traffic being generated.

That's it. You should start seeing posts written about your music and traffic back to your site within a day. If your music is good, the promotion may generate enough sales to pay for itself. More importantly, you will have new fans that you may have not reached without doing it.

However, there's a lot of controversy about paying people to blog about your music, so you may want to take that into consideration before doing this. Additionally, word-of-mouth marketing is more effective than paying people to write about your music. But, the bottom line is that there's a ton of music available online these days, so you've got to create ways for people to discover it. PayPerPost is only one of many possible solutions out there to help you do that.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Peace.

The 100 Greatest Music Sites

A few days ago, I posted a list of some of the music sites you should submit your music to. Today, I stumbled upon a list by renowned blogger Edward de Leau that claims to be the The 100 Greatest Music Sites.  While he doesn't quite list 100 sites, it's a great comprehensive list nonetheless, with overviews about each site divided into categories like Music Communities, Upcoming Band Communities, WebRadio, Music Video, Social Networks and more.  Some of these sites you will know, but others look like they recently launched.  It will take sometime to go through the list, but it will be well worth the effort, as I'm sure you will find a few more niche music sites to promote your music on.

http://www.cogmios.nl/the-100-greatest-music-sites

Peace.

Twitter for Indie Bands and Musicians

By now, most of you Indie musicians and bands have a MySpace page, a Facebook account, a web site and a blog, and maybe a few other social apps. But I'm surprised as to how many of you still do not have Twitter accounts. Twitter is a great tool to stay connected with your fans throughout the day and week, as well as pick-up new fans as well.  Essentially, Twitter is a tool that allows you to quickly post brief statements about what it is you are up to. For the Indie musician, this means, for example, you could provide a quick update about new shows, new music releases, tour changes, links to reviews, ticket info, new swag, website or blog changes, new downloads, videos, venue info, etc... you get the picture, just be creative and be yourself, as it comes down to this: Twitter is another social App. you need to use to market and promote your music, and here are my top 5 reasons why you should start a Twitter account today:

1) It's a great way to tap into your existing fan base and grab a lot of new ones as well, as word of mouth travels fast on Twitter. Let me provide a brief example... Since Henry Rollins started using Twitter, he has generated so much momentum from his FREE self promotion on Twitter that he now has almost a 1,000 people following him on Twitter. You too could achieve this number with time and persistent Twittering, especially if your posts are creative, as everyone likes to follow Tweets that are interesting :-)

2) It's free and very easy to use, not to mention it takes less than 15 seconds to sign-up and get started posting.

3) You can add a another level of interacting with your fans in addition to your MySpace page, Facebook account, web site and/or blog. It's not about replacing these. Rather, it's about supplementing them, as it's simply another marketing tool to tap into new fans, as well as connect with your existing fan base.

4) The Indie music scene as a whole has not really begun using Twitter, so you could still be one of the early bands or musicians to start incorporating Twitter as part of your marketing efforts, which could pay off in a big way for you.

5) You need all the help you can get to market and promote your Indie band and music, so the question is, Why not?

BTW, when you register for a Twitter account and start posting, make sure you let your existing fan base know via all your other social apps, and send out an email announcement as well. They in-turn will forward this onto their friends that are using Twitter.

Peace, and as always, I welcome your comments.

Atlantis Music Conference

Some of you Indie musicians may be wondering if music conferences are worth the time, effort and expense, and the answer is a resounding yes, at least for most of these types of shows.  One such worthy music conference, the Atlantis Music Conference will be held in Atlanta, Ga in just a few weeks (September 19-22), and here are my top 4 reasons why you should attend this show:

1) It will be a great way for you to meet and introduce your music to scores of label and industry executives that will attend, not to mention a great way to connect with some of the estimated 32 thousand plus music enthusiasts that will gather during this 4 day event... It's your chance to get creative, become an extrovert and do some feet on the street marketing for your music.

2) There will be excellent panel discussions on topics like touring, publishing, music videos, song writing and more from folks like Allan Tepper of the Bicycle Music Company, Matt Singleton of Singleton Studios, Jay Harren of Columbia, Orlando McGee of Warner Brothers, Steve Robertson of Atlantic, Ken Blaustein of Capitol, Mike Jackson of EMI, and many, many more.

3) It's the 10th Anniversary of the Atlantis Music Conference and they are pulling out all the stops for this one, like the Music Industry Face Off.

4) Watch over 300 musicians and bands perform, some may even become tomorrow's headliners as during the past 10 years, Atlantis has helped launch the careers for many of today's most successful acts, like: John Mayer, Sugarland, Drive By Truckers, Angie Aparo, Shawn Mullins, Los Lonely Boys and many more.

So, what are you waiting for... go buy your tickets and get your game on. Here is the music schedule for the conference.

Peace.

Dinner with the Band

Denise Fraser of DC Communications just emailed me today about a relatively new on-line show from ON Networks called Dinner with the Band. The idea behind the Internet based culture show where culinary arts intersects Indie music is to introduce the public to new bands by appealing to their appetites. The show is hosted by Sam Mason, a former pastry chef of New York’s famous WD-50 and the proprietor of the soon-to-open contemporary dining and cocktail parlor, Tailor (rumored to have opened yesterday). Mason hosts the show from his apartment in the city and cooks up some eclectic cuisine while interviewing the bands during each episode, bringing together two passions for a lot of folks, including myself: food and music.

soon-to-open contemporary dining and cocktail parlor Tailor

Dinner with the Band looks like a really cool show. Here's a clip of a recent episode with the band Holy Hail making Miso Butterscotch Halibut... Wow! Looks fantastic!

So, if your an Indie band and live in New York, or are going to be in the area, then you need to send the folks at Dinner with the Band an email to get booked on the show. It would be a great opportunity to spread the word about your music, introducing yourself to thousands of potential new fans, and learn some cooking tips as well.

Peace, and as always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.