How Save Time Updating Twitter, Facebook & MySpace

Christina Duren who is the PR director here at Cyber PR wrote this great piece this week and I liked it so much I added my 2 cents and I’ll share it with you.

It comes at a great time because practically every artist I have met and spoken in front of over the past few months asks the same question:

How can I save time while keeping up with all of my Social Media profiles?

The Internet now offers way too many social networking sites to help boost your career in music, it can become overwhelming to handle each and every one.

Ariel’s Down & Dirty Twitter Short Cuts: How I Connect with Thousands of People in 7 Minutes A Day

I use it like an addict uses drugs…  Here’s how I simplify my Twitter life:

Update your Twitter status from your mobile phone with Texting

Updating your Twitter status from your mobile phone is so easy to do – no Apps or smart phones needed!

To text from your phone in the USA, send messages to 40404 and they will immediately go into your Twitter feed (and your Facebook if you link it!)

Here’s How: Under your setting link on your Twitter account click “devices”. Enter your mobile phone number. You will have the option of receiving tweets to your phone from favorite people automatically or just monitor them online (I receive Direct Messages only to my phone)

TIP: To follow someone on Twitter from your mobile phone text follow then their username like so follow CyberPR

TIP: To message friends that follow you from your cell phone you can type “D” (for direct) then their username. Like so: D CyberPR and then it will come directly to me

Link Twitter to Your Status Updates on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543&b&ref=pd

Just install and Voila!

Link Twitter to Your Status Updates on MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/synchttp

Syncing up is easy…Go to the Sync tab within My Account.
For right now Twitter is the only app available for synching but that will be changing soon.

A Few More Timesavers To Know About:

Ping.fm
Ping allows you to update over 55 social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and your blog all from one easy to use website simultaneously

Log on and create an account here: http://ping.fm/

Once you have created your account under the social networking tab you will add in each of your online accounts usernames and passwords (Twitter, Facebook etc.)

After each social networking site has been added onto your Ping dashboard you simply type in your message in the area that says: “Type Your Message Below” for each Social Media site you want to use and click Ping It! Each sites micro-blog and status update will automatically be updated all at one time.

You can also use the settings tab to control which Social Media platforms your updates get delivered to.

Artist Data – Update All Your Tour Dates  & Social Networks All At Once
http://www.artistdata.com

This works a lot like Ping but Artist Data is focused on Musicians specifically! It allows you to update your tour dates at Jambase, Eventful, Sonicbids as well as MySpace Facebook and Twitter.

To get started click on Sign Up – Its easy peasy!

Link your Flickr account to Facebook Photo page
http://www.instructables.com/id/Upload_Flickr_photos_directly_to_Facebook_photo_al/

I Love taking photos and on Flickr I tend to upload many more photos than I do on Facebook.  The reason for this is where there are other die-hard photo fans on Flickr and on Facebook I just add my highlights and photos which are tagged with friends names.

I trust these tips will help you!

Playing covers, Playing Sessions & Playing Live

Rick Goetz, is a kindred spirit who has just launched a brand new consulting firm for artists called http://musiciancoaching.com Rick, like me, has spent his entire adult life in the music business and he is DEAD ON when he says: It is essential that you spend your time building your own business rather than asking for help from corporations based on your talent alone.

But how do you build your own business and what specifically works? I got Rick to share a few of his best peals of wisdom I asked him to tell me three things that actually can help an artist begin to build revenue: Playing covers, being a hired gun and working harder on your live show and live show promotion.

Selling $.99 singles isn’t the answer. In fact, I would go so far as to say that in today’s marketplace your single is little more than a business card and your album is just a resume. Both are extraordinarily important but both are just a loss leader for your business. Recorded music is now simply a means of promoting your live show and your songwriting and producing skills. For my $.02 the biggest challenge of being in the music business is staying in the music business without starving.

We can all point to an artist who made it big on a single and blew up over night but what about the majority of musicians out there who have been making a living? From what I have seen and experienced the challenge for the working musician just starting out is finding ways of sustaining himself while building his fan base. Complicating matters even more is that usually means finding a gig that has the flexibility that musicians require, the paycheck that covers their basic needs and if at all possible provides something that will help move their dream career forward at the same time. It’s hard as hell…but this is what I’ve seen work.

1. Covers

It’s easier to fill a room playing songs that people already know. I realize many of you are likely wincing at the notion but remember The Beatles started off as a cover band. Do I really have to drop any other names? It’s a great way to keep your chops up and it really does help to gel a band. Further, it gives the members some more time in with each other with more likelihood of playing successful shows earlier in their career. It also levels the playing field when it comes to the writing process in a group dynamic, which can be challenging at times. If you feel like you are selling out, then sell out only until your own work hits its stride. If you want to make a living selling your own songs to people remember this is just a means to make enough money to put towards that dream while improving your showmanship and range of flexibility on your instrument. Once, when playing a wedding gig, I felt pretty dirty when the cry went up for the Macarena and I delivered as requested but the cash I was paid to play weddings kept my band’s rehearsal space paid for that month.

2. Hired Gun

You want to be as great at your instrument as possible so don’t treat your main band like you would your significant other, cheat like a motherf***ker. Play with anyone and everyone who will have you (provided you are able to carve out enough time to give your main project the time and respect it deserves). You want to play music for a living the trick is to start playing as much as possible with as many people as possible. Be it live or studio just get out there and play. Do it for free at first (if you have to) but get that experience and get as many people to see and hear you play. Every performance and every recording is another trail of breadcrumbs that leads people back to you. Write songs with anyone and everyone you know whose writing you respect. Songwriting is a skill that can be developed just like learning guitar. If you are a vocalist consider voiceovers and do background vocals on as many albums as possible even if it means swallowing your pride and playing second fiddle to someone with less talent than you. I will warn anyone considering this route to be wary, as session cats can become very jaded and cold which ultimately does effect your playing. I don’t know how to advise you against this except to always have a goal for yourself beyond the next paid gig. Being a hired gun is a means to get your music where you want it on as close to your terms as you are able to in the present.

3. Live Shows

Hopefully you have enough people coming down to see you live and if this is not the case and you are not getting repeat customers at your gigs you should re-evaluate your show. Look at everything from stage show to songwriting to delivery and ask a cynical friend who has seen you what needs improving. The cynical need no prompting to offer up the awful truth. Be as communicative as you possibly can be with the venue owners where you play even if it is on amateur night. The simple act of introducing yourself and asking how you can help promote your own show with put you in better favor with whoever books the room. Make sure you have some means of collecting email addresses from those who show up and make sure your name is visible on stage (get a banner and hang it up behind you) and you can’t make a banner make sure to say your band name at least a few times during the set.

If you like what Rick has to say I highly suggest that you spend some time on the phone with him…. You will be one step closer to reaching your dreams with a great new team member to help you along.

http://musiciancoaching.com

A Musicians Guide For Finding Managing and Reading Music Blogs

I have been working on the second edition of Music Success in Nine Weeks which will be released in a few weeks and I recently revisited the section about blogs.

I believe that getting reviewed on blogs is critical for every musician because it helps create a bigger footprint for you online, builds awarness and allows for a two- way conversation around your music

Here is a section from the book. To understand blogs I highly suggest you watch these two wonderful videos from the amazing Commoncraft website that explain all you need to know to get started.

STEP 1: Movie Time!

RSS in Plain English - http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english

Blogs in Plain English - http://www.commoncraft.com/blogs

Now that you have an understanding it’s time to get prepared to manage your blog reading

STEP 2: Create Your Google RSS Reader

Now you know exactly what this is from watching RSS in Plain English. Setting up your RSS Reader is the perfect way to get the information you want (not only from blogs but from also from other sites you frequent) to come to you, instead of having to check constantly to see what blog has been most recently updated.

STEP 3: Create Your Blog Reader Profiles

Blog Reader Profiles are wonderful because they will show the blogger and the reader community that you have visited a blog even if you do not choose to comment each and every time. This leaves a trail of breadcrumbs leading back to you, which shows others what you are interested in.

So, if you visit a blog that has either My Blog Log or Google Friend Connect installed, a photo of you / your band logo will show up on the blog you visited. This is a great way of becoming extra-memorable to bloggers. Each of these takes just a few minutes to set up:

My Blog Log

http://www.mybloglog.com

Look for the green tab at the top of the page that says “join/sign in” and fill out your profile.

Google Friend Connect

http://www.google.com/friendconnect

When you get to this site, press the blue “get started” button and set up your profile. Add your photo, short bio and links to your website, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

STEP 4: Choose A Few Blogs To Get Started – Look, Lurk, Leap!

Before you dive in and just start commenting on blogs I suggest you spend some time reading blogs and understanding the culture of each one you like and the authors who create them. After a few posts you will begin to get a good idea of wheter or not this will be a blog you will return to over and over – add it to your RSS reader so you don’t miss new posts and voilia!

According to some statistics there are currently over 80 million active bloggers today. Blogs, as you know, can be about any topic. A few dozen people read some blogs, while some are read by millions. The vast majority of all bloggers create blogs for no financial gain whatsoever; in fact it usually costs music bloggers money to host their files and maintain their blogs. A blog is usually a private endeavor. Most bloggers create their blogs as a personal outlet where they can talk about their lives, their opinions, and the things that they like and dislike – it’s basically an online diary.

To find blogs that are right for you won’t take long – just dive in and start reading them. The ones that resonate will jump out at you.

Here is a great place to start finding music blogs:

Music Blogs - The Hype Machine

http://hypem.com/

What it is?: From Hype Machine: To put it simply, the Hype Machine keeps track of what music bloggers write about. We handpick a set of kicka** music blogs and then present what they discuss for easy analysis, consumption and discovery. This way, your odds of stumbling into awesome music or awesome blogs are high. This site also tracks the most blogged about artists and songs on their network.

Music Business Blogs

And here are my favorite Music Thought / Music Industry / Music Technology blogs

Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR
Every week we interview a podcaster, blogger or internet radio station programmer
I also write about marketing and PR

http://www.Arielpublicity.com/blog

Music Think Tank

http://www.musicthinktank.com/

A group blog bringing together key thinkers in the realm of online music business. Disclaimer – I write for this blog

Derek Sivers

http://sivers.org/blog

Daily thoughts for entrepreneurs and musicians.

Hypebot

A journal of music, technology and the new music business.

http://www.hypebot.com/

Artists House

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/

Video interviews with top music industry professionals on a broad range of topics about music and music business.

If you have a favorite blog you read please share it here!

The first piece in this series focused on increasing the amount of fans and how this is a necessary step towards success. Part 2 of the basic three principles is increasing the frequency of purchases.
The cornerstone of this is simple: You can not only sell music.

In order to get the frequency of purchases up you must provide something that actually gets your fans to buy more frequently.

If you are only selling one album or one set of MP3s, it’s pretty near impossible to get this step accomplished because your core fans will only have one thing to buy (therefore making frequency non-existent)

Billboard recently reported that over 2,500 record stores have closed in the US since 2005. This points out to one very clear conclusion: People are buying fewer CDs (of course we already knew this) but think about it - are you only selling music?

I sadly see this all too often. Artists only think about putting out one CD, but to survive and thrive in this industry where music — like it or not — is now widely distributed for free all over the Internet, fans are no longer buying music like they once did.

So, you must create additional products and offerings to sell. At the same time you must be building a two-way conversation with engaged fans.

Remember not to put the cart before the horse here, But if you don’t have a fan base to sell these things to, there’s no reason to build a series of products.

Survey Your Fans

Expert Internet marketers never release products without testing the demand first. Maybe you think you know what your fans want but they might surprise you.

Understanding who they are and what they like/ want becomes critical.

Internet Marketers always ask their core fan group what it is they would like and then they create the products based on their answers.

I have said this may times - that music is a feeling and it’s not like a typical Internet marketing product and its hard to get fans to tell you how they feel about new music that you may be writing but its EASY to get them to tell you what they like.

Is it girlie T’s?

Yoga mats

Special non-leaching water bottles

Or limited edition hoodies?

If you don’t ask them they wont tell you

Online Surveys

Set up a survey online and use your email newsletter list or Facebook page to get fans to tell you what they may buy from you in the future
http://www.surveymonkey.com will allow you to create a free survey that you send out to your fans to ask them specifically what they might like to buy from you and how much they might be willing to pay.

Then make it and they will!

Merchandise That Works for Artists

Here are some great merch ideas to get you inspired.

Family Force 5 created a limited edition T-shirt of the month club. They offered their fans a new T-shirt every single month and it generated thousands of extra dollars for themselves and their fans loved the limited edition shirts.

http://www.myspace.com/familyforce5

John Taglieri, who I talk about often has a marvelous new series of EPs and books called Lives. This new project will consist of four 6-song EP’s, books & graphic novels, as well as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and blogger accounts for the two main characters.

http://thelivesproject.com/

Will Deynes made a Valentine’s Day song, and he would custom record the name of people’s beloveds right into the song. He sold dozens of them to his fan base at Valentine’s Day.

http://www.myspace.com/wildeynes

I met Shelter with Thieves, from Halifax, NS and they gave me an awesome USB drive full of music and special bonuses like artwork and videos, and its wonderful because fans can use the USB drive for school projects or at work.

http://www.shelterwiththieves.com/

Jen Chapin, being environmentally conscious and clear that her fans are too like purchased a few cases of SIGG Water bottles and had them customized. She sent an e-mail to her entire list that she had wonderful, non-leaching, water bottles for sale and she ended up selling many of them

http://www.jenchapin.com/

Carla Lynne Hall is organizing a Bowling Tweetup at The Harlem Lanes near her home just to hang out with friends and fans and bond. He is not selling merch yet but you can be sure that when it comes time for her to sell that extra time she took to make friends with her fans will pay off. Studies show that people purchase from those they like and trust and Carla is building trust.

http://rockstarlifelessons.com/

I recently launched a new Sound Advice Series 2 feature the band Making April: which details How To Sell 1,000 tracks a Week on iTunes. I interviewed them and in 14 segments and they spilled the beans on how they have become top independent sellers on iTunes using mostly MySpace.

But MySpace isn’t the only way to the top of the charts at iTunes…

A Musicians Guide to Promoting On iTunes

How One Artist Became a Top Seller in His iTunes Genres

I have a friend in Brooklyn who is an accomplished artist/producer, doing astonishingly well selling his music on iTunes. Since iTunes is where the vast majority of online music is purchased I asked him if he would sit down with me and explain to me how he promotes himself exclusively from within the walls of iTunes.

I was astonished at what he had to say. It turns out being a top seller on iTunes is not just a random thing that occurs. You must promote yourself within the walls of iTunes just like you have to promote yourself everywhere else.

My friend asked not to be named and so it is not revealed (it turns out the top indie promoters on iTunes are very competitive).

He took me on a step-by step breakdown on how to get started effectively promoting yourself on iTunes.  This is a labor-intensive process but it yields fruitful results as he earns hundreds of dollars a month from iTunes sales.

Step 1 - Sign up to iTunes & Buy Some Music!

I am always surprised at how many artists I meet who have their music available for sale at iTunes but they themselves have never purchased anything from the site. The first thing you should do is sign up and buy some music (yours and your friends) so you are familiar with the buying process. This will come in handy when you ask your fans to buy later!

Step 2 - Create 5 Separate Profile Accounts

Did you know that with each credit card that you register with iTunes you get 5 separate accounts?   iTunes designed it this way so families in one household can all use one card.

These profiles are totally separate and they are not interconnected so this gives you five individual profiles that you can register and you can use each one to help promote your music. One of the profiles you create can be you but the other 4 will be created to help you promote yourself.

TIP: While you are creating these profiles: Think about your target audience – who are they?  Older dudes that like prog rock,  or teenagers that like Britney Spears?

Create profiles that would fit the types of people who like your music. Choose a name for each profile so they each have an individual personality. Give them distinct personalities and even imagine where they might be from.

Step 3 - Review Other Artists

With each profile – individually begin to review other people’s music. You definitely want to review three or four other artists that have nothing to do with you or your genre so choose some of the artists that have influenced you or artists that you like and create some reviews.

Step 4 - Create iMixes

You will create 2 catagories of iMixes

1. iMixes that have nothing to do with you and your music

Examples:

A jazz essentials list, Best of Madonna, Great local bands from your hometown,  Best of Bob Marley, The essential Simon & Garfunkel, Best of the 1970’s

2. iMixes that INCLUDE YOUR OWN MUSIC

Create mixes that include your own tracks with other complimentary tracks (artists you get compared to and who you are influenced by that sound good when played next to your songs). When you create iMixes think of yourself as a DJ or a curator and piece together thoughtful lists.

TIP: Add some of the top sellers from each week in your genre and style as buyers will already be looking for the top sellers when they come to iTunes.

TIP: You should create an iMix at least one time per week per account.

Step 5 – Vote for iMixes

Next you will use your accounts to vote for the iMixes you create and also vote for other iMixes that you like.  Vote for your own iMixes using your other profiles.

COOL: iMixes that begin to pick up votes rise to the top where other buyers will begin to respond to them and purchase your iMixes.

A Note about iMix voting:

People who are key users who are also heavily promoting their own music sometimes can be competitive. They may try to vote your iMixes down so that the iMixes that they have created rise to the top.

What my friend says about this: Being malicious on iTunes is awful. Don’t give other people bad reviews. Stay away from this type of negative behavior. Just focus on your own voting and contributions.

Step 6 – Master iMix Sandwiching

When you create an iMix, you want to sandwich yourself between hot chart-toppers in your genre, and add artists that already have five-star reviews.

For each iMix, make it at least 20 songs, but you can go to 40 or 50 songs. To stay on top of the charts for your iMix, you must get the most votes and the most stars.

TIP: Don’t forget to vote for other people’s iMixes so it looks like you are well-rounded.

This is where registering different credit cards and different personalities so you can actually log in and vote for yourself comes in handy.

TIP: Ask Your Band Members & Street Team For Help

So, if you had four credit cards (or if you have one and 3 of your band members or essential street team members each help you out), you can have 20 profiles total, five per credit card, and you can have those profiles voting too.

Step 7 - Remove Unpopular iMixes & Update Them

If your iMix falls below three stars you should take your iMix down from iTunes, add some new tracks to it, and then add it again as an updated iMix.

It will take a few hours for your updated iMix to show back up into the iTunes profiles, but you don’t want to have a poorly rated iMix sitting in the iTunes system with your music in it.

How To Update an iMix

In order to update an I-Mix: Click on the arrow on iTunes. Then click on “update,” and add some new tracks,

TIP: Don’t rename your iMix

iMixes are good for a whole year, so you want to make sure that you start voting, when it goes back up. It takes between 6 to 12 hours for a newly edited or a new iMix to show up.

Here’s The Wrap Up:

For each profile you create: Their iMixes to match their personality:

1. Create then wait for your iMix to show up.

2. Log in as each of your different reviewers and users.

3. Vote five stars from each of the people.

4. Start watching your music sell

5. Go in two times per week and create new iMixes.

6. After a while to stay in the most recent, you must continue to make new iMixes.  Vote, vote and vote.

7. Remember, you must log in and submit votes for each of the iMixes with each of your separate accounts and many separate times.  This is the most time consuming part of the process, but if you do this, the rewards and the sales will pay off deeply

8. Log in and vote  for: Was this review helpful? And click yes per account.  This will help your iMix move up the charts.

9. When you make an iMix, don’t only include the chart toppers, but also include what appeals to you as a listener and what the fans of this iMix might actually like.

10. Remember, you are creating a useful contribution to the iTunes community.  The key is make iMixes on Mondays because on Tuesdays the new release schedule will kick in and that’s when your iMixes will show up

I can’t wait to see how this works for you!

Please send me your feedback to ariel@arielpublicity.com

http://weareradio.com/

The Official Station of South Carolina Rock & Roll

Q:  How long have you been broadcasting?

A: WeAreRadio.com  came alive April 1st of this last year. So we’re going to have a combination Birthday and April Fool’s Party every year.

Q:  In your opinion, what does a good song need to consist of?

A: The best song, in my opinion, seems like several songs in one. The Beatles and Paul McCartney and Wings were masters of this; Queen with “Bohemian Rhapsody”; Boston with “Long Time”.

These are standout songs. The multi-part effect tends to take someone on a short little journey every time they get to listen to the song.

Q: What is your favorite band or favorite genre of music and why?

A: Shoot me, but the more you digest the albums of Seal (including his many EP’s, Maxi-cd’s, and import versions) the more you realize the complex genius in the arrangements and the countless layers of sound involved. One top 40 hit like “Kiss From A Rose” can ruin many people’s ability to see the depth to his work. Kind of a Catch 22.

Q: What changes in content laws, broadcasting rights, etc. have effected you most?

A: I decided, right off the bat, that I would register as a professional station and pay my royalties. There are too many people that took advantage of the loopholes in digital music early on and gave our media (internet radio) a skeptical glance from many. I believe, that at the end of the day, we are radio (no pun intended) and we should jump through the same hoops as terrestrial radio when it comes to the rights to broadcast the work of recording artists. I’m sorry, but right is right and wrong is wrong.

Q: A recent study found blogs to be more effective than MySpace in generating album sales, do you feel that that is a true statement?

A: Yes, I feel it is a true statement. MySpace has proven to be a priceless tool for recording artists and their mission to deliver their sound to the world. A bevy of promotional tools are there for the artists and there for free. But MySpace lacks the ability to speak as directly to a music fan like a blog or website so heartily can do.
WeAreRadio.com has used this concept in a 2 prong approach: The site is handed to the viewer in the form of WeAreRadio Magazine with play / launch buttons for WeAreRadio, the internet radio station, available immediately upon entering the site. So, a true multi-media experience begins all based around the music we promote, increasing connection to the music and generating album sales.

Most Internet marketers make money online, most musician marketers don’t.

The Backstory – The Big Seminar

My journey into the world of Internet marketing, began when I attended an Internet marketing conference and saw one of the keynote speakers. Armand is a bubbly and enthusiastic man who makes a fortune in the world of internet marketing, and he not only markets things that help him make money, he teaches people how to do it themselves.

Armand is also a musician and his alter ego is Micheal Lee Austin. When I saw him speak, he walked us through how he took took himself to the top of the Billboard charts using his own online marketing strategy. He sold thousands of CD’s using his own techniques. I was so intrigued I wanted to learn how he did it, so I signed up to study with him via a series of online courses and they came with a ticket to his “Big seminar” in Atlanta.

The big seminar completely shifted my reality. I went to Atlanta not knowing what to expect, I came home with my world rocked. At lunch on the first day, I struck sat next to an unassuming man, and we struck up a non-memorable conversation. Two guys approached him and began slapping him on the back and congratulated him on breaking the $1M mark so far that year, (and there were still many months left in that year.) I was amazed. How was this marketer making millions while most of my clients were making what seemed like less every year?

The answer is effectively applying marketing strategies. In this new age of blasting messages out on Myspace and Facebook, we have completely taken our energy away from traditional marketing.

Our focus has been diluted with a new online service that seem to crop up everyday to help musicians with everything from cross-posting show dates, to tuning your guitar with your cell phone. Many of these developments, are wonderful, but all of them take time and energy to learn and implement, and they take us away from focusing on traditional Internet marketing.

Selling Music is Not Like Selling A Diet Product

The act of selling music is not at all like selling goods or services which is where Internet Marketers have a leg up on musicians. You are ostensibly selling a feeling. People connect to music in a very different way than they connect to any old product, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t take the same basic principles and apply them. Here are the ones that I highly suggest.

What’s In The Internet Marketers Arsenal

1. EMAIL LIST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

Internet Marketer’s Strategy: Build a mailing list and communicate regularly adding value.

Goal: Get your list to interact with you and trust you, track how effective you are being by looking at open rates.

Product: e-mail list manager. You need an email list manager that measures results. There are many available I suggest Reverb Nation’s free system or BandLetter.

www.ReverbNation.com
www.BandLetter.com

2. AN EFFECTIVE WEBSITE W. A SQUEEZE PAGE

Internet Marketer’s Strategy: A website that captures leads by making an offer that people want - a free ebook, MP3, a special report, a video, etc.

Wth this system, a potential fan will sign up to your mailing list because he sees value in the offer (it is called a squeeze page because the email address is “squeezed” out of the fan).

I know what you are thinking! It is very easy to unsubscribe once signed up and so it’s not a ploy at all. You are providing a quality offer and you are askig for their email address in exchange for it.

Goal: Get as many people onto your list as possible.

Product: A website that has a backend that stores email addresses and instantly delivers visitors the requested offer (An MP3 is what I would suggest to all musicians).

I suggest talking to your webs designer to implement this. aweber and 1 Shopping Cart are two systems that can be integrated into your site to deliver these results.

www.aweber.com
www.1ShoppigCart.com

Internet Marketer’s Strategy: A system and plan that offers multiple products potential fans in many price categories

Internet Marketers know that these are the three main ways to increase income.

1. Increase your customer (fan) base.
2. Increase the average transaction amount that you get from each customer (fan.)
3. Increase the amount of times and frequency by which they purchase from you.

Goal: Earn more money! The thinking here is: it takes ten times more effort to make a totally new fan than it does to keep offering fans that already love you multiple items over time.

Product: There are plenty of mind mapping products and fancy software programs for planning out your strategy but good old pen and paper and a few brain storming sessions should get you off o the right path.

Final Goal: long-term success.

Strategy: An overall marketing plan laid out with goals, vision, and measurable results.

Product: A line of offerings to sell to your fans: not only CDs and MP3s but also private gigs, merch and special events.

I would love to hear some of your strategies and what products and ideas are working for you.

If you are thinking like an Internet marketer I want to know about it!

Please post what you do that gets you results!

Internet Radio Magazine reports on trends happening online in the Internet Radio space. They feature an artist every week.

http://www.internetradiomagazine.com
http://www.joelgaineshow.com
http://twitter.com/joelgaines

Q: How long have you been broadcasting/blogging?

A: I was a political blogger for 8 years before I became a broadcaster. We’ve been broadcasting The Joel Gaines Show for just over a year. Because of our experience with Ariel Publicity and the artists we’ve interacted with, we have decided to revitalize Internet Radio Magazine dot com as a more music-based property.

Q: In your opinion, what does a good song need to consist of?

A: For me to gravitate to a specific song, I have to feel it. I’m not saying I have to be able to relate to the song topic, but I do have to feel like it’s not contrived. Artists who are investing more than time into a track tend to come across more passionately. That’s what I look for.

Q: What is your favorite band or favorite genre of music and why?

A: I have to admit my favorite genre is 70’s funk and my favorite band is Journey. Having travelled to nearly 30 countries, I have picked up an appreciation for just about everything. Shuffling my music player might find Hazel O’Connor, Crossfade, G Tom Mac, and George Straight played one after the other.

Q: What changes in content laws, broadcasting rights, etc. have affected you most?

A: I have broadcast under a station license and as an individual internet broadcaster. Trying to stay in license compliance and keeping your music fresh can be price prohibitive for the little guys. I really enjoy the podsafe offering from the fantastic artists Ariel Publicity promotes.

Q: A recent study found blogs to be more effective than MySpace in generating album sales, do you feel that that is a true statement?

A: I think it is true. A blogger has more specific opportunities to attract traffic and it is easier to be a big fish in a niche pond. On Myspace, no matter what you are trying to promote, you are faced with being just another fish in the ocean. I’ve seen social media work for people when they use it as a means to bring traffic to their blog, but it needs to be looked at more as just another tool in the kit.

Sound Advice TV with Derek Sivers - youtube.com/ArielPublicity

Derek Sivers is a dear friend of mine and has long been a beacon of light for most of us in the music industry. To celebrate the launch of my new Sound Advice Video Series featuring Derek as my premiere guest, I wanted to share some of his marketing basics.  These are highlights from a talk he gave at Bob Baker’s Indie Buzz Bootcamp.

I constantly like to return to the lessons that Derek teaches. I have heard him speak many times and I always walk away feeling inspired. I am delighted that he is my first guest on Sound Advice TV.

To view a segment of Sound Advice TV featuring Derek Sivers click here

Derek Sivers 7 Critical Marketing Basics Every Musicians Should Know

Here are 7 wonderful lessons, which are great to revisit no matter how strong your marketing muscles are.

But before I dive in I want to start with how Derek got his own music career off of the ground. This speaks volumes about how he achieved his CD Baby success later in his career.  There is a huge marketing lesson in this story…

When he was a student at Berklee College of Music, Derek was attending a music business lecture.  Before the lecture started, he overheard his professor whispering to the guest speaker, Mark Fried from Warner Chappell Music, that there would be no time to eat before the lecture and it was a 3-hour talk. Mark was looking hungry and there had clearly been a miscommunication about eating before the class started. So, Derek slipped out of the room to a pay phone and ordered pizza for Mark and for the entire class.  Forty-five minutes into his lecture, Mark was eating pizza with the class and was extremely grateful to Derek (who was one of many students in the room) who went out of his way to help him.

After the lecture, Mark gave Derek his card and told him to keep in touch, which Derek did for the remaining 2 years he was at Berklee.  When he came to New York he would meet Mark for coffee and their friendship grew.  A week before his graduation, Derek called Mark to ask if there were any jobs at Warner Chappell opening up. Seven days later Derek had a job working at Warner Chappell in the tape room.

Lesson #1 A Marketing Golden Rule: It’s about THEM Not YOU

What struck me about this story is a simple marketing lesson that is also one of the golden rules. Always think about this question: How can I be helpful to other people?  That is what will make you memorable in the long run. It was Derek’s courteous consideration that opened all doors for him in the music business.

The pizza took Derek one phone call and $25 and it secured him a job in the music industry.  There were probably 45 students sitting in that lecture hall that day and he was the one who ended up with a relationship with Mark and in the end…a job.

Lesson #2: Unsolicited Actions Will Get You Nowhere

Derek then went on to explain what it was like in the tape room at Warner Chappell.  It was there he got to see first hand what it looks like from the inside when indie musicians send unsolicited music to a publishing company.  Warner Chappell is a large publishing company that was not looking to sign new artists and Derek saw the packages arrive by the dozen on a daily basis. From this he learned exactly what never to do.

Lesson #3: No One Is Coming To Save You In The Music Industry

Derek points out (and I have repeated this line in my own talks) that no one will come along and be your music business “fairy godfather”, it all has to start internally.  If you hire anyone to be on your team, no matter what they are doing for you, you must understand that that person is your hired partner.  You will both have to work to achieve your desired result. This is especially true in the realm of social media and online marketing.

Lesson #4: Marketing = Consideration

Reach People the Way You Want to Be Reached

Stop thinking of it as Marketing and start thinking of it as creative ways to be considerate. Think of things from the other person’s point of view: Imagine if you called your friend up and screamed into the phone: “THURSDAY COME SEE ME PLAY NEXT THURSDAY!” (HANG UP)

You probably would not show up if you were spoken to that rudely and then hung up on and it was funny to see Derek act this out but his point was: This is exactly the way most musicians speak to their newsletter lists.

If your friends spoke to you the way you speak to them on your newsletter list you wouldn’t be friends. Begin to pay attention to other artist’s messages and notice what works on you. The considerate thing is to be so novel and creative and innovative so that people say: you have GOT to see / hear this musician play!

Lesson #5:  Sharply Define What You Do

You cannot slice through the world’s attention if you are using a blunt knife and you will most definitely be blunt if you are trying to be all things to all people.  Your message must be sharp and pointed. It’s OK to exclude 99% and have 1% worship you! Be unapologetic in your bluntness.

3 CD Baby Artists Who Are Sharply Focused

Eileen Quinn - Create A Niche

One of CD Baby’s all time top-sellers is an artist named Eileen Hoyton. Eileen is from Nova Scotia and she owns a boat.  She recorded her music on the boat and the title of her album is called Songs For Sailors, and it’s a top seller at CD Baby. Why? Because it’s laser focused. It speaks directly to a niche audience. I bet you can find a copy of her album on every boat that you set foot on. Eileen also laser focused her PR and marketing efforts on her niche audience.  Since sailors read boating magazines, she went after reviews and features in boating mags, (she could have cared LESS about Spin and Rolling Stone) and she got publicized to a select group of people she knew would love her music and she sold tens of thousands of albums!

Regina Spektor - Don’t Be Afraid To Be “Out There”

Regina Spektor also understood laser focus but it took time. She did a Tori Amos style thing for years and with those albums, she did OK but when she added the hiccups and the “weird” themes and she started banging on her piano bench with a drumstick while she played people really started to notice her. This is what led her to her record deal and to her popularity.  She really stood out from the crowd.

David m. Bailey - Find A Small Hill To Dominate

David was a lawyer who was diagnosed with brain cancer. Out of that experience he became a top seller at CD Baby. David was given a few months to live and he immediately quit his job and decided to record an album.  He beat the odds and he survived brain cancer.  He is now the poster child of surviving brain cancer.  He has since recorded 7 albums and brain cancer patients often find him online through research, they then logon to CD Baby and buy all 7 of his albums at once.

Ariel Hyatt, Derek Sivers & Michael Laskow at Taxi Road Rally

Lesson #5: DIY Does Not Mean Do It All Yourself - Decide It Yourself

DIY does not have to mean do it all yourself.  Doing it all yourself will surely set you up for exhaustion and will leave you no time to be creative.

Instead Derek recommends that you think of DIY as: Decide It Yourself - you call the shots but you MUST learn how to delegate, put your fans to work and get things off of your plate. If you have a sense of STRESS and UPSET around every decision and everything becomes so important you really miss the point. Just try delegating things and don’t make it all so serious and significant. Start every decision with: Let’s see what happens if… and try it!

Lesson #6: Act AS IF….

“You are whatever you pretend to be.”

-          Kurt Vonnegut

This part of the talk really inspired me….  Most people do not know this: Derek Sivers is an introvert by nature.  His instinct when at a music conference is to retreat to his hotel room. To combat this he ACTS as if he is an extrovert. Pretend to be the biggest extrovert possible for an hour at a networking event or at a party.

Lesson #7: It’s Who You Know Mixed With How You Persevere

Everything major that happens in your career starts with someone you know.  Here’s Derek’s story of how he got the gig touring with world-renowned Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamato:  Derek’s roommate from school was working wrapping cables in a studio and he overheard the musicians saying that they needed a guitar player to go on an upcoming tour.

To prove that he was the perfect guitarist for the gig, Derek got a hold of some of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music that he was in the process of recording, wrote all of the guitar parts and mixed it and sent it back.

After a few days when he did not hear from Ryuichi he wrote a cello part out of another one of his songs and sent that to the studio.

After the third day he got the call and toured Japan for 2 months in front of 20,000 people each night.

But Derek proves that it’s not only who you know but also what you do once you get the connection.  He demonstrates how to fully take advantage of each situation.

Persevere With People

Get used to staying in touch with hundreds of people with blogs and with your newsletter - it’s a psychological shift in your head but once you can make it you can be very very effective staying in touch with many people.  This is the miracle of technology.

Make yourself meet 3 new people every single week: Do this by picking up the phone - people get hundreds of emails and dozens of phone calls.

TIP: AVOID saying the words “pick your brain” to anyone.  That says: I want something from you….  and when you do talk to people, prove that you have already done your research.  Derek says that people will ask him: So, what does CD Baby do?  And It’s totally disrespectful - you want to let them know that you care enough to have spent some time learning about them before you talk / meet.

To view a segment of Sound Advice TV featuring Derek Sivers click here

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