Ariel Publicity

Date: Friday & Saturday, October 1 & 2, 2010, 10 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Location: S.I.R. – Nashville, TN

You think you’ve got it? This is your chance to find out if you really do! This workshop will engage you, challenge you, and give you the opportunity and tools you need to help you succeed in your career.

Discover the secrets these successful artists have learned from Tom Jackson’s Live Music Methods: Taylor Swift, Jars of Clay, Jordin Sparks, Casting Crowns, Francesca Battistelli, Gloriana, and many of the acts you admire!

Imagine 2 full days of classes and hands-on demonstrations that will make youand your music absolutely memorable!

Plus, you’ll have a chance to perform in front of Tom and other industry pros – gatekeepers who can provide an opportunity for you to be seen and heard. Tom is always looking for top talent to perform at events and on major tours. If you’re good enough andrecognized as a Top Performer you may even get the opportunity to work with:

• a Grammy winning producer,
• first call studio session players, or get
• top of the line audio gear

Book today! – the Bootcamp is limited to 100 artists

Bootcamp Registration $399.00
$299.00 through SEPTEMBER 3rd only!

Plus, additional $50 off when you register 2 or more in your group!

• Special rates for 2 or more apply to band/group members, managers, chaperons, parents
• $25 non-refundable registration cancellation fee before Sept. 23; no refunds after Sept. 23

Related show

• Artist: Ariel Hyatt
• Date: Friday, October 1st 2010 - Saturday, October 2nd 2010
• Time: 10:00am
• City: Ariel Hyatt in Nashville, TN
• Venue: S.I.R.
• Country: United States
• Admission: $399
• Age restrictions: All Ages
• Buy tickets
• Notes: Discover the secrets these successful artists have learned from Tom Jackson’s Live Music Methods: Taylor Swift, Jars of Clay, Jordin Sparks, Casting Crowns, Francesca Battistelli, Gloriana, and many of the acts you admire!
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

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It happened a few weeks ago in Australia.  I was standing at the opening cocktail reception for APRA’s Song Summit Music Conference overlooking Darling Harbor in Sydney, and I was chatting with a perfect stranger (who it turns out is a very famous Australian musician with quite a few top 10 hits in Oz).  Noting my foreign accent he asks “What brings you here?” “I teach artists about online marketing and social media.”  I answer sheepishly, because this news is not always met with elated enthusiasm.

Him: Really?

Me: Yes

Him: You know one thing I have noticed about Social Media and marketing…

Me: What is that?

Him: I noticed that you don’t really have to be a great artist or well respected by your musician peers to succeed now a days – you just have to be really good at marketing and you get more success than you ever would have in the past.

Well, he’s right. I’m not saying that his point is fair and he only voiced what 99% of most musicians only think: That guy’s music really sucks but he got good at being pushy on Facebook and so he gets more people to his gigs than me, and he sells more than me.

Really? Is that what you think?

What I would say is: It doesn’t matter if you think that musician sucks. The POINT is that artist managed to identify and relate to enough people who think his music is great and his fans reward his efforts. So, stop judging others and worry about how to make a difference for yourself.

Why?  Because there are 500,000,000 people on Facebook to connect with.

And anyone can connect with a few hundred people, forge great relationships and then market music that those fans who want it and like it. Simple.

What is NOT simple is getting your judgments about yourself and other artists out of the way and just diving in.

So here I am to debunk a few of your (ahem) resistances and the aforementioned one is #1 on the list of….

Top Seven Reasons Why Artists Strongly Resist Social Media

#1: I don’t want to be pushy and over-hypey, like all those other artists that I hate. (or “I hate the way he markets and I don’t want to market like him!”)

OK – so talking about yourself is icky.  But having people love your music is wonderful. So my advice is: when you use Social Media, take the spotlight off of YOURSELFF and shine it on OTHERS (the people in your community/ fans / friends).

Share things that feel mundane. Don’t even think of marketing yourself or your music for a few months until you get the hang of it; and then after you do, use it to gently lead people to your newsletter sign-up, your website, and to help yourself with Google rankings.

Keep this in mind: 78% of people trust peer recommendations (i.e. the “Like” button on Facebook) for products and services that they BUY.  Only 14% trust TV/radio/print advertising (source: Socialnomics). You need to be one of the artists that peers are recommending.

#2. Promoting my music on Social Media won’t put any money in my pocket I’ve tried it and it just creates more work for me.

Here is what is true: Social media most probably won’t directly put money in your pocket in the short term. But when used in concert with traditional marketing and as part of a plan it can be integral in re-enforcing relationships between you and your fans which will down the line lead them to a point of purchase.

In a recent Top Spin training class I learned that being Googlicious (your Google rankings) and your email newsletter list are two vital components to putting money in your pocket and social media can help you strengthen both.

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VIDEO: Ariel Hyatt and Derek Sivers: Getting Your Music to Bloggers, Podcasters& iRadio DJs

I really loved the pieces that Chis Bracco has written on MTT on Blogging and I wanted to add some thoughts on getting blogs to write about you.  His strategies are rock solid and full disclosure he used to work with my company and he is indeed very effective at getting bloggers to cover artists. Read Chris’s piece here: http://bit.ly/a1Mm8dl

I know that blogging seems like yet another unbearable thing to take on so there are 2 ways to approach this

1. Become a reader and commenter
2. Become a reader, commenter and blogger yourself!

Q: How Do You Play Ball with the Bloggers?
A: Become a reader and commenter

I highly suggest that you try to get familiar with the blogging world by reading blogs and posting comments on blogs you like.

THIS IS THE WAY TO GET KNOWN IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD!

CAUTIONARY TIP: If you are posting on a blog who has not already covered you DO NOT HYPE YOURSELF. Bloggers hate it! Instead, you can leave comments about something THEY wrote and include your sig file with your name, band name and a link to your website. This is a subtle way of letting the blogger know you are a musician without saying: HEY! REVIEW ME! If they like your observations about them and what they write, they just may.

GET SEEN

Create profiles at Google (http://iGoogle.com) and Friend Feed (http://FriendFeed.com) and add the RSS feeds from your different social networks. These profiles will feature updates from your RSS feeds, and enable you to follow your friends and favorite blogs in one place. Other people will also be able to see all of your various feeds in a central location.

Add your blog’s RSS feed to your Facebook profile(s) and your Facebook friends can also see your updates on your Wall.

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In this 3-part series I have been talking about an artists 3 separate communities and the fact that you need to think about how you approach each one differently.

Here’s a quick recap:

Community 1: Are your Super Fans (http://arielpublicity.com/2010/04/29/your-three-communities-part-1/)

These are fans who are primarily Your Live Audience. You know them by name. If you play out live, they attend your shows regularly, and buy many things you offer  (not just music). If you have a street team they are on it and they evangelize strongly on your behalf.

Community 2: Are your Engaged Fans (http://arielpublicity.com/2010/05/05/your-three-communities-part-2/)

These fans are your Active Online Audience. They are newsletter subscribers, , blog readers, video watchers, RSS subscribers, active Social Media engagers who frequently comment & engage with you on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.

This last installment focuses on:

Community 3: Ambient Fans

These fans are your Passive Online Audience and they are your social media friends who are aware of you via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Last.fm etc but don’t actively communicate with you and may not have even heard your music (yet).

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Lately, I’ve been heavily exploring the benefits of crowd funding, and wanted to share my findings with all of you. Crowd funding is a very viable fundraising option for independent artists. I have recently spoken with artists who have funded tons of projects by offering fans a variety of “high touch” experiences.

I linked up with my friend Brian Meece, founder of crowd funding platform RocketHub, to elaborate on some of the subtleties related to this topic. I really think that crowd funding is a great opportunity that more artists should take advantage of. It is a terrific way to not only raise more revenue, but also to connect with fans on an entirely new level. Keep an eye out for parts 2 and 3 of this series in the near future, where Brian and I will dive in even more regarding the powers of crowd funding. Hopefully these videos will help you brainstorm ideas that can potentially help your own career.

Check out Part 1: http://bit.ly/crowdfundingpt1

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The ever-elusive Facebook Fan Page.

Regardless of what you think about yours, you can’t deny its power: the ‘Suggest to Friends’ link provides an unbelievable opportunity to spread your brand (especially if you persuade your contacts to do the same), the wall allows for a rich content experience unmatched by the likes of MySpace or Twitter, the lack of “friend cap” (see: Facebook personal profiles), etc.

Recently, as if musicians needed more technological changes to deal with, the marriage between Facebook Brand Pages and Fans has extinguished. Users now only have the opportunity to “Like” a page. Please don’t confuse this with the Facebook’s traditional “like” function for pictures, comments, etc. I would have “liked” to see Facebook think about what they were doing semantically before giving two separate experiences on their website the same name, but nevertheless.

Many people are complaining about the new Facebook Page changes, mainly because they don’t understand them. Musicians, I believe that it is better for people  to “Like” your page rather than “Become a Fan.”

To be a ‘fan’ of something is a big commitment; to just ‘like’ something is much more casual. In the real world, I personally like a multitude of things, but rarely consider myself a fanatic of a particular sports team or band. Over time, people will be much more likely to engage in this “Like” behavior, strictly based on language alone.

Many artists have been complaining recently about the number of contacts on their pages dwindling. I’ve been getting emails from artists asking me, “Is there some type of Facebook virus? All of the fans on my page are disappearing.”

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