Ariel Publicity

The First Round Of Contestants Are Announced!

Congratulations to all of you who have opted in to participate in the Music Success In Nine Weeks Blogging Challenge!

Our judges may be watching you and commenting on your progress as you go along!

Follow Them on Twitter!:

http://www.twitter.com/andrealane1

http://www.twitter.com/bigbluebarry

http://www.twitter.com/bfrankemusic

http://www.twitter.com/colinrink

http://twitter.com/fiZbandcom

http://www.twitter.com/freqtheater

http://www.twitter.com/heidihowes

http://www.twitter.com/johnnyonlymusic

http://twitter.com/mossbluffmusic

http://twitter.com/nicolago

http://twitter.com/PerfectPitchMan

http://twitter.com/irainrain

http://www.twitter.com/runawaydorothy

http://twitter.com/symetrk

http://twitter.com/DSP_ROCKS

http://www.twitter.com/seanimler

http://www.twitter.com/IckysEgo

http://www.twitter.com/KGrocks

http://www.twitter.com/mdlstweet

http://www.twitter.com/maurajensen

http://www.twitter.com/snailquail

http://www.twitter.com/tamrahayden

http://www.twitter.com/vikkiflawith

http://www.twitter.com/offering

http://www.twitter.com/monarocks

Here is the first round of participants and links to their blogger challenge blogs:

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http://www.astralaudio.net

Q: How can contemporary artists make more money on the internet?

A: Models like what Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Mark Mosher have given potential buyers a choice of what a particular song or album should be priced at. Their success along with keeping things drm free encourages fans to obtain works from the artists. Perhaps if artists gave fans the chance to rate individual songs or the entire album as a whole, then a higher rating could mean that fans are more likely to purchase the work. An option would be to cap the price at around $15.00 for the CD and $5.00 for the digital download. If the rating goes down, the cap should be lowered along side this.

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http://www.suchcoolstuff.net

Celebrating Independent Artists

1. What are your favorite blogs/audio blogs featuring new music do you like to visit?

You know, it’s funny. I don’t really read any music-related blogs on a regular basis. I’m a bit of a chronic Googler, and that’s how I find most new (and new to me) music, both for my blog and for my own enjoyment. I read other blogs regularly, particularly in the left-leaning political and feminist blogosphere, but I’m pretty fickle when it comes to subscribing to blogs about the arts.

2. What inspired you to start site?

I very briefly tried to run an Etsy shop, but I found I was far too lazy to keep it up. One of the biggest challenges I had was getting my name out there, so when I decided to start a blog with the idea of profiling things I enjoy in general, I quickly saw that I could use it to help other artists promote themselves and their small businesses.  Then I e-mailed a few artists I admired and got things moving. Initially I profiled only visual artists (painters, photographers, fashion designers, etc), but I really wanted to expand to include music.

I’ve been quite literally surrounded by music all of my life.  My father was a studio musician for years, and my uncle was played with Dobie Gray in the 70’s.  My sweetheart is also a professional musician, so our house is filled with music all the time.  It was only natural for me to want to expand my blog to include music.  Much like the artists I began Such Cool Stuff! with, I started by e-mailing musicians I admire, and before I knew it things really took off.  I love playing my small part in helping artists of all types get their name out there.

3. What do you think is the impact of blogs, internet radio, and podcasts on independent music?

It’s just huge. This is a frequent topic of conversation in our household.  With this new media there is a lot more access to the public than you had back in the day. Anyone (like me!) can start a blog and become an instant media outlet, and smaller artists have a greater chance to get their name out there.  On the downside, with the pool of both talent and media so large now it will take an extra measure of effort for those who do gain exposure to make it meaningful.

One of the things I mourn about the way new technology is impacting the industry is that the digital availability of music has pretty well killed the concept of the album. I’ve always been a big fan of looking at an album as a whole, as a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Now with things moving to a digital format, that’s being lost.  Every track needs to be able to stand on its own. There aren’t any B-sides now in the traditional sense.  Such a shame. My favorite songs have typically been the B-sides.

4. When you started your station, did you anticipate that blogs would have such an upscale trend as it does now?

I actually only started the blog about a year ago, so there hasn’t been that much of a change for me personally. I do think it’s astounding to look at the way the internet has changed our lives on a massive scale. Just twelve years ago I’d never even used the internet. Now I use it for pretty much everything, and whole industries have had to change everything about the way they do business.

5. What are the ultimate goals you wish to achieve through your site?

Such Cool Stuff! has always been fairly experimental. I started it without a clear idea of where it was going, and the direction has proven to be ever-changing. It’s a hobby for me (my day job is in a very different industry), so I have the luxury of letting the current take me where it wants to go with regard to the blog. I’m excited to see where we end up!

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I recently took a vacation to Colorado to enjoy one of my favorite places on earth. I lived there for seven years and it is where I founded Ariel Publicity.
I spent some quality time with Rob Gordon – my first boss at the only record label I ever worked at: What Are Records? What I learned at What Are Records? has set me up for a successful career in the new music business and that is because of Rob’s genius around building community.

Rob Gordon had an uncanny knack for understanding it before many in the record business caught on and I continue to operate Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR campaigns based on his teachings. What I learned from What Are Records? is understand the value of community and connectivity and harness it to grow.

What Rob knew was: Observing and staying in constant contact with a rabid fan base, and nurturing them was the ultimate way to earn money in the music business.

Here’s what Rob Gordon did:

Harness Energy and Enthusiasm way before the Internet was used daily in the business Rob found a bound called The Samples and saw a phenomenon that was in the process of happening.  Every show they played was packed with college students, screaming along to every song from coast to coast, the word was spreading and the crowds were growing each show. The incredible part was The Samples had been dropped from their major label deal. Rob signed them and started recording their new album and at the same time negotiated their major label album back so he could re-release it on his label.

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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:

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!

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