Ariel Publicity

Welcome back to Musician’s Arsenal! Before we go any further, I must admit that this post is not a real Musician’s Arsenal post, I will not be presenting a sweet app or tool for you this time (that’s coming next week), but rather a tool that will be very useful provided there is enough participation (that’s where you come in). The Future of Music Coalition is performing a survey now through October 28th to determine where artists receive most of their revenue.

Kristin Thomson from FMC was kind enough to answer some questions of mine about this survey and the importance of it. If you’re interested in taking this survey click here (and please do, the more response the better the results).

Without further delay, Kristin:

1. What was the impetus for this project?

Over the past eleven years, we’ve all witnessed drastic, profound and — dare I say — exciting changes in the music industry. Digital recording studios, digital aggregators, online music stores, on-demand streaming services, webcasting stations and satellite radio have greatly reduced the cost barriers to the creation, production, distribution and sale of music. A vast array of new platforms and technologies — from social networks to blogs to Twitter feeds — now help musicians connect with fans.

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Some of the best tools to promote your music can come (free!) straight from the Internet, however sometimes diving into the world wide web can be scary. What blog site should I use? What do I write about? Is anyone even reading what I’m writing?? No need to fear anymore as Cyber PR teamed up with MicControl’s very own Jonathan Ostrow to create a bi-weekly panel of bloggers that are kind enough to share some valuable insight on the blogosphere, the music industry and more.

Every other week we will address different topics that artists might have in regards to blogging. Picking the brains this week of Jen D. Rafanan from A Million Watts of Sound, Gary Hill from Music Street Journal and Kevin Allen from Song Revelation, they’re here to ease you into the world of blogging as this week’s topic is:

Ways For Musicians To Blog Effectively Without Being Self-Promotional

We encourage any feedback you may have and feel free to ask any questions of your own! What topics do you want see covered in this series? This is all about YOU, the artist, so tell us what you want to know and we’ll find a panel to answer your questions!

Jen                                    Gary                                        Kevin

1. What should musicians write about on their blog?

Jen from A Million Watts of Sound: I am a total behind-the-scenes kinda gal and love stories. Not just the stories told within the songs, but stories about the artists’ life. How they got to where they are. What inspires them. What doesn’t. A funny anecdote from a tour. A cool experience with a fan. Stories connect people. Musicians that write little stories like this on their blog, make me more interested and invested in both them and their music. These are the artists I find myself more drawn to. Whether it’s a story I can relate to or not. As long as it’s from their perspective, the insight into the artist and music is fascinating. Once that connection is made, it’s a pretty solid commitment from me. I make more of an effort to promote that artist however, whenever I can. 2 of the only 3 artists I have supported on www.kickstarter.com for help with an album or tour were CyberPR artists. In a difficult economy, part of what did it for me is the connection I have with them. Though I am fortunate to have gotten to know them through CyberPR, they are artists who definitely share stories and their experiences with their fans. So, yeah…promote your album or latest single, but definitely include STORIES!

Gary from Music Street Journal: The key to writing an effective blog is to make it interesting. For a musician that means, don’t rehash old stuff, but try to throw new angles on old information or put completely new stuff out there. While it’s never a good idea to be intentionally untruthful in a blog (or any promotion) it’s always good to highlight the positive and ignore or at least downplay the negatives. Choose news to publicize carefully. It’s not a good idea to talk about a musician leaving the band until a replacement has been found. Then, focus on showcasing the new person and mention the other person leaving only as means of explanation. And, NEVER trash a former band mate, manager or other person in a public forum.

2. How can artists use a blog to build their mailing list?

Kevin from Song Revelation: Maybe use an autoresponder with a signup form. (Perhaps use this to link to some free music or access to members area after they enter your email). If you’re just starting out & don’t have much buzz I think a better way is to be proactive than expect people to want to sign up to something they know nothing about.

3. Where should artists be promoting their blog?

Kevin: Personalise your approach and get to know people with a similar interest & aspirations to yours. Therefore I suggest maybe actively targeting people that you like and see if you can work together for promotion. I think that if you have great content people will come back for more so in a way viral promotion, by word of mouth (and this is free). Personally, I’m not a huge fan of using paid for site SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) tactics, such as link building & directory submissions when starting out due to the costs involved.  Also, you can’t quantify realistically what you’re getting for your money.  If you’re interested in adopting a holistic approach to search engine optimization perhaps buy a book on the subject to learn what its about.

4. What makes a great blog post?

Gary: The key to a great blog post is revealing information that’s not available elsewhere. In particular, if there are questions that fans keep asking over and over again, writing about them at length in a blog posting is a great idea.

5. How can you make your blog post more searchable?

Jen: Get it auto fed through numerous venues. I like using www.posterous.com (as mentioned in question 2) Use a feature like, addthis to make sharing your posts easy once they are read. The more it is shared, the more your blog will be easy to discover.

Kevin: Don’t use flash on your site. Use simple HTML then everything can be indexed easily by search engines. Also this helps for iPad and iPhone users since they can’t see flash anyway.

6. How often should you update your blog?

Gary: While it might seem like the best idea would be to update a blog frequently, it really doesn’t make sense to post a blog when there’s nothing interesting to write about. If you put out blogs every day, or once or twice a week and many of those blogs contain nothing that people find interesting, they’ll stop reading. The rule of thumb is, only blog when you have something important and interesting (and that means important and interesting to your target audience, not just to you) to say. Don’t waste your time and risk turning readers away by posting trivial stuff that no one wants to read.

7. What are some key rules for blog writing etiquette?

Jen: Be honest. Be genuine. Be original. Above all, just be yourself. Write about things you would maybe like to read about. Spell check is always a good thing. Make sure your links work too.
If your link is really long, use a site like www.bit.ly, shorturl.com or tinyurl.com to customize and shorten it. Much easier on the eyes!

8. How do you get fans to interact with you via your blog?

Jen: While some post comments, most fans of my blog email/message me directly. Whether it’s artists, pr/marketing, fellow bloggers and music lovers, etc. I’ve made some pretty cool friends from the direct contact. I love when I hear from someone who discovered and now follows my blog. I love reading about how they came across it and that they have shared it with others.
Speaking of sharing, there is a feature at the bottom of each blog post that allows the reader to share what they just read, to all the social media venues (fb, twitter, digg, etc.) That comes in handy. I use it a lot when I visit artists’ sites, because it is so convenient in sharings posts in other venues. (http://www.addthis.com/ I briefly mentioned this in question 7.)

Kevin: Comments on your blog posts are always an option but spammers are a problem too. I’d say from personal experience 95%-99% of blog comments are people trying to link build (SEO) as opposed to people genuinely interested in your article. The most important thing is to have a ‘contact me’ page so people can send you a personal message quickly and easily. To engage fans, friends, companies, etc. I like to just email, text and call people directly. Since you’re more often than not discussing an interest you both share, you have a great starting point!

Here are some examples of artists who follow these tips!:

Hotels & Highways

Mixtapes + Meltdowns

Tom Goss

The On Fires

John Brodeur

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My phone rang last week and it was Tom Silverman from Tommy Boy calling to discuss my panel for his upcoming Chicago New Music Seminar. Tom was half amused and half disgusted. “Have you seen Billboard this week?” He asked. Since Billboard is a publication I largely ignore, I fessed up: “No. Why?” “You have to see this article,” he said. “It’s the most ridiculous thing ever.”

In a few moments, I was reading it and I was laughing out loud.

Here are a few excerpts: From the September 26 edition of Billboard:

BILLBOARD’S 2009 MAXIMUM EXPOSURE LIST

“Today the ways artists can promote their music have proliferated so rapidly that it can be hard to keep up with what’s new — what’s actually cutting through the clutter. It’s in this context that Billboard decided to geek out with 25 promotions and publicity experts across genres and mediums to create the ultimate multimedia metric: Our first Maximum Exposure List.”

I sampled a few random ones from the 2009 list to give you a sense and the whole 2008 list can be found here:

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1: Pick A Niche And Dominate It

There are no ultimate 100 Indie Maximum Exposure vehicles for one simple reason. Indie artists must break from a niche. That niche must be well delineated and can be very, very small and still be effective. The mistake most artists make is making a pop record that does not have a niche to break out of.

The adage, think globally act locally can be re-stated think mainstream, act niche. The newer your niche, the greater your chance of becoming identified with it. Almost every Tommy Boy superstar broke out of a niche they dominated if they did not invent. Examples: De La Soul: hip hop hippies, House of Pain – Irish hip hop, Queen Latifah: first proud and powerful African American woman in hip hop, Ru Paul, first drag queen with dance hit, and so on.

So whatever you genre, sub-genre or micro niche there will usually be media that dominates that view of reality. If you are a militant political artist, you would launch in the niche militant political blogs and magazines to establish a beach head. If you a rapper that rapped about uzis and AK’s maybe your entry would be blogs and mags about guns and ammo. David Hazan mentioned a band that was way into Anime and they get written up in the Anime blogs and make a living playing the Anime shows. Will they be able to cross to mainstream? Maybe not but they can be the lords of their niche and make a good living doing that.

So rather than being specific, I would point to blogs and mags in your micro-niche that might not even be music-oriented. You may be more news to a non-music site and reach a core audience that way than trying to get Pitchfork to discover you. There are also opportunities to perform at industry shows in non music industry events and get paid much better than you would in the glutted music market.

In other words make your presentation and target audience as unique as possible so you can be the king of that niche, then target the non-music publications (both on line and off) and the events in that niche. You will be building fans, gaining awareness and making money before you even attempt to cross into the “music industry.”
- Tom Silverman

2: Understand You Are in Two Related Industries

You are a songwriter/recording artist and need to record and release compelling music regularly (without fail). 2) You are an entertainer / performer. Your show MUST COMPEL those in the audience (no matter how few) to come to the next show with all their friends. On stage you are an actor. Your character may be yourself. But the character usually needs to be an amplified version of your normal self. Alternately, create characters.
- Rob Gordon

3: Lead A Scene

Position yourself as a leader. Put something together that doesn’t exist and get others involved.
- Derek Sivers

4: Look at What Differentiates You – Shove Yourself Into A Niche

Music fans aren’t found on sites for music fans. I’m inspired by certain things- technology, animals, politics, sci-fi/ fantasy – and so is every other artist. Whatever I’m writing about, there’s a community based around that topic. Instead of going after generic “music fan” crowds, I chose to focus on specific niches that share MY interests. Since I’m into podcasting and new media stuff, my music has been resonating particularly well with the geek crowd. That is where I focus my efforts. I’m also a big sci-fi/ fantasy nerd as well, so I hit conventions and gatherings of that nature. Not only is my music relevant to them, I can relate to them on a personal level.
- Matthew Ebel

Create a story that you can pitch to media outlets that don’t specialize in music. (You will have to figure this one out yourself).
- Tom Silverman

5: Be A Contrarian

Whatever other artists are doing in recording, performance and marketing…do the opposite.
- Tom Silverman

6: Build Your Network By Helping Others

Amber Rubarth is a 26-year-old singer/songwriter from Reno, who only started playing music five years ago, is now making a full-time living touring. She interned with a booking agent, to understand what’s she would need to do to get herself on the road. She was helpful to the agency and they in turn booked her as an opener for some high profile acts which helped launch her career.
- Derek Sivers

7: Have Professionalism!

No matter what level of “success” an artist is at, if he or she has invested time into refining and defining who they are and how they want to present their art to the world, that gets my attention. I discover just as many independent artists today as I do artists who have had extra help getting to where they are. What keeps my attention is, first and foremost, music that grabs my ear, but then the quality of the whole effort, which for me includes an artist website, not just a MySpace page, and the extent to which they have their ducks in a row, which now must start with an electronic press kit with high-res photos! I can’t tell you how many times I was able to run something in my magazine on an artist at the last minute, but a search online for a quality photo was not to be found and so they lost the opportunity.
- Erik Philbrook

8: Create Human Connection & Get In Community

Nothing beats face-to-face networking. And nothing beats a friendly a friendly email or a phone call from someone who knows I am a busy person but who nevertheless wants something from me, and can ask for it in a clear, casual and, yes, compassionate way.
- Erik Philbrook

An artist alone is in trouble – an artist in a community of artists has a chance. If you approach people you meet be they musicians or music business people with an attitude of “how can I help us” rather than “what can you do for me?” you will get much farther much faster.
- Rick Goetz

9: Set Goals & Have a Plan

Create a plan for three months, for six months, for twelve months, and for your entire career (your biggest dreams). Set goals for each phase of your plan. Add dates and measurable action steps that you will be taking to get results during each phase.
http://tinyurl.com/arielgoals
- Ariel Hyatt

10: Have a Killer Pitch

Hone your pitch so you know how to talk to anyone at anytime about who you are and what you sound like. Use this website to help you with your pitch:
http://www.15secondpitch.com
http://tinyurl.com/arielpitch
- Ariel Hyatt

11: Don’t Suck

No amount of marketing can make up for a total lack of talent- this is why people don’t want to spend $20 on major label CD’s anymore. 25 years of piano and a music degree doesn’t guarantee I’ll be a success, but it gives me one hell of an advantage. I try to keep myself sharp and never assume I’m good enough. Even long-time pro baseball players go through spring training every year. If nothing else, I find that surrounding myself with talent raises the bar for my own ambitions. I listen to Ben Folds to inspire my production and piano abilities, I follow people like Ariel Hyatt and Amanda Palmer to improve my outreach, I keep a steady stream of Pat Monahan on my Pandora list to hear what kick ass vocals sound like. I always want to be on my toes.
- Matthew Ebel

12: Don’t Measure Yourself Monetarily

The key seems to be not to measure your indie music success by monetary standards and increased sales… I can’t measure mine that way at all… I don’t have anything for sale (yet)…. The key is asking yourself: How do these tools move you forward toward bigger things happening in your career?
- Jennie Walker

13: Sometimes It’s Better To Think Small

There’s more to life than ABC and the CW. 95% of paid Synch license placements happen beyond primetime network programming, so cast your line in the ocean rather than a puddle. (NOTE: Viacom pays zilch for music placements, which is pure evil since that includes MTV and VH1. It’s amazing exposure to get placed on Real World or MADE, but there’s no paycheck.)
- Phil Putnam

14: Treat Fellow Artists As Colleagues Rather Than Competition

I’ve seen this positive, collaborative attitude pay off handsomely. A while back, I started filming artist-on-artist interviews and have met with everyone from Girl in a Coma, Amanda Palmer, Late of the Pier, The Raveonettes, Semiprecious Weapons, Aqualung, Roxy Epoxy, and 20+ more so far this year. My videos were later licensed by Viacom and played on the LOGO channel. I just posted a Raveonettes interview on my You Tube channel to honor their new album release. It was played on MTV and I got a personal thank you from them. Since I’m writing a solo album now, I’m really cherishing all the fellow artists I’ve treated as my colleagues rather than my competition. Create colleagues and community rather than cattiness and competition.
- Derek Nicoletto

15: Keep Good Company

Surround yourself both personally and professionally with people who will be straight with you. It is easy to loose the forest for the trees as an artist. You need people around you who you can trust and tell you when something you are doing isn’t working.
- Rick Goetz

16: Have Humility

It’s great that you have made this jump into the music business as if there is a net to catch you (especially when most of us are uncertain if this net will ever appear) that said – admitting what you don’t know and identifying the things you aren’t good at will make you make the right decisions in your art and your business
- Rick Goetz

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17: Stop the Musical Masturbation

I wasted so much time playing open mics and writer’s nights in Nashville and Boston. The same is true of all the “hot new music sites” that spring up every 20 minutes on the Internet. The fans do not go there, you’re only entertaining yourself. Every open mic I’ve ever seen is a room full of musicians politely waiting for their turn to get on stage. These events only introduce musicians to other musicians and offer some live performance practice. Trying to sell CD’s at an open mic is like trying to sell timeshare condos at a telemarketing convention. Fans go to Facebook or iTunes, not Stereofame. I could waste all my time playing for a crowd of other broke indie artists or I can spend my efforts approaching fans where they’re already congregating.
- Matthew Ebel

18: Get Personal

I imagine this advice won’t apply to “concept bands” that have a specific theatrical act or image, but getting personal with my fans is what keeps me alive. Good music is barely enough to get fans to hand out 99¢ anymore; they have to be emotionally invested in the artist if that artist wants their loyalty. Don’t get me wrong, there can still be a “fourth wall” during a live concert or video, but real, meaningful connection with the fans is what keeps me in their heads after the show’s over (heck, even your “character” can interact with fans in-character). I chat with my fans via Twitter, Facebook, matthewebel.com and matthewebel.net, and as many other channels as possible. The more I interact with them between performances, the more I stay fresh in their minds and the more inspiration I draw from them.
- Matthew Ebel

19. Hand Out A Business Card

I made a card with a little album art, a website address and email – nothing more – and handed it out to anyone who asked what I did, or who even smiled at me at my gigs. The result? Well, even a long-time friend emailed me to say he was embarrassed to admit he’d never bothered to listen to me before, but after pulling my card out of his pocket and going to the website, he just bought all three of my CDs. He brought two friends to my last gig.
- Dudley Saunders

20: Don’t Just Give it Away…. Get Their Email Addresses

Trade your content for an email address. Many fans aren’t willing to pay for your music. That’s okay. But get SOMETHING for it. An email is next best. Artists who exchange email address and permission to market for a song download grow their mailing list 600% faster than those who do not. ReverbNation has offered this feature (as simple as checking a box on a song you upload) for almost 2 years and it works.
- Jed Carlson

21: Consistently Give Out New Material

Since I started posting either new videos or new songs every month, the open-rate on my emails has gone up drastically. And I’m getting emails from the friends of friends who have forwarded them on. I’ve been asked to do two high-profile benefits in the last month, one from someone who had never even heard of me before.
- Dudley Saunders

22: Create Strategic Commercial Endorsement or Alignments

I’m not talking about eating a Whopper on stage and singing the Burger King jingle at every show. But… almost. I am talking about finding companies that you have passion for and a connection to and finding ways to help each other. Almost every company can benefit from the coolness factor that comes from Music and almost all music can benefit from the money that corporate America spends. But more than that if you find alliances with integrity you can in good conscience introduce your fans to theirs and vice versa. Merging communities. Our example of this is Templeton Rye Whiskey http://www.templetonrye.com . We wrote a song called Templeton Rye about a prohibition era bootleg whiskey. A few years later someone launched the brand. We worked together to find ways to help each other. They use our song, we drink their whiskey, they talk about us in the press, and we talk about them in the press. We play events for them, and they pay us money. They have a huge fan base. This is a brand that and we are intricately woven into and we are proud to represent. I think you can benefit from this type of relationship in many different kinds of companies or entities. It doesn’t have to be a big corporation. If you have like tattoos, and you have an artist you like, talk to them about working together. Go to tattoo shows with them, give them music, invite them to your shows, etc. Pretty soon, their fans are your fans and visa versa.
- Jason Walsmith / The Nadas

23: Interview Your Fans – Find Out What They Want

When I began asking them specific questions about who they were and what they responded to in my music, I noticed that lightly-engaged fans began to turn into evangelical fans. Plus, I began to see what actually made them care about my work – which was not at all what I was putting in my press releases.
- Dudley Saunders

24: Stay In Touch With The Local Media In Your Home Town.

Sandra Okamoto, a writer at local paper for 3 decades who has been following her career at Columbus Ledger Enquirer (Georgia), will write large feature article on album release and get prominent placement on cover of Sunday Lifestyle insert.
- Jennie Walker

25: Create Relationships With All Types of Media Makers

Learn the difference between persistence and insistence. Insistence is trying to jam a square peg in a round hole (like badgering a music supervisor for Mad Men to put your hip-hop track on the show – it doesn’t fit, so stop it). Polite, informed, persistence lets the gatekeepers know you think you are worth placement in their shows, but have a respect for their busy and pressure-laden jobs. If you are submitting to a show, make sure you’ve seen it! Make sure you heard the radio program to see if your music fits.
- Derek Nicoletto

26: Do EVERY Piece of Press Available

Screw Rolling Stone/Blender/Wired. Unless you’re a Top 40 household name, you haven’t earned their covers and you’re not gonna get ‘em. Be humble while reaching for the stars…there is no piece of press too small. More importantly, press leads to more press, so say yes to everything that serves your career goals. Also, ASK FOR MORE. If you have a song picked up on a podcast, ask them if they’d like to interview you. If they interview you, ask if they’d like you to perform live on their show. Ask for more; push it to the next level of exposure. It’s SuperSizing. Nine times out of ten, when their format allows for the deeper coverage I’ve asked for, they’ve given it.
- Phil Putnam

27: Join Causes and Charitable Organizations

Pick one, one you have a connection too. One you are passionate about. Get involved. Don’t just play shows, attend events, and become associated with that cause. If you’re lucky, you may become associated with and become the face of that organization. Then all of their promotional power helps promote you. This may sound greedy, but remember, you are helping the organization you believe in. Everybody wins.
- Jason Walsmith / The Nadas

28: Get Involved With Your Home Town

If you promote your city your city will promote you. Probably won’t work in NYC, but maybe. Have you asked the mayor what you can do to help?
- Jason Walsmith / The Nadas

29: Contact School Alumni Organizations

This only works if you started you career in a college town. For us it was a few Iowa College towns. These organizations are always trying to get their alumni together to relive the glory years. May as well be at one of your shows. If nothing else they usually have websites and newsletters and are willing to promote your shows.
- Jason Walsmith / The Nadas

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Bob Baker is an author, indie musician and former music magazine editor dedicated to showing musicians of all kinds how to get exposure, connect with fans, sell more music, and make more money. He is a touring speaker and the author of The Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, MySpace Music Marketing, and Unleash the Artist Within.
www.bob-baker.com/

Jed Carlson is Co-Founder and COO of ReverbNation, a company that provides Music 2.0 marketing technology to Artists, Labels, Managers, and Venues. He holds degrees in economics and environmental studies from Bowdoin College, and an MBA from Duke University. Past ventures include The Carlson Print Group, a commercial printing and packaging company, and SmartPrint, a division of CD manufacturer AmericDisc Inc, that enabled “on-demand” CD manufacturing for indie record labels.
www.ReverbNation.com

Randy Chertkow & Jason Feehan are the authors of The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual For The Do-It-Yourself Musician and The DIY Music Manual: How To Record, Promote and Distribute Your Music Without A Record Deal . They’re also founders of the free and open musician resource, IndieGuide.
www.indieguide.com

Corey Denis has been pioneering digital music marketing for 10 years using everything from ListServs & forums to social networks and MMORPGs. She got her music industry start at What Are Records? where her future thinking & innovative online marketing increased sales and broadened fanbases for Frank Black, Stephen Lynch, Maceo Parker, The Samples, & more. She moved to San Francisco in 2005 to work at IODA where she helped create and market Promonet, before leading the marketing efforts as VP of Marketing at digital distributor reapandsow. Her current consulting clients include SonicLiving, and Opus Music Ventures among others.

http://notshocking.com/?page_id=5

Christina Duren is the PR Director for Ariel Publicity’s Cyber PR Campaigns and co-founder of Cyber PR Urban (the urban division of the company). She started her music career as an intern at Island Def Jam where she spent a year in the Radio and Promotions/ Publicity department working with with Mariah Carey, Rihanna and Ne-Yo. From there she took her first real job at Shore Fire Media working campaigns for The Roots, and Heineken Red Star Soul Tour.
www.cyberprurban.com

Christopher Gesualdi is the Marketing Director at Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR a New York based digital firm that connects artists, authors and filmmakers to blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations and Social Media sites. His focus is on Social Media strategy and Marketing plan implementation for all Cyber PR Campaign clients.
www.cyberprmusic.com

Rick Goetz is an entertainment professional with deep roots in the music industry. He has been an A&R representative at major labels like Atlantic and Elektra, a music supervisor for independent films and national TV campaigns and has played bass for Grammy award winning musicians. He is currently a music consultant and musician coach and can be found at www.musiciancoaching.com

Rob Gordon As Director of A&R at EMI, Rob brought the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queensryche to international stardom. In 1991 Rob founded W.A.R.? – What Are Records? which has released over 140 albums since, including Stephen Lynch, Jonathan Coulton, The Samples, Frank Black, Maceo Parker, David Wilcox, Tim Finn, Sally Taylor, The Ocean Blue, and Glenn Tilbrook. W.A.R.? led marketing for the HORDE tour 1993-1995. In 2007 Rob founded United Interests to round out W.A.R.?’s Career Development team. Rob consults and speaks worldwide on topics ranging from Music to alternative energy to complementary currencies to sustainable city building.
www.whatarerecords.com

Ariel Hyatt is the founder of Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR a New York based digital firm that connects artists, authors and filmmakers to blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations and social media sites. Educating musicians is her passion and her philosophy is: combine social media with Internet marketing to help artists grow their fanbases and increase their income. This is the subject of her book: Music Success in Nine Weeks which has helped hundreds of musicians navigate the Social Media landscape and it is available at Amazon. She is a proud contributor to Music Think Tank.
www.arielpublicity.com

Tom Jackson is the #1 Live Music Producer in the industry. When recording, you need a record producer. But with your live show, you need a Live Music Producer to make it the best it can be! Tom has developed the Live Music Method, an onstage method that makes your live show engaging and memorable, exceeding audiences’ expectations, creating fans for life.
www.onstagesuccess.com

Erik Philbrook is AVP of Marketing Media for ASCAP and serves as Editor in Chief of Playback, the Society’s magazine, in addition to creating audio/ video, editorial and other content for ASCAP’s website, social media channels and the ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO. He is also a songwriter and bassist for the indie roots rock band The Brilliant Mistakes.
www.thebrilliantmistakes.com/

Lou Plaia – After 15+ years at Atlantic and Lava Records, Lou decided to start a new style of music marketing company which required an odd blend of music expertise and technology. ReverbNation launched on October 31, 2006. And it now serves 475,000+ Artists, Labels, Managers, Venues/Promoters and other Music Industry Pros with a complete solution for fan management, promotion, distribution, direct-to-fan commerce, and analytics. ReverbNation’s mission is to uncover value for the musician. In addition to providing core business services, we seek to create new revenue streams for its users.
www.ReverbNation.com

Michele Samuel is the principal of Beautiful Day Entertainment and works alongside artists building foundations to create artist to fan relationships for a long term career path. Methods have included fan financed music production, touring and promotion, mobile text list building, and fan generated bookings. Her clients include Shane Hines and Corey Smith.
www.facebook.com/michelesamuel

Tom Silverman is the founder, chairman and CEO of the record label Tommy Boy Records. He also co-founded and co-organizes the New Music Seminar, which ran from 1980 to 1995 and which he relaunched in 2009 as a more frequent, touring event. Mr. Silverman serves on the boards of RIAA, SoundExchange, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM and its predecessors NAIRD/AFIM), and Merlin Network. He previously served on the boards of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Dance Music Hall of Fame, plus the NARM Manufacturer’s Advisory Board. Silverman received the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Heroes Award in 2000.
www.newmusicseminar.biz

Derek Sivers is best known as the founder of CD Baby. After he won the 2003 World Technology Award, Esquire Magazine’s annual “Best and Brightest” cover story said, “Derek Sivers is changing the way music is bought and sold… one of the last music-business folk heroes.” In 2008, Derek sold CD Baby to focus on his new ventures to benefit musicians. His current projects and writings are all at http://sivers.org

Emily White is a principal at Whitesmith Entertainment, a full-service talent management firm based in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston spanning the music, comedy, film, and TV industries. They work with artists who have a unique voice, style and meaning to their fans. Whitesmith balances a youthful edge while maintaining a deep knowledge within the fields of touring, merchandising, online marketing, social networking, branding, sponsorship, as well as physical and non-traditional content releases.
www.whitesmithentertainment.com

MUSICIANS

Jonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, famous for his songs containing themes of geek culture as well as his rise to popularity through the use of the Internet. Coulton’s best known works include his light-acoustic cover of the Sir Mix-a-Lot hit song “Baby Got Back” and original pieces such as “Still Alive”, the theme song for the video game Portal, and “Code Monkey”, which has been featured on Slashdot. (From Wikipedia)

http://www.jonathancoulton.com

Matthew Ebel is a piano rocker who’s been called a pioneer and a leader in independent music. Growing up in Washington State, he began playing piano and singing at age 5. Since then he’s released multiple albums, backed up major-label stars in Nashville, and launched his own subscription site using cutting-edge technology.
www.matthewebel.net

Carla Lynne Hall is a musician and music marketing consultant based in New York City. Her latest CD SUPERNOVA has been described as “Norah Jones meets Sade for tea on the their way to visit The Beatles.” In addition to releasing three CDs on her own label, she has also spent a number of years behind the scenes in the music industry, in publishing, management, publicity, and radio promotion. She is the author of The DIY Guide to the Music Biz, and is also the former music business columnist for Vibe Magazine. Carla also blogs about the life of an indie musician.

http://RockStarLifeLessons.com

Derek Nicoletto is currently working on his first solo album due out in 2010, after two acclaimed years as lead singer and songwriter for Telling on Trixie, the “indie rock powerhouse” (Skope Magazine). Derek’s music has been featured in 11 national TV programs and commercials. He has performed for more than 3 million people live on Sirius Radio. As a TV host, Derek has conducted hundreds of artist-on-artist interviews for MTV LOGO’s New Now Next program, ranging from Margaret Cho, Ludo, The Decemberists, Girl in a Coma and Amanda Palmer. As social media fanatic, he maintains sites on YouTube/, Facebook/, Myspace/, Twitter/dereknicoletto
www.dereknicoletto.com

Phil Putnam is an indie singer/ songwriter and recording artist whose piano-pop/rock style places him in the good company of fellows like Elton John, Tori Amos, and David Gray. He has released seven albums in the past eight years, with his most recent release “Casualties” presenting several hit singles and earning him the honor of having the longest-running video in the history of MTV’s LOGO Network. Recognized for his keen sense of music business, publicity, and social networking for indie artists, he has become an indie music business go-to guy. Also an author, his daily column “Ask Mr. Moxie” can be read on moxieq.com as well as all Sprint and Boost Mobile PDA’s worldwide.
www.philputnam.com

Dudley Saunders is a direct descendant of Daniel Boone. This “experimental folk” artist began singing his “surreal, modern folk tales” (Village Voice) to New York audiences in the early 90s. Full of talking corpses, insane women in rain-swept truck stops, the songs were (and are) an unnerving mix of mysterious-sounding folk and pop, making for a sound The New York Times calls “hallucinatory”. His most recent album, The Emergency Lane, was named one of the year’s Ten Best by Frontiers, Next Big Thing and RobKast Radio. He is currently recording his fourth album in Los Angeles.
www.dudleysaunders.com

Jennie Walker is a New York based singer, songwriter and charity fundraiser. Her debut album, “It’s My Time” was Co-written with Tommy Faragher, Grammy Nominee and 12-time platinum selling producer. Jennie is releasing her much anticipated album on December 10, 2009 on UK based Maddie Records. When not in the studio, Jennie is active in the music industry and in non-profit and charity fundraising endeavors. She is a member of the prestigious Artists Against Hunger & Poverty Program World Hunger Year. Jennie will be donating a percentage of the proceeds of her album to WHY, The Carter Center, Columbus State University, and The Synergos Institute.
www.jenniewalker.com

Jason Walsmith is the co-founder of the band The Nadas and Authentic Records. The Nadas are a Des Moines, IA based band that have been together for16 years, touring the country and independently releasing successful records. Authentic Records is a cultivator of fine musical artists from the heartland and the rest of the country, who may otherwise go “under-noticed.” Authentic‘s goal is to help bring these artists‘ music to the masses, with a focus on not only building individual careers, but also building a community of artists helping artists.
www.thenadas.com

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