Ariel Publicity

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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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/

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To check out what’s playing on the Chillcast go to AnjiBee.com

Q: How did the Chillcast get its start?

A: I guess you could say The Chillcast got its start with college radio DJ’ing. After 3 years of doing various shows and working in management at a college radio station, I was pretty well hooked. Then I discovered Internet radio, and started creating both live and prerecorded Internet radio content – including interviews with indie bands like Hungry Lucy and Sunburn in Cyprus. Eventually podcasts were invented, and I put 2 and 2 together.

Podcasting was better than radio because listeners could tune in whenever was most convenient for them – which seemed really revolutionary! My first podcast was actually Chillin’ with Lovespirals, which Ryan and I launched to help promote our 2nd album, Free & Easy. Shortly after, I started getting permissions from indie band friends to create a weekly music show podcast – because you have to understand that at this time the podsafe music movement was barely getting started! Adam Curry had just begun his Podsafe Music Network — which is actually how he and I met and became friends, when Lovespirals joined the site. Adam played us on the Daily Source Code, and then we started talking back and forth on his podcast about Creative Commons vs BMI and all those kinds of things.

To make a long story a bit shorter, I put together a few fledgling episodes of The Chillcast, hosting them on the Internet Archive site and C.C. Chapman, who was really active with PodShow at the time, pitched the show to Adam and PodShow management, and I was signed as one of the first group of podcasters to the new PodShow Podcast Network.

Q: What have you learned from operating on both sides of the broadcasting world, as a podcaster and as a musician?

A: Good question. Podcasting is a great way to communicate with your fans, to give them a sense of who you are as a person, as well as to inform them of your latest projects. You can really build a sense of brethrenship, not only with your fans, but fellow indie musicians and fellow podcasters. Podcasts are more intimate than a newsletter, less time consuming than a forum, and both more immediate and long lasting than a personal appearance. I’m surprised more bands aren’t doing podcasts, actually.

Q: With over one million downloads of the Chillcast, what is the top tip you would give aspiring podcasters in terms of building such an impressive listenership?

A: Consistency. Being consistent with the quality, content, and output of your show is really important. Listeners want to know they can rely on you to provide whatever experience it is you’re providing on a regular schedule. If done well, your show becomes a part of your subscriber’s life that they look forward to, and you don’t want to let them down!

Q: Chillin’ with the Lovespirals was one of the earliest band podcasts, what was the impetus behind such inspiration and foresight?

A: Well I mentioned this briefly in your earlier question, but the idea was to share information about the new album we were releasing, and what better way to promote an album than with the music itself? We had shared audio interviews we’d done with radio stations in mp3 format on music sites for years, so I knew people liked to listen to us talk about our music and band experiences. We have all the recording gear here at our disposal, so it just seemed logical to produce our own audio content and make it available via our site. We had fun doing it, too. At that time, iTunes was just launching their podcast directory, so getting listed on that was a real thrill.

Q: Why should a band be PodSafe?

A: Podcasts are a very low cost promotional tool. Unlike radio, it’s very easy to break into the podcasting world. There are still relatively few bands vying for attention on podcasts. If your music is good, you’re bound to get noticed. And podcast subscribers are truly interested in music. These are the cutting edge people who have sought out an alternative form of entertainment; they’re serious. If they like something they hear on a show, they actually go out and buy it. I get email and comments all the time about buying music from my shows — in fact, I got one this week from a guy who was sad that Sun Dula Amen wasn’t on iTunes yet, because he wanted to buy it! And of course, I know for a fact that I sell my own CDs from podcasts, I see the proof from orders on the Lovespirals Webstore.

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